What happened with the construction?

[warthog]

Exactly! As I move into the building process on a new lot I am praying I don't encounter some building official with his amount of smug and self righteousness.

Highly Unlikely. It is a calling for that type. I deal with them all the time. You better kiss their ass, and do what they tell you, or the red tags come flying. A miserable species that never wants to be proven wrong.

[Self Jupiter]

in defense of permitting, it is NOT just a money grubbing scheme for local government
ask me why over beers sometime when you're drunk enough to sit for a boring explanation

Is the answer... Houston?

[iceman]

Is the answer... Houston?

I know they don't have zoning but things still need to be built to code, don't they?

[::: :::]

I know they don't have zoning but things still need to be built to code, don't they?

What Houston might have is the worst of both worlds: all the burdens of regulation and none of the foresight to use it effectively. “It works like zoning,” Festa said, “but it’s not the product of a comprehensive plan."

https://kinder.rice.edu/2015/09/08/f...zoning-sort-of

Yes, local building codes are modeled on the International Building Code...meaning it’s pretty standardized relative to other states, just some details with different standards

[The AD]

All of the info I actually bothered to look up took me a grand total of about 5 minutes to find

I think you're kind of missing the point here, glade.

[teleee]

Highly Unlikely. It is a calling for that type. I deal with them all the time. You better kiss their ass, and do what they tell you, or the red tags come flying. A miserable species that never wants to be proven wrong.

Oh believe me I know the type. They aren't any better in the bridge world, I was just hoping my little tucked away county in the middle of no where would be better, probably wishful thinking. The bridge world is full of idiot inspectors, I tell my guys all the time they just have to go along with them, stroke their fragile little egos, they don't get paid shit so they only do the job for the sense of power it gives them. There are some good inspectors out their, who have common sense, real world knowledge and actually care about the outcome of the project. They are far and few between.
As we like to say, those who cant build, inspect.

[TahoeJ]

Is the answer... Houston?

Funny, that's a go-to line of mine when discussions about zoning and property rights come up. That city is such a fucking mess.

[bodywhomper]

If were complaining about inspectors, a friend lives next door to an inspector and the inspector has tons of shit not up to snuff and is a general jerk. Very unfriendly and general aggressive personality. Won’t provide/allow for legal easements, lots uncoded (and not up to code) structures, truck apparently without cats, fencing encroachment, flood lights directed onto neighbor’s property. This is in a rural wooded area with 2-5 ac lot sizes.

[Self Jupiter]

I know they don't have zoning but things still need to be built to code, don't they?

I feel like I’ll trip over my words - calling a dentingeneer to line 1

[Foggy_Goggles]

There are a lot of engineers, architects, contractors, and inspectors who suck at there jobs. Unfortunately, the only one without accountability is the inspector. Around here, I'd say the system works OK. In the last building boom a lot of shit went un/under inspected. Lots o law suits. The governing municipalities didn't pay a penny.

That said, I think the system is necessary and I wish for consistent application and enforcement of the rules. The inspection process is not really for the benefit of the homeowner so much as the benefit of the property and any future owners. How would you ever buy a house is there wasn't some type of assurance that say, the footers and below frost line and the foundation has rebar in it?

[billyk]

I think you're kind of missing the point here, glade.

I’m with glade on this one. Chup was the one who provided the excess personal information that made his searches possible. I thought that thread was a bad idea when he started it. Don’t blame him for deleting it. Don’t know that we need to keep rehashing it. But ragging on building permits and inspectors is a useful diversion I suppose.

[toast2266]

How would you ever buy a house is there wasn't some type of assurance that say, the footers and below frost line and the foundation has rebar in it?

Move to large parts of the country and you can find out. The vast majority of houses around me aren't subject to any building codes or inspections. If you live in the county, there aren't any inspections (with some relatively minor exceptions; DEQ inspects septic, Planning and Zoning keeps an eye on setbacks). Theoretically, houses are still built to code because the builders are liable if they build something sketchy. Realistically, not so much.

[SkiBall]

We have enough hacks around here posing as contractors that if left to freewill would be downright scary.

[babybear]

Move to large parts of the country and you can find out. The vast majority of houses around me aren't subject to any building codes or inspections. If you live in the county, there aren't any inspections (with some relatively minor exceptions; DEQ inspects septic, Planning and Zoning keeps an eye on setbacks). Theoretically, houses are still built to code because the builders are liable if they build something sketchy. Realistically, not so much.

in victor, ID a woman built a house next to my brother's lot and the house looked scary, 2 floors, straight up leaned
she asked if she could plug in extension cords to their house and split the electricity lol

[highangle]

South Florida’s Hurricane Building Code is Strong—And North Florida’s Could Be Stronger


[Above: Homes and businesses along U.S. 98 are left in devastation by Hurricane Michael on Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Mexico Beach, Fla. The deadly hurricane made landfall along the Florida Panhandle on Oct. 10 as a Category 4 storm. Image credit: Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images.]

South Florida has gotten plenty of accolades for the very strong building codes it has adopted and maintained since Hurricane Andrew laid waste to the southern Miami metro area in 1992. Florida is a big state, though, and it’s all hurricane-vulnerable. What about the northern stretches of Florida, including the Panhandle coast slammed by Hurricane Michael last week? The standard code for buildings in this region is much more lenient, and even that looser standard is now at risk of falling behind international code.

Make no mistake: Florida’s statewide building code, adopted in 2002, has made a real difference. A 2017 working paper for the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, led by James Done (National Center for Atmospheric Research), concluded: “A multiple regression analysis finds homes built after implementing a statewide Florida Building Code (FBC) in the early 2000s experience significantly lower losses than homes built in the previous decade, in agreement with previous literature.”

Miami-Dade and Broward counties are part of a High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, where local code requires that a building’s entire envelope (including windows, doors, and eaves) incorporates lab-tested, wind-resistant design. Elsewhere in the state, the requirements vary, based on expectations of where peak winds will be the strongest. ...

https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/So...ld-Be-Stronger

[Slopetime]

South Florida’s Hurricane Building Code is Strong—And North Florida’s Could Be Stronger


[Above: Homes and businesses along U.S. 98 are left in devastation by Hurricane Michael on Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, in Mexico Beach, Fla. The deadly hurricane made landfall along the Florida Panhandle on Oct. 10 as a Category 4 storm. Image credit: Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images.]

South Florida has gotten plenty of accolades for the very strong building codes it has adopted and maintained since Hurricane Andrew laid waste to the southern Miami metro area in 1992. Florida is a big state, though, and it’s all hurricane-vulnerable. What about the northern stretches of Florida, including the Panhandle coast slammed by Hurricane Michael last week? The standard code for buildings in this region is much more lenient, and even that looser standard is now at risk of falling behind international code.

Make no mistake: Florida’s statewide building code, adopted in 2002, has made a real difference. A 2017 working paper for the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, led by James Done (National Center for Atmospheric Research), concluded: “A multiple regression analysis finds homes built after implementing a statewide Florida Building Code (FBC) in the early 2000s experience significantly lower losses than homes built in the previous decade, in agreement with previous literature.”

Miami-Dade and Broward counties are part of a High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, where local code requires that a building’s entire envelope (including windows, doors, and eaves) incorporates lab-tested, wind-resistant design. Elsewhere in the state, the requirements vary, based on expectations of where peak winds will be the strongest. ...

https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/So...ld-Be-Stronger

Braced wall design is now a part of most competent building codes, especially if you're in a high wind zone

[::: :::]

this one's about a owner that asked for better-than-code structural design, and his house survived Michael
they designed a breakaway stair, so that needs replacement, but otherwise doing pretty darn good
(and his neighbor on the lee side better buy him some high class hooch...saved his ass too)

https://nyti.ms/2QVv9nl


he's probably one of the few who actually could have stayed

[iceman]

Makes a difference how you build 'em.



https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/14/u...ach-house.html

edit: dagnabbit, too slow!

[Slopetime]

Makes a difference how you build 'em.



https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/14/u...ach-house.html

edit: dagnabbit, too slow!

Got a buddy who worked for a timber frame co. They built two timber frame homes for a developer on the Gulf coast in Mississippi I think. after Isabell in 2002 they were the only 2 homes left standing, and intact for a couple miles in each direction. Business boomed after those pics made it into their marketing.

It costs more, but you can hurricane proof a structure (too a degree of course).

[skaredshtles]

Why not just poured concrete houses?

[babybear]

reminds me of the "why dont they build the whole plane out of the black box material" argument
but even just for the fun of it, I'd build me beach house like that. why not. I guess cost but if not then dont be surprised when your house on the beach gets wrecked every few yrs to a decade

[Danno]

Good for them to avoid the personal loss, but their property value is still gonna take a hit!

[Slopetime]

Good for them to avoid the personal loss, but their property value is still gonna take a hit!

For about and long as it takes for the houses around them to be re built.

[iceman]

It's gonna be noisy around there for a while.

[skiballs]

The only time I have had an inspection fail was because I clipped the inspector for a hundy on the golf course about a month before.