I've Had Enough!

smellslike$tome

I reported 2 people to the proper authorities today and it felt gooooooood!


#1. Guy calls me this am and wants a price to "run some pipes from one bathroom to a new one ...". I knew immediately by the way he talked that he had no idea what he was talking about. The first thing I asked him was if he was the ho or the contractor because something he said made me think that he was not the ho. He says he's the contractor. Consistent with my normal procedure I start collecting info from him, you know, name, company name, phone number where he can be reached, job address, all the basic things you would need to know. I scoot through this pretty quickly 'cause I already know I'm never going on this call. I get to the end where we set up an appointment time and I tell him about the $59 service charge to come out and look at it. All of a sudden we go from a confirmed time to "call me in the morning before you come" which I would have done anyway. I hang up the phone thinking that's the end of that but as I'm thinking about it I realize more and more that I know this guy, not literally, but I've seen his work and a hundred like him all over town and I start getting mad. So I call him back in an apologetic tone and inform him that I'm very sorry but I forgot to get some important info that I will need. I ask him for his contractor's license number because we will need to check it before we can do business with him since we only work for licensed contractors. He of course can't produce it (since he doesn't have one) and tells me "oh, uh, that's not something I want to give out over the phone, just forget the whole thing". My next call was to the city inspection dept. Found the person who handles unlicensed contractors and told them the whole story. Gave them the guys name, "company" name, phone number, job address. The girl said she'd have the inspector drop by to check it out since no permit had been issued for that address.

#2. About a month ago I answered a call. Got to the house, guy shows me everything, says another plumber (who was an employee of another plumbing co. which he named) he knew personally had been out on a sunday to cable his drain line with poor results. Plumber said no charge for the cable but he'd have to come back the next afternoon to run a camera and for that there would be a charge. Plumber comes back, runs camera, finds a problem, informs ho that he will have to call another plumbing co. because he "is not licensed in that city". Not licensed! What does that mean! Thousands of dollars in sewer replacement and he can't do it because of a $50 business license!? Well of course this takes all of 2 seconds to figure out. It's not the license but the fact that he's not a master and therefore can't pull the permit and he can't at this point refer him to the company he works for because it will quickly come out that he was there on the sly trying to set up some side work (he probably thought a quick $300 for some camera work). I'm not sure why the guy didn't charge for the cable job. Maybe it started out as a favor but was unwilling to proceed for free after it got more involved. Anyway, I gave it a few weeks to see if we would get the call for the replacement, but today I was in a reporting frame of mind so I called the owner of the other plumbing company to let him know what one of his employees was doing with his truck, sewer machine, and $10k sewer camera when he wasn't looking. I'd want to know if it were happening to me. I'll compete with any legitimate plumbing company but if I get the chance to disrupt any uncertified hack, illegal, or stealing employee I'm gonna take it.

__________________
Looking For A Birmingham Plumber The Best Plumbing in Alabama

masterk

I agree 100%. These are the guy's that are cutting our throats.

Brickie

Actually it's the government that's cutting throats. They allow all the illegals from Eastern Europe & South of the Border to come here & drive down wages big time

__________________
“Ron Paul is one of the outstanding leaders fighting for a stronger national defense. As a former Air Force officer, he knows well the needs of our armed forces, and he always puts them first. We need to keep him fighting for our country.” – Ronald Reagan

kevjob

We have the same problem here in Colorado, lots of illegal contractors no permits ever, I have seen full basement finish with not one inspection!

__________________
Kevin
Basement Finishing Highlands Ranch Colorado
Littleton Colorado, Basement Remodeling
Kitchen Remodeling Denver

nadonailer

Right on , Bro! Turn 'em in! I'm not a vindictive person, but if there are rules, everyone must play by them!!

__________________
"History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid”.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

RobertCDF

Turn them in! Our building department just added an easy way to turn people in on line. Fill out a short form and thats it.

__________________
Robert Shaw
Colorado Springs Custom Decks
Colorado Custom Decks
Custom Composite Decks

Michaeljp86

Thats what I say, just follow the freaken rules dude, thats all you have to do.

__________________
I am just a vessel from which genius flows -Homer Simpson

Global warming is a myth, like evolution and the metric system.

airborneSGT

You know I wish they made it easier in FL. For as strict as they are with licensing, there are far too many hacks running around everyday.

Michaeljp86

Even if you do turn them in most likely nothing will happen.

__________________
I am just a vessel from which genius flows -Homer Simpson

Global warming is a myth, like evolution and the metric system.

mdshunk

For plumbing violators in my area, they give them 3 days to hire a licensed contractor and have him pull the permits. They get a big fat "stop work" in the mean time, but no real penalties.

Heritage

I reported on a job that required structural, electrical and plumbing 2 weeks ago.

Waited on the phone for 15 minutes, then an old hag with a nasty cough reluctantly took down the info then promised that an inspector would go by to check it out in 1 week max.

2 days ago my electrician that was doing work on that site came to see me and told me that it's business as usual over there...no inspectors came by.



I wasted half an hour ratting people out and nuffin!

If it worked and was easier I'd snitch out a lot more people...fo sho.

__________________
Toronto General Contractor-Renovation Blog-Contractor on Facebook-Renovation on twitter-Contractor Youtube

SelfContract

Welcome to our American Bureaucratic-Crazyness-Laziness Political System ladies & Gentlement!.. It SUCKS!!!... Nobody cares 2 nobody... 4 nothing.

rbsremodeling

We have been extremely slow here and as a result the inspectors have had alot of free time on their hands.

So with out even having to call they have been out in full force looking for violators and issuing stop orders like it aint no ones business.

On one block I am working on I counted 6 stop work order stickers and HO are noticing. Every job I estimate now they are asking what permits they need and how soon can I get them.

It's a good time to be a licensed contractor here. I think if they crack down hard on the boot leggers licensed guys will see an quicker up turn in work.

__________________

tinner666

__________________
Frank Slate Roof Repairs, Richmond, Va.

TaitINC

I see so many hacks out working in my area. It really burns me to hear the inspectors just blew off a tip of an illegal job. Thats not just money they are stealing from us, but also from the township they are working in. I guess the inspectors don't care because it doesn't show in their paycheck.
they need someone to just handle that field that gets paid off how many bust they have. Then you'll see a slow in billy bob's home hacking!

Spencer

Double-A

Don't forget safety.

As a rule, we don't go looking for reasons to call the inspectors about someone doing work they shouldn't, but we have and will again, without hesitation.

I think one good reason for anyone that is hesitating to call an inspectors office because they don't want to feel like a rat or a snitch is safety.

You know the rules your business has to follow, you have the insurance and the training. You pay to be OSHA compliant and do what's right by your client and your employees. Those that seek to fly under the radar of the authorities are looking for a way to avoid these issues. They can and will take dangerous shortcuts. That means someone can get hurt. Or die.

Trenchwork is not for the faint of heart, but neither is it for the uninitiated or inexperienced. Its easier to die in a trench than you can imagine.

Confined spaces are no place for someone that doesn't have the equipment or the training to make that area safe to work in.

Tearing out a load-bearing wall and replacing it with an undersized beam is just asking for a structural failure, injury or death to occur.

You did the right thing, Smells.

__________________
"My clients’ wishes are the center of my attention." -- David Guido, a contractor in Woodstock, N.Y.
New York Times, July 20, 2006

Mike Finley

What you are seeing and what you are experiencing with customers now is evidence of what our industry would be like with the disappearance of the jack legs. The topic that comes up all the time "How Do I Deal With Lowballers?" is really the topic of how do I deal with the jack legs, the unlicensed, the unisured and those that use illegals, or in other words how do I compete in my industry against those that cheat?

The answer as far as I'm concerned has always been the same, enforcement.

What you are seeing and experiencing is what the benefits to all of us legitimate contractors would look like. Nice to see the evidence that it could work.

It's my opinion that professional contractor organizations like NARI and such who all seem to sell themselves as benefiting the professional contractor could actually benefit us 10 fold by simply devoting their resources to lobbying efforts for more enforcement and directly getting involved in turning in the jack legs.

TimNJ

There are more and more towns in NJ that are adopting ordinances that require inspections of property any time that property is sold. The inspectors then go out and look for work that has been done and compare it to their records to see if a permit was taken out.
I was working a customers house in a town outside of Princeton and overheard the ho talking to her friend about the inspector looking at their house since they had it up for sale. Inspector told her he had no record in the towns property tax appraisal files that showed they had a finished basement. She then told her friend that the electrical inspector said that the wiring in the finished basement had to be inspected and ordered them to rip down all the drywall so he could do his rough inspection. All I could think of the whole time I was listening to this was "Serves you right"Of course this means more money for the towns so you can bet if there isn't an ordinance like this in your town now there will be sooner or later.

pm_sup

My wife goes through this all the time, as she works in a permits department.

Shady contractors have their license suspended by the authorities, and they always have a brother or "friend" with another company and license.
She get's pretty tired of their attempts, because the contractor taking out the permit is supposed to be doing the work.

If she doesn't simply deny the application, then she informs the head inspector, and sometimes they both get their license suspended or there is a stop work order placed on the whole job.

Of course there is a reason why they were suspended in the first place....

Funny hearing the stunts these guys pull and scams to get a permit they aren't entitled to get.

__________________
"Judge of a man by his questions rather than his answers" Voltaire

NC-SC, GC

You should let them know for 1500 they can get a meg test and the inspector has to pass it, kind of like when you have an engineer sign off on something structural that the inspector is either unclear of or just has no clue about (like way to many inspectors)