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Previous customer calls me to look at putting a wood roof over his deck. I've done 3 jobs for this customer, he is a great guy, very down to earth very easy to please. All the work I have done for him up to now never required a permit.
His deck to cover is pretty big, about 15 feet out from the house and about 30 feet long. Problem for me is his deck and his houses roof line are about 9 feet apart and the slope going out is going to have to be so small or you would end up with a 4 foot high ceiling at the far end!
He want is shingled! To make a long story short every time I mention the problems and the issues of not passing code, he points to his neighbors all around him with illegal roofs on thier decks and says that guys seems to work. Problem is his is the biggest of all of these and all of his problems are magnified. He doesn't seem to care about any of the issues. I talk to him about his grandkids being out there if he lets somebody build it out of code and it collapsing some day and he just points to his neighbors - "that one made it through the big snow fall 2 years ago."
He has an estimate already from somebody else, which of course even includes illegal running of wiring by the guy to light it! He keeps saying over and over again, I want you to build it for me, but I keep hemming and hawwing and dragging my feet. The issue isn't really about the fact that he doesn't care if I permit or not - because there is no chance in hell I would ever build this thing without a permit.
But the thing that amazes me is his lack of concern with any safety issues I point out over and over again. It is amazing that he just keeps looking at his neighbors examples and sites them as the norm! No matter how many times I tell him how much of a red flag it is to let some yahoo build it out of permit he doesn't get it. I hit him one way about codes being the minimum - how safe can something be if it can't even pass the minimum? I hit him about how a guy who doesn't care about the permit, doesn't care about much else and has nothing to loose later if something happens ... no matter what way I try to explain it, it just seems like it doesn't faze him!
His deck to cover is pretty big, about 15 feet out from the house and about 30 feet long. Problem for me is his deck and his houses roof line are about 9 feet apart and the slope going out is going to have to be so small or you would end up with a 4 foot high ceiling at the far end!
He want is shingled! To make a long story short every time I mention the problems and the issues of not passing code, he points to his neighbors all around him with illegal roofs on thier decks and says that guys seems to work. Problem is his is the biggest of all of these and all of his problems are magnified. He doesn't seem to care about any of the issues. I talk to him about his grandkids being out there if he lets somebody build it out of code and it collapsing some day and he just points to his neighbors - "that one made it through the big snow fall 2 years ago."
He has an estimate already from somebody else, which of course even includes illegal running of wiring by the guy to light it! He keeps saying over and over again, I want you to build it for me, but I keep hemming and hawwing and dragging my feet. The issue isn't really about the fact that he doesn't care if I permit or not - because there is no chance in hell I would ever build this thing without a permit.
But the thing that amazes me is his lack of concern with any safety issues I point out over and over again. It is amazing that he just keeps looking at his neighbors examples and sites them as the norm! No matter how many times I tell him how much of a red flag it is to let some yahoo build it out of permit he doesn't get it. I hit him one way about codes being the minimum - how safe can something be if it can't even pass the minimum? I hit him about how a guy who doesn't care about the permit, doesn't care about much else and has nothing to loose later if something happens ... no matter what way I try to explain it, it just seems like it doesn't faze him!