Gerald Miller wrote:

On Thu, 27 Jan 2011 02:15:02 -0800, Rich Grise
wrote:

Bill Noble wrote:

your experience is different from mine - replumbed my house with copper,
called inspector who talked to me for a few minutes, looked at a few
places where the new pipe was visible and signed off, telling me "I can
see that you know what you are doing, we worry about homeowners who
don't know what they are doing and make dangerous mistakes, and
contractors who cut corners and make dangerous decisions. We don't
worry about people like you who know what you are doing because you will
be living in that house".

Maybe attitude, or locale ?

I know by experience that a good attitude begets good stuff, but I can't
speak at "locale," because of the different politics and stuff that would
be involved.

And it certainly depends a lot on how much of an asshole the local authority
is. ;-)

Cheers!
Rich
Forty + years ago, the local building inspector came by as I was
hanging the meter box on a house that a builder friend was building to
sell. He (inspector) pointed out that I didn't have a city business
licence and that if I showed up in his office next day with $25.00 we
could set things straight. In the meantime, the electrical inspector
(who was fully aware of my capabilities and lack of official trade
certification) came to the sight to issue his final inspection
certificate, followed closely by the PUC crew install the meter and
turn on the electricity.
Next day, at the appointed time I visited the building inspection
office and filled out the required forms. On reviewing the paperwork
Mister Inspector asked for my ticket number. When informed that I
didn't have one he dented the concrete ceiling but, since the service
had been approved and connected, the only thing he could do was tell
me not to wire any more houses in his jurisdiction. The next house we
built was in the neighbouring town.


I replaced the four fuse boxes in my dad's house with a breaker box.
CG&E's policy was that only a couple contractors could have a meter
pulled & replaced the same day. Home owners and all other contractors
had to wait a minimum of three days for the meter to be reinstalled, so
I swapped the main box hot. I had to have it inspected when i finished.
The inspector took one look and said, I can tell you one thing! No
electrician in this county did this job. Then he grinned and said, This
is the cleanest install I've ever seen.

A few years later I was helping a friend replace a damaged service
cable. He had to have a permit, and the electric company required the
meter box to be replaced. I went with him to answer any questions, and
told them I did industrial electrical work, and that I was teaching him
to do his own repairs. The inspector winked and said "Teach him good!"
as he handed me the permit.


--
You can't fix stupid. You can't even put a band-aid on it, because it's
Teflon coated.