Ask the Architect

Is there no end to the hassle?

Posted

Q. Our construction never seems to end. It’s been three years since we started renovations and built a second-floor rear addition. We thought we did everything right; we read your column and followed your advice, getting plans, interviewing contractors, getting permits, etc. We love the design, and even though it took way too long to finish, we’re generally happy with the outcome, but the struggle of every twist and turn was something we wish we could’ve been better prepared for. There was so much that nobody, not even you, warned us about. Live and learn. Well, we’re down to the last details of getting our permit signed off and now we find out our property doesn’t drain correctly (never did), and we have to rehire a surveyor just to add notes. We finally got our plumbing and our electrical inspected, and now this. Ugh! Why is everything so difficult?

A. The drainage issue you’re referring to is part of your municipality’s requirement that when you do more than 50 percent work to your home, either by dollar value of the work compared with your home’s taxable value or by percentage of square feet compared with the rest of your home, you have to go on record as a “new house.” Rules are rules, and you have to meet the latest code. There are exclusions, and your home, as I investigated, meets the exclusion loophole because it was built before early 1955. After that date, the code was written to require that you couldn’t drain into your neighbor’s property and that the land must slope to the road adjacent to your site. Your surveyor has to add that statement to your survey.

What I wonder is why the governing authority, which has the documentation about your home’s age, couldn’t look the information up and add it to your survey with a stamped statement instead of making you rehire your surveyor at the 12th hour. It feels like rubbing salt in a wound to wonder if you’ll ever see the light at the end of the tunnel, but you’ll eventually make it to the promised land and be able to say there’s no place like home.

People often tell me they wish they’d just gone ahead and built first and asked questions later, which, if you did, would be a big mistake, since everything you went through could be less scrutinized, possibly under-structured, unsafe and, worst of all, unable to ever sell without major rebuilding to comply with the law. Three clients I’m trying to help have hired us to get them out of this kind of mess, and in each case, summonses have been issued, demolition of sections will be required, all the other things you went through will still have to be done, but add court dates, lost wages, fines and aggravation, then pat yourself on the back that you’re doing things the right way. Good luck!

© 2016 Monte Leeper. Readers are encouraged to send questions to yourhousedr@aol.com, with “Herald question” in the subject line, or to Herald Homes, 2 Endo Blvd., Garden City, NY 11530, Attn: Monte Leeper, architect.