Park county govt forcing people out of their homes.

mtntrekker is right, if you get on "the wrong side" of the building inspector, you may never see him again or wish you had never met him to begin with.

I think the part that most people are missing is that there are professionals out there you can hire...please people start railing about the vehicle repair inspections....bad repairs kill all the time and we apparently could care less.

You aren't serious are you?

There are no bad guys out there that will take your money and do horrendous work. Yeah right!
I wonder how many people have died in fires because their electrical was not installed to code?
I wonder how many people have suffered serious injury do to a deck or building collapsing because it was not up to code or inspected.

http://www.hgtv.com/holmes-on-homes/show/index.html

Do the research....places without codes have little to no issues, more rights and more opportunity.

I would certainly like to see a link to your research.

I see nothing wrong with a code. Codes are the minimum and you would often do better to have your house beyond code in some areas.

As far as people buying homes not up to code, what happened to inspections? Most mortgage companies require them now. Those things would have been found by reputable inspectors, and I'm not talking about the gov. inspectors.

Then, you're covered if the inspector didn't do his job properly, as well.

Some of the problem is that inspectors aren't licensed here. I prefer that buyers use a structural engineer, licensed electrician or plumber depending on the systems being inspected.
Problem is that some buyers don't want to pay for the extent of services they actually need. Also, in the event the place doesn't "inspect" properly, they will have to walk away without recovering that expense (which is way cheap compared to the cost of making a big mistake), so there's a certain degree of "see no evil" taking place, they don't really want to know.
Finally, some people are sure they're expert at everything and refuse to acknowledge they need help inspecting a place they're intending to buy.

I used to be a home builder back in the late 80's and my brother is still a home builder today. I am now an engineer and have worked as a building inspector for municiple projects. My brother has been in the home building business over 30 years.

We remember when the building code inspection started in Park County. I remember when a simple sketch on an 8.5X11 paper could get you a building permit in Park co in about 1 hour. Most of the houses there were probably built before the advent of building inspections. While some buildings were built below what would be acceptable back then - most people building their own houses wanted a good house to be built for themselves.

I'm going to have to take the side of the original poster here. Building codes and inspectors do not exist to protect the homeowner. Inspections required at the sale of a home by the lender - do not exist to protect the homeowner. In fact, none of all those regulations exist at all to protect the homeowner - or a prospective new buyer.

The lender requires the inspection in order to protect the LENDER. The county requires building inspections for one primary reason - in order to assess the value of real improved property. The definition of "assess" is to Evaluate or estimate the nature, ability, or quality of.

The reason to assess the property is so that they can tax it. And there you have the whole justification for building codes and building inspections. they have been sold to the public as protection - but they only really protect government and banks. If any homeowner reaps any safety or protection, is was secondary to the primary reasons.

Back where my grandparents lived in Missouri - there were never any building codes until about 5 years ago. All of the houses built older than 5 years ago were built without any codes or building inspections. People knew what good building was - and if they didn't - they hired someone who did.

98% of all the houses never had any issues - they were fine homes. Many of the hill folks back there just built their own place, quality varied depending on personal standards and the owners financial ability.

It was the homeowner's responsibility to know or pay for someone to know.

After all the codes & regulations, the time it takes to prepare construction documents and submit them for review, the waiting for approval, the inspections, the additional requirements and the massive cost increases - the story is still the same today - buyer beware.

Today's regulations and code requirements go far beyond just safety issues. They add many 10's of thousands of dollars to the cost of a new home. The county building department have run amok and add new regulations every year making homes less afordable for middle class buyers.

Insurance companies - Fire departments and other government bureaucracy play an ever increasing role influencing building departments to add more regulations and stricter codes.

Here's a few examples from Jefferson county I know of in the last few years...

A homeowner wants to add a 10K deck but finds out that his driveway no longer meets code. The cost to widen his driveway - 22K. that's 32K for a 10K deck! The homeowner has not built the deck - he can not afford it. Somewhere, a carpenter is out of a job.

A homeowner wants to add a bedroom for his new daughter - but after submitting plans and talking to the building department, they will not issue a permit unless he replaces his septic system with a new 1500 gallon system and new leach field. His 15K bedroom just turned into a 37 thousand dollar job.

The little girl shares a bedroom with her sister and no local jobs were created because the guy cant afford it. His septic system still works great with no problems.

A guy wanted to add a living room - but found out that every tree within 50 feet of his house has to be cut down (a new building regulation imposed by the fire department). This would ruin the character of his 100 year old property and cost about 10K. No work for the construction guys there.

Over and over - I hear stories like this. Realtors, builders and other tradesmen should push to reduce these kinds of regulations if they want to keep making a living, because it's getting worse.

This year- will be the first year that Jeffco requires a "contractors license" to do business in Jeffco. The cost is a few hundred dollars to start - and it will go up every year. A builder like my brother has to maintain about 8 of these licenses for every city and county he wants to work in. the cost this year is about $2,800 - a cost he must pass on to his customers.

So you want to know why things cost so much more now? - Ask your local building department. It's not just material and labor any more!

More and more - we even have to ask permission to improve our own property - and they can so many requirements that it can be un-affordable to do so. We have lost so many property rights. We all want to think that government is the answer - but it is not. Personal responsibility is the answer, and we have to get back to that.

Per your example, the code for the driveway is to ensure that fire and safety emergency vehicles can get through the driveway in the event of an emergency and to ensure that runoff from your driveway does not damage your neighbor's land, it is not simply to drive up the cost of the housing. The requirement to improve the septic and leech field is that the existing system was not designed to accommodate a larger household than the original design. The old system simply can not safely process more sewage than the number of individuals who normally would occupy a larger house.

The opportunity always exists to request variances from the permits if there are legitimate reasons for doing so.

These regulations play an important function in ensuring the safety of the occupants and that of their neighbors. Contractor's licenses are a great improvement. It ensures that the contractor's will maintain a certain level of professionalism that is sorely lacking in many of the so-called contractors that take advantage of many homeowners.

These regulations play an important function in ensuring the safety of the occupants and that of their neighbors. Contractor's licenses are a great improvement. It ensures that the contractor's will maintain a certain level of professionalism that is sorely lacking in many of the so-called contractors that take advantage of many homeowners.

You can believe whatever you want to believe, but it's killing the home improvement business in our area. None of those requirements existed 20 years ago and there very few problems. All those regulations don't play as important of a role as you think they do - and every home is a different story up here.

My brother will not be a better builder as a result of the new contractors license, it will only cost him more money - money he has to pass on to the customer. Hire a good contractor and he does not need a license. A license does not make a contractor any better- just costs him more money.

The licensing of contractors will get rid of those who have no business or who are not attentive to their customers. If homeowners feel that they have been victimized, they will have the opportunity to go after the contractor's licenses and livelihoods, so yes the contractors will be doing a better job. If your brother is a decent contractor, then he should be happy so not to be competing against those who do slipshod work and take advantage of homeowners.

I am learning a lot here. Have to say BearMtnHIB...Many of your arguments are valid.
My husband is a contractor and you are right....Just because he gets a permit doesn't make him better. He is already good because he wants to be.
Somethingthedogsaid.....I disagree that licensing will weed out bad contractors. They will always find a way around it.
Carry on...Interesting read.

Yes - there's a good sounding reason for every single one of those newer codes, regulations and requirements, but I'm here to tell you that it's driving up the price of building a home, improving a home - even stops homeowners in their tracks from dong it themselves.

The overall affect is way more negative than positive.

The bad guys always find a way around - they won't pull a license. Again - we are falsely thinking that the contractors license protects the homeowner. Some bad contractors will get the license and continue to rip off homeowners. If they lose it - they will start a new business or get the license under a different name.

This license affects almost any construction trade - including my neighbor who builds rock walls.

What I'm saying is that many many good homes were built before all of these codes and regulations. A few bad ones were built too.

Now - many many good homes are built, and a few bad ones too. Now it all just costs alot more.

Sometimes I wonder how anything got built without all this regulation - how did those settlers do it with the government telling them what to do and can't do.


Buyer beware - it is your responsibility to know what you are buying, not the governments responsibility. Pay for a good inspection if you are clueless. If you don't want the inspections - don't get them. It should be our choice.

When I bought my place - I refused to pay for the inspections. I inspected everything and I knew exactly what I was buying. I knew where the problems were and had them fixed.