A.
I wish I could help you. You're not alone. But the person you should blame is Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve. Every time he speaks lately, interest rates drop or hold steady. With the cheap price of borrowing money, people are improving their homes instead of selling them. That translates into building permit applications for those who build legally, flooding your building department with more than it's equipped to handle. The building department in your town is overwhelmed with applications, causing delays.
The rule about permits and the time allowed to pick them up, once they're approved, has only recently been enforced. Is it right? No. But unless management develops a more fair policy, prodded by you, the voter, things will probably remain the same. Only your elected officials can affect policy by looking into the matter to understand what happens to people, their real-life situations, and the problems caused by seasonal weather delays and building department delays. Otherwise, if you choose to argue with the staff of your building department, you might as well just pick a contractor whose insurance forms you can turn in, then pay the penalties on the other end for extending your permit and resign yourself to not working things out to your satisfaction.
After several attempts to reason with people, I got nowhere, either. I did get the explanation that I should know better, which was followed by, "Rules are rules." Condescending answers, but little or no advice on how your problem or the problem of the many people in your situation can be resolved. You may not be happy with this cold truth, but overwhelmed building departments just don't seem interested in your plight. I repeat, you are not alone. This problem happens to many. As long as you keep writing checks, they're willing to work with you. According to all of the people I contacted on your behalf, you must understand that there are time conditions with building applications and that a permit must be picked up or it will be destroyed. Your issues of bad weather, or how long they took to review your application, or how many times you called and were put on hold, don't seem to matter. I wish I could do more to help you. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
Readers are encouraged to send questions to: HERALD Homes379 Central Avenue, P.O. Box 220, Lawrence, N.Y. 11559-0220Attn: Monte Leeper, architect.
