deadmillion

Sooo, my neighbour is being a bit of a dick. Well, he's trying anyway. He's a "contractor" himself (though he only does small carpentry jobs, which makes me wonder if he actually has a license as a contractor ), and tried to halt work on the house because, as he claimed, the foundations the construction guys were setting up were not according to standards (and would, as he claimed, be a risk to his foundations as his house is attached to mine) and I was doing construction illegally because I didn't have a permit. His claims were false, as my (very experienced and highly recommended) contractor had made a load calculation together with an engineer, and the size of this build didn't require a permit from the city (I checked this myself). Anyway, he got on the phone with my contractor and aired his grievances, ordering the guys to stop working. One thing he didn't know, was that the guys were ahead of schedule, and couldn't go on anyway as they hadn't brought rebar with them yet . Apparantly he also called city hall, because the next morning an inspector from the city's department of construction (or whatever it's called in english) came by, right as the guys were waiting on the concrete to be delivered. I knew everything was in order, but I was a bit nervous anyway from the surprise visit. Which proved unnecessary. After the inspector checked everything, he was very impressed with the quality of the work that was done, and he confirmed a permit wasn't required. The only thing I have to do as far as the city is concerned, is send them a copy of the report/invoice from the company that drilled the piles for the foundation, to make sure they are deep enough to support the extension of the house. The inspector had no reason to expect anything wrong, as he said himself, but because they received the complaint, he had to document it. He even went as far as saying that it wasn't often he saw this level of quality in (residential) building sites he had inspected , even with projects that DID require a permit. So in short, my neighbour's an ass. And as it turned out, the joke was on him.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I am now the proud owner of a big hole in my yard, 6 steel pipes filled with concrete driven 20+ feet into the ground and a big piece of concrete. Oh, and 1 pissed-off neighbour that I didn't like already anyway. Tomorrow they're coming back to pour the floor, then later this week I'm off to the hardware store with a friend to pick up some lumber. I'll try and put up some pics this weekend of the work up to then.