Window Woes

Rain on Our Windows

Today was another day of working on the house. I repaired some of the mortar on the brick and masonry piers, finished spraying Boracare under the house, repaired some door trim that termites had long since eaten away and foamed some large gaps around my pipes to prevent uninvited critters from entering our home - although if I'm being honest, our cat is a really good mouser. At the same time my wife built some rough wood picture frames and painted the backing to the built-in that we will use to replace the old built-in backing.

But that's not the big news today. No, today I found out a little more about my window situation. If you're just tuning in, the City of Tampa is holding up a permit that I requested to build a new bathroom out of interior space, in no small part because they say we didn't have a permit to install the windows in our home. The funny thing is that they are the windows that were in the house when my wife and I purchased the house in November.

Something Fishy Going On

What's even funnier about this situation is that there was a permit issued for renovations on the house in July of last and closed on November 3rd of the same year. It also turns out that I have a copy of the MLS listing that was dated on October 13, 2017 and guess which windows were installed in that listing? Yep, the ones that are currently in the house (BTW, the picture from My First Blog Post was taken from that MLS listing).

So, the windows currently in the house were installed prior to the City inspecting the house to close the renovation permit on November 3, 2017. Let's play this back slow. A permit was issued on the home that we now own in July of 2017. On October 13, 2017 my wife and looked at the house for the first time - the MLS listing we got from that date shows the new windows on the house. On November 3rd, the City of Tampa inspected the house, closed the permit and everything was right as rain. But now the City is claiming that those very same windows were never permitted and I've now got a problem - not the developer who owned the house previously and who had the City inspect the house with the new windows installed, but me! That's our City working for the people! *sarcasm*.

Now, get this... we have not been issued a City Code violation. Nothing has been mailed to us and nothing has been left on our door. So, if there's no violation, then you might wonder how the city is holding up our permit. Well, as it turns out, THEY CHANGED CHANGED THE PERMIT REQUEST that I made for the bathroom to include both a permit request for windows and for the paving of my alley. They didn't leave a note on it or tag it or write it off to the side somewhere. THEY CHANGED IT. I can literally see that my own words in the permit request were changed. And of course, their software system Accela, won't allow me to change it back to my original (actual) request. Wow!

The Original Contractor

As it turns out, an acquaintance of mine is in the window business. He tells me that generally a specific permit is needed for windows and the problem might be that the renovation permit that was issued for the house last July doesn't cover windows. He also agrees that it's pretty darn shady that the City inspected the house after the last owner installed the windows and decided to wait until after we purchased the home to take action - our tax dollars at work, folks! But he also said that I have a couple of options (and one of them is not having the City drop it, because they won't):

1. File a permit for the windows w/sign-off from an architect and pay any additional fines (possibly up to about $300).
2. Contact the contractor who installed the windows (if you can find them) and have them make it right with the City

I'm taking option #2.

The permit that was filed in July, 2017 was filed by the contractor who did the work. And in the City's own records, it has the name of the GC who filed, the name of his company, his phone number, address and email address. The City knows exactly who did the un-permitted work! And they even inspected the property after the work was done!

Why the City is so intent on punishing owner residents and giving GC's a pass for doing un-permitted work is beyond me. It seems as though it rewards bad behavior and punishes homeowners - one almost has to wonder what the upside for the City is here. I guess you could argue they get more tax revenue since if you get tagged for un-permitted work, you could face fees 3x the standard permitting fees. I'm inclined to think it's got more to do with laziness and incompetence than malice, however.

Since I have all the GC's information, tomorrow I will be calling the GC who installed the windows on our home. I will be asking him to make it right. And if he does not, then I will post his information on this website, I will request that the Department of Business and Professional Regulation revoke his license, I will send everything I dug up today to the the City of Tampa Construction Services Dept, I will contact the developer who employed him and let him know that he funded un-permitted work, I will let my realtor know that the realtor/developer that we bought the house from did un-permitted work that we now have to correct and I will send a letter to the State Attorney's office. We'll see if the voice of reason prevails.