Well we are due for salt today! Texted today asking what day they will be bringing the salt and starting the SWG. No word back of course. And I did text him last week as a reminder about salt this week.
Also no word on the light...still sitting on my decking. Absurd. I'm going to give them until the end of next week and then I think it is time to write to the MHIC (Md Home Improvement Commission) and file a formal complaint. I'm sure that will get them moving.
I'd really like to have my final inspection before the first snow for crying out loud. And part of me is dreading the fact that something may not pass and that will extend my excruciating time having to work with this PB. Oh will it ever end?
It's been a while since I posted and I'm not sure anyone is still following but if you are and you guessed that my pool light would be installed on October 25th then you are a winner!!
What a nightmare. I texted the PB on August 22 asking when it was going to get done and I received a response saying that they were getting to the punch list items in the next week. First of all, installing the light isn't exactly a 'punch list' item is it? I call that part of building the pool. Then 8 weeks go by. I finally emailed them on 10/18 asking when they were going to get this stuff done. No response. So I texted them the next day and told them that if they have ANY intention of finishing my pool then they needed to let me know ASAP. I got a phone call a few minutes later. I told the PB I was going to the MHIC and then they were all like 'No, you don't have to do that! I'm going to take care of everything next week, you have my golden promise'. Then he told me he would call me on Monday 10/22. Never heard from him. I then texted him again on Tuesday and got a reply saying they would be there on Thursday 10/25. They did actually show up and now the anchors for the b-ball hoop and hand rail are installed and they were able to break free whatever obstruction was in the conduit and pull the light. Both anchor jobs were done very poorly in my opinion in that they didn't even use a circular masonry drill bit to cut nice clean holes in the pavers but rather they squared them off. Not happy but I'm just so glad to be nearly done with these people.
I also finally ordered my cover and it is in and will be installed on 11/8. I've been so nervous about the timing of everything because I still don't even have final permits signed by the county and not a single peep from the PB about even scheduling those. So I called the county myself this morning and spoke to the head inspector. I have 2 permits outstanding...one electrical and one building (pool). He said I could close the pool no problem and that that wouldn't interfere with either inspection. So I scheduled them myself!!
Electrical inspection on Thursday and building on Friday. Now of course I'm nervous that something won't pass. I watched as they installed the b-ball hoop anchors...and they did pull in the bonding wire that runs around the pool. The wire just feeds through a clamp in each anchor. I didn't watch them do the hand rail anchors but I assume it was a similar situation. But I was wondering how the inspector knows that they are truely bonded. Don't they need to see that? Ugh, if they tell me that on Thursday, I think I'm going to need to be hospitalized!!!
You can use a multi-meter to see if they handrails are bonded.
Is this something that they will do during the final electrical inspection?
The status for the permits already signed wouldn't give me any info on this since they just did this week before last. You can go online and check status in FC, but it doesn't go into detail. I was just wondering if they in fact do this testing as part of their checks. I would think they would otherwise, how could they know if everything is properly bonded, right?
I heard back from the county and final electrical inspection is scheduled for Thursday and final building inspection is Friday. I'll be there so I will ask the inspector about this.
Once all is resolved you have a nice relaxing swim season to look forward to...
The ladder was supposed to be in before they did the initial inspection on the previous electrical/bonding inspection. If he sees the Mickey Mouse hole they made for those he might ask.
The build process (even the tail end) is frustrating without a doubt, I feel for you.....also looking forward to getting all this stuff knocked out! Here I am on November 5th and still working on hardscaping, haha... :-(
The build process (even the tail end) is frustrating without a doubt, I feel for you.....also looking forward to getting all this stuff knocked out! Here I am on November 5th and still working on hardscaping, haha...
...And my fears about the b-ball hoop and hand rail anchors have come to pass. The electrical inspector just left and I have a piece of paper with a big fat FAIL on it.
I'm so frustrated and spitting angry at this PB now!!! Why wouldn't they know that they would have to leave the anchors exposed for the inspector to see the bond wire attached to them? This just boggles my mind!!!!
The inspector did say that if the PB wants to meet him here with a multi-meter he could use that attached to both the anchors and the bond wire to pass it that way. After he left I called to tell my husband what happened. It turns out that my husband HAS a multi-meter but the inspector had already left. Now I wonder if I should just re-schedule with the inspector and use my husband's meter and not even bother with the PB?
So so so many words not appropriate for this forum coming out of my mouth right now!
Ugh is right!! The PB is supposed to be doing all of this! I just did it because they seem to be MIA again and I wanted to close my pool!! He did check the light so I'm glad I didn't have it covered yet.
I know those things are bonded because I watched the guys pull in the bonding wire and run it through the anchors. But we will definitely check with the meter tonight before we call the inspector back. And I completely understand things from the inspector's point of view. He has to know they are bonded before signing off.
Also another interesting tidbit from the inspector....he says there should have been an initial building inspection but he didn't find one on file. I asked what that means for me and he said since the pool is already built and will have a final inspection that they would probably just waive the initial inspection. I think the only thing they really look at is if the pool is within the offsets of the septic and within the property lines, etc... But it is weird that he doesn't see that on file because I distinctly remember the PB telling me that the county told them they had to mark off not only the pool but also install stakes to mark off the septic field, which they did. And I'm sure I remember them telling me that they couldn't start the dig until they had that inspected. I wonder if it was done, but somehow didn't make it into the computer? Oh well, I'm not going to worry about that now.
He also said that's he's been hearing a lot lately where the PB's are telling homeowners that it was their job to get all the permits and inspections! I have that in my contract that those things are the responsibility of the PB. But if I can bypass them to get this finalized, I'm inclined to do so.