New Build (Already in Progress) Mt. Airy, Maryland

Jump to latest Follow Reply
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?
 
kristmas said:
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?
Click to expand...

You can at least add the salt yourself. You only need like $75 worth. It'll take a full day to dissolve anyway so I would get it going. Use the salt they give you as your future supply. It never goes bad.
 
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!!!
 
kristmas said:
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!!!
Click to expand...

You can use a multi-meter to see if they handrails are bonded. For MC you can go online and see the full status of all inspections. Can you do that for Frederick county?
 
You can use a multi-meter to see if they handrails are bonded.
Click to expand...

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.
 
kristmas said:
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.
Click to expand...

I don't know. Nothing I had was questionable. I don't think they do any tests like that. 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.
 
Once all is resolved you have a nice relaxing swim season to look forward to...
Click to expand...

Believe me, I'm looking forward to next summer already! Thanks!


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.
Click to expand...

That's why I'm perplexed...it does seem the PB should have done the hand rail earlier so it could be inspected before the pavers went in. I will find out on Thursday and report back.
 
Last edited:
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... :(
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
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... :-(
Click to expand...

Look on the bright side, it probably won't take your builder 9 months to finish your pool! Well, minus the winter months anyway. ;)

Don't get me wrong...I know what a bumpy ride you've had. But it does seem to be moving along well now. Hopefully, you will only have plaster and start up in the spring and then smooth sailing from there on out.
 
Oh oh. I am too! And I still have gutters and soffits to go along with drains and a butt load of pavers. I figure we will be working still come Xmas. Lol

Gorilla83 said:
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... :(
Click to expand...
 
WHAT??????? I wondered the other day about you and your pool! SMH!!! At least you got their attention with the talk about calling in the big guns!

Show us how they did the holes and we might have an idea how to "pretty" them up.

Kim:kim:
 
I'll take some pics tonight if it isn't too dark out (which it probably will be) or this weekend. The b-ball ones aren't that bad and I suspect that the 'court' will be open most of the summer...it has trim pieces that go around the posts so those will look pretty good. It is the hand rail ones that are quite awkward looking and even though those will also have trim pieces (that PB still hasn't gotten) I only plan on using the hand rail when someone who needs extra help getting in and out of the pool is over (my mom). So that is the only time the trim will be on and those will likely look weird the rest of the time.

I would redo it myself but the anchor points for the rails are set in concrete and the paver placed on top. So I think it wouldn't be as simple as prying up the paver but rather chipping it out of the concrete. I suppose I could have told them to re-do it, but there are no guarantees that they would do it any better and I'm really just trying to get to the point whereby I don't have to have anything to do them any more.

On the bright side, I had a landscape designer come out a couple of weeks ago to prepare a plan to pretty up around the pool and provide us with some privacy and he called me yesterday to tell me that it is done! We lost a crepe myrtle and 3 dogwoods putting the pool in. We are going to meet him on Saturday afternoon to take a look at it. I will try to scan it and post it to see if anybody has any suggestions on that. But I'm excited and wish it was spring!
 
...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!
 
kristmas said:
...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!
Click to expand...

Ughh.... I would check the bonding first before having the inspector come out again. You can do that yourself today. Who is scheduling the inspections? For mine, the PB did all the scheduling.
 
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.
 
kristmas said:
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.
Click to expand...

How much land are you on? If it is over I think 1 acre you are required to have an engineering study which is like what the inspector described. I had to have that and it adds about 2-3 weeks to the pool permit approval. Yes, it is the first thing done.

This is all I had to have done initially....

Architectural Screening
Architectural2
Dps Zoning Review
Mhic License Review
Permit Release
Roadside Tree Law Review
Sediment Control Review2
Septic Review2 Approved
Structural1 Approved
Subdivision Develpment Review1
 
We have 1.25 acres. I have no idea about an engineering study and the inspector didn't mention anything like that.

Would the county issue a permit without the initial building inspection? Seems odd that they would.

Also, at least some of the things on your list look like they would be required before the permit could be issued.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply