OB in NW Las Vegas- Open book here and on a budget
- Thread starter deric203
- Start date
HOLY COW!!!! Don't live in the city. (Anybody that lives in Las Vegas and Unincorporated Clark County understands). I live far outside of the City of Las Vegas. Very far away from the city. Like, up against the mountains with pig farms, horse ranches, wilderness. But, the grandfathers of southern Nevada have had political fights over who controls what small pieces of land. My "City" property is a small little cutout in the county. I'm like a tiny island on a big county map. If I lived across the street I would be considered "County" instead of "City".
If you live in Southern Nevada (Las Vegas, Henderson, NLV) you need to live in "County". County permits are like clockwork. City?......hahaha.......Three days in the City Building office. No Counter plan checkers available. Don't know exactly when they will be available. Cause the take vacations and call in sick on a regular basis. (Really was told that by the check-in chick). No luck... Last dude says "Don't worry. I'm sending your plans to an outside vendor". DOHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! Bad idea..........
Outside Vendor has had my plans for two weeks. Meanwhile, The City has had counter checks this whole week (With counter check, you get your permit in a few hours).
I'm pulling my hair out (you should see a picture. No hair to pull) trying to get my permit.
Most current update. I told City to please let me have my plans and wet stamped engineering plan back. I will gladly pay another $259.00 to start over. I have offered to go get the plans myself if they will tell me who this phantom "outside vendor" is.
I called the city five (5) times today to check status. Every "Mother of No Organization" time I called, they gave me different answers.
"Your plans are conditionally approved except for electric"
"The vendor doesn't see your plans"
"you can pick your plans up and do a counter review" (One day permit)
"I don't think the supervisor really knows what is going on".
These are the answers I'm getting.....................Please provide emoji's
It's a small residential pool.
I will dig a hole soon.........This is why people pay a pool builder an extra $30,000.
If you live in Southern Nevada (Las Vegas, Henderson, NLV) you need to live in "County". County permits are like clockwork. City?......hahaha.......Three days in the City Building office. No Counter plan checkers available. Don't know exactly when they will be available. Cause the take vacations and call in sick on a regular basis. (Really was told that by the check-in chick). No luck... Last dude says "Don't worry. I'm sending your plans to an outside vendor". DOHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! Bad idea..........
Outside Vendor has had my plans for two weeks. Meanwhile, The City has had counter checks this whole week (With counter check, you get your permit in a few hours).
I'm pulling my hair out (you should see a picture. No hair to pull) trying to get my permit.
Most current update. I told City to please let me have my plans and wet stamped engineering plan back. I will gladly pay another $259.00 to start over. I have offered to go get the plans myself if they will tell me who this phantom "outside vendor" is.
I called the city five (5) times today to check status. Every "Mother of No Organization" time I called, they gave me different answers.
"Your plans are conditionally approved except for electric"
"The vendor doesn't see your plans"
"you can pick your plans up and do a counter review" (One day permit)
"I don't think the supervisor really knows what is going on".
These are the answers I'm getting.....................Please provide emoji's
It's a small residential pool.
I will dig a hole soon.........This is why people pay a pool builder an extra $30,000.
I thought it would be interesting keeping track of man hours on my project.
So far:
Approximately 20 hours of labor in back yard.
Me- 30 hours dealing with City!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I WIN
So far:
Approximately 20 hours of labor in back yard.
Me- 30 hours dealing with City!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I WIN
Holy Crappy City Building Department. Just got a call from the City Manager. They think the vendor will have a response on my plans tomorrow. Butttttt........I can pay an extra $95 for an excavation only permit. I can get that permit tomorrow morning.......Does this sound anywhere near normal?. Has any other owner/builders experienced this? I'm happy to pay the $95 to get going but this sounds like a Nigerian used car scam!
And silly me was thinking a New Years Eve soak in the tub.
And silly me was thinking a New Years Eve soak in the tub.
Unfortunately you are not alone and many other cities follow the same level of professionalism.
I've just about had it with the whole permit process... I'd be scared to know how many hours of my life have been spent pulling permits.
I've just about had it with the whole permit process... I'd be scared to know how many hours of my life have been spent pulling permits.
I hate to put a damper on your spirits but you've seen nothing... Consider yourself lucky.
I recall one time I had an architect in line in front of me that was so frustrated he started screaming he was going to commit suicide. He ended up running down the hall and pulled the fire alarm. The cops dealt with the rest...
I had an engineer at the counter rip my plans in half...
I've had corrections on corrections that had to be corrected to the original correctness
I've had to permit a city job for the city that the city inspected the city worker's workmanship for a city department....
That's just what comes to mind right now
I recall one time I had an architect in line in front of me that was so frustrated he started screaming he was going to commit suicide. He ended up running down the hall and pulled the fire alarm. The cops dealt with the rest...
I had an engineer at the counter rip my plans in half...
I've had corrections on corrections that had to be corrected to the original correctness
I've had to permit a city job for the city that the city inspected the city worker's workmanship for a city department....
That's just what comes to mind right now
LOL!!!!! I'll take that as medicine. Government is amazing at irritating the folks that pay the bills. I will probably live if my pool gets delayed a month or two. And, I am fortunate to live in a place that allows me the luxuries that I have . Sometimes we forget to be thankful for what we have. Good wife, healthy kids and family, pay the bills and an occasional steak on the grill. I'll keep complaining with no right to.
JUST DO YOUR JOB! Is it really that hard??? It is what you get a paycheck for! gurrrrrrrrrrrr I feel for you both! deric, just think of poor bdavis! He has to deal with it ALL.OF.THE.TIME! I think there is even one county he refuses to do any more work in due to the *fun* of permits!
ff702
Bronze Supporter
What a total disaster of “public service” that office has been. Sorry to hear it!
Sounds like you’re not too far from us, we back to BLM land. Fortunately we are county. Oh yeah, and we paid the extra for a pool builder. Lol
Sounds like you’re not too far from us, we back to BLM land. Fortunately we are county. Oh yeah, and we paid the extra for a pool builder. Lol
Questions for the contractor gurus. I finally received communication from the city plans consultant. I received a letter with required revisions. I don't think my plans would require revisions if I could have done a counter review with the city. The consultant seems to be much more picky than the city would have been.View attachment ATT00001(4).txtView attachment ATT00001(3).txt
Architectural comments are fairly self explanatory, even to me.
Electrical- "Provide the grounding, bonding and ground fault protection details on the plans for luminaries and equipment, according to 2011 NEC article 680".
What is the appropriate notation to be placed on my plans regarding this. Would this be acceptable "Grounding, bonding and ground fault protection in compliance with 2011 NEC article 680"?
Emergency shut off switch is not required for residential pool/ spa applications in Southern Nevada. I will address that in my written explanation.
Other questions for this construction novice- What is a delta and how would these revisions be shown on my construction plans?
Thanks again for members willing to share their expertise.
Digging started today. Will update with photos soon.
- - - Updated - - -
Not exactly sure why the photos of my revision letter are showing up as an attachment.
Architectural comments are fairly self explanatory, even to me.
Electrical- "Provide the grounding, bonding and ground fault protection details on the plans for luminaries and equipment, according to 2011 NEC article 680".
What is the appropriate notation to be placed on my plans regarding this. Would this be acceptable "Grounding, bonding and ground fault protection in compliance with 2011 NEC article 680"?
Emergency shut off switch is not required for residential pool/ spa applications in Southern Nevada. I will address that in my written explanation.
Other questions for this construction novice- What is a delta and how would these revisions be shown on my construction plans?
Thanks again for members willing to share their expertise.
Digging started today. Will update with photos soon.
- - - Updated - - -
Not exactly sure why the photos of my revision letter are showing up as an attachment.
- - - Updated - - -
I couldn't load the PDF letter on here. Photos of the revision letter that I had questions on. Hope it's readable.
The changes you make to the plans get circled with a revision cloud or a numbered triangle so the plan checker can quickly see what has changed.
If all they are requiring is a notation then the one you wrote above should suffice. Can't believe they wouldn't let you make those changes right there at the counter
See the revision table and clouded text below that indicates a change on the revision set of plans:
If all they are requiring is a notation then the one you wrote above should suffice. Can't believe they wouldn't let you make those changes right there at the counter
See the revision table and clouded text below that indicates a change on the revision set of plans:
Brian,
Thanks a ton. Your experience is invaluable to a lot of people on this site. Including me.
Thanks a ton. Your experience is invaluable to a lot of people on this site. Including me.
Glad to help!Not much to update. Have a hole in the ground. 23 days and counting on the permits. Appears that the earliest I will get permits is now November 22. Unless the City takes a few extra days off for holidays. Then I'm guessing the 28th.
Little bit of fun today. Got impatient and ordered the TF100 kit. Don't have a pool but have been told I now have the best test kit available. Had to play with it when it arrived.
FC 1.0
PH 7.2
CC .5
CH 350
TA 130
CYA 0
Back to work this evening so won't be able to test any adult beverages till Monday.
Pool dig took two days. Backhoe operator hated the soil. No terribly hard soil but very powdery. I'll attach a photo. Walls, steps and benches are not well defined due to the soil. Amazing to see some of the builds in the southeast. Excavations lines look like they were completed with a steak knife. I'm guessing a few extra bags of gunite for me.
Enough rambling. Off to put a lawn chair in the pool and catch up on emails.
Little bit of fun today. Got impatient and ordered the TF100 kit. Don't have a pool but have been told I now have the best test kit available. Had to play with it when it arrived.
FC 1.0
PH 7.2
CC .5
CH 350
TA 130
CYA 0
Back to work this evening so won't be able to test any adult beverages till Monday.
Pool dig took two days. Backhoe operator hated the soil. No terribly hard soil but very powdery. I'll attach a photo. Walls, steps and benches are not well defined due to the soil. Amazing to see some of the builds in the southeast. Excavations lines look like they were completed with a steak knife. I'm guessing a few extra bags of gunite for me.
Enough rambling. Off to put a lawn chair in the pool and catch up on emails.
Attachments
Deric I really hope you get the plans back soon and. Everything starts to take off. I hear the contractors are not busy and are eager for work and the weather is still in the 70’s which is great for you
Powder dirt has to be hard for them to work with. Everything kinds of slides down when they try to form it 
Here is hoping the permits come in sooner rather than later!
Kim
Here is hoping the permits come in sooner rather than later!
Kim
Lol - My father’s first job was digging pools in NY (state, not city) - when he saw pics of my pool dig he made a comment about wishing the NY soil was that nice/easy to dig and form.