Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Surprise Costs (Who Knew?)

Apparently there are "hidden" costs in my city when it comes to fences.  Everything is taken care of and it will be finished tomorrow.  While I talked to the guy today he mentioned one thing I wasn't aware of.  After the fence is installed, the city will send an inspector to make sure it's done right and up to code.  OK, I knew that part.

The part I didn't know, "Since part of your fence faces the street, you must line the front of your fence with evergreen shrubbery to obscure the view of the fence."  Yeah, this is right up there with the fact that I can't keep my trash can against the side of my house because it's visible from the road.  It's insane and stupid but the city inspector won't check off on the fence unless it's there.  Apparently, once it's passed inspection, I could rip the plants out and never have them there again without any consequences but they have to be in place according to the codes and this is when they check/enforce that code.

So, tonight it looks like I am going to be shopping for a shrubbery!


Head Knight: We shall say "Ni" again to you, if you do not appease us.
King Arthur: Well, what do you want?
Head Knight: We want a shrubbery!!

5 comments:

  1. Yeah, I know. It's just absolutely stupid sometimes. And this is the same town where the people on my street had to complain for 14 months before the city removed an abandoned van (with 4 flat tires) from a driveway at a foreclosed house.

    Yeah, that took forever to resolve but have your trash can visible from the street between trash days and risk a fine. Have a plainly visible fence, no signing off on your inspection!

    It's not like the fence won't be obvious. It's not like a small 3-gallon plant every 3-4 feet is going to completely fool anyone looking at my house.

    I can see it now, a visitor to my house walks out the back door, "Oh, you have a fence! How come I couldn't see it from the road?" LOL

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  2. Well, another $42.11 sunk into the fence. That wasn't all on the plants. I got a couple decorative rocks to line places where the fence isn't below the ground so the dogs don't dig under it. And a couple squares of sod to fill those little gaps too. Anything to discourage the dogs from digging it up.

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  3. My uncle had to tear down the deck around his pool and rebuild it because it was 3/4 inch to short!

    Hope everything else goes well

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  4. Monty Python came out when I was in high school, it still makes me laugh. Like the fence, hate junipers, they smell lie cat pee!

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