# 40 Years Ago



## conarb (Jun 4, 2017)

I saw in the paper today that a home I built 40 years ago is for sale, I bought 44 acres and subdivided it into 4 sites, two 3 acre, one 11 acres and the rest one 27 acre lot.  No environmentalist challenges, no design review, I permitted this and an adjoining house in about a week, each permit and associated fees ran about $300, I built this house for about $375,000 using all union labor, on inspections the inspector was a friend so I scheduled inspections at noon so he could sign me off and then I'd buy lunch. One thing I remember about this house was I had a "liberal" tile setter named Herbie who couldn't keep his mouth shut, we were voting for Prop 13 at the time and he kept telling us: "Just wait, you think you are going to reduce your taxes, the government is going to get their money out of you somehow, the next you know you will go to get a permit to build a house and your fees will be in the thousands instead of the hundreds."  Herbie was right.

The house looks much the same, original aluminum single pane windows, same cabinets, the countertops have been changed from tile to granite, and a shop building in the back has been converted to a guest house, it had underground gas tanks by the shop building that have been removed.  *Contrast this house* with what we have to put up with today, years of meetings, plan checking, and other BS, there were no seismic requirements, I just used let-in braces with no sheathing.


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## steveray (Jun 5, 2017)

And a loaf of bread was $0.35.....Everything costs 10x more now....Your Cali crap is just crazy, I believe that I have a decent builder around here and his costs are around $125 a square foot including fees, building, and site.


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## cda (Jun 5, 2017)

""I built this house for about $375,000"""

And it cost $3,880,000 now???

Have permit costs risen the same amount?


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## conarb (Jun 5, 2017)

cda said:


> ""I built this house for about $375,000"""
> 
> And it cost $3,880,000 now???
> 
> Have permit costs risen the same amount?



Yes, permit (and associated fees) costs for a house like that now are about $100,000, and another $100,000 for special Inspections and you have $200,000 total fees, $300 in fees then would be $3,000 in fees now had they gone up 10X, but the big increase is the costs being driven through the roof by code requirements, no seismic requirements and the house has survived 40 years through several earthquakes with no damage, no fire sprinklers and the house sits on a wooded hillside, I did install concrete tile roofs for fire protection, but the walls are redwood bevel siding with no sheathing, interiors are 5/8" Sheetrock over code 1/2"


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## mark handler (Jun 5, 2017)

cda said:


> ""I built this house for about $375,000"""
> And it cost $3,880,000 now???
> Have permit costs risen the same amount?



National average wage indexing series, 1951-2015
*Year* *Index*
1968 5,571.76
1969 5,893.76
1970 6,186.24
1971 6,497.08

2016  average college grad salary of *$50,556

Yes, costs have risen*


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## conarb (Jun 5, 2017)

Everything the government does costs way more than private enterprise, we have a filthy train system here, the employees seem to be going on strike every few years shutting it down:



			
				East Bay Times said:
			
		

> Giving new meaning to the term “filthy rich,” three BART janitors racked up a combined $365,000 in overtime pay last year by cleaning up some of the system’s grungiest stations in downtown San Francisco.
> 
> The OT more than doubled the regular pay in 2016 for custodians Liang Zhao Zhang, who chalked up $125,573 in overtime pay, and Gapo Chan, who received $125,254 for extra hours, newly released records show. The third worker, Yui Fai Ko, pulled in $115,007 in overtime.¹



Now our crazy "Moonbeam" Governor wants a train to nowhere that will always be going on strike. 



¹ http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/06/01/three-bart-janitors-swept-up-365000-in-ot-last-year/


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## CityKin (Jun 5, 2017)

Wait, in CA you need Special Inspections for a single family house???  Don't you follow a prescriptive code like the IRC?


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## conarb (Jun 5, 2017)

CityKin said:


> Wait, in CA you need Special Inspections for a single family house???  Don't you follow a prescriptive code like the IRC?


We have lots of steel because of earthquakes, there is also epoxy bonding when we play the game of leaving parts of an old house to get it called a remodel and shorten permit time considerably.  You know, only rich people can afford new homes so we have to screw the evil rich people. Also pier drilling, everything is pier and grade beam here. Inspectors used to inspect our piers, now they want special inspectors to do it.


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## ADAguy (Aug 3, 2017)

Wa, Wa, Wa "C" time for you to retire or move to a city with flatter ground and less faults. 
Our commenter from Ohio doesn't grasp houses in California, most contain elements that require engineering.
Yes, you can still do design/build as a contractor but "inspection" is the name of the game here.
Most remaining flat land is too hot, too far from jobs or too expensive, etc. 
New SF's start at 500K and go upwards of 1mil in many areas.
Without a sizeable down your monthly nut is $$$$$


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## conarb (Aug 3, 2017)

ADAguy:

I was listening to the financial news on my car radio today, they attributed the 22,000+ stock market to Trump's reduction of regulations, I sure haven't seen any reductions in regulations here in California, I did read today that the Justice Department is going to look into discrimination in college admissions by colleges giving privileges to minorities, maybe they will look into discrimination  against people by granting privileges to disabled people. 



			
				East Bay Times said:
			
		

> In a move apparently aimed at schools with admissions programs that give underrepresented minorities, like black and Latino students, a ***** over other students with similar applications, the Trump administration is preparing to investigate and possibly sue universities that intentionally discriminate against white people.
> 
> Though California’s public universities already are barred from considering race in college admissions, experts say private colleges may find themselves under a new microscope.
> 
> ...



Nice picture of my old _Alma Mater_ at the top of the article, maybe if they can get this going we can start suing cities that grant special privileges to disabled people to the detriment of able bodied people.


¹ http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/08...-crackdown-could-affect-californias-colleges/


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## Msradell (Aug 3, 2017)

conarb said:


> ADAguy:
> 
> I was listening to the financial news on my car radio today, they attributed the 22,000+ stock market to Trump's reduction of regulations, I sure haven't seen any reductions in regulations here in California,


Face it, California is in their own world of further regulations go. Trump has greatly reduced the impact of many federal regulations but that's not going to help the problems you have in California. To cure the regulatory problems you have it's going to take an uprising by the people in your state against high prices they have to pay for everything because of these regulations.


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## Pcinspector1 (Aug 4, 2017)

conarbs first car did not have a radio!


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## ADAguy (Aug 4, 2017)

No, but it appears open to venting "hot air" and has "air" cooled brakes. (smiling)


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