As if the lack of permits & inspections is not bad enough, in some regions there is absolutely no required certification for some contractors. By example; In the state of Ohio a Commercial & Residential Plumber is required to complete a 4 year state approved apprenticeship and take a written exam to receive a "Plumbers License", but if one wants to work solely on single family or multi-family residential structures that do not exceed 3 stories in height or have more than 4 living units they can get a limited "Residential Plumbing License" directly from the county or municipality where they intend to work. To make matters even worse, in many counties and municipalities they simply do not have a licensing procedure whatsoever, and sadly, in those areas that do require a "Residential License" the procedure is at best a joke. In many cities one can go to the courthouse and declare they want to be a "Residential Plumber". The will then be required to produce a state tax number, a liability insurance policy and if they intend to hire 4 or more people they must have a workmans comp insurance policy, then pay a flat fee in the order of $125/annum and voila', they are a "Residential Plumber". The truth of the matter is that many of those people have absolutely no prior experience or training and most wouldn't know the plumbing code from the morse code, but who cares, the city doesn't require any permits or inspections anyway. Many cities have adopted a permit program, but are they really intent on checking your home for proper installation or safety? The answer here is NO. If the truth was told they have adopted permits and inspections for two reasons: 1. The permits & Inspection fees are a cash cow for the city. 2. When your new construction, remodel or addition is completed the inspector can flag the tax assessors office to come and upgrade your assessment for tax purposes. In recent years, as a result of the shake up in the banking industry in regions where they do not have strong code enforcement many banks have now hired their own code inspectors and they will not write a mortgage until the structure is signed off by their inspector. If you live in a region where they do not have good code enforcement I would suggest you discuss your concern with your banker and they may have an inspector that will work with you. The downside of using the banks inspector is that many GC's and subs will argue that the banks inspector does not have the authority to require changes. To that I would respond, if your work doesn't pass the bank inspector, I get no mortgage, and if I get no mortgage you get no money, simple as that.

My husband, 2-year old daughter, and I, were sitting behind this guy at a religious meeting, so after the final prayer, I introduced myself and welcomed him. He was with some friends of ours and it turned out that he had just met them the week before. He had been traveling with his wife and small daughter to move to another state, when a drunk driver hit them head on in the desert fog. His truck was totalled. The baby was in a car seat and was fine. His wife suffered many serious injuries and was taken to our local hospital. That's how he came to meet my friend, who had been called when people of our same religion had requested help at the hospital. Well, anyway....he was thin and stressed and trying to figure out what to do. There was no instant connection--no attraction. I invited him to dinner with us, but he declined. As it worked out eventually, the wife was air-lifted to a hospital in the city where her parents lived, where my (DH) was moving. Because of the wreck, the ensuing lawsuit against the drunken woman who had just chalked up her 4th accident while DUI, and both vehicles totalled, DH lost the job transfer to the new state. A few months later, he was back at my meeting. He had to return to fight the legal battle in person, so got a job in my town. His wife, on finding out that she was getting a nice sum as a settlement for her injuries, decided to stay with her parents, keep their daughter, and divorce him. Within another year or so, I found myself divorced about the same time his divorce was finalizing. I moved into a room for rent as a temporary measure while saving to move to California. He was renting another room in the same house. Somehow...some way.....without ANY prior notice of each other in the preceding 2 years, we became friends. A few months later.....we both moved out of the house...and into our own place as husband and wife! One of the things we both thought was funny as we began dating, was finding out that he thought I was nice to show a concern for him but he never gave me another thought. I felt bad for his situation, but he seemed to have no real personality. Until we started to really talk while living with the family that owned the house, neither had much opinion of the other. Red

Deee, We're in ARLINGTON. The real estate in Manchester is a little too rich for us. I happen to like winter. The problem with so many people is they hide from it, but people up here PLAY in it. There are snowmobile tours that can take you from Mass to Canada with stays in B&Bs and nice restaurants. And there's NOTHING like October in Vermont!!! And give me a BLIZZARD over a HURRICANE any day! I hate the summer heat though. That's why I like it up here. The average summer high is only 80 degrees. And another thing about here that even when tourists come up, the traffic is still less than 10% of the "normal" traffic in the NYC area. "Rush hour" for us is waiting for 5 cars to pass by before you can pull put onto the highway.

Wow, some of these take me back! And make me question ... :? It always irritated my Dad when we measured distance by time. "How far is it to Charlotte?" "About three hours". "I didn't ask how many hours, how far is it?" "Well I have no idea how far it is in meters, but I know it takes about three hours to get there!" (Dad was a stickler for accuracy.) Growing up in NE Ohio, we had pop, and chipped-chopped ham, and shopping carts. My mother would say "outten" the lights. Living way out in the burbs, we went "into" town, unless we went all the way to where the tall buildings were, then we were downtown. Curious about THE Puget Sound. We sail, and everyone we connect with says things like The Chesapeake and The Neuse. Maybe because the bay/river is left off? If I said I was going to Chesapeake, that's a town in VA.