The Dumpster Police

I'm not sure if there is an actual "First Rule of Bureaucracy", but if there is I'm sure it's something like, "Job security is directly proportional to the number of stupid new rules you can dream up."

We started another new custom home last week.  We're to the point now of putting up the perimeter silt fence (to please the Federal bureaucrats at the EPA*) and bringing in the trash dumpster.  Now we find that we must have yet another permit, this time to bring a dumpster onto our property, something we've been doing for years.

It seems this large Dallas-area suburb now wants us to declare what's going in the dumpster.

Me:  "Uhh....trash, Sir!"

City Dumpster Police:  "What kind of trash?"

Me:  "Construction trash, Sir!"

City Dumpster Police:  "Specifically, what kind of 'construction trash'?"

I'm so tempted to say, "Scrap lumber, plywood, roofing, cardboard boxes, Jimmy Hoffa's body, leaking barrels of toxic DDT, old bloody wound dressings from the illegal AIDS clinic next door....you know....the usual."

*Speaking of the parasites in Washington, did you know I have to pay a 3rd party inspector to come and check our "storm water runoff mitigation compliance" twice every month and within 24 hours of every 1/2" rain, at a cost of $75 per visit?  (You can "self inspect", but they'll hang you if you're audited.)

This adds about $1,500 to the cost of every home I build, yet another example of why homes cost so much.  IMO we have way too many people doing similar unproductive tasks that add absolutely nothing to our economy.  They make a living, a very good living I might add, by leaching on to those who actually produce something of value.  

Just sayin'.

S

Once I thought I wanted a career....

....but now I realize all I want is a paycheck.


Is it just me or has life become dramatically more difficult in recent years?  Thirty *cough, cough* years ago when I became a homebuilder it was actually fun.  I began in sales and did reasonably well, watched and learned "how-to" build homes, and finally joined with my brother in our fledgling family business.


Back then a contract was one side of letter-sized piece of paper.  Then it went to two sides of a legal-sized piece of paper.  Today it's 28 pages long.  We have to follow rules by OSHA, EPA, HUD, Fed banking regulators, Storm Water Run-off regulators, city mandates, state registration, etc, etc....Oh, and of course, the IRS.  And insurance audits, too.  Actually building the home is the EASY part today!


And homebuyers....*biting tongue*.  They see something online and tell me, "That's what I want!"  Except it won't meet current building codes.  Or it features a product made by a local artisan in Vermont and isn't available here, and I don't dare order it sight unseen and with no local support....but that isn't what my customer wants to hear.  They just think I can walk into Home Depot and buy 'em by the case. And they want me to negotiate a super-cheap deal on their behalf, but then quibble over my margin.


Please don't misunderstand.  I am SO grateful the Good Lord has given me work during these tough times.  I'll work diligently as always, but like that old B. B. King song says, "The thrill is gone."  I don't want the thrill to be gone.  I'm just not sure the thrill-kill genie can go back in the bottle at this late date.


S