"You should....."

I am so sick of these words! It's funny too because they usually come from someone who has never remodeled anything, much less remodeled anything in our city. For example, one person recently advised me "You should make the inspectors put things like that in writing." What I said: "I tried. Twice by email with no response and once in person by requesting. This happened with two different inspectors." What I thought: Do you think I'm stupid? I mean really, do you? Do you think I haven't thought of this most basic idea?

It is so frustrating to talk to people who have no idea what they are talking about and insist on giving me unsolicited advice. It would be like me telling a football coach how to improve his game when in fact I've never even played on a team. One person "advised" me that instead of spending my time and effort fixing the problems I should launch a media campaign against the building department of my city. Huh? Yeah, that will get my house livable. He assumed because he didn't know how bad they are that nobody does. In fact it is so well known (among people who have reason to know) that many building professionals will not work in this city or will charge a premium. Even if I could get the media interested, it would take months and even if the building department improved, it wouldn't finish my house or benefit me any time soon. I consider it the responsibility of every person to do something to improve the world and I am content with my contribution. Fixing the building department is not my cause of choice.

People are also very quick to suggest the lawsuit route. At minimum, lawsuits take huge amounts of time, and there is no guarantee that you will win or even advance your cause. Just the process of finding a lawyer takes a long time. They also cost money unless you can find someone to find a way to sue for money and is willing to do it on contingency. Again, I could have the problem fixed in a few weeks for what a lawyer would cost just to open the case.

I love it when someone with no knowledge of remodeling tells me they wouldn't stand for something. Ha, ha... I laugh inside. You have no idea..... the problem is when you oppose the great behemoth of my city's building department, you don't win. Ever. In fact, you spend big dollars and lots of time, lose anyway and still don't have your house fixed. Yes, it is terribly unfair, and I would be perfectly justified in fighting city hall, but what's the point? The other problem with this theory is that there is always a range of answers to even the most simple code question. The answers range from something that costs very little in time, money and effort to something that costs a great deal of all three of these things. If you provoke the behemoth, you get the latter answer. If you roll over and submit, you have a good chance of getting away with one of the lesser options. I'll take my chances and accept the injustice.