8:30 and already a frustrating day

I got the stucco contract from the contractor yesterday and all looks good. This morning, I went to the permit office to pull a sandblasting permit (we need to have the place sandblasted so the stucco can be redone). I was told by an inspector that you need a permit to sandblast because there is a notification process to go through so your neighbors can close their windows and/or be prepared for noise. There is no information available about the sandblasting permit on the city's web page. (You can see this is heading in a bad direction........)

So I get to the office before they open and I'm first in line - this is going to be a breeze right!? I get to my first stop and they guy asks me "Do you have a lead test?" Huh?! It turns out I need to have all the surfaces tested for lead before we can sandblast. I have no problem with this requirement - sandblasting causes a lot of dust, and the surface will also be pressure washed before applying the stucco so this makes a lot of sense. What doesn't make sense is that there is no information on this on the city's web site! I could have and would have had this done long ago so I was ready to go when it was time to get a permit. Talk about frustrating! I wanted to give them a piece of my mind so badly! But, I have learned you must not rile the beast. Calling attention to their huge oversight would not bode well for me in the future. So we are stalled on the major work again. Not good. I am hoping that the test comes back negative. If it doesn't, we need to have lead abatement done before we can stucco.