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So what's left to do now is to hope for the city to approve the new changes on the permit so that the installer can come back out and finish up the corrections to hopefully pass the final inspection? And if that happens within a certain period of time, then your formal complaint against him with automatically cancel itself out or you'll officially withdraw the complaint or something?
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Correct. The installer submitted a revision to the permit with the city to specify #6 wire instead of the original #4 between the inverter and SES and #6 wire instead of #2 between the combiner and inverter since that is what he installed. I believe it should get approved by the city.
Also left out of the original permit was the exact model number of the PV meter socket, so that needed to be added to the permit as well.
Once the city approved the revised permit, he said he will pick it up in the morning and schedule the inspection for the same day (you have to pick up the permit from the city and deliver it to the job site, the inspector doesn't bring it themselves). The installer said that between the time that he comes over with the permit and the time that the inspector shows up, he will work on fixing the other small items that need fixed (secure PV wires off roof under some modules, run a few PV wires through conduit on the roof, add a grounding bushing inside the DC disconnect). Then he figures the inspector will show up and pass the install. Who knows though, I wouldn't be surprised for the inspector to now be even more critical and look over everything again and find who knows what else...I'm surprised they missed the panel over the plumbing vent the first time.
And yes, if it passes, then I will call the ROC and see about canceling the formal complaint.Comment
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And if it passes the inspection, you'll perform the final workmanship check yourself for loose connectors and anything else? Does it involve removing some panels to get to connectors underneath them? How much work do you think this entails? A few hours of your time?
Or will you do the workmanship check before the final inspection?
And I assume you won't cancel the complaint with the ROC before he also passes YOUR final workmanship inspection?Comment
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There isn't much to check workmanship wise aside from the connectors, which I'll make sure are fixed prior to the inspection. Luckily there aren't many that he had to assemble and they are all easy to access without having to remove any panels.Comment
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Still waiting on the city with the permit review but in the mean time I went on the roof to check on the connectors and there are a lot of them loose, about 1/2 it seems. Some looser than others, and required a bit of pulling to see if they would move...other's required pretty light effort...but the factory made ones do not budge at all, no matter how hard you try and pull. A couple of panels will need to be removed to be able to easily replace the connectors and crimp them right. Probably best to just redo all the connections that the installer did to be on the safe side.Comment
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Spoke too soon. Permit was denied.
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Called the city and they said it was submitted without a revision summary page, so the person looking at the permit had no idea what changes to look for. You would think the installer would know how to submit a permit revision.
This is exactly why I would have preferred to just fix the items to match the permit vs messing with an approved permit, but of course my installer wouldn't listen.Comment
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I'd expect a revision summary page to be required.
OR some other method to show what was being changed. (ex. big red circle around the change)
Something so that it's clear what was changed (and why).
FWIW, I think changing the permit is the right thing to do. But if they really want to charge a significant amount like you had stated they would, then matching the permit makes sense.Comment
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And of course the installer isn't answering my call or text. I'd offer to write up the summary letter myself if it would be helpful, I live a lot closer to my city's development dept than the installer is and could have the letter to them first thing in the morning. Seems my installer is in no hurry but I'm going to go nuts if he takes 30-40 days to resubmit like he did the last two times when the permit was denied.
I think reversing the payment may be on deck.Comment
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I assume he already got paid with the barter money so it's really not in his interest at this point to close this chapter up quickly. Heck, he may even be sloppy on purpose to prolong the agony to drive you nuts deliberately, especially since you had filed a formal complaint on him. And of course he's not going to answer your text or call now either in light of the complaint.
I think you'll have to push hard to reverse the payment as quickly as possible and only reinstate payment if he passes inspection. That's the only kind of talk and leverage he'll respond to now after you've filed the complaint with the ROC on him.
And FWIW, I think the right thing to do is to focus on making changes to the permit instead of making changes to meet the original permit's specs. It's out of your control anyway which course of action he decides to take to solve the issue. Just be glad he's smart enough to take the least resistance path here to change the permit. Who knows what other screw-up may entail if he actually gets back out on-site and pull new wires to match the old permit? That'll just drag it on even more.Comment
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In reality that shouldn't have dragged it out even more, it could have been a lot quicker...the work required to pull new wires could have been done in under an hour easily, heck with wires already in place, you could probably use the old wires as a snake and just pull the new wires though replacing the old ones. This could have been done the day after inspection failed and we'd be done with the re-inspection by now.
The route of resubmitting the permit however is cheaper for him and less actual physical work...though with all the trips he has to make back and forth to the development debt, he'll probably end up spending more time than if he just had done the work.Comment
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That works probably at most places...
Works in my city too. I had to make a change on my permit, and I just made sure it was in red so that it was easy to see. For the simple change I was making it was no charge and was done in less than a minute once I got to the front of the line.
Basically they need something that makes it clear to the reviewer what changed (and maybe why it changed). Then the reviewer can do their job effectively.Comment
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