Trouble with city inspector

[Danielle Cage]

Hi, so we have finished our first flip. We have a contract on the house and are set to close on Monday, 4/10.

From the beginning we have had tremendous issues with the city inspector when it comes to permits. They have gone through the house and made us repair things that were in place before we purchased that we weren't changing and have made us draw up plans for the house because they "don't have them on file at the city."

We have complied with all of their requests and had them come through today for a final walk through. On the walk through, they picked out issues that they never mentioned before during the rough inspections.

Aside from that, and the largest issue is they are making us replace the entryway cement steps because the risers are .75" too tall. We did repair to the stairs after the initial rough inspections, however the originals were in place when they first came through and the inspector never checked the height.

The inspector has been irate and moody at times before, however today literally yelled at my GC, who is simply my dad. When he was asking the inspector about the stairs today, the inspector began yelling at him, saying he didn't care about what we did and that he would withhold the certificate of occupancy. Yes. He literally yelled. It was awful.

Does anyone have any advice on how to handle this? We are set to close in three days and that is not enough time to replace the stairs. We cannot financially afford to lose this deal and these buyers. I imagine if I checked, I would find numerous complaints about this guy, but I don't have time to fight city hall.

Thanks!

Danielle

[Rick Ribeiro]

A quick fix to this problem is to apply an overlay on the concrete steps that will correct the height of the risers. As a mason I install stamped concrete overlays on structurally sound concrete all the time. If you are not familiar with the process, find a mason in the area. Avoid just using cement as it will de-laminate. Use a fortified topping with a primer that is specifically manufactured for this purpose. It will be a quick fix, and a relatively low cost solution.