Finally Crossing our Fingers

It's been a long day.

BUT, we have our final building inspection scheduled for tomorrow. (Well, today now.)  I expect to have a few corrections -- there almost always are -- but nothing show-stopping.  And, depending on the corrections the inspector potentially wants, we may get signed off tomorrow!

We still have to get the Health Department's approval and I have a call in to them to get that scheduled hopefully for Friday.

Then, if that all goes well, we'll clean like mad over the weekend, fix whatever the Health Department needs done, get reinspected on Monday and throw open the doors at 4:00pm Monday!

Could this long process finally be *that* close to being over once and for all????

Passing Gas

It's been a long damn day.  But we're closer to opening.

We were up and out of the house at 7:00am this morning and got back home about 8:00pm.

We had a plumbing and mechanical inspection today.  Part of the plumbing inspection is a pressure test on the line.  The gas line passed inspection.  And, we passed the rough electrical inspection as well as the mechanical inspection. (That's the A/C and duct work.) Indeed.  We passed gas.

All we have left to do for the city is get the dry wall up and the finish work for the A/C and the electrical.  Then it's Final Inspection time.  And final inspection could happen as early as June 9.  (There will probably be a few issues that need to be addressed so we'll probably have a final final inspection on the 13th; which still gives us some time before opening on the 20th.)  Unless we're misreading something, this is the final Magical Hoop™ we have to jump through for our building permit!  (Thankfully, the Magical Hoops™ have stopped moving quite so much...)

We also figured out what to do with the bar wall coverings that the health department wants us to put up on the server side of the bar.  (Ok, it's not a want; it's a requirement.)  And we picked the fiberglass reinforced panels we need back there today as well.

And the final milestone passed today was we got our phone line installed!  Our Phone number:  "A.K.A. Buzz" which is pretty darn awesome if you ask me.

We're looking forward to Pride this weekend.  You'll probably see Karl and I handing out little fliers about the bar.  We would have done a float or something (Karl even toyed with the idea of just walking around with signs like those you'd see at a protest) but, quite honestly, we've had other major issues on our minds lately.

And that's today in a nutshell.

(P.S.  The posting I made earlier today was done with the voice recognition thing on my phone.  It doesn't capitalize anything and you have to speak the punctuation.  It's a little annoying but it's a little faster than the on-screen keyboard and it does work.  Mostly.)

Opening Day Fallout

Thank you all for the positive response to our opening date announcement(s) yesterday!  For the first time in a while, I became excited about the bar.

It's really been a struggle at times to make this work out.  On top of that, it's taken far longer than I had anticipated it would back in October when the discussions turned toward purchasing the building.  It seems amazingly naive now but I first thought we'd be open by February!  And we know how that worked out.

And, as it turns out, we'll be opening about three months after we got our building permit.  Had things moved a little faster with engineering and The City, and we got the permit in November like I thought we might have (and we were told) we would have opened in February.

Which brings up another positive thing.  As we get bids from contractors and the like, I've learned that my out-of-the-blue guesses on how much they'll be have been pretty darn close.  That means we've been "Under Budget" since the beginning.  (I'd still like to have a little more breathing room in that budget but what can ya do?  Especially at this point...)

We're a tad behind on our contractor schedule right now (but by only about two or three days) but I still think we're on track.  (We wouldn't have broadcast to the Interwebz the June 20 and 25 dates if we thought otherwise.)  We came up with this schedule about two weeks ago when we were trying to find an opening day so there's bound to be a few little hiccups.

Regardless, Karl's at the bar today again with (I think) the electrician and (definitely) the AC dudes.  I envy him that; one of the AC guys is kinda cute.  He even seems alright with gay folks, too.  He mentioned yesterday he saw our news story on ABC30 about the graffiti and laughed when I told him what it said and spelled it for him (F-A-G-E-T) he laughed.  So, he's cool.  Hopefully, we'll see him at the bar; regardless of whether or not he's straight.  The world needs more Cool-With-The-Gay folks.

Framing Inspection: Passed

Just got word from Karl:  The roof framing has passed the inspection.  We can move on.

Fiberglass Filled Fortifications

The City of Fresno requested (Ok, required) us to install insulation in the fire-damaged wall.  We wanted to do it anyway to help reduce utility costs so it's not a big issue.  First off, we had to rip off the old interior drywall.

Karl's been climbing the walls lately.

Both Karl and I are bemused by the rather strange pattern of studs and related bits.  But, as I mentioned earlier, the "framing" does lend credence to the belief that the bar used to be some kind of housing.  Regardless, here is the wall newly fortified with fiberglass.

Yes, the cutting of the insulation gave Karl Blisters.

"Return to The City; The Stamp of the Approver"

Our "back check" appointment with the City for the revised truss plan was a bit sooner than I had expected it to be--it was yesterday. It all went fine and we got the new stamp of approval (really.  It says "Approved") and now we can proceed.  We next need to have the roof framing contractor install the truss he should have in the first place and then get the framing job inspected and approved (there's that word again).  We're not sure yet when that will be.  Hopefully sometime this week or early next week.

Also on our agenda for yesterday was a new site plan revising the parking situation. The original site plan (which was approved) showed 19 spaces including two accessible stalls.  We had to show a "path of travel" from the accessible stalls to the main entrance.  There are rules about where that path of travel can go (which I've now become reasonably well-versed in).  Since we showed two accessible stalls, the "path of travel" had to be in front of the two spaces which put them 5 feet further out into the parking lot than the non-accessible stalls and that was just, well, weird.  (And probably would have caused some minor accidents in the parking lot.)

But, I learned after reading various parts of the building code that for the number of spaces we have in the lot, we only need one accessible stall and that the "path of travel" can be behind a person's own vehicle but not someone else's.  So, we reduced the number of accessible stalls to one, moved it back in line with the rest of the parking spaces, moved the "path of travel", reduced the total number of indicated spaces to 13 and all is right in the world.

(In practical matters, the amount of parking has actually increased from what you may remember from The Den.  The storage units are no longer sitting in the parking lot and the stage has been removed so that space is now available again.)

...Often Work Out Just Fine

Yesterday, we got the revised plans from the engineering folks.  We'll have to do some strapping to the south wall of the building to help prevent the roof from being ripped off in a tornado or hurricane (!?) but it's pretty easy.  It involves knocking off some of the stucco (but not all of it, Phew!) and having the contractor do what he was supposed to have done in the first place--demolish the old south truss and install the new one.  We'll have to add some metal strapping that is similar to the earthquake strap around your water heater tank only thicker.

On Monday, we have an appointment with The City to get the revised plans approved.  (The "Back Check" appointment.)  The correct truss should be installed sometime next week.  Should.  ("Shouldn't it have been installed weeks ago??")

I'm not sure if I should be but I'm kind of happy that Demo Guy is getting annoyed at this job.  He should have done it right in the first place, don't ya think?  Maybe he'll learn.  ("Why hasn't he learned already??")

Correcting the Corrections

We got the revised plans back from the resubmission (or whatever the real thing it's called) to the city yesterday.  There's a list of corrections.  It's a short list, but a list nonetheless.

And this whole thing is just $%@! annoying.  We were told we could get any truss company to build the trusses for us; so we did.  We found a company that would do the trusses cheaper than the company the engineering firm had recommended.  What nobody told us, though, was that we had to inform our engineering firm that a different company was making the trusses.   (If they're made to match the approved truss sheet, why does it matter who makes them???).  That omission of information is costing us time and money.

Now, we have to wait through this ridiculous and slow back check bull$#!& to have corrections made that, quite frankly, make no sense to me.

And I question the thoroughness of some of the people doing work at various places.  We were asked to move the insulation from on top of the ceiling to directly below the roof.  Why wasn't this requested during plan check and back check two to three months ago?  Why do we have to pay for this?  Who the #*&! dropped the ball two months ago??  And how many more times are we going to have to go through revisions and spending more and more money to get new things approved that should have been caught in the first place?

I'm sure I'm just ranting and raving out of sheer frustration with dealing with something I have no experience in.  But, fuck! Make it logical!

"Saving" Money

Later today, we're headed back to City Hall to pick up our revised plans because of the truss manufacturer "issue".  (We didn't know we were supposed to have told the engineering firm that we'd have someone else make the trusses.)  In the end, we spent a little more than $300 in order to save $100.

But, we learned a valuable lesson.  Ask questions like, "How much is this going to cost us if we do this?" and "Is there anything else we'll need to do if we do X?"

On the plus side, the trusses should be inspected tomorrow and be ready for a roof to be installed.

Oops Number 2

Here's another "Oops".

We were told we could have any truss company build our trusses for us.  So we found one.  They were cheaper than the others so we had them build our trusses for us.  We had the city inspector out on Tuesday to do the inspection for the roof framing.  Turns out, we needed to let the City know that we had a different truss company build the trusses than the one who was listed on the truss sheet for Plan Check.

So, we had to do another truss sheet and submit it to the City as an addendum to the plans.  We can't get the inspector back out until that truss sheet has made its way through the inboxes it needs to.  We're waiting for that to happen before we can move forward with putting the shingles on.

In the end, we could end up spending more in the addendum fees than we saved with the cheaper trusses.  It's still cheaper than having a general contractor do all this for us but is still annoying.

And Now the Screaming Starts

(No, not the 1973 gothic horror movie about a disembodied ambulatory hand that scared the crap outta me when I was about 10 or so..)

Ok.  After a week off of completing paperwork and dealing with government and related "stuff", it's time for paperwork to start again.  (Hence, the "Screaming" in the title.)

There's a whole stream of paperwork that needs to be filled out and sent to someone so they can send me back another bit of paperwork so I can then send them money.  Then we gotta contact vendors and get set up with them.  I might be jumping the gun just a bit but I wanna make sure when we're ready to open we're actually ready to open.

The Rest of the Story

Ack!  I forgot to mention a few details about Monday's visit to Fresno.

Over the weekend, I received a letter from the Health Department requesting a little more information that we had on the plans.  It didn't seem like much of a problem; just where the sinks were, the location of the floor drain, and hand sink, etc.  But I wanted to find out from them how they wanted the information.  So, Monday morning, I talked to them and they just needed the stuff either hand drawn onto the plans or on a 8.5 x 11 paper.

I expected to have to make an appointment later in the week to go over the information but the nice woman was available that afternoon.  So we, get into the car and drive down for the appointment at 2:00.

And, 45 minutes later, we walk out of there with their stamp of approval.  So we head to City Hall.  The Health Department was all we were needed so I figured we'd be able to get a building permit.

The Planning and Development Department of the City was fairly slow when we got there about 3:00 so that was good.  But, the sets of plans we had were, well, kinda mixed up.  Approval stamps from one agency on one set and only on some of the sheets in the other sets and things like that.  But, we got it all straightened out and got the City the two sets of plans with all the appropriate approval stamps they needed.

After a visit to the cashier, we walked out with our permit.

And now you know.....................................
................the rest of the story.

The $10,000 Piece of Construction Paper

Phew!

Three months and four days after we started the process with The City of Fresno to get the building permit and after spending darn close to $10,000 on various services, government fees, and probably a few other things I've completely forgotten, we have our building permit.

I feel like I can finally relax for a bit.  I can't.  But I feel like I can.

Both Karl and I have been waiting until we had a permit in our grubby little hands before we made any real construction plans.  And he's been on the phone today with the contractors that will be working first.  A/C guy, demolition guy, and the truss guy.  (No, not the truss your grandfather wore.)

As early as next week you'll begin to see some actual physical work on the bar as you drive by.

It's a great relief to finally be at this point.

Here, Karl is holding the $10,000 sheet of construction paper.

Reflections Upon a Successful but Surprising Electrical Plan Back Check on the Day of Saint Patrick

I'm not a contractor. I've never dealt with The City of Fresno from the perspective of a developer. I've never even carted so many large sheets of paper around. So the entire process of getting this building permit is, shall we say, "different" from everything else I've experienced. (And I'm told that even in the world of plan checks the Fresno ones are an anomaly for being so plodding.)

Anyway, I get to the Development department receptionist ("Hi, Joyce!") not really knowing what to expect. I don't know if I need to resubmit the electrical plans or what. I figured it was going to be a resubmission and having to deal with the front desk again. I had questions prepared about the parking situation and related things. I didn't even know what to ask of or say to Joyce. She and I talk for a bit about what I'm actually doing and she says I needed to have made a "back check" appointment. I thought to myself, "Oops" and figured I'd just go ahead and make the appointment while standing there and have to come back. No real problem. (I have learned a higher level of patience through all of this.)

But, Joyce called the guy who I would have to do the back check with and asks if he can come up for a back check. And he can and does.

So I take this huge bundle of plans into the "back check room" and meet with the guy.

Five minutes or so later, I walk out with stamped and approved electrical plans.

For a few short seconds with the guy, I thought I might be getting a building permit, too! But, I still have to wait for the Health Department's approval. Again, no big deal. (They are supposed to be done by Monday, March 21, 2011.) Even if it were later than the 21st they were supposed to be done, what's a few more days at this point, eh?

So, that's where we are now. I'll have to get in touch with the nice folks at the Health Department to find out what's going on some time today.

Plan Check Done!!

I'll post more later, but just finished with the city and our plan check is complete.  Only waiting for health deptartment now.

I Sing The Paddy's Day Electric!

Ok, so my post title is a bit of a stretch.

But, Happy Saint Patrick's Day!  (Explains the green text, eh?)

Good news on the electrical plans front.  The redone drawings are ready to pick up and I'm about to head out to Fresno to pick them up and drag them to The City.  It's just a requested-revision so I don't expect to have too much of a problem with them at the City.  The initial submission took only about three days to get returned to us so I expect about the same with this.

We'll see what happens, though...

The Lights are On....

...but nobody's home.  At least in the bar, anyway.

Over the weekend, decided on what we're gonna have for lighting in the bar.  It took a trip to Fresno to the hardware store but we got it figured.  And we'll be well below the Title 24 requirements for wattage used for lighting.  Picked out some nice LED lights along with some immensely flattering fluorescent lights.  Got a few new track lights, too.

Overall, the shopping wasn't nearly as awful as I thought it might be.  It's not that I dislike shopping it's that I didn't relish the figuring of wattages and locations and a bunch of other stuff.  But it's done.  And our electric bill will thank us, I'm sure.

So, we've sent the list to the engineer guy who should have them implemented sometime today (if not yesterday; we'll have to check on that) and then it's back to City Hall where the second-to-last Magical Hoop™ can be cleared.

(Hmmm...  If all goes well, construction may commence the week of March 28.  Cross your fingers and hope I didn't just put myself too far out on the limb there...)

Is It In?

Yep.

The electrical plans were submitted for approval yesterday.  The receptionist said it could take up to two weeks but I'm not expecting it to take nearly that long.  It's two damn pages the guy will be looking at.

I'd expect to hear back from him by say Friday, March 11.

Yep. Jinxed.

Yep.  I jinxed it yesterday.

Plans weren't submitted.  There was a bit of a, shall we say, scheduling issue.  Karl has left the house and is currently on his way to pick up plans, get confused, get things straighted out, get confuddled, get that straightened out and spend more money.

I'll either post an update later today or over the weekend.

Meanwhile, the liquor license transfer is about to be complete.  It should be ours by Tuesday of next week.  (Not that it'll do us much good at this point but it's good to have that nearly done.)

JINX!

I'm hesitant to say this.

But, <heavy, anticipatory sigh> it looks like we'll get our Electrical drawings complete and approved later today.  That leaves only the Health Department's stamp before we can get our building permit.  <crossing fingers>  I don't expect the Heath Department to have much to say other than adding a few notations about stuff they want to see.  <other fingers crossed>