Need help decoding a stop-work order in DC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Silly question - why did you not get a wall check?

Not my house. It’s a house on our street. It’s a huge pop-up, and I’m curious whether this will derail it.

The wall check is to confirm that the foundation is within the building restriction lines (side yard, rear yard, front yard, applicable zoning). If the builder messed up and the foundation is too close to a property line he will have a very serious problem, because potentially he could have to rebuild. It's utterly stupid to fail to do the wall check for this reason . . . our builder for our addition stopped all work until the wall check was done.

That said, the bribe to DCRA is sadly correct - if the foundation is a bit off it's likely they'll find some exception unless adjacent property owners really push the point. Although the stop-work order may make the equities less appealing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Silly question - why did you not get a wall check?

Not my house. It’s a house on our street. It’s a huge pop-up, and I’m curious whether this will derail it.

The wall check is to confirm that the foundation is within the building restriction lines (side yard, rear yard, front yard, applicable zoning). If the builder messed up and the foundation is too close to a property line he will have a very serious problem, because potentially he could have to rebuild. It's utterly stupid to fail to do the wall check for this reason . . . our builder for our addition stopped all work until the wall check was done.

That said, the bribe to DCRA is sadly correct - if the foundation is a bit off it's likely they'll find some exception unless adjacent property owners really push the point. Although the stop-work order may make the equities less appealing.

Thanks for this insight.

The stop-work order has been lifted, and based on notes in the DCRA permit database (handy tool—thanks to the PP who recommended it), it sounds like the whole thing stemmed from someone challenging the height of the structure. I guess DCRA used lack of wall check as the reason to stop work based on the assumption that the footprint had changed, which it hasn’t. While work was stopped, the height issue was adjudicated, and it is within zoning rules. So, onward and upward they go.