Massive home addition causes confusion in Fairfax County neighborhood

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For anyone interested in some background listening, the BZA is currently meeting at this moment and the live feed is available here:

https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/cableconsumer/channel-16/stream

Watching this now. I’m surprised the lawyer is allowing the homeowner to give this speech. It doesn’t apply to the zoning appeal at all.

[Anonymous]

I’m listening to the hearing and the BZA seems pretty sympathetic to the homeowner.

[Anonymous]

One thing that’s super interesting about this hearing is that it turns out the homeowner actually did use a contractor who misrepresented himself as licensed but previously had his licensed taken away for telling people they had to put down owner as contractor and pull their own permits. That’s a huge mitigating factor for the homeowner.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like the guy got taken in by an extremely unscrupulous contractor.

[Anonymous]

Exhibit A as to why you should always use a licensed and bonded contractor!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Exhibit A as to why you should always use a licensed and bonded contractor!

The contractor the homeowner used falsely represented himself as licensed and previously had his licensed revoked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Exhibit A as to why you should always use a licensed and bonded contractor!

The contractor the homeowner used falsely represented himself as licensed and previously had his licensed revoked.

There's websites where you can verify these things...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Exhibit A as to why you should always use a licensed and bonded contractor!

The contractor the homeowner used falsely represented himself as licensed and previously had his licensed revoked.

There's websites where you can verify these things...

Also, the first time H.O. was asked, he said Soto represented himself as an architect and something else, not a contractor. Only when asked a third time later did he claim Soto misrepresented himself as a contractor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Exhibit A as to why you should always use a licensed and bonded contractor!

The contractor the homeowner used falsely represented himself as licensed and previously had his licensed revoked.

There's websites where you can verify these things...

Also, the first time H.O. was asked, he said Soto represented himself as an architect and something else, not a contractor. Only when asked a third time later did he claim Soto misrepresented himself as a contractor.

I don’t think that’s quite right. He said all along the contractor described himself as a licensed architect and engineer and also a contractor but didn’t specify licensed contractor. The homeowner always said the contractor represented that he was a licensed architect and engineer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Exhibit A as to why you should always use a licensed and bonded contractor!

The contractor the homeowner used falsely represented himself as licensed and previously had his licensed revoked.

There's websites where you can verify these things...

You still can’t make a material misrepresentation of fact. That’s fraud and also a crime (when it comes to misrepresenting that you’re a licensed professional). Not everyone (especially immigrant families) has the same sophistication as you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Exhibit A as to why you should always use a licensed and bonded contractor!

The contractor the homeowner used falsely represented himself as licensed and previously had his licensed revoked.

There's websites where you can verify these things...

You still can’t make a material misrepresentation of fact. That’s fraud and also a crime (when it comes to misrepresenting that you’re a licensed professional). Not everyone (especially immigrant families) has the same sophistication as you.

Someone from the county just mentioned homeowner failed to do due diligence on the contractor. So, clearly that is expected at some level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One thing that’s super interesting about this hearing is that it turns out the homeowner actually did use a contractor who misrepresented himself as licensed but previously had his licensed taken away for telling people they had to put down owner as contractor and pull their own permits. That’s a huge mitigating factor for the homeowner.

The HO is shady. If he thought he was using a legit contractor, he should never signed the permitting paperwork with that he was contractor. He certified that he was the contractor in all the permitting paperwork. Not buying is naive persona

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thing that’s super interesting about this hearing is that it turns out the homeowner actually did use a contractor who misrepresented himself as licensed but previously had his licensed taken away for telling people they had to put down owner as contractor and pull their own permits. That’s a huge mitigating factor for the homeowner.

The HO is shady. If he thought he was using a legit contractor, he should never signed the permitting paperwork with that he was contractor. He certified that he was the contractor in all the permitting paperwork. Not buying is naive persona

Not everyone has the same sophistication or experience as you. It takes most of us learning our lesson the hard way to start checking things like that.

[Anonymous]

Wow, Courtney seems awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thing that’s super interesting about this hearing is that it turns out the homeowner actually did use a contractor who misrepresented himself as licensed but previously had his licensed taken away for telling people they had to put down owner as contractor and pull their own permits. That’s a huge mitigating factor for the homeowner.

The HO is shady. If he thought he was using a legit contractor, he should never signed the permitting paperwork with that he was contractor. He certified that he was the contractor in all the permitting paperwork. Not buying is naive persona

Not everyone has the same sophistication or experience as you. It takes most of us learning our lesson the hard way to start checking things like that.

Please. This isn't someone fresh off the boat with no English. Dude was just trying to get this done as cheaply as possible.