Need help decoding a stop-work order in DC

[Anonymous]

How serious is “failure to obtain wall check” as a reason for a stop-work order in DC? Easy resolution or potential show-stopper? Construction is mostly done, and the house is technically not a new build; it’s a (massive, multi-floor) pop up on an existing foundation.

Thoughts from DCRA experts?

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Assuming it's in the right place, easy to remedy: get a wall check.

You sound like a nosy asshole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Assuming it's in the right place, easy to remedy: get a wall check.

You sound like a nosy asshole.

Thanks. My neighbors and I think the developer is an asshole.

[Anonymous]

Nothing a bribe to DCRA can't resolve

[Anonymous]

Every Sunday there is construction - call the hotline and report it.
Every holiday there is construction - call the hotline and report it (President's Day is coming up)

Check the permits - anything they are doing outside of permits - call the hotline.

If nothing else you can make it hard and have it cost a few more dollars for them.

[Anonymous]

https://dcra.dc.gov/service/surveyor-wall-checks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every Sunday there is construction - call the hotline and report it.
Every holiday there is construction - call the hotline and report it (President's Day is coming up)

Check the permits - anything they are doing outside of permits - call the hotline.

If nothing else you can make it hard and have it cost a few more dollars for them.

Seconding this. If they got this far, it probably means the immediate neighbors of the property are not on top of reporting. I had construction adjacent to my rowhouse starting about 18 months ago - it pays to be aggressive with the developer/contractor. In my case, we met successfully at the beginning of his project, and then he tried to do demo work on Thanksgiving Day 2016 (yep, started at 8 am and we had a houseful of guests). I was very clear that I had no problem calling DCRA to report him. For a while he tried to say it was ok, he'd just take the warning, the work had to get done, etc. But I called his bluff and 30 minutes later, he packed up and left. It set a strong precedent for the project that we weren't going to let him get away with cutting corners and we had an ok relationship for the rest of the project.

[Anonymous]

Someone on our block was doing work on a Sunday - 3 weeks later they still have the ugly red sticker on the front door.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Assuming it's in the right place, easy to remedy: get a wall check.

You sound like a nosy asshole.

Thanks. My neighbors and I think the developer is an asshole.

Why? Just curious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Assuming it's in the right place, easy to remedy: get a wall check.

You sound like a nosy asshole.

Thanks. My neighbors and I think the developer is an asshole.

Why? Just curious.

Because they took a one-story house that sits on a tiny lot and popped it up to 3.5 stories with a roof deck. It’s on a block of extremely close-set houses, mostly ranches with a few small colonials, so it looms over its neighbors.

[Anonymous]

Any chance any of the neighbors have solar? If the pop-up blocks sun, they can't do it.

[Anonymous]

FYI - you can check the permit and the reason for the hold.
"...the OZA Zoning Technician will enter a “hold for corrections” (HFC) comment in DCRA’s permitting database explaining the issue and notify the applicant...."

Once you know the reason for the hold, you will have a better sense of what the next steps will be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Assuming it's in the right place, easy to remedy: get a wall check.

You sound like a nosy asshole.

Thanks. My neighbors and I think the developer is an asshole.

Why? Just curious.

Because they took a one-story house that sits on a tiny lot and popped it up to 3.5 stories with a roof deck. It’s on a block of extremely close-set houses, mostly ranches with a few small colonials, so it looms over its neighbors.

Then you should have bought the house. You could do the same. As long as it is in their right to do it you don’t have a say in it. You can be upset but you don’t have a right to make their efforts to improve their property difficult.