Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Who's minding the store?

  • Roof trusses that are barely attached
  • Missing roof bracing
  • A missing roof truss
  • Roofs that leak
  • Cracked foundations
  • Lagoons that are poorly constructed
  • retaining walls that fall down
  • timber bridges that are in "nobody's" jurisdiction
  • Stucco that doesn’t meet minimum building code requirements (too much water; not enough cement)

Who’s minding the store? Nobody is.

In Beaufort County, South Carolina, the Office of Building Code Enforcement re-inspected more than 2,500 houses after it was discovered that they issued occupancy permits for houses where roof trusses were barely attached and were missing roof bracing, and in at least one house, even missing an entire roof truss!

When Pulte's engineer made public statements that Sun City Hilton Head's houses are "robustly constructed", but hadn't inspected said houses, South Carolina's professional engineer review board (SCDLL&R) did nothing about it.

According to a June 12, 2008 Notice of Violation of the Pollution Control Act directed by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) against Del Webb Communities Inc. (aka Pulte Homes), beginning on September 6, 2007 citizens filed compaints regarding the condition of (water quality) lagoons at Sun City Hilton Head, SC. It took more than NINE months for DHEC to issue the Notice of Violation. NINE MONTHS! And, AFTER A YEAR AND A HALF, DHEC still hasn't issued a violation order, or ordered Pulte to fix the lagoons. How long does it take to conclude that there’s a problem with lagoons that plans show should be several feet deep, but have birds walking around in the middle? Apparently, A YEAR AND A HALF isn’t long enough for the officials at SCDHEC-OCRM! Coincidentally, on the same day of the Notice, June 12, 2008, the U.S. Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency announced that four builders, including Pulte Homes, agreed to pay a civil penalties totaling $4.3 million to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act. http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jun2008/2008-06-12-091.asp http://www.usdoj.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees/Pulte/Pulte.html What a coincidence!

Who’s minding the (local) store? Nobody is. It’s a scary thought, isn’t it?


HOW THIS BLOGSITE WORKS

For the ROOF TRUSS CONNECTION STORY: in "Blog Archive" to the left, click on "2007" or click on an individual topic under 2007. (Ignore the dates--topics are not date dependent.)

For RETAINING WALL FAILURE, ROOF LEAK, COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION, AND LAGOONS: in "Blog Archive" to the left, click on on "2008" and "2009".

If you have comments, then go to http://citizensrevoltagainstpulte.blogspot.com/ . Thank you.
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"All that's necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing."
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Edmund Burke
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