That expense (dump fees) has pretty much taken me out of buying and remodeling foreclosures here. Dump fees are beyond ridiculous here, to the tune of $100 a PU truck load (if not more). Dumping construction material is now 2x the cost now over 'plain garbage'. When I re-roofed my house in California, it was $20 a PU load at the dump for asphalt shingles. Concrete and dirt were free to dump as they needed that stuff to tamp down the trash with. Not so here. I take as much stuff as I can to the Habitat ReStore and/or post stuff for free on CL. In San Diego we just left the construction debris out in the yard at night with a FREE sign and it was gone the next day, usually taken south of the border for building materials in Mexico. Naily 2x4s, broken doors and windows, broken furniture... all gone the next day, like magic.
Permit fees are another issue, and the time to get the permits approved. Also the subsequent increase in property taxes from permit work are ridiculous. They are just waiting there salivating down at the tax office every time I go to the 'fancy new modern bazillion dollar facility' county permit office to file for or pick up approved permits. My garage replacement here incurred a WHOPPING $35,000 increase in property value, almost as much as the house itself. I protested, as it only cost me $10,000 to build. Its a one car garage, attached to a $40,000 mobile home for Ch***t's sake. WTF? No way I can sell this place for what they have it valued at.
Government = malignant metastasized evil entity... endlessly growing to devour everything and everyone in its path.
