May 4, 2024 • 29 mins
Dean kicks off the show with a nod to "May the Fourth Be With You," while highlighting the start of the LA County Fair and the anticipation for the Kentucky Derby. He shares updates on his own projects, emphasizing the importance of understanding contractor laws and the role of preliminary lien notices in protecting homeowners. Dean also recounts a memorable trip to Disneyland, tying in the Star Wars theme, and advises on the crucial role of permits for both DIY and professional projects to ensure work is compliant and safe.
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(00:00):
KFI AM six forty. You're listeningto Dean Sharp, The House Whisper on
demand on the iHeartRadio app KFI AMsix forty and live streaming in HD everywhere
on the iHeartRadio app. Welcome tohome, where every week we help you
(00:21):
better understand that place where you live. I am Dean Sharp, the house
Whisperer, custom home builder, customhome designer. Most importantly, today,
your guide to turning your ordinary houseinto an extraordinary home. Thanks for joining
us on the program this morning,on this sleepy, misty, cool Saturday
(00:42):
morning here in southern California. Ifyou're listening from anywhere else in our nation,
thanks for joining in on the show. If you're listening to the podcast,
thanks for being a podcast subscriber.Just thanks to everybody. It is
a truly you know, there aremisty spring mornings where things are kind of
(01:03):
already sunny and chirpy at this pointin the morning. But we're in one
of those quiet just almost as ifthe mist at least out here in the
Caneo Valley, where the mist kindof subdues all sound. I'm almost like
after a snow. It's lovely,just peaceful and lovely, it's going to
be a lovely day. It's Maythe fourth. May the Fourth be with
(01:29):
you, Tita, May the Fourthbe with you, Sam. There's our
live studio audience all right, Ohno, No, somebody's upset. And
it's meant for the lasers. Ialways a laser guy. Just cracks me
(01:57):
up. I always feel like whensomeone says, May the Fourth be with
you, that I'm supposed to respondand by saying and also with you and
also with your spirit. I thinkthat's the new official liturgy apparently right.
But so there you go, Maythe Fourth. It's going to be a
(02:17):
really lovely weekend here in southern California. La County Fair is starting up today.
That's awesome out in Pomona, outhere in our neck of the woods.
Tomorrow is the Tomorrow is the firstI don't know how in how many
years I lost track, but it'sthe first Canao Valley Parade that we're having
(02:40):
out here in I'm going to saydecades. I might be wrong about that,
but it's been it's been a minutesince we've had a Canao Valley parade.
And so the Old Days Parade iswhat they're calling it. So and
of course we have to miss itbecause we're going to be doing the show
tomorrow morning. Well, that's allgoing on, but it's it. It's
(03:02):
all good. It's all fine andgood. And also the Chili cookoff tomorrow,
right, isn't that tomorrow Chili Cookoff? And also Kentucky Derby is tomorrow
and uh and so that's a see, it's just a it's just a lovely
spring weekend. The team is herefor you. Sam is on the board
as always, wrestling our lives dueto your audience. There they are.
(03:29):
Producer Richie is standing by with MattToffler this morning, ready to take your
calls. Let me give you thenumber, because of course we're going to
the phones this morning. I wantto talk to you about what's going on
with your home. The number toreach me eight three three two Ask Dean
A three to three the numeral toask dean A three three two ask dean.
Phone lines are open now. MattToffler standing by ready to take your
(03:53):
call. He'll tell you everything youneed to know and pop you into the
queue. And so when we goto the phones, you and I we
can put our heads together figure outwhat's going on with your home anything you
want to talk about, design,construction, diy, whatever, I'm here.
I am here to help you withyour home this morning. As always.
Heather Brooker at the news desk.Good morning, Heather, Hi,
(04:13):
good morning. How you doing pollI'm good, I'm good. I have
missed I listen. I don't lovegetting up early, but I was very
excited to find out I guess tobe up with you today, so yay,
yay. I was just wondering whatyou did wrong? Who did you
get angry? I know Riley who'smad at other Let's put it on the
Chris Little, Let's be honest,the news dress. He controls our lives.
(04:36):
So well, it's awesome that you'rehere. It's great working with you
again. Yah y. I totallyfeel the same way. And also I
am one of those nerds that isexcited for May the fourth. Right,
I've been listening a Star Wars themehere in the newsroom, so are you.
I'm such a Sam. We shouldSam, we should do some Star
Wars music today. I'm way aheadof you. Yeah, of course,
(05:00):
he is all right, all right, Hey, Statistics accidentally wear my Millennial
Millennium Falcon shirt today. That's true. That is true. Okay, all
right, it's all making sense now. Somebody who's also always way ahead of
me sitting across the table, sittingnext to the beagle. The beagle who's
given me the weird side eye.I don't know what it is. Okay,
(05:26):
Tina is here, Welcome home,Good morning. All right, we've
got all of our animal noises,our lasers out of the way. We
are ready to go. Here's whatwe're doing this morning. Again. I
just threw a list together. Ijust say just I'd like to do this
once or twice a year. Ithrew a list together of kind of some
(05:48):
miscellaneous things, important things that youshould know about your house that maybe you
don't know. Some of them areuber practical in terms of just like hardware
construction kind of relative things. Otherthings are design based. It's just a
potpourrie of goodness and pearls of wisdomthis morning, can't I Dean sharp the
(06:12):
house whisper at your service? Ohmy gosh, that is like Star Wars
disco. That is so classic nineteenseventies. That's amazing, Sam, I
just love that vibe. Anyway,thanks for joining us on the program this
morning. You are up. Weare up. It's time to talk about
(06:34):
your house. By the way,we're gonna be going to the phones in
just a bit. The number toreach me eight three three two. Ask
Dean A three three the numeral twoask Dean eight three three to ask Dean.
There's lucky. He's up the roosterdoing his thing all right, as
promised, some important things you mightnot know about your house, but that
(06:58):
you should know. Let's start offwith something really important for those of you
who are have worked with a contractor, who've just done a remodel, or
had any kind of work done whatsoever. Your project has a warranty, whether
your contractor offered one or not.That's right, regardless of whether you were
(07:24):
told. You should have been told, by the way, because it's a
violation of California state law to havenot been told. And you know,
and I have to give the caveathere if we're talking about areas outside of
California. I don't know specifically whatyour states regulations are in regards to this,
(07:45):
but you should check. You shouldcheck to make sure. I am
not aware of any state that doesnot have a mandatory required warranty period for
workmanship and labor and done on aon a project, but in the state
of California, it is are youready ten years? That's right? Ten
(08:07):
years of a workmanship related issues.So whether you're a lot of contractors are
like, don't please, don't tellthem that, yeah, your project has
a warranty and that's because the stateof California has mandated that it should be
(08:28):
thus and so so that's good news. And sometimes people will call and ask
what can I do my contractor didthis that I can't get a hold you
know, it's like, well,how long ago was this work done?
If it's really a workmanship issue.Now, sometimes in terms of materials there
are differentials, but in regards toworkmanship on your project, ten years ten
(08:56):
years, I know. Believe me, as a builder, it is a
heavy load to carry to be remindedof. And then that's, by the
way, why the state has mandatedit, because you know, it's it
is an inducement, a very verystrong inducement to get the work right the
first time around. It truly isbecause nobody who is a busy contractor and
(09:22):
has multiple, multiple clients in thecourse of every year, it's a little
different. It's always been a littledifferent for me. Because we work on
larger projects that are sometimes you know, like a state projects, you know,
are multi year projects. So it'sfunny. I was maybe ten years
(09:43):
into my career and was talking withsome other builders at some gathering I don't
even remember where it was, andthey were all talking about these were all
like production builders doing much smaller thingson the residential scale, and they were
all talking about like, yeah,well we got to we did one hundred
and seventy five jobs this year.And this one guy was like, yeah,
(10:07):
my company did fifty seven jobs thisyear. It's okay, we had
twenty five projects this year. Howabout you, Dean, what'd you guys
do? It's like I had two. They're like are you how are you
in business? I'm like, well, they were, you know, we
had a twenty eight thousand square foothouse on five and a half acres and
a fourteen thousand square foot house onthree acres and they both have taken you
(10:33):
know, two years plus to complete. And they're like, oh, okay,
that's why. Yeah, that's right. So but the point is for
contractors who are doing a lot ofwork, nobody wants to have a full
schedule of work and begetting a bunchof calls about warranty issues that they're you
know, because they're guys, youknow, flubbed something up. So the
(10:56):
truth is it works to your benefit. Just know. And regardless of what
state you're in, there is somethingI just can't tell you off the top
of my head here. You know, in the Western States, I'm a
little bit more familiar, but almostevery state to my knowledge, has a
mandated warranty period for licensed contractor work. And so ten years there you go,
(11:20):
all right, Okay, I'm gonnastart this one. We're gonna pick
it up on the other. I'mtrying to do like the paperwork stuff at
first, but this is important stuff. If you've got a project going,
okay, you may have received inthe mail something that kind of freaked you
out. Okay. It may bea what's called a preliminary lean notice leen
(11:45):
like lean, like somebody putting alean against your property. Right, That's
not what any homeowner ever wants toget in the mail, Like what somebody's
leaning my property? What? So, here's the thing, h A builder
didn't just place a lean against yourhome, but they might they might.
(12:09):
What does that mean. We'll talkabout it on the other side of the
news. Your Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. You're listening to
Home with Dean Sharp on demand fromKFI AM six forty, KFI AM six
forty and live streaming in HD everywhereon the iHeartRadio app. You are Home
(12:33):
with Dean Sharp, the house Whisper. That is me, Hey, coming
up after the next news break.We are going to be going to the
phones, as we do near thetop of the hour on a lovely Saturday
morning. The number to reach meeight three three two. Ask Dean eight
three three the numeral two ask DeanA three three to ask Dean anything you
(12:56):
want to talk about regarding your home. We've got room the callboard. It's
a sleepy morning. I think wehave one call on the board. I
mean just saying for those of youwho have tried, and many have so
many times to get through, it'sa good morning to call because everybody's very
relaxed. The mist has everyone veryrelaxed. And of course, you know,
if there's only so many calls totake, which it never seems like
(13:18):
they're I mean, we never actuallypan out of calls, but if we
ever do, then you know I'vegot plenty I have plenty of things to
talk to you about, but Iwould really love to talk to you about
what's going on with your home.So give us a call. Who knows
you know, It's a good morning. Traffic is light. All right.
Back to our list of things youmight not know about your house but should
(13:43):
now. In this case, thisitem again has to do with not so
much your house per se directly,but one of the legal processes that are
involved around doing work on your homewhen it comes to contractor law. I
find in general that most homeowners justdon't really have a clue as to the
(14:09):
ins and outs on it. Youare supposed to have been explained all of
these things to your satisfaction by yourcontractor before you sign the contract and before
the work comments. But in thereal world, we have found that very
very few people get this full explanationand actually understand. I mean, I've
(14:35):
talked to folks all the time whohave just finished entire projects and they're like,
huh what, oh, what,and so yeah, it's not just
a matter of time that you've forgotten. Just a lot of this information doesn't
get shared. So before the break, we were talking about a lean being
placed against your home. A leen, of course, is a legal instrument
(15:00):
that basically, you know, attachesto the value of your home in case
somebody needs to get paid a debtthat is due. Okay, And that's
a scary thing when you're here,you are trying to improve your home and
all of a sudden you get anotice in the mail, a notice,
a preliminary notice of lien, andyou're like, wait, wait, what
(15:26):
is happening. So here's what's happening. I'm gonna explain it to you.
No, a builder didn't just placea lean against your home, but they
might. Now what does that mean? Okay, Without getting really long and
boring, it's basically means this,every individual, every company that supplies anything
(15:48):
for your project, for your home, anything that ends up in your home,
whether it's the labor being done directlyby a contractor, but most importantly
materials, Okay, materials that arebeing provided by who knows, right,
some material supplier somewhere on the otherside of the country, or some lumberyard
(16:08):
local to your neighborhood. We don'tknow. And that's the point is that
you don't know who these secondary individualsor companies are. You have with your
general contractor a all in one primarycontract. That's how most people do it.
(16:29):
In other words, your contractor isknown to you and you are known
to them. But where is yourcontractor getting materials from? Okay, you
do not have a direct contract withtheir material supplier, very likely, and
yet their material suppliers those supplies endup in your home, right Okay,
(16:52):
So guess what. Those material supplierswho you don't know about, actually have
legal rights to get paid from you, ultimately from you, because their materials
ended up in your home. Andyou're like, wait a second, that
doesn't seem fair. It's fair,it's fair. But here's how it works.
(17:15):
Those material suppliers have a period oftime, once they have been once
they've provided materials, they have alegal obligation to notify you that they exist.
Okay, to notify you that theyexist, like, Hey, you
don't have a contract with us,but we just provided materials for your job
(17:37):
site. And so what the meansby which they make that announcement to you
that notification is what's called a preliminarynotice of lean. It is not a
lean against your house. It's apreliminary notice saying such and such company ABC
(17:57):
Plumbing supply company has provided materials toyour project. So what are you supposed
to do with that? Well,you collect those, you put them aside
in your project file, and whenthe day comes for you to make a
payment to your contractor one of yourscheduled payments to your contractor. Uh,
(18:22):
you say, oh, and bythe way, all right, I've got
three preliminary notices. One from ABCPlumbing supply Company, one from X y
Z Lumber Company and you know,and and one from you know, a
wallpaper company. That's a ridiculous thing. They wouldn't all be sending them together
anyway. I've got these three preliminarynotices. So in before I write you
(18:48):
my contractor the check, I needfrom you a conditional release of lian a
lean release notice signed by you andsigned by these folks that as soon as
my check clears, they release theirright to lean the house. It's a
(19:10):
guarantee basically that as you pay yourcontractor, the other people down line get
paid. Okay, And that's basicallyhow it works. That's what it comes
down to is it's a good thingthat they send you these notices. Now,
if somebody provides materials for your projectand they do not within the prescribed
period of time send you a preliminarynotice. In other words, they don't
(19:36):
send you a flag saying we're here, we exist. Then you have no
obligations to them whatsoever. If theydid not notify you, the homeowner that
they exist, and so if thecontractor stiffs them, if they don't get
paid, if they get it,you know, if something goes sour with
that relationship or whatever, they haveno recourse towards you because they had to
(19:59):
notify you, and they should havesent that certified mail because they have to
prove that they notified you in atimely way. But if they have notified
you, then you need to makesure that your release of lian conditional upon
the caching of your check or theyou know, the Zell payment or whatever
it is. As soon as thathappens, then that release of lien is
(20:23):
viable and you do not do notpay your contractor that payment unless there are
the signed lean release notice, signedlian releases from the suppliers who sent you
their little red flags. Okay,and it just it's actually a very simple
process. If you've got to notice, then you need a conditional release from
(20:47):
them before you make payment. Toyour contractor. That is a way to
protect you, the homeowner, fromhaving recourse against you from you know,
God knows who out there that materialsare coming from, because the contractors have
you know, sometimes they have creditaccounts with material supply houses, you know,
(21:07):
because they're in good standing. Sometimesyou know, they're past due on
their bills, right, and sothen those accounts. You don't want those
folks tracking you down and saying,well, we put a toilet in your
house, so we need to getpaid regardless, and they have rights if
they notify you. Oh right,that's enough with the legal Schmiegel stuff.
(21:30):
But I think that's important because peopleget really confused about that when it comes
to projects. When we return,I'm going to table this conversation for a
little bit and we are going togo to the phones your home with Dean
Sharp the house Whisper. Can't Iam s six forty Dean Sharp the house
(21:52):
Whisper sounds like this is for me. It's not. It's not. This
part is for Tina. Though.This is so great. You're loving the
Star Wars music. May the Fourthbe with you. It makes it makes
me think about we were just atDisneyland just a few weeks ago. And
if you ride Space Mountain right now, the Star Wars theme Space Mountains,
(22:15):
they in my opinion, this isthe best re theming of Space Mountain that
has been done. I know alot of people are like, everything's turning
Star Wars at Disneyland. Yeah,is that a problem, But Space Mountain
has a is now a battle uhyou know with tie fighters flying it just
(22:38):
it's for some reason, it makesmore sense. The ride makes more sense
with the Star Wars stuff happening,and it's good. And it was the
first time our granddaughter was tall enoughto ride. You know what. That
may be a bias on our parts, but that was like the best ride
picture. That was such a greatpic. You should you should you should
post that on our socials. Youcan see Olivia doing her thing. She
(23:03):
was so excited because she's just tallenough to write everything. A Disney anyway,
you know, we need to doWe gotta get back so we can
go to Galaxy's Edge because there arethose droids. I forget what they're called.
Is it. It's like a littleDroid Academy. Basically their ai little
independently walking robots. They're like thistall and they bring them out at certain
(23:26):
times during the day. Anyway,I want to check them out. I
didn't see him last time. Allright, enough of this, enough of
this. It's May the fourth.May the fourth be with you. Enjoy
your Star Wars Saturday and anything elsethat you might be doing. It is
time to go to the phones.Let's figure out what's going on with your
home today. I want to talkto Gloria. Hey, Gloria, welcome
(23:47):
home. Oh thank you, Jean. We live in the La County and
mobile homes and my neighbor repaired hisown roof and management saw him and they
made him go all the way toRiverside to pay for a permit to do
(24:08):
his own roof. It sounds sowrong, and four hundred dollars. It
was crazy. Okay, is therea did you have a question in there
for me? That is the question? Is that is that right to send
(24:30):
him all the way to Riverside Countyto pay four hundred dollars to fix his
own roof? Okay, So thatpart I'm a little I'm a little sketchy
about. I'm not sure about that. I mean, permits are building permits
are issued within the county and orcity wherein the work is being done.
(24:56):
So yeah, I'm not sure aboutthe whole. The whole, you know,
go, I wouldn't understand that.Maybe I'll have to do a little
research and look that one up foryou and figure out, like, well,
why is that the case? ButI can tell you this, I
mean, it does surprise some homeowners. It does surprise some homeowners. A
lot of homeowners think that permits arejust a thing that contractors have to pull
(25:22):
if you hire a contractor for yourhome, and that otherwise, if you're
doing the work yourself as an ownerbuilder, that you can just do the
work. And that's not the case. Permits are permits regardless whether you are
a contractor is doing the work onyour home or you're doing the work on
your home. So a roof repair, to you know, a certain degree.
(25:42):
Now, if somebody's up just switchingout a couple of shingles or something
like that, then there are certaintypes of roof repair that don't fall under
the category. For almost every cityof anything that they even want you to
bother pulling a permit for. It'sokay, you got a leak in your
roof, fix the leak. Butthere are all sorts of things that can
(26:04):
be done to a roof up therethat would absolutely require a permit in order
to make sure it gets inspected andthe work done properly. So that is
always something that you have to takeup with your local municipality. If you
are ever wondering whether a work hasto be done under a permit for your
(26:26):
home, all you have to dois call your city and say, hey,
connect to the Department of Building inSafety and you want to talk to
somebody at Building in Safety and simplyask the question, I'm doing this on
my house. Do I need apermit for this? How do I get
that done? When it comes tosmaller projects like that, don't be afraid
(26:49):
of that. It's a good thingthat somebody has got eyes on to make
sure it gets done properly. Andit's not like, oh my gosh,
now I've got to hire a draftsperson or an architect and I've got to
put plans together. Just no,no, no, no. By and
large, you know, the majorityof permits that run through a local building
(27:11):
department are actually are involved no planswhatsoever, and not in terms of the
cost of running through the building department, but as far as just the numbers.
Most permits are just what we callover the counter permits, which is
just going down saying all right,I'm doing some electrical work in my bedroom
and I'm adding three outlets and they'relike, oh, three outlets. Are
(27:34):
you also adding a switch? No, just three outlets, and they have
a price for each outlet, bingbing bink, and they say, here
you go, here's your permit,and call when you are at this stage
and the work to have your firstinspection done. I mean, it's really
that's over the counter, no plans, no plan check. They just want
to know account of whatever the inspectoris going to be looking at, and
(27:56):
then you they give you directions asto when and how to call. The
whole idea of going to a differentcounty to pull a permit. Maybe it
has something to do with the natureof the mobile home and some connection to
where it was constructed or where it'sregistered versus where it actually sits. Because
(28:19):
a mobile home that isn't permanently attachedto its foundation where it sits is technically
a vehicle, a trailer, andso maybe that has to do with the
registration the county of registration as opposedto the place where it is currently sitting
that I'm going to look into foryour gloria. But as far as whether
(28:41):
a permit was required for the roofrepair, it sounds like there was.
Whatever he was doing was extensive enoughthat it required once. So everybody pull
your permits and if you have aquestion, just call the city Department of
Building and Safety for your locality.You will find out everything you need to
know, all right when we comeback more of your calls. Your Home
(29:02):
with Dean Sharp, the House Whispereron KFI. You're listening to Home with
Dean Sharp on demand from KFI AMsix forty
KFI AM six forty. You're listeningto Dean Sharp, The House Whisper on
demand on the iHeartRadio app KFI AMsix forty and live streaming in HD everywhere
on the iHeartRadio app. Welcome tohome, where every week we help you
(00:21):
better understand that place where you live. I am Dean Sharp, the house
Whisperer, custom home builder, customhome designer. Most importantly, today,
your guide to turning your ordinary houseinto an extraordinary home. Thanks for joining
us on the program this morning,on this sleepy, misty, cool Saturday
(00:42):
morning here in southern California. Ifyou're listening from anywhere else in our nation,
thanks for joining in on the show. If you're listening to the podcast,
thanks for being a podcast subscriber.Just thanks to everybody. It is
a truly you know, there aremisty spring mornings where things are kind of
(01:03):
already sunny and chirpy at this pointin the morning. But we're in one
of those quiet just almost as ifthe mist at least out here in the
Caneo Valley, where the mist kindof subdues all sound. I'm almost like
after a snow. It's lovely,just peaceful and lovely, it's going to
be a lovely day. It's Maythe fourth. May the Fourth be with
(01:29):
you, Tita, May the Fourthbe with you, Sam. There's our
live studio audience all right, Ohno, No, somebody's upset. And
it's meant for the lasers. Ialways a laser guy. Just cracks me
(01:57):
up. I always feel like whensomeone says, May the Fourth be with
you, that I'm supposed to respondand by saying and also with you and
also with your spirit. I thinkthat's the new official liturgy apparently right.
But so there you go, Maythe Fourth. It's going to be a
(02:17):
really lovely weekend here in southern California. La County Fair is starting up today.
That's awesome out in Pomona, outhere in our neck of the woods.
Tomorrow is the Tomorrow is the firstI don't know how in how many
years I lost track, but it'sthe first Canao Valley Parade that we're having
(02:40):
out here in I'm going to saydecades. I might be wrong about that,
but it's been it's been a minutesince we've had a Canao Valley parade.
And so the Old Days Parade iswhat they're calling it. So and
of course we have to miss itbecause we're going to be doing the show
tomorrow morning. Well, that's allgoing on, but it's it. It's
(03:02):
all good. It's all fine andgood. And also the Chili cookoff tomorrow,
right, isn't that tomorrow Chili Cookoff? And also Kentucky Derby is tomorrow
and uh and so that's a see, it's just a it's just a lovely
spring weekend. The team is herefor you. Sam is on the board
as always, wrestling our lives dueto your audience. There they are.
(03:29):
Producer Richie is standing by with MattToffler this morning, ready to take your
calls. Let me give you thenumber, because of course we're going to
the phones this morning. I wantto talk to you about what's going on
with your home. The number toreach me eight three three two Ask Dean
A three to three the numeral toask dean A three three two ask dean.
Phone lines are open now. MattToffler standing by ready to take your
(03:53):
call. He'll tell you everything youneed to know and pop you into the
queue. And so when we goto the phones, you and I we
can put our heads together figure outwhat's going on with your home anything you
want to talk about, design,construction, diy, whatever, I'm here.
I am here to help you withyour home this morning. As always.
Heather Brooker at the news desk.Good morning, Heather, Hi,
(04:13):
good morning. How you doing pollI'm good, I'm good. I have
missed I listen. I don't lovegetting up early, but I was very
excited to find out I guess tobe up with you today, so yay,
yay. I was just wondering whatyou did wrong? Who did you
get angry? I know Riley who'smad at other Let's put it on the
Chris Little, Let's be honest,the news dress. He controls our lives.
(04:36):
So well, it's awesome that you'rehere. It's great working with you
again. Yah y. I totallyfeel the same way. And also I
am one of those nerds that isexcited for May the fourth. Right,
I've been listening a Star Wars themehere in the newsroom, so are you.
I'm such a Sam. We shouldSam, we should do some Star
Wars music today. I'm way aheadof you. Yeah, of course,
(05:00):
he is all right, all right, Hey, Statistics accidentally wear my Millennial
Millennium Falcon shirt today. That's true. That is true. Okay, all
right, it's all making sense now. Somebody who's also always way ahead of
me sitting across the table, sittingnext to the beagle. The beagle who's
given me the weird side eye.I don't know what it is. Okay,
(05:26):
Tina is here, Welcome home,Good morning. All right, we've
got all of our animal noises,our lasers out of the way. We
are ready to go. Here's whatwe're doing this morning. Again. I
just threw a list together. Ijust say just I'd like to do this
once or twice a year. Ithrew a list together of kind of some
(05:48):
miscellaneous things, important things that youshould know about your house that maybe you
don't know. Some of them areuber practical in terms of just like hardware
construction kind of relative things. Otherthings are design based. It's just a
potpourrie of goodness and pearls of wisdomthis morning, can't I Dean sharp the
(06:12):
house whisper at your service? Ohmy gosh, that is like Star Wars
disco. That is so classic nineteenseventies. That's amazing, Sam, I
just love that vibe. Anyway,thanks for joining us on the program this
morning. You are up. Weare up. It's time to talk about
(06:34):
your house. By the way,we're gonna be going to the phones in
just a bit. The number toreach me eight three three two. Ask
Dean A three three the numeral twoask Dean eight three three to ask Dean.
There's lucky. He's up the roosterdoing his thing all right, as
promised, some important things you mightnot know about your house, but that
(06:58):
you should know. Let's start offwith something really important for those of you
who are have worked with a contractor, who've just done a remodel, or
had any kind of work done whatsoever. Your project has a warranty, whether
your contractor offered one or not.That's right, regardless of whether you were
(07:24):
told. You should have been told, by the way, because it's a
violation of California state law to havenot been told. And you know,
and I have to give the caveathere if we're talking about areas outside of
California. I don't know specifically whatyour states regulations are in regards to this,
(07:45):
but you should check. You shouldcheck to make sure. I am
not aware of any state that doesnot have a mandatory required warranty period for
workmanship and labor and done on aon a project, but in the state
of California, it is are youready ten years? That's right? Ten
(08:07):
years of a workmanship related issues.So whether you're a lot of contractors are
like, don't please, don't tellthem that, yeah, your project has
a warranty and that's because the stateof California has mandated that it should be
(08:28):
thus and so so that's good news. And sometimes people will call and ask
what can I do my contractor didthis that I can't get a hold you
know, it's like, well,how long ago was this work done?
If it's really a workmanship issue.Now, sometimes in terms of materials there
are differentials, but in regards toworkmanship on your project, ten years ten
(08:56):
years, I know. Believe me, as a builder, it is a
heavy load to carry to be remindedof. And then that's, by the
way, why the state has mandatedit, because you know, it's it
is an inducement, a very verystrong inducement to get the work right the
first time around. It truly isbecause nobody who is a busy contractor and
(09:22):
has multiple, multiple clients in thecourse of every year, it's a little
different. It's always been a littledifferent for me. Because we work on
larger projects that are sometimes you know, like a state projects, you know,
are multi year projects. So it'sfunny. I was maybe ten years
(09:43):
into my career and was talking withsome other builders at some gathering I don't
even remember where it was, andthey were all talking about these were all
like production builders doing much smaller thingson the residential scale, and they were
all talking about like, yeah,well we got to we did one hundred
and seventy five jobs this year.And this one guy was like, yeah,
(10:07):
my company did fifty seven jobs thisyear. It's okay, we had
twenty five projects this year. Howabout you, Dean, what'd you guys
do? It's like I had two. They're like are you how are you
in business? I'm like, well, they were, you know, we
had a twenty eight thousand square foothouse on five and a half acres and
a fourteen thousand square foot house onthree acres and they both have taken you
(10:33):
know, two years plus to complete. And they're like, oh, okay,
that's why. Yeah, that's right. So but the point is for
contractors who are doing a lot ofwork, nobody wants to have a full
schedule of work and begetting a bunchof calls about warranty issues that they're you
know, because they're guys, youknow, flubbed something up. So the
(10:56):
truth is it works to your benefit. Just know. And regardless of what
state you're in, there is somethingI just can't tell you off the top
of my head here. You know, in the Western States, I'm a
little bit more familiar, but almostevery state to my knowledge, has a
mandated warranty period for licensed contractor work. And so ten years there you go,
(11:20):
all right, Okay, I'm gonnastart this one. We're gonna pick
it up on the other. I'mtrying to do like the paperwork stuff at
first, but this is important stuff. If you've got a project going,
okay, you may have received inthe mail something that kind of freaked you
out. Okay. It may bea what's called a preliminary lean notice leen
(11:45):
like lean, like somebody putting alean against your property. Right, That's
not what any homeowner ever wants toget in the mail, Like what somebody's
leaning my property? What? So, here's the thing, h A builder
didn't just place a lean against yourhome, but they might they might.
(12:09):
What does that mean. We'll talkabout it on the other side of the
news. Your Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. You're listening to
Home with Dean Sharp on demand fromKFI AM six forty, KFI AM six
forty and live streaming in HD everywhereon the iHeartRadio app. You are Home
(12:33):
with Dean Sharp, the house Whisper. That is me, Hey, coming
up after the next news break.We are going to be going to the
phones, as we do near thetop of the hour on a lovely Saturday
morning. The number to reach meeight three three two. Ask Dean eight
three three the numeral two ask DeanA three three to ask Dean anything you
(12:56):
want to talk about regarding your home. We've got room the callboard. It's
a sleepy morning. I think wehave one call on the board. I
mean just saying for those of youwho have tried, and many have so
many times to get through, it'sa good morning to call because everybody's very
relaxed. The mist has everyone veryrelaxed. And of course, you know,
if there's only so many calls totake, which it never seems like
(13:18):
they're I mean, we never actuallypan out of calls, but if we
ever do, then you know I'vegot plenty I have plenty of things to
talk to you about, but Iwould really love to talk to you about
what's going on with your home.So give us a call. Who knows
you know, It's a good morning. Traffic is light. All right.
Back to our list of things youmight not know about your house but should
(13:43):
now. In this case, thisitem again has to do with not so
much your house per se directly,but one of the legal processes that are
involved around doing work on your homewhen it comes to contractor law. I
find in general that most homeowners justdon't really have a clue as to the
(14:09):
ins and outs on it. Youare supposed to have been explained all of
these things to your satisfaction by yourcontractor before you sign the contract and before
the work comments. But in thereal world, we have found that very
very few people get this full explanationand actually understand. I mean, I've
(14:35):
talked to folks all the time whohave just finished entire projects and they're like,
huh what, oh, what,and so yeah, it's not just
a matter of time that you've forgotten. Just a lot of this information doesn't
get shared. So before the break, we were talking about a lean being
placed against your home. A leen, of course, is a legal instrument
(15:00):
that basically, you know, attachesto the value of your home in case
somebody needs to get paid a debtthat is due. Okay, And that's
a scary thing when you're here,you are trying to improve your home and
all of a sudden you get anotice in the mail, a notice,
a preliminary notice of lien, andyou're like, wait, wait, what
(15:26):
is happening. So here's what's happening. I'm gonna explain it to you.
No, a builder didn't just placea lean against your home, but they
might. Now what does that mean? Okay, Without getting really long and
boring, it's basically means this,every individual, every company that supplies anything
(15:48):
for your project, for your home, anything that ends up in your home,
whether it's the labor being done directlyby a contractor, but most importantly
materials, Okay, materials that arebeing provided by who knows, right,
some material supplier somewhere on the otherside of the country, or some lumberyard
(16:08):
local to your neighborhood. We don'tknow. And that's the point is that
you don't know who these secondary individualsor companies are. You have with your
general contractor a all in one primarycontract. That's how most people do it.
(16:29):
In other words, your contractor isknown to you and you are known
to them. But where is yourcontractor getting materials from? Okay, you
do not have a direct contract withtheir material supplier, very likely, and
yet their material suppliers those supplies endup in your home, right Okay,
(16:52):
So guess what. Those material supplierswho you don't know about, actually have
legal rights to get paid from you, ultimately from you, because their materials
ended up in your home. Andyou're like, wait a second, that
doesn't seem fair. It's fair,it's fair. But here's how it works.
(17:15):
Those material suppliers have a period oftime, once they have been once
they've provided materials, they have alegal obligation to notify you that they exist.
Okay, to notify you that theyexist, like, Hey, you
don't have a contract with us,but we just provided materials for your job
(17:37):
site. And so what the meansby which they make that announcement to you
that notification is what's called a preliminarynotice of lean. It is not a
lean against your house. It's apreliminary notice saying such and such company ABC
(17:57):
Plumbing supply company has provided materials toyour project. So what are you supposed
to do with that? Well,you collect those, you put them aside
in your project file, and whenthe day comes for you to make a
payment to your contractor one of yourscheduled payments to your contractor. Uh,
(18:22):
you say, oh, and bythe way, all right, I've got
three preliminary notices. One from ABCPlumbing supply Company, one from X y
Z Lumber Company and you know,and and one from you know, a
wallpaper company. That's a ridiculous thing. They wouldn't all be sending them together
anyway. I've got these three preliminarynotices. So in before I write you
(18:48):
my contractor the check, I needfrom you a conditional release of lian a
lean release notice signed by you andsigned by these folks that as soon as
my check clears, they release theirright to lean the house. It's a
(19:10):
guarantee basically that as you pay yourcontractor, the other people down line get
paid. Okay, And that's basicallyhow it works. That's what it comes
down to is it's a good thingthat they send you these notices. Now,
if somebody provides materials for your projectand they do not within the prescribed
period of time send you a preliminarynotice. In other words, they don't
(19:36):
send you a flag saying we're here, we exist. Then you have no
obligations to them whatsoever. If theydid not notify you, the homeowner that
they exist, and so if thecontractor stiffs them, if they don't get
paid, if they get it,you know, if something goes sour with
that relationship or whatever, they haveno recourse towards you because they had to
(19:59):
notify you, and they should havesent that certified mail because they have to
prove that they notified you in atimely way. But if they have notified
you, then you need to makesure that your release of lian conditional upon
the caching of your check or theyou know, the Zell payment or whatever
it is. As soon as thathappens, then that release of lien is
(20:23):
viable and you do not do notpay your contractor that payment unless there are
the signed lean release notice, signedlian releases from the suppliers who sent you
their little red flags. Okay,and it just it's actually a very simple
process. If you've got to notice, then you need a conditional release from
(20:47):
them before you make payment. Toyour contractor. That is a way to
protect you, the homeowner, fromhaving recourse against you from you know,
God knows who out there that materialsare coming from, because the contractors have
you know, sometimes they have creditaccounts with material supply houses, you know,
(21:07):
because they're in good standing. Sometimesyou know, they're past due on
their bills, right, and sothen those accounts. You don't want those
folks tracking you down and saying,well, we put a toilet in your
house, so we need to getpaid regardless, and they have rights if
they notify you. Oh right,that's enough with the legal Schmiegel stuff.
(21:30):
But I think that's important because peopleget really confused about that when it comes
to projects. When we return,I'm going to table this conversation for a
little bit and we are going togo to the phones your home with Dean
Sharp the house Whisper. Can't Iam s six forty Dean Sharp the house
(21:52):
Whisper sounds like this is for me. It's not. It's not. This
part is for Tina. Though.This is so great. You're loving the
Star Wars music. May the Fourthbe with you. It makes it makes
me think about we were just atDisneyland just a few weeks ago. And
if you ride Space Mountain right now, the Star Wars theme Space Mountains,
(22:15):
they in my opinion, this isthe best re theming of Space Mountain that
has been done. I know alot of people are like, everything's turning
Star Wars at Disneyland. Yeah,is that a problem, But Space Mountain
has a is now a battle uhyou know with tie fighters flying it just
(22:38):
it's for some reason, it makesmore sense. The ride makes more sense
with the Star Wars stuff happening,and it's good. And it was the
first time our granddaughter was tall enoughto ride. You know what. That
may be a bias on our parts, but that was like the best ride
picture. That was such a greatpic. You should you should you should
post that on our socials. Youcan see Olivia doing her thing. She
(23:03):
was so excited because she's just tallenough to write everything. A Disney anyway,
you know, we need to doWe gotta get back so we can
go to Galaxy's Edge because there arethose droids. I forget what they're called.
Is it. It's like a littleDroid Academy. Basically their ai little
independently walking robots. They're like thistall and they bring them out at certain
(23:26):
times during the day. Anyway,I want to check them out. I
didn't see him last time. Allright, enough of this, enough of
this. It's May the fourth.May the fourth be with you. Enjoy
your Star Wars Saturday and anything elsethat you might be doing. It is
time to go to the phones.Let's figure out what's going on with your
home today. I want to talkto Gloria. Hey, Gloria, welcome
(23:47):
home. Oh thank you, Jean. We live in the La County and
mobile homes and my neighbor repaired hisown roof and management saw him and they
made him go all the way toRiverside to pay for a permit to do
(24:08):
his own roof. It sounds sowrong, and four hundred dollars. It
was crazy. Okay, is therea did you have a question in there
for me? That is the question? Is that is that right to send
(24:30):
him all the way to Riverside Countyto pay four hundred dollars to fix his
own roof? Okay, So thatpart I'm a little I'm a little sketchy
about. I'm not sure about that. I mean, permits are building permits
are issued within the county and orcity wherein the work is being done.
(24:56):
So yeah, I'm not sure aboutthe whole. The whole, you know,
go, I wouldn't understand that.Maybe I'll have to do a little
research and look that one up foryou and figure out, like, well,
why is that the case? ButI can tell you this, I
mean, it does surprise some homeowners. It does surprise some homeowners. A
lot of homeowners think that permits arejust a thing that contractors have to pull
(25:22):
if you hire a contractor for yourhome, and that otherwise, if you're
doing the work yourself as an ownerbuilder, that you can just do the
work. And that's not the case. Permits are permits regardless whether you are
a contractor is doing the work onyour home or you're doing the work on
your home. So a roof repair, to you know, a certain degree.
(25:42):
Now, if somebody's up just switchingout a couple of shingles or something
like that, then there are certaintypes of roof repair that don't fall under
the category. For almost every cityof anything that they even want you to
bother pulling a permit for. It'sokay, you got a leak in your
roof, fix the leak. Butthere are all sorts of things that can
(26:04):
be done to a roof up therethat would absolutely require a permit in order
to make sure it gets inspected andthe work done properly. So that is
always something that you have to takeup with your local municipality. If you
are ever wondering whether a work hasto be done under a permit for your
(26:26):
home, all you have to dois call your city and say, hey,
connect to the Department of Building inSafety and you want to talk to
somebody at Building in Safety and simplyask the question, I'm doing this on
my house. Do I need apermit for this? How do I get
that done? When it comes tosmaller projects like that, don't be afraid
(26:49):
of that. It's a good thingthat somebody has got eyes on to make
sure it gets done properly. Andit's not like, oh my gosh,
now I've got to hire a draftsperson or an architect and I've got to
put plans together. Just no,no, no, no. By and
large, you know, the majorityof permits that run through a local building
(27:11):
department are actually are involved no planswhatsoever, and not in terms of the
cost of running through the building department, but as far as just the numbers.
Most permits are just what we callover the counter permits, which is
just going down saying all right,I'm doing some electrical work in my bedroom
and I'm adding three outlets and they'relike, oh, three outlets. Are
(27:34):
you also adding a switch? No, just three outlets, and they have
a price for each outlet, bingbing bink, and they say, here
you go, here's your permit,and call when you are at this stage
and the work to have your firstinspection done. I mean, it's really
that's over the counter, no plans, no plan check. They just want
to know account of whatever the inspectoris going to be looking at, and
(27:56):
then you they give you directions asto when and how to call. The
whole idea of going to a differentcounty to pull a permit. Maybe it
has something to do with the natureof the mobile home and some connection to
where it was constructed or where it'sregistered versus where it actually sits. Because
(28:19):
a mobile home that isn't permanently attachedto its foundation where it sits is technically
a vehicle, a trailer, andso maybe that has to do with the
registration the county of registration as opposedto the place where it is currently sitting
that I'm going to look into foryour gloria. But as far as whether
(28:41):
a permit was required for the roofrepair, it sounds like there was.
Whatever he was doing was extensive enoughthat it required once. So everybody pull
your permits and if you have aquestion, just call the city Department of
Building and Safety for your locality.You will find out everything you need to
know, all right when we comeback more of your calls. Your Home
(29:02):
with Dean Sharp, the House Whispereron KFI. You're listening to Home with
Dean Sharp on demand from KFI AMsix forty
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