Actually, the story is a very good reminder to all of us who pull permits and do design work.
I recall one job, where the original request was to provide/ upgrade service when an RV was replaced by a mobile home.
Forget the electric work. I was adamant that the PoCo come and look the site over, and -surprise!- there were several complications that I had suspected, and a few I had missed. "No problem" became "lots of $$$$."
I was also a bit anal in touching base with the various city bureaucracies .... and uncovered a little game the customer was playing. The owner, simply put, was trying to play one agency against another, and feigning ignorance when he had been clearly advised of the requirements. The owners assurances that the city approved of his plan turned out to be the exact opposite of the truth; the city had told him not only 'no,' but 'hell no.' He was trying to finesse the system.
Despite my best efforts, I still lost money on that job- but that's another story. I think of that loss as 'tuition.'
Yes, the developer dropped the ball here. Yet, simple math suggests that the work could have been anticipated to cost less than $100K - a far cry from the $865K being asked for. I have some problems with that. I mean, there's only ONE set of poles, and the guy is being charged THREE times for the job? It appears to me that the utilities are playing a game here.
