'How my grandpa built the tallest house in town': Homeowner tries over and over to build his house illegally tall

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Apr 2, 2024 5:00 PM EDT

This grandpa wasn't about to let some silly little building codes stop him from achieving his dreams. In fact, it seems like he took these codes like a personal challenge, and decided to find any possible way around them. This involved a lot of crafty thinking on his part! 

You've got to keep your house up to code. It's how we collectively avoid houses where you get an electrical zap from turning on a light switch, and codes often require handrails so folks don't go tumbling down staircases. There are important reasons for codes to be in place, and unlike this dude, most people don't get to challenge them. You just have to abide by these regulations. For u/Frolicking-Fox's grandfather, however, these rules were more of a suggestion. This grandpa wanted to build a really tall house, and he apparently had a "shady side" that made him coy enough to bend the rules. 

You can check out this great malicious compliance story below, as well as comments from people who had some questions and concerns about Grandpa's methods. Then, check out the story of an employee who got to chill for five years straight after they automated their job and continued to get raises and praise from their bosses. 

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 9903639296
    via Avel Chuklanov on Unsplash
  • 02
    How my grandpa built the tallest house in town. M The year was 1995. My grandpa was always one of those coy men that knew how to make his way to the top of any situation, sometimes regardless to thst cost to others.... but while shady, he was for the most part a decent human. This story isn't about his shady shide though, it's about how he was able to build the
    via u/Peterthinking
  • 03
    tallest house in town, even though it was against building code for the county. A general contractor bought a property in this small town, and just started building, without getting the proper permits for the house. The house was already framed and starting to get sheeted and had the roof built, when the building inspector was called to the property.
    via u/Peterthinking
  • 04
    Of course he shut the construction down. The contractor was missing permits, and the house was too tall for what code allowed. So, the job was red tagged and shut down. The general contractor couldn't afford to tear down the house and rebuild, so he just walked away. My grandpa heard about this and went to talk to the bank to see if he could buy the property.
    via u/Peterthinking
  • 05
    He offered them $250k for it, but the bank denied his offer and said it was going to be auctioned off. He decided he was going to show up for auction. Day of the auction, the only other person who showed up, is another contractor from town, who my grandpa knew.
    via u/Peterthinking
  • 06
    He talks to him and basically lays it out like, "I really want this property, and if you will just walk away from this one, I will make you a partner in the next property I buy. And in a small town like that, my grandpa swears a gentleman's promise, and the other contractor walks away from the auction. They start the bid at $200k, and my grandpa offers them $100k.
    via u/Peterthinking
  • 07
    The bank ended up selling for way less than my grandpa originally offered. So, he owns the lot, and instead of demolishing the house that is half built on it... like the county inspector wanted, he just decided to bring all the mistakes to code, keep everything revealed for the inspector, and continued to build on the house.
    via u/Peterthinking
  • 08
    The county inspector hears that instead of being torn down, my grandpa is continuing to build on the house, and drives out there immediately. When he confronts my grandpa, my grandpa shows him that he has brought everything to code. The inspector tells him that the house is still too tall for what the code allows, and needs to be demolished to a legal height.
    via u/Peterthinking
  • 09
    My grandpa simply replied, "well that's easy. I'll just import in some dirt, to put around the first floor of the house." The inspector became frustrated, and left him to build. My grandpa was smart like that, but then, the whole reason I know this story is because my grandpa let my family move in with him after this house was built, and while my dad was paying grandpa
    via u/Peterthinking
  • 10
    rent for us to be there, grandpa drained the equity out of the house, didn't pay the mortgage, and bailed to leave us homeless once the house was foreclosed. So, it's like I said... he was a very clever man, but a little bit shady also.
    via u/Peterthinking
  • 11
    MOLPT Reminds me of the story. about a buy who built an extensive deck system behind his house and then the inspectors wanted rails placed around the whole thing because the height was too above grade. He trucked in top soil and raised the grade.
    via u/MOLPT
  • 12
    A co-worker told me he wanted to pour a ground- level concrete deck behind his home, but the inspectors wanted it tied into the home's slab. He asked how far out the deck slab would have to be in order for the "tie in" requirement to no longer apply. He said the inspector just grinned and told him how far out to go. Problem avoided.
    via u/MOLPT
  • 13
    Original_Dream... He was at least 30% shady at the beginning of your story. To leave your family homeless intentionally is 100% shady. It's ok to admit that to yourself.
    via u/Original_Dream_7765
  • 14
    Due-Procedure... He charged you rent while not paying the mortgage and let it foreclose... but he's a decent man? What am I missing?
    via u/Due-Procedure5918
  • 15
    H A prior co-worker wanted a garage to the rear of his property, but the city he was in wouldn't allow detached garages. He ended up building his garage at the rear of the property with a (long!) covered breezeway connecting the house to the garage, and got his large garage.
    via u/Hey_Allen
  • 16
    He did make sure to build everything exactly to code. so that the inspector didn't have anything to complain about, other than the technicality of the garage being "connected" to the house...
    via u/Hey_Allen
  • 17
    mm1palmer 'my grandpa swears a gentleman's promise' But he doesn't keep his signed promise to the bank, a bank that gave a loan on an out-of-compliance property yet didn't require him to bring it into compliance. He also screws over his son and grandkids.
    via u/mm1palmer
  • 18
    Why was the inspector frustrated? He would have just said, fine import the dirt and bring it into complaince.
    via u/mm1palmer

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