'We're just gonna go ahead and sell you the property you've stolen': Construction head faces off with persistent client

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Jun 13, 2024 5:00 PM EDT

Construction work shouldn't have to be quite this complicated. Too bad that one city inspector kept bothering the workers over typical excavation complaints, like making too much noise or "killing their grass." 

As a senior construction superintendent based in Texas, u/Short_Finger_Dizzy was working on one site that continually got complaints from a homeowner. They disagreed over property lines, which seems to be a common point of contention for homeowners. The story often goes that the homeowner will make a big fuss over having to move their fence by just a few inches. After they or their neighbors go to the city about that issue, though, they realize that they actually owe their neighbor a few feet of land! In the end, it almost always results in that person losing some of their property. 

They shared their tale with the malicious compliance community, and commenters loved it. You can read the entire story below! 

After that, check out a few hilarious travel miscommunications, like one dude who kept insisting that a temple of literature was "the temple of Little Richard." 

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10360568064
    via Aubrey Odom on Unsplash
  • 02
    Male Karen and property lines. 2nd Edition. I'm a Senior Construction Superintendent in the DFW area. The project I'm currently on is a 13 acre site, smack in the middle of an extremely affluent area to the north of Dallas.
    via u/Short_Finger_Dizzy
  • 03
    3 weeks ago, a city inspector that we'll call Joe, came into the site office and said that they received a complaint about a sprinkler/soaker line being damaged during excavation for the fire lane. He, my landscaper and myself went to investigate, discovered where a small fitting had blown out of the line. Landscaper repaired it, I went up to knock on the door to explain to them the issue and inform them if the repair.
    via u/Short_Finger_Dizzy
  • 04
    I got no answer at the door, so I left a card and a note asking them to call me. They never did. A week later, Joe comes in and mentions that they've reached out again about the noise from equipment - which is odd, because anyone with heavy equipment is currently working on the other end of the property. I again went to speak with them, got no answer at the door, and left a card again.
    via u/Short_Finger_Dizzy
  • 05
    Yesterday, in walks Joe to tell me that they're complaining about our construction fence is on their property and killing their grass. The fence is 12' from their fence, and our specs call for it to be a minimum of 15' from the property line, so I pull up our CAD files on the survey platt, so I can make sure we have it placed exact, and realize that their wood fence is 4' onto our property. Their house is about 14" onto our property.
    via u/Short_Finger_Dizzy
  • 06
    During all of this, I get an email from the city, asking me to place the construction fence squarely on our property line. The email is sent to me, the apparent homeowner, Joe, and my project manager.
    via u/Short_Finger_Dizzy
  • 07
    I brought the surveyors back out yesterday to pinpoint our property corners and give us some 10' off-sets (reference points 10' east of the property line, for line of sight) to measure from.
    via u/Short_Finger_Dizzy
  • 08
    I knocked on the homeowners door again, and got no answer. Mind you, every time there were cars in the drive. Fast forward to this morning, my fence crew showed up and they began moving the fence onto the property line, which takes 31" (2 feet, 7 inches) of their driveway, and 18' of the road where it ends at the property (was previously a cul-de-sac).
    via u/Short_Finger_Dizzy
  • 09
    The client finally reached out, or more accurately; came to the site. office in a huff. I explained the issue, showed him the platt and he left with some unkind words flowing from him, like diesel exhaust on a steep incline.
    via u/Short_Finger_Dizzy
  • 10
    I put a pause on the fence relocation, just to soothe the wound. My PM called him, I called the city Right of Way (ROW) engineer, and our client. We set up a meeting that just ended.
    via u/Short_Finger_Dizzy
  • 11
    He claimed that our platt was wrong. The engineer and everyone else disagreed. The back and forth went on long enough for the client, who is an extremely laid back, and quiet gentleman, to finally speak up and basically say:
    via u/Short_Finger_Dizzy
  • 12
    We're just gonna go ahead and sell you the property you've stolen, at current market value plus 10%. (In this area...that's not cheap.) If that's not acceptable, we'll just have you move your fence, cut out your driveway, and use the east side of your home for advertisement.
    via u/Short_Finger_Dizzy
  • 13
    Or, you can back off, let these guys work, and we'll give you lifetime use of the area you currently occupy, so long as there's no more hassling of any kind.
    via u/Short_Finger_Dizzy
  • 14
    The guy asked me if we'd move the fence back out, and I told him no. I agreed to take it off his driveway, but the street and green space belonged to us. We only did what he asked us to do. The engineer who asked me to move it, agreed. So, there it is. The story again, the fall-out, and conclusion.
    via u/Short_Finger_Dizzy
  • 15
    The_Riker_Man... All fun and games until someone threatens to use the side of your house as a billboard
    via u/The_Riker_Man
  • 16
    Dragonov02 Aaaaahhh there's the closure I was looking for. Thanks for the 2nd edition!
    via u/Dragonov02
  • 17
    No-Freedom1956 As a municipal engineer, I often wonder how the biggest investment people make (for most it is their home) they do the least research on and have no clue about what they bought. Now if it was a piece of tech, they could just go to online reviews. But real estate actually takes some work so there's no time for that...
    via u/No-Freedom1956
  • 18
    AppFlyer MAN. This is great. Great response by the client too. Also, how long until he calls his previous real estate attorney and files an E&O claim?
    via u/AppFlyer

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karens malicious compliance malicious-compliance-reddit fence demanding engineering fences karens in the wild entitled karen story malicious compliance reddit karen entitled people engineer
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