Replacing a wheelchair ramp took me way longer than I planned

I figured swapping out the old wooden ramp at my place in Portland would be a weekend job. But between finding a contractor who actually understood ADA specs and waiting for permits from the city, it ended up taking almost 4 months from start to finish. The worst part was the first guy ghosted me after I paid $300 for the initial site visit. Has anyone else dealt with surprise delays on home mod projects like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_susan22h ago

$300 for a site visit? That's brutal. I swear some of these guys see "ADA ramp" and think they can charge whatever they want because they know you kinda have to have it. But the permit thing - that's where I think people really get burned. Portland's permitting process is a nightmare for anything that touches the ground or a structure. I had a buddy wait 8 months for a simple egress window permit because the city kept asking for soil reports. Next time, try looking for a contractor who does "aging in place" renovations instead of just "handicap access" stuff. Those guys usually know the permit workarounds better since they deal with the city all the time.

nora_park7219h ago

Ugh don't even get me started on permit wait times! I swear I could have built a whole house in the time it took the city to approve my dad's ramp last year. By the time they said okay, winter was over and the wood was already warped from sitting in my garage. The "aging in place" tip is actually solid though - those contractors deal with this stuff so often they probably have the permit lady on speed dial. I'm just glad I'm not too old yet to crawl under the house to fix stuff myself, because paying someone to deal with the city sounds like its own kind of tax.