Without village inspector, they'd still have gas leak

Building permits! Don't you get aggravated everytime you want to do something around your home, you have to apply for a building permit? Great way for the village to just make extra money. Wrong!

We've had a lot of building permits over the years and this is pretty much how we felt about them - until this year. We needed a new furnace in our room addition. We got a reputable company to install it - you see them advertised all the time on TV. The salesman came out, they put the furnace in the next day and life goes on.

We called the village inspector, he came out. The furnace was completely outside of village code - including a gas leak! Called the company out again. The story unfolds that they put a completely wrong furnace in the room; it ended up the furnace company had to have a carpenter come to make repairs to the wall.

We got another furnace, another inspection, another failure (and still a gas leak). The village inspector came out several times with the company - but the company didn't bother to respond to him, so what leverage would I, an ordinary homeowner have?

The inspector came out again, pointed out the issues, and FINALLY it got resolved. This took from the beginning of February to the end of May.

The moral of the story: A permit is a good insurance policy to protect your investment and your safety.

Thank you, Billie Roth, and your team, as you make Streamwood a beautiful place to live. We have been residents here for 51 years. I especially want to thank the village inspectors, namely, Jamie Schmitt, as without his help we would still be living with a gas leak.

Dorry Dahl

Streamwood