I hired Ben Franklin Plumbing to kill water service to a house which is abandoned and I wish to demolish. Kansas City requires me to use a master plumber to perform this work because that would ensure that the work was done properly and that I wouldn't have to worry about failing an inspection, so I called Ben Franklin Plumbing. They came out and after discussing options, I was told that we could simply cap the water line and that would satisfy the requirements for the water department to issue me a permit do demolish the house. They even agreed I could dig the hole down to the water line and save some money. So far, so great!

After paying $1500 to have the work done, something I could have done myself for less than $200, I am still unable to get the city to agree to issue a permit for me to demolish. First issue was that there had been no permits pulled. Seems that would be pretty basic, but it was not done. Second issue is that Ben Franklin then did pull a permit for just doing some basic work, which the water department said was not sufficient for the demolition permission. So we tried again for the third try. At this point there have been several permits pulled I am awaiting the water department's response regarding whether I can demolish this house.

I would never pay $1500 to put a cap on a pipe ... I can do that myself. I paid to have a solution whereby the water department would issue their permission for me to demolish this old house. And yet I still am unable to demolish this house.

This could still turn out fine, but I'm not sure I should have to be putting so much effort into getting the permit I need after paying the amount of money I did to get the water cut off to this house in a way that would allow me to demolish it. I trusted that a licensed plumber would know that and that was the supposed reason the city requires me to hire a plumber.

Frustrated.