As inspired by Planderella....

[SlaveToTheGrind]

What has been your worst site visit and your best site visit.

My worst was probably visiting a property owner and telling himt to remove is "homes - trailers" that had been put in place illegally and not fit for habitation.

The best has been a helicopter ride to the top of a 10,000 foot or so mountain or playing golf on two very exclusive new courses.

 

[Repo Man]

The worst was when I had to to check out this complaint about someone who constructed a fence with aluminum siding leftovers. I couldn't believe this house. There was a drained, dirty, cracked swimming pool with some lawnchairs and a table in there and beer cans all over. According the neighbor, they often had parties in the drained pool. There was crap everywhere. Bikes, cars, a mini-scool bus, two sheds, cans, bottles, tubs, etc. This is all on a 40x120 lot too, not out in the country. It truly creeped me out.

Second was when I had to do a follow up incpection for our code compliance person because she had a restraining order against this guy because he threatened to kill her (the guys brother helped the Police get him committed to a mental hospital for 60 days). I had two cops with me and as I walked around the exterior of the house (which was quite similar to the one I described above) I could see him following me from window to window. Yeah there were cops with me, but if he really wanted to shoot me, there wasn't much they could do.

 

[Big Easy King]

Worst - site visit to a blighted house for purposes of a zoning change request. While there, a colleague and I noticed a man taking a dump in the alley. NASTY!

Best - any site visits with former co-workers, including Planderella, that involved spending hours out of our previous office and a great lunch.

 

[giff57]

Worst was when I was called by a social worker to condem a home because the people living there could no longer care for themselves. The house smelled so bad I could barely stand it. The toilet had stopped working and was full, a portable toilet was being used and it was also full. The once white kitchen walls were now brown with roach feces, hundreds of roaches crawled everywhere.

The police had to carry the mother (60-70) years old out kicking and screaming, while one of her children (40-50) protested.

I had to shower after that one, and it took days to get that smell out of my sinuses.

 

[H]

Best: I went to visit an abandoned corporate HQ, by myself, to preliminary access the site. Ended up meeting the grounds keeper who was super cool and showed me around the grounds revealing all sorts of secrets. Pretty cool. It was like playing, and it took all afternoon on a perfect weather day.

Worst: I have not really had a bad one yet, except for being asked for money in some bad areas. But no threats, so that is okay.

 

[donk]

Too many worsts, they are starting to seem normal.(gun threats, name calling, buildings unfit for human habitation, trailers, sludge farms and the list could go on...)

Best, had to go measure the height of a fence. The lady made sure her super hot granddaughter was sunbathing when we arrived, then invited us in in cake and tea.

While I despise big boxes for the shopping experience, they are neat to go in while under construction and empty.

 

[El Feo]

I review rehab and adaptive reuse applications for affordable housing funding. That means I spend A LOT of time in dilapidated homes and buildings, in some pretty rough neighborhoods. My life is nothing but bad site visits. Pigeon colonies (and morgues); six inch deep hills of guano; rats the size of cats; cockroaches; human, er "effluent"; even a dog that had obviously been dead for months one time. Angry, hopped up bums make frequent appearances at my site visits. I've quit going into basements much any more, since we have contract architects help on structural reviews, and I figure they should work hard for their money.

 

[plankton]

My worst site visit (getting chased off of an illegal wetland fill site) now seems okay considering what you urban planners endure - holy shizit.

My best site visit included retracing parts of the Applegate Trail in southern Oregon. (We decided to leave well enough alone and not publicize our findings)

That "multiple full toilets" story is outtahand.

 

[kms]

WORST - we had to investigate a stormwater complaint and needed to go into a house to see how water was getting inside. We referred to the owner as the "nutty clutter lady" after that. She had things in heaps and piles all through the place, with little passages and trails through it - piles of socks, pile of hammers and other tools, things like that. I nearly fell down her basement steps because she had things piled on the steps, too.

BEST - we got to tour an archaelogic dig on a proposed industrial park. There was evidence of huts and places where people disposed of daily trash.

Another time, we the county architect took us on a tour of our courthouse while the dime was under reconstruction and we went into the open dome.