I first
encountered Mr. C.D. Howard when, in 1978, I found myself in need of obtaining
a general contractor’s license in Huntsville, Alabama. Mr. Howard (Just call me “C.D.”) was a
Huntsville native. He was the
slowest-talking southern gentleman I have ever encountered – one of those folks
with whom you find yourself trying to pull the words out faster. He was the head of the Huntsville Department
of Inspection.
I asked Mr.
Howard how I might go about getting a license and he advised me of the
necessary steps. But he also stressed to
me the importance of working with his inspectors in the course of a
building project. I took that message to
heart. During the next few years as a licensed general contractor, I often called his office with questions about a specific regulation or
requirement. I practically memorized the
Southern Building Code and never tried to put anything over on the
inspectors. As a result, Mr. Howard and
I got along just fine.
The conversation
which I remember most vividly took place in early 1979. Margo and I had been talking about buying a
lot and building our own home. I had
been studying solar home designs and had drawn up several ideas for a solar
heated energy-efficient home. I had
heard that some localities prohibited contractors from building their own
residences. The conversation with Mr.
Howard took place on one of my regular visits to his office and went something
like this:
Me: Mr. Howard, is it legal in Madison County for
a contractor to build his own home?
C.D.: (very
slowly) Mr. Mead, neither the city of Huntsville nor the county of Madison has
any prohibition against a licensed general contractor building his own place of
residence. However, should you and Mrs.
Mead elect to do so, I suggest that you include in the cost of the residence
the cost of a divorce.
Enough
said. We never tried to build the house.
I recently
learned that Mr. C.D. Howard is a member of the Huntsville-Madison County
Builders Association Hall of Fame. How
appropriate.
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