A 5/8" x 8' copper grounding rod is $14 at Home Depot; 3\4 x 10 is $33. I'm very confused on how the extra $100 would meaningfully affect the project in either time or BOM.
That one change was the tip of a very large iceberg. They easily added somewhere in the order of $50K+ to the total cost of the system. I could have installed triple the power generation capacity for that money.
BTW, I did the bulk of the work on this installation myself (with the help of my kids here and there). No general contractor involved. Had there been a contractor on the job the cost would have been far greater.
Before someone jumps in and says "You probably screwed-up the design" (after all, this is HN). I designed the entire system, hired a civil engineering firm to review the design and calculations as well as provide stamped blueprints and calculations (you can't get a permit unless you have this).
I also consulted with the same plan checkers throughout the design process (before hiring the civil engineering firm) as well as with my suppliers and buddies who had built similar systems.
I only hired the civil engineering firm one the plan checkers told me verbally that all looked good and I should move forward, hire the engineering firm and submit the drawings and calculations for official approval and issuance of permit. I got verbal "All is good" from the structural, electrical, planing/zoning and fire plan checkers.
Three days after I submitted everything for approval the very same plan checker who told me all looked good rejected the very same plans he and I had discussed during weekly meetings for about two months. Things got surreal from there.
I spoke to multiple contractors from different trades during my many visits to the plan check office. I did not find one who did not have horror stories --multiple horror stories-- about dealing with these people.
Anyhow, it's a somewhat distant memory now.
> So, we did.
> They still made the project a nightmare to complete. They added a massive chunk to the overall cost and it took six months longer than it should have taken to complete it.
I read it that the excessive grounding requirements were just the beginning of a series of silly and expensive demands, which in aggregate made the project way more expensive.
It's that or it took six extra months to install four grounding rods.
Given some contractors I've dealt with --- I wouldn't be shocked. (or maybe I would be shocked, ... if they were allowed to do electrical work unsupervised. :) )
However, what I think he's saying is that despite blindly complying with this in hopes of a smooth project... the bureaucracy found other ways to make his project expensive, miserable, and slow anyways.
Hint: what the consumer can buy over the counter, and what gets used in a professional setting, are frequently two radically different things that may only be tangentially related.
There are other components used in contracting that have a bit more product segmentation, but the whole "frequently radically different things that may only be tangentially related" bit is wildly exaggerated. We use the appropriate components for the job, and often that means the same stuff you could buy at Home Depot. You're paying for that knowledge of what's appropriate/necessary and the labor to do the work, not for super-special premium contractor ground rods.