Usually I don't take those kinds of jobs. Pain in the neck. Hard to bid. Not enough profit. Too much hassle.
Mo had things figured out though and I'll admit his plan was pretty good. Besides it was one of those adverse possession things and I'd done a few of them lately, figured his lawyer or the one on the other side put him on to me.
They hire me after all the fighting is done. After all those rich folk spend all that money in court then they need a fence, on the new property line, wherever the heck they've decided it will be. I don't get involved, just put in the new fence wherever it's supposed to go without fuss. Lawyers like that, no drama, agreeable to everyone, big smiles, "hi how ya doin?" Give them my card, tell them what I'm going to do, and go to work.
The part I didn't like that I usually don't do is that the old fence had been taken down in sections and piled. I was to put in new posts and attach the old sections. Couldn't put in a new fence because of the flood zone, a permitting no no.
Mo had a nice 1960s ranch house right up next to the mountains in a good part of town, backyard was all big trees and a tiny creek that ran all year. Just above creek level was a huge picture window in his bedroom. No landscaping all natural trees and plants and creek. Across the creek and forty feet away uphill a bit was where the old fence was. When it was taken down the neighbor looked directly into his bedroom. The realtor had told the new owner the fence was hers and if she took it down she'd have a good view of the creek. Of course Mo lost all privacy. The big window and the creek gave him a terrarium type view.
When the guys had come to take down the fence Mo had asked them to just stack it in his yard. Then the surveyors had disagreed. Then court for a year and a half and lots of money for the lawyers. The courts decided the fence actually was on her land, by five inches. The fence had been built by the old owner of Mo's house, obviously, as it went around his yard but no others. And it had been used by the old owner and Mo for fifty years, so Mo took adverse possession of those five inches.
The city would only let him put the old fence back in exactly the same place it used to be. No new fence, couldn't move it over five inches.
Mo had thought about it a lot and had a very practical plan on how to put in new posts, a new top rail. and hang the old fence on the new top rail attaching at new posts etc. To make it look good I'd have to be very precise with post placements and a couple other things but his plan was workable. His new fence would look ok.
Besides having a good mind for figuring out logistics for building Mo was very personable. Gregarious. He'd grown up in Iran probably during the late fifties or early sixties. He had fun stories about early life in a remote provincial capital. It was a good call taking the job. I'd bid it so I made money and it was a fun project for late winter. I had no help and just kind of worked along at my own pace.
Mo was implementing the use of the software he'd written for the state, he had a customer service gall that did phone stuff from nine to five. She was kind of friendly too. I'd introduced myself to the lady in the other house who'd been on the other side of all the legal stuff, waved to me when she came out in the yard.
One day I asked Mo to take a look at something on the fence. Said he couldn't come within twenty feet of the property line until the fence was done, legal stuff. Then he told me a not funny story.
After the line had been surveyed he went to take a look at the stakes. Four police cars arrived with flashing lights and five uniformed police. Mo is an easy going guy, gives off those vibes. The cops went out back where the stakes were and walked around and did their cop kind of things and when it was just the sergeant and Mo, Mo said, "just between us girls what the ** is going on?". I'm not sure what that expression means but I remember it. Sounded funny. Mo is thick set, bearded, and not too girlish.
Like i said Mo is real easy to get along with. Sergeant told him what was up. Lady had called saying "some Muslim guy named Mohamed is looking in my window". This was at the height of the Bush Muslim terrorism thing. Mo is short for Mohamed. You know like President Obama's middle name is Hussein. She said it to get the police all het up. Terrorists!
Mo isn't the type to scream racism or anything, neither am I. It was just a lowlife thing to do, sicking the cops on someone to create a problem for them because you disagree.