Building and Fire code consultants, educators and podcasters in the construction and real estate industry đš đ§
Boston, MA
Joined August 2018
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âThe best places prioritize being in the place, over getting through the place.â- @clmarohn of @StrongTowns
Photo via @wrathofgnon
Joe Kelly retweeted
I predicted theyâd call off Congress until the election to stop our new Epstein bill.
Johnson said on TV that was âstupidâ and ânonsensical.â
But then he got a call from âupstairsâ and canceled Congress from the middle of September until the election.
If you were like me, Bitcoin mining sounded like quantum physics. It's actually quite simple. @bitstorian will tell you how and more importantly why.
youtu.be/KrGdZzPrvNA?si=DTuMâŠ
Dropping next week Dr. Michael Kelly is on the Mass Construction Show to talk bitcoin mining, energy recovery, helping communities, making money and freedom.
#bitcoin #bitcoinminer #energyrecovery #renewablenergy
Mass Construction Rundown xitter.cf/i/broadcasts/1rGmqqylYâŠ
Recording w/ @bitstorian today. What bitcoin mining questions do you have?
Miner by @RickThomasII
Mass Construction Rundown xitter.cf/i/broadcasts/1qxvvvaYLâŠ
Joe Kelly retweeted
Elon Musk just weaponized gravity.
The entire trucking industry has a physics leak bleeding billions.
Musk just sealed it.
Most people look at the Tesla Semi and see a cleaner diesel. A truck that swapped a gas tank for a battery.
That is a complete misread of the physics.
Musk: âLetâs say youâre going over a mountain range. In a diesel truck, you actually donât capture the energy of height or potential energy.â
For a century, freight has fought gravity twice on every mountain.
A diesel truck burns thousands of dollars in fuel clawing its way to the peak. It arrives at the summit loaded with enormous gravitational potential energy.
And what does it do with that energy?
It throws it away as heat.
Musk: âYou have to actually spend a lot of money on expensive brakes going down the other side so you donât run out of control.â
Diesel burns twice.
Fuel going up. Hardware coming down.
A century of logistics, and the descent was never anything but a cost to be survived.
The Tesla Semi doesnât survive the descent.
It harvests it.
Musk: âAn electric semi truck is able to recapture the gravitational potential energy and in fact puts the energy back in the pack.â
Regenerative braking doesnât just slow the truck. It converts 80,000 pounds of downhill momentum into raw electricity flowing back into the battery.
The mountain stops being an obstacle.
It becomes a power plant.
Here is the thermodynamic reality the market is missing.
Diesel is closed on the descent. There is no version of a combustion engine that turns downhill momentum back into liquid fuel. It is structurally impossible.
Electric is open in both directions. The same system that spends energy to climb gets paid on the way down.
Wall Street keeps pricing the Tesla Semi on a cost-per-mile comparison. Kilowatts versus gallons.
They are solving the wrong equation.
You cannot win a price war against a machine that bills the planet for its own fuel.
Joe Kelly retweeted
đ¶ âBaby, where the hell is my audit?â đ¶
Had fun at South Bostonâs St. Patrickâs Day Breakfast! âïžđźđȘ Thanks to our host @nickcollinsma #mapoli
Joe Kelly retweeted
Pam Bondi, the Epstein files, âaliens are realâ⊠and whatâs that other guyâs name again?
Joe Kelly retweeted
>Got cancelled by the BBC, immediately started a bigger show on Amazon
>Bought a farm and actually works it himself
>Exposed the insane government bureaucracy destroying British farmers
>Made farming "cool" for an entire generation of young men
>Hates manual labor, does it anyway
Jeremy Clarkson is such a W
Long: states with solid balance sheets, low regulation and low taxes.
Short: states with budget deficits, high regulations and high taxes
On the anniversary of the Great Molasses Flood in the North End. I thought it would be interesting to point out that the disaster prompted the requirements for licensed engineers, and Architect and Engineers signatures on drawings. Which would become our modern day stamp and construction control.
#buildingcode
đ€ Made with AI
.@friedberg I enjoyed your episode with @adamcarolla and thought as a former city inspector, builder and now biz owner/code consultant I might be able to offer an explanation:
The Roots of the Problem
At its core, the biggest barrier to efficient, affordable building isnât technology or materialsâitâs bureaucracy. Regulations are meant to keep people safe, but over time, theyâve multiplied without restraint. What used to be a single manageable building code has ballooned into a web of five or more separate codebooks, updated every three years and often amended at the state level by all 50 states.
Each update adds more complexity, often driven by well-intentioned code officials seeking safety improvements, industries promoting their products, and, letâs be honest, publishers selling new editions and subscriptions. Certification requirements, while valuable in theory, have turned into yet another costly layerâcreating revenue streams for regulators but draining time and money from the people actually doing the work. In some cases, âcertifiedâ individuals are listed on projects they never visit, adding bureaucracy without improving safety.
Regulation on Every Level
State codes are only the beginning. Every municipality adds its own zoning rules, shaped by local politics. Then state and federal laws stack on top of thatâsometimes overlapping, sometimes conflicting. For instance, a multifamily building must comply with state accessibility codes, the federal ADA, the Fair Housing Act, and potentially Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act if federal funds are involved. Yet the local inspector only enforces the state codes. The result? Projects that meet local rules but still face lawsuits later for missing something buried in a different regulation.
The Endless Permitting Maze
Getting a building permit has become a full-time job. Developers must seek approval from boards, commissions, fire departments, public works, transportation, and building departmentsâeach with its own forms, fees, and timelines. Every approval adds cost and uncertainty. Projects stall not because theyâre unsafe or poorly designed, but because theyâre trapped in procedural limbo.
Other recurring problems include:
- Chronic understaffing at municipal agencies.
- Well-intentioned but misinformed regulations.
- Unfunded mandatesâlaws created without resources to enforce them.
Each new rule, no matter how noble its aim, adds cost, extends timelines, and discourages investment. Ironically, the response to these challenges has often been more regulation, not lessâfurther feeding the cycle.
How the Industry Is Coping
Faced with this reality, the construction industry has adapted in creative (and costly) ways.
- Developers hire lobbyists to shape or block new laws/codes.
- Architects now bring in code consultants to stay compliant.
- Contractors employ permit expediters just to navigate city hall.
- And now, tech startups like UpCodes, PermitFlow, Pulley, and Greenlite are using AI to help professionals wade through the mess.
But letâs be clear: you shouldnât need a Ph.D. or AI software just to build housing. These tools treat the symptoms of a broken systemâthey donât fix it.
The Tide Is Turning
Hereâs the good news: people are fed up. Ordinary citizens, not just developers and code geeks, are joining forces to fight back against bureaucratic gridlock. Grassroots movements like Strong Towns, Abundant Housing MA, and Center for Building NA are mobilizing thousands of supporters through small donations and local advocacy. Their mission is simpleâmake it possible to build again.
And itâs working. Across the country, weâre seeing real change:
- States are permitting larger single-stair buildings by right.
- ADUs (Accessory Dwelling Units) are becoming legal in more places.
- Cities are embracing âup-zoning" to allow denser, more flexible development.
- Vermont has rolled back to an earlier code edition.
- Some states now allow third-party plan reviews and inspections to speed things up.
Are all these reforms perfect? Not even close. Some risk adding new complications. But collectively, they send a powerful message: the public is done tolerating a system that has priced people out of homeownership and burdened builders into paralysis.
What Comes Next
When people can no longer afford homes, business as usual is no longer acceptable. The institutions that created this red tape are being forced to reckon with it, and while the process will be messy, itâs necessary. Systems that took decades to overgrow wonât change overnightâbut for the first time in a long time, they are changing.
If the energy of todayâs housing advocates keeps building, we might finally see a future where building a home is about creating shelter and community, not navigating a maze of paperwork. The path will be bumpy, but itâs heading in the right directionâand we just might come out stronger on the other side.
Great episode of the @theallinpod