Well Don, (& others), just so you won't think you are alone and that the _____, (add your own adjectives) thieves are just picking on you, here's our story. In the last 4 or 5 months, we have lost a 10 ton and a 5 ton compressor/condenser unit (10 ton unit on the roof) from my wife's vacant commercial building here. As if that weren't bad enough, during the same time period, my youngest daughter (North of Dallas) moved in with my oldest daughter since they are rebuilding and widening the loop road and Bridge in front of her house and access is terrible to Nil, especially when it rains, and construction is expected to last a year. She figured it would be a good time to remodel, buuuuuuuut..........the ___ thieves in that area found it. They have hit it three times now, first dismanteling the HVAC compressor unit and stealing the copper coil & associated wiring. They then went back again, broke in and cut every copper pipe and wire they could get to, and then broke in again and stole one of the hot water heaters. I have NO idea how much the electrical replacement and plumbing will cost to rewire and replumb.
As long as the metals prices are this high, I expect these thefts to continue, as the police don't seem to have a clue as to how to catch the thieves or stop the thefts. Since this seems to be a National problem, one thing that would help would be to have the police monitor the salvage yards more closely, (similar to the way they do the "Hock Shops" for stolen goods), and require salvage yards, (by law) to keep records of anyone that brings in Copper or aluminum (other than cans) and exactly what the metal was, ie: electrical wire, copper/aluminum coils, copper pipe, if they are not a licensed HVAC person, electrician, or plumber. With a regular scan by the police of that information, they could soon see if a person or persons were showing up a little too regular with this type of material and check them out. As it stands now, they just throw up their hands and say we don't have a clue as to where to start looking for these thieves.
It is very frustrating I can assure you, when it appears that the only action we can take is to fork over money to replace the missing items and repair the damage done by these "Lower than Life Individuals", especially if it is on property that is not insured, or in some cases when the insurance finds a loophole and did not pay.
OK, so much for the Soapbox stuff, and Don, your new Mansion is looking GOOOOOOOOD.