Anyone Else Bothered By Inspections?

nadonailer

Is it just Cali or does everyone have to have 'special inspections' for every single thing? I know our codes are the strictest in the nation
(2nd to NY, as I understand), but this is ridiculous! I just went through a full day with a guy watching me drill holes for the hold-downs, checking the bit size, making sure the epoxy was the correct brand, making sure we blew out the holes, checking the depth, etc..
What a waste of time and extra $$$$

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reveivl

Nado, you telling me you have to pay some bureaucrat to watch you work? Dang, I thought we had it bad up here, I feel for you, Rich.

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Bjd

Mass can be pretty tough, however with the flooding that we just had they really seem to have loosened up and are giving us a lot more room to work with out to much hassle.
Used to be pull a permit and wait for the insepction, now just call and they show up, its kinda of nice.

BJD

IHI

Man, that sounds like the federal work we were doing when pouring sidewalks and bike trails, inspector was there typically before we were and after we were checking the mix prior to it falling off the chute and like you said checking hole depth, rod size, epoxy when we were tieing into existing work. Made for a slower paced day since it took him at least 10 minutes to properly check slump and areation before we could go.

Other than that our city inspectors and associated BS are relavant to each one and how bad a day they are having. Overall it's pretty typical for standard call in's during the process and not much drama...depending on inspector, day of week, sunny or cloudy outside, etc...

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maj

Nado, inspecters & codes are just as regional as the license thing. Here in my area, we very seldom see the inspectors. In fact, the only enforced code is our city's energy code. We have to have certain R-values (even basements) in order to get hooked up to natural gas.

Not that we don't follow national codes, every reputable contractor here will build a quality structure that will last 100 years or more. Usually the inspectors will look at who the various trades working on a project are (i.e. carpenter, electrician,foundation, etc.), and if they are familiar with names, they'll check accordingly. This meaning, reputable will get an easy approval, not-so-reputable will get harassed and probably chased out of town!!

The biggest difference is because you have earthquakes and we have tornadoes. Earthquakes, you can build to somewhat withstand the force of nature. A tornado will completely destroy everything in it's path. There is nothing (other than 2' solid concrete)that will resist a 300 mph twister.

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Grumpy

I don't mind inspections but I hate being on some one elses schedule. As a roofer some villages require a wood inspection after tear off, problem is almost always we have guys standing around for an hour or more waiting for the inspector. Call the village and they basically tell you in a polite manner that they don't care. Cover it up and the inspector gets all pissy when he does show up. We simply take pictures of any replaced wood and the ice shield being installed and keep moving. if they can't deal with it, they will have 5 angry filthy sweaty roofers charging them with hammers.

Bone Saw

I find in twps who outscource their inspections to an outside engineering firm much more timely, friendly, accomodating and overall less problematic to deal with than twps with 1 or 2 inspectors on the twp payroll

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D.C.

Whiner, you brought this up before-get used to it
http://www.contractortalk.com/f4/special-hole-inspection-8749/

ch0mpie

Since my home improvement business if less then a year old and does not yet make enough money to support me, I also work for a foundation engineering company as an inspector. I do mostly inspection of test borings, and soil/rock subsurface.

When I'm assigned to a job, I'm basically at the contractor's becken call anytime he needs me there. Some guys call me 24hrs in advance, I get there on time, everything is according to spec/code, they pour, I go home. After this happens couple of times I know this guy takes pride is his work and is going to do the rest of the job right.

Other guys call me 5min before the concrete truck arrives on site, and get pissed when I'm an hour away. When I get there they get pissed because I tell them I can't inspect with a foot of water in the excavation. Then they get even more pissed when they pump off 6" of water to expose 6" of loose material that needs to be removed because the engineer said that the footings are supposed to be directly on rock. At this point I know everyday until the end of the job is going to be a battle with this guy.

I understand what its like to be inspected and have had anal inspectors on my jobs, so I try to be as reasonable as possible with people. I think I have a pretty good rep with most of the guys I've worked with. Some even take the time to teach me a little something about something when they see me standing there board out of my mind. But when your dealing with low bid contractors who don't care about quality, put there guys in dangerous situations, and give excuses like "this building is not a rolex" it can be difficult to be forgiving.

mas2006

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asbestos

I have had dealings with inspectors from the gov't and private ones doing the same thing on the same job. No real differnce. In abatement work you ocasionaly get inspected by the govt. but almost always the owner hires a consultant to inspect the work and pull samples. Some are great, work with you, give advice try to find ways to get things done that will make everyone happy. others just kvetch and whine and fuss over stuff that does not matter.
Same with heavy construction. You had the Mud Wizzard and the Dirt Wizzard who would poke around your forms and footings before a pour and fuss about stuff. Others would be clear ahead of time as to what was expected.

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ch0mpie

Other inspectors have told me they will ALWAYS give the contractor a hard time. No matter if the job is perfect they will make up something to see if your on your toes. That kind of atitude just wastes everyone's time, and in my opinion is a sign of insanity.

nadonailer

Sorry, Dude, don't mean to whine - I just don't like the Guvm't poking their noses in everything. And its not about a quality product - it's about $$ IMO.

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joasis

We have a new inspector in our little community. He has made it clear he will shut me down at the first opportunity and so he shows up where we are building 2 specs side by side and starts to tell me how this is the way it is gonna be crap, and I pull out the engineered/stamped drawings and the photo copied pages from IRC 2003, and tell him to get the picture or I will see him in court..and I will sue him for job site lost time when he is proven wrong...well...he caved right in.

So if you are wondering what causes this little problem, I love doing things a little differently then the pack. Since I install steel roof systems, I engineer the trusses and spacing for the application and this drives the "traditional" carpenters nuts. The state inspectors are ok with my work, as long as I have the engineering down cold...matter of fact, they think it is great, since in place f a decked roof, we use a thermal blanket insulation under the steel and gain some value there. So this new inspector, decided he was going to educate me....and so far...he has only shown me his lack of understanding of engineering and codes. I know the threat of a law suit will not work with 99% of inspectors, but our town contracted out with this guy, and he found out his tail is hanging out there in a bad call.

mdshunk

In my area, the inspections are outsourced to a firm that does all the various inspections. They are very prompt, and when they are late, they don't really mind that you went onto step #2 without them. Just explain what you did, maybe answer a few questions, and they sign you off. If they're really early, they sometimes just ask you what it is you're about to do, and they sign you off even if you really havn't done the work yet. (just don't screw him/her when they do you this occasional favor, or there will be hell to pay the on the next one).

There's more "customer service" from a private inspection agency, since they have contract renewal to be concerned about. Complaining contractors at the town hall doesn't bode well for the private inspection agency, so they do right by the contractors 95% of the.

nadonailer

Yeah, the private inspection companys are way better than our city, who will look for anything wrong and if they can't find it make it up.....

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erik edlund

Hey joasis,

I Know What Ya Mean...

First question to ANY inspector; "How many years you got IN THE TRADES? WHAT HAVE YOU BUILT?" (A Birdhouse doesn't count...)

I've got a friend, Charlie Godlove, been a GC for 35 years, God bless him, VERY high-end work, knows it ALL, but too TIRED to do the work anymore so he became an inspector. Knows the trade, knows what it takes. Gets It, ya know?

Then you get 'Momma's boy', doesn't know S*** about building, and I mean 'no time on the job'. A "DIY-er", (UGH!), if at all, just studied the rules, took the 'open book' test, no clue about the realities of construction. Yet ANOTHER Fat Bureaucratic Bottom Feeder, feasting on the sewage of a pathetic life- (Hmmm, do I sound angry?...)

Never let them F*** you around, you KNOW the Code, so should THEY.

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