Building Code Inspectors - Survey

[Norminn]

My new mission in life is to agitate with city gov't to force the city govt to do something more useful than pass the buck. They have elevated passing the buck to an art form, so I figure that there should be new challenges. They may also have killed three or four people through incompetence.

Question: It is logigal to me that in-process inspections should serve a purpose. I'm tired of reading about lousy roofs and dippy concrete pours. Is it reality, anyplace, that inspectors care what kind of work is done and actually force corrections for bad work before the job is done? Does anyone know of citizen groups that have banded together to get their municipality to do better?

[Goedjn]

You're far better off agitating to get the city inspectors abolished entirely, and hiring a private inspector.

[Joshua Putnam]

It certainly does happen here (Pacific, Washington, a small town south of Seattle, east of Tacoma.) But there are limits. Permit fees don't nearly cover the cost of a detailed inspection, and citizens are loathe to raise taxes for any reason. There's only one inspector for a workload that could easily keep two working full time.

So if you really want to be sure your work is being done to spec, you can't rely on the building inspector alone. Get your own expert to supervise and/or inspect.

Also, the city's inspector may not even see a job if it's being done without permits, and you can bet a lot of jobs get done without permits that they should have had -- how many people really get permits to replace a water heater? (How many people realize that an improperly-installed water heater can destroy their house?)

[gfretwell]

The problem is money. Inspectors may be doing 40 a day, they won't see much. In SW Florida a new home will probably cost you a half million. In that price will be about $8,000 in various fees and taxes. TWO HUNDRED bucks goes to the building department. For that you get administration, zoning review, plan review and 21 inspections (minimum). Pay a guy $9 for an inspection (and all that other stuff), you get a 9 buck inspecton.

[SQLit]

Not only money and time is the problem, but what are they actually looking at? Where I live the only things that get "inspected" is the structure. Basically if it don't fall down it is fine by them. I have a friend that is an electrical commercial inspector supervisor, due to vacations and sick leave he ended up inspecting some million dollar semi custom homes. The very first one he found 7 electrical code violations and 2 mechanical violations. He was politely told "we do not look at that stuff in residential." Nothing was changed or repaired.

If you want the inspection process to change then you need to go to city hall. Dog the managers until they bark. Then and only then the process will change.

[Larry Bud]

Then let's not deceive and call a building inspector what he really is: A tax collector.

[gfretwell]

I am not sure were you are but that is not true here. You don't need to pull a permit and get inspections to have the tax assessor find you. It is two totally separate departments. The building inspector barely has time to look at the stuff he has a card on. They don't care if you are building without a permit. That is another department too. The "code enforcement" guys only respond to complaints so if your neighbor does not rat you out nobody cares ... until the tax assessor comes around. These days they use satellite photos.

I would like to see a reasonable workload for building inspectors but nobody seems willing to pay for it.

I am also not sure how much a private inspector will be able to do for you. The builder still owns that house and they have no obligation to allow access to a private inspector or to do anything when the private inspector sees something. Most builders around here would simply refund your money and sell the house to the next person on the waiting list.

[Don]

Don't forget them impact fees, on the order of $10,000 right now.

Here in Cape Coral *fly-by* inspections are the norm. The quality of construction around here is deplorable and you're right, home costs have went through the moon.

[Don]

Make no mistake, any collection by a gov't is a tax regardless of its function. Yes, even a fishing license is a tax.

[gfretwell]

The impact fees were in that $8000

This is a house that will sell for ~$500,000

[JerryL]

Impact fees in Southern Florida (Palm Beach County) are in the 10-12K range now. and that's for a house 400K. They just got a raise in the fees claiming they needed it for the new schools but forgot to mention that the citizens here voted in a 1/2 percent increase in sales tax to pay for the new schools so they are 'doublebanging' us.

[Don]

So you're in Lee County too, do you work for Centex? I'm in the Cape, self employed, and just about all of my work is out on the islands, Useppa, Cayo Costa, etc. Amazing how the prices have went through the moon around here, eh? My understanding is that the impact fees were raised, again, a month or 2 ago.

[Don]

Ah, the *schools* again. They keep raising the fees for schools around here. Funny, they keep charging more and more money for the schools yet the quality keeps dropping lower and lower.

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[gfretwell]

Nope but my wife does

I am not sure about the impact fees but this one was permitted in August and the fees were $7995

RES2005-15312