Is it a requirement to be evil if you are a building inspector?

Does the "write-up" state that licensed plumbers and electricians MUST do the work, or was that a verbal? It might be interesting to get a copy of the "new law" and see what it says.

It always surprises me that inspectors can come in and look over a building that has been inspected many times before, and write you up for violations on things that passed before. I remember a guy with a stick up his a$$ who decided that the stairway up to our lunchroom was 1" too wide, and needed to have a handrail on both sides. It had been OK for about 30 years prior to that. He did us a favor by not red-tagging the whole building while we had 24 hours to fix it. And there was the guy who posted a "stop work" notice on the building and ORDERED our guy off the ladder when he was replacing a couple of split cedar shakes on the side facade - we didn't apply for a permit to do it.

But when I was building homes for a short time, I generally found the inspectors to be thorough, but fair. The only argument I had was over a guy who wouldn't issue our original permit because there was not adequate sight distance in both directions from the head of the driveway. This was after I had made a special trip to the department to clarify the situation, and voluntarily showed them pictures and maps of the site, and voluntarily terraced the hillside, and voluntarily removed some trees and brush, and then was told that there was NOT a requirement for sight distance to a single family residence, then BOOM - no permit will be issued, no work allowed on the site, because you need 275' of unobstructed sight distance in both directions in a 25MPH zone. That cost me several thousand dollars. Sorry for the rant.

 

Wasn't Dennis Rader some sort of city inspector/permit enforcer? Just sayin.....

 

There's your first mistake! - Who "told" you? Where's the confirmation letter.......

Their ability to enforce code on existing stuff never ceases to amaze me - "But it *was* to code when we built it XX years back" isn't a valid defense.

However, certainly round here, they don't (or at least didn't when I was involved a few years back) have any control over who does the work. How do they know anyway? Can they ask for receipts etc?....

Having said that, we always found 'em to be pretty "fair and reasonable" - One guy failed our pool one time because the header of a stream that fed the pool was too close to the property line - It was a "part of the pool" to him.

He went away.

Another guy comes out next time - passed with flying colors....

I guess like everyone else, they have good and bad days, and their bad days can *really* ruin your bad days

Cheers,
Ian

 

Many municipal employees are stringing their work out to avoid unemployment. Having "lot to do" is a great reason to stay employed. The town I live in has very reasonable inspectors, but if you go more than 30 minutes south it is nearly impossible to get anything approved.

BT

 

More government shake down. Look for it to only escalate.

Research those supposed laws about who you hire to do the work. Get several quotes. Good luck.

 

Barney Fife mentality.

Just be glad the city doesn't give then a bullet.

 

My experience with property management is short but has been the same only mine concerns fire inspectors. Gutted a building and afterwards the new construction passed all inspections (including fire) with flying colors. First yearly inspection by fire marshal after the work also passes with flying colors. Second yearly inspection comes around. New fire marshal. I get an entire laundry list of idiotic mandates though absolutely nothing in the building has changed. Ridiculous.

 

Those people didn't go to six months of Evil Building Inspector school for nothing!

 

Speaking of fire inspectors:

I was finishing a rush remodel for a company that had purchased a building with a large open atrium with a glass elevator. We had about 4 weeks to remodel and get 80 people moved in. The fire marshall shows up for his inspection 3 days before move-in and decides " That glass elevator has to be enclosed in a fire-rated shaft". It didn't, I knew it, the architect knew it, the engineer knew it. The fire marshal then says "Nobody moves in until you do it". Over the next two days, at the owner's request, we build a finished fire rated shaft around the elevator. About $50K worth. The fire marshall gives the OK and the company moves all the employees in with no days to spare.

6 weeks later I get a letter from the fire marshall....."You were right, you don't need that fire-rated shaft around the elevator". The owner paid us to come back and tear it out....