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OK, Who has a plan of action for the COVID-19?

We are still business as usually except office is locked & by appointment only. Inspections were already by appointment. We are to use our best judgement and if we feel we don't need to go inside we don't. Did a garage to bedroom framing thru the window yesterday. We have very little PPE on hand. They are talking of keeping office hours from 7-7 starting the 10th of April. Rotating shifts to keep our 40 hrs. for now. We have no online services yet as we haven't finished our new software yet. We will email what we can and can only take payments in office. As others have said as of now construction is considered essential.
 
Schools and colleges in Virginia are closed, with instruction on-line. Most staff are working from home, but some are coming into the office now & then. We're doing more teleconferencing, although every now & then we still have to go out in the field to observe how a construction project is proceeding. Contractors doing renovation work are happy because they don't have to work around occupied classrooms, so a couple projects are getting ahead of schedule.

Most A/E firms and other government agencies are doing a lot of teleworking. Productivity is down and it takes longer to get many things done. On the other hand, traffic and parking hassles are greatly reduced!
 
I have the building department and code enforcement staff on a modified schedule, planning and zoning working from home and I am in full time. All inspections are outsourced to a 3rd party to minimize me bringing anything back to the building. We are getting close to a shutdown based on the numbers. Some towns around us and one larger city closed down.
 
Thanks for the discussions, guys. Keep it up. Doing a lot of work in code education for contractors and specifically deck builders through my work with NADRA.org, I am getting inquires from our nation's self-employed deck builders about what to do. Concerned as they may be about the virus, they are also concerned for next month's bills. 16 years ago, I was one of these builders living month to month with two new babies. If they can work and the owner will let them, I can't fault them for doing their work...without the help of the building department. I am writing a very difficult blog now to the deck builders about what they should do between now and when normalcy returns. Thank you for the information you are sharing here.

I ask you to be open-minded when things return to normal and the work done is your absence is up for discussion.

As long as all the framing is viewable at the end, that really shouldn't be an issue for the deck guys....Facetime has been working well for us for not too complicated inspections...
 
Construction is considered "essential" here, I suppose because of the extreme shortages and homelessness:



I'd read the whole thing since the reporters have checked with several cities, as usual the holdups are in the building departments.

¹ https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2020/0...w-bay-area-home-construction-future-projects/

California DSA is considered essential services, as such school construction continues with daily inspections, EPR being done at home with Bluebeam, public counters closed but limited appointments being made.
At issue is Governor's direction that those of us over 65 with diabetes, heart or lung issues not to come in but what if they are viewed as essential workers? HR has not faced this issue before with regards to use of vacation/personal leave time if not allowed to come into office.
 
With CO's shutdown, I was told to work remotely. What a PITA, but I will make it work. have been going non-stop since around 7:00 this morning, keep thinking I can knock off anytime. still here at the dining room table. Going to have the inspectors try out some virtual inspections tomorrow, using Zoom or FaceTime, see how that goes.
 
fatboy
I'm a week ahead of you, doing the same.

I accepted a video of a GFCI working in a bathroom that I had been in so the contractor thought that was great. The video showed him inserting the tester and the correct lights were on and he tripped the tester and reset the receptacle.
 
Today I did a virtual inspection. It was a followup correction inspection. There were 13 corrections from the first inspection for a 400 amp residential service with six sub-panels. Today's inspection resulted in two corrections. The house is 9000 square feet with 12 bedrooms and 12 bathrooms. The contractor used an IPhone and I used an IPad. It took about 45 minutes and I was satisfied that it was a competent inspection. I really do not have confidence that a first inspection can be relied upon over the airwaves.

If I am going to make a habit of this I think I'll need a iPad Pro with it's bigger display.
 
a high speed connection and use of a shared softwear such as BlueBeam are key. Which softwear are you all using?
 
I am a bluebeam fan and even started a Bluebeam section on this forum. For the town, we use SmartGov. I think we will be replacing it soon, however.
 
I am a bluebeam fan and even started a Bluebeam section on this forum. For the town, we use SmartGov. I think we will be replacing it soon, however.

Also important that users be on the same edition, we are on 18' but they are now on 19'.
 
UPDATE:
Since we have gone to essential/non-essential and we have a governor's declaration that mimics what we already declared anyway, it forced us to force contractors to fill out applications online and upload their documents. We will never be 100% with this but COVID-19 is forcing it much harder than we could have on our own. Town hall and the building department (we are a separate building) are closed down and we have a drop-box for plans and applications to be dropped off but we don't advertise that on our website, we push the online applications only. Pickup of plans is by permit only and all payments are over the phone or send in a check. We are still having difficulty with the online payment system but that will be a big help. Staffing is reduced so that shifts are split into half days to minimize employee interaction and some can work from home. Code enforcement is on limited hours but still patrolling in order to provide visibility. Inspections are going on almost as normal with limits on who can be on a jobsite. Some condos are not allowing construction or any activity so the numbers are reduced. I go in as needed for a few hours but mostly work from home. Apparently my office phone works just like I am at work when I plug it into the back of my modem. We have more complaints about construction and why it is still allowed but otherwise somewhat normal with complaints.
 
all non essential business are shut down in PA and a state wide stay at home order. Residential construction can only finish a job that is almost done so we are only doing residential electrical service only and final inspections. Commercial construction needs an exception from the governor to continue and get inspections. I have a one construction sites that have this exception and may get another one so far.. I'm wearing a mask and gloves.

There are an awful lot of NY license plates in the Poconos where there are a lot of vacation homes and air b&b rentals. They are bringing the virus with them and it's starting to get bad here.
 
all non essential business are shut down in PA and a state wide stay at home order. Residential construction can only finish a job that is almost done so we are only doing residential electrical service only and final inspections. Commercial construction needs an exception from the governor to continue and get inspections. I have a one construction sites that have this exception and may get another one so far.. I'm wearing a mask and gloves.

There are an awful lot of NY license plates in the Poconos where there are a lot of vacation homes and air b&b rentals. They are bringing the virus with them and it's starting to get bad here.

Rick, I see the same thing with NY Lic plates in and around then Lehigh Valley. Our office who serves numerous municipalities is at a literal crawl. We have select medical projects, a large world head quarters and select residential who have received Governor exemption so or qualify under the order as written.

Here’s a link to Pa Dept of Labor & Industry, clears up some questions.
https://www.dli.pa.gov/Individuals/Labor-Management-Relations/bois/BOISFAQs/Pages/Building-FAQs.aspx
 
Update 1 May 2020:
This completes the first full week back at full staffing. The only people taking time off are those that qualify under the COVID rules that have issues with child-care and are using up the 80 hour bank of time we had to give them under federal law. The public is still not allowed in the building with no end in site to that as of yet.

The good thing that happened is that this has forced us to go 100% online submittals and review which has been very trying but in the long run, necessary and well worth it. I had to work with the software company for 3 weeks straight getting this up and running 100% vs the minimal we were doing which did not include any online submittals or payments, just inspection scheduling. We literally went from 10mph to 100mph in less than 2 weeks but then needed another 2 weeks to iron our the issues. We still have some wrinkles.

We added some security measures to the building that were long overdue and in the next few weeks will be adding thick glass to separate the office from the permit waiting area for the permit technicians at their counter. Basically, COVID expedited the overdue inevitable anyway.
 
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