An average day

[conarb]

At least one of the people involved had clean fingers. Lead flashing won't do that. Lead flashing probably causes environmental damage. How about copper....can you get it in copper.....for under $300.

That's just sprayed GSM, I still use lead flashings, they allow it because kids have to eat or breathe it to do any damage, interestingly some cities, like Palo Alto, are banning copper flashing becuase water runs off it and kills the fish, I don't understand why it kills the fish when we drink water through copper pipes and it doesn't kill us.

 

[ICE]

This time the contractor was there to meet me. He used a 5# sledgehammer to open the wall. The wall deflected an alarming distance.



He is a polite Asian fellow. Communication is not splendid. Smiles a lot and bows his head. It would have been easier to be nice to him if he didn't perform sloppy work.




I could tell by the look on his face that he knew the box must be grounded. I'm pretty sure that he could tell what I was thinking too.

Six inspections got it to this:

 

[ICE]

The job is a trench-less sewer installation. I was, what they figured, early. The contractor wasn't there and the owner repeatedly said that I was early. The job requires a camera run after the pipe is filled and then water released so that I can make sure that it drains properly. Well the contractor had no clue about that and it takes a while to set that up. Considering that there is no test wye at the low end or clean-out at the upper end, it's going to be hours before they are ready.

The owner wanted me to wait for the contractor because I was early. Okay I was early by about an hour. It was !!:00 am and my route slip had it as a PM stop....but I was stood up three times in the morning soooo, ready or not.....I'm here.

The contractor called the office to pitch a bitch because I was early. In the future my route slips will not have AM, AM/PM, or PM time blocks.

The excavation is 7 feet deep and next to a public sidewalk......

 

[ICE]

That was Tuesday. A supervisor called the contractor and informed him of the danger. It is now Friday and another inspection was requested. The hole has 4'x4' plywood and two traffic cones for a cover. Before I left I asked the workman to place dirt on the plywood to make it difficult for a child to lift it off and fall in the hole. He did this.



The kid that met me had a camera snake and a bad attitude. It got worse when I told him that the pipe has to be filled with water. Since there is no way to plug the pipe and fill it with water I couldn't perform an inspection. There is no video of the sewer pipe before the work was done because, "The owner didn't ask for one".

Today's corrections included "Provide shoring".

Like every government agency, Cal/OSHA has no interest in a hole.......unless it is 7’ deep and has no shoring.
I got the feeling that OSHA might sit on the job next Monday.....waiting for a kid to drop into the hole.

I gave this company an opportunity to do the right thing. Well I'll see if they continue to ignore me.

The job I do no longer has any respect.
Here's why:
Yesterday I met a twenty something cartoon character of a workman on a solar job. It took several tries and a diagram to explain how to install a smoke alarm. The guy was covered in tats including his neck. He had half-dollar size hoops cut into his earlobes. His tank-top said Italian thug. His pants stopped a foot above his thongs and six inches short of covering his shorts.

All excited he was...waiting to greet me with a smile from ruined ear to ruined ear. He told me that this was his last day working for a solar company. I asked him where he was headed and he said that he was going to be me at San Bernardino County. That's right....he has been hired as a building inspector.

It's quickly getting to the point where I won't respect me either.

 

[ICE]

I went from that job to this. No impalement caps. The plans state that the slope is a 3 to 1 and they didn't mention the tree.

 

[conarb]

Tiger;

Where do you derive the authority to inspect a sewer? In my neck of the woods the sanitary districts always inspect the sewers with thier own cameras. Since you think you have the right to inspect them, what authority do you have to make the contractor/subcontractor supply and operate the equipment?

Where do you get the authority to enforce CalOSHA requirements? As far as I can see your only authority is to drop a dime and ceases there.

As to the tree didn't your jurisdiction require a survey? If so the tree would have been on the plans.

 

[ICE]

conarb I have answered those questions plenty of times. What authority I lack, I usurp.

The only new question is the one about a survey. So that’s what it’s called. We got a site plan that didn’t show any trees.

 

[conarb]

So you are still usurping authority no matter what I say. Most AHJs that I deal with require surveys as part of the approved plans if there are going to be any new structures, or additions to existing structures, then I hold the tape from property lines to the structures for the field inspector to ensure setback compliance.

 

[ICE]

Seldom is there a survey. Considering the expense there must be a compelling reason to cause someone to spend thousands of dollars for a survey. If I have unanswered questions about property lines it's likely that the owner will move the structure a few feet and convince me that setbacks are met. In an urban area such as where I work, figuring out where property lines are located is usually not a problem.

The tree should have been addressed by the engineer that designed the retaining wall. The contractor didn't give the engineer the correct information but inspectors know the difference between a 3 to 1slope and what you see in the picture. Had the slope been 3 to 1 the tree wouldn't be an issue as it would not surcharge the retaining wall. Inspectors know about that too.

It is not uncommon that the slope behind a wall is misrepresented on the plans. Trees and buildings are missing now and then. However it is smarter to catch that when the inspector gets there than to require everybody to pay for a survey.

 

[conarb]

Seldom is there a survey. Considering the expense there must be a compelling reason to cause someone to spend thousands of dollars for a survey. If I have unanswered questions about property lines it's likely that the owner will move the structure a few feet and convince me that setbacks are met. In an urban area such as where I work, figuring out where property lines are located is usually not a problem.

There sure is a difference between The Bay Area and Southern California, I've been getting surveys on everything I do as far back as I can remember, since surveyors usually stake the corners only I have to run stringlines from the curb-cut to the rear corner stake so we can hold a tape on the string and show the inspector that our setbacks are correct.

Another issue is drainage plans, I was planning to put an addition on my own house, got a survey and found the sideline was 5' off drom the curb-cut, the surveryor reasearched it and found a mistake had been made years ago and everyone kept following it, then the city civil engineer demanded a drainage plan, of course the survey was the basis of the drainage plan that was overlayed. The cost of the drainage that my civil engineer designed was as much as the addition and I cancelled plans to do it. One of the reasons an engineered drainage plan is required is required is they no-longer want water falling on the property to go to the city storm drainage system, now they want the property to absorb as much as possible and charge a fee for all hard surface, in my case above I was building a second garage with a long driveway so would have had to pay a several thousand dollar hard surface fee, it's something like 50¢ a square foot here, in some areas like, Napa county, so they don't allow driveways or sidewalks at all, they make you do them in rock or sand so water can go directly into the water table.

 

[ICE]

There sure is a difference between The Bay Area and Southern California, I've been getting surveys on everything I do as far back as I can remember, since surveyors usually stake the corners only I have to run stringlines from the curb-cut to the rear corner stake so we can hold a tape on the string and show the inspector that our setbacks are correct.

Another issue is drainage plans, I was planning to put an addition on my own house, got a survey and found the sideline was 5' off drom the curb-cut, the surveryor reasearched it and found a mistake had been made years ago and everyone kept following it, then the city civil engineer demanded a drainage plan, of course the survey was the basis of the drainage plan that was overlayed. The cost of the drainage that my civil engineer designed was as much as the addition and I cancelled plans to do it.

99% of what goes on in my area is nowhere near the value of what you have done. The doors on your projects cost more than the projects I see. Sometimes that's just the front door.
Million dollar room additions can absorb $5000 surveys. It sticks out like a sore thumb on a $40,000 master bed and bath built on the rear of a $400,000 house.

You know conarb, it has been many times that you complain about me overstepping my authority. You are right, about that, but not right to criticize. I am always in possession of my faculties. I see a danger and react as any competent adult should. The conditions here are rife with perils that will devastate and destroy people after a small misstep. Those people are mostly young Hispanics that hardly understand English. They do understand that $50 a day is a lot more than $5. So they follow orders. Orders from a hefe whom cares not a wit about them. I step in the middle of that several times a month.

I suppose my thirty years in construction hardened my heart towards contractors that risk the health and well-being of the workmen. Beyond that, the public deserve to be protected as well. If a kid fell in that hole I would feel bad. I recognize that as a threat to me....not just the public. How awful would I feel if I say nothing and it happens. I saw it....I knew it....I let it happen....then it is my fault.

 

[Mark K]

It is always proper to criticize a building inspector that oversteps his authority.

Yes there are problems but neither the building official or the inspector has the authority to impose his personal solution. Their job is to fairly enforce the adopted regulations.

When a building inspector acts illegally he no longer has legal immunity for his actions.

 

[ICE]

It is always proper to criticize a building inspector that oversteps his authority.

Yes there are problems but neither the building official or the inspector has the authority to impose his personal solution. Their job is to fairly enforce the adopted regulations.

When a building inspector acts illegally he no longer has legal immunity for his actions.

It’s a problem that’s bigger than just an inspector. It’s an assault on the rule of law. Every time I do it the moral fabric of the universe is torn just a little bit. If I keep it up long enough contractors will fall through the holes into a netherworld of screaming housewives demanding change orders for free.

Your usual refrain that I lose immunity if I act illegally has no meaning here. I called CalOSHA. Anybody can call CalOSHA. Furthermore, I can come up with just about anything and still enjoy immunity unless it is proven that I came up with that anything with malice aforethought. In other words I can be as dumb as a stump and require outlandish measures that have no basis in code because ....well it's not illegal to be stupid. Add mean to stupid and there could be cause for concern.

And by the way, knowing the facts as presented yet calling for a stand-down by the inspector is mean.

 

[conarb]

You know conarb, it has been many times that you complain about me overstepping my authority. You are right, about that, but not right to criticize. I am always in possession of my faculties. I see a danger and react as any competent adult should. The conditions here are rife with perils that will devastate and destroy people after a small misstep. Those people are mostly young Hispanics that hardly understand English. They do understand that $50 a day is a lot more than $5. So they follow orders. Orders from a hefe whom cares not a wit about them. I step in the middle of that several times a month.

Then why aren't you turning them in?

 

[ICE]

Then why aren't you turning them in?

Turning them in has little effect. CalOSHA responds by sending the contractor a letter. When I contacted CalOSHA this time I was asked, “Does the contractor have an OSHA excavation permit”? I’ve never seen an excavation permit....and never will.

This'll probably cause a ruckus. I might get chewed out. I’ve been chewed out before.

 

[Mark K]

So the answer is to impose illegal authoritarian rule by a building inspector. This is in conflict with our Constitution and our ideas of democracy.

Do you have the integrity to let your supervisors know that you are exceeding your authority and that you intend to continue to exceed your authority?

 

[ICE]

So the answer is to impose illegal authoritarian rule by a building inspector. This is in conflict with our Constitution and our ideas of democracy.

Do you have the integrity to let your supervisors know that you are exceeding your authority and that you intend to continue to exceed your authority?

What illegal authoritarian rule are you referring to? Is it conarb's misunderstanding of sewer pipe on private land being the responsibility of the building dept? Is it me calling CalOSHA? What exactly is it that has you convinced I'm a scofflaw in conflict with the constitution, a threat to democracy?

You wonder about my integrity on one hand and expect me to surrender it on the other. Supervisors know what I am about. Some bemoan while some champion. I can't please them all so I try to do what I consider to be the right thing. Hammering dangerous contractors is the right thing to do. Turning away is unconscionable.

There will never come a day when tragedy visits a job that I am inspecting that I will feel guilty about that if I saw it coming. And that's because I will have done the right thing. I may not have prevented it but I tried. There has been dozens of situations that I changed up. Some make one wonder how anybody could be so reckless. Yet there it was in front of me. I didn't stop to consider if I had the authority to order them out of the tunnel or off the roof. I just did it. Several of the outrageous examples resulted in me being on the hot seat; having to explain, with wide eyed wonderment, to people like you, why I did what had to be done.

 

[north star]

$ ~ $ ~ $ ~ $

So, ...who is the dude is your latest Avatar ?

$ ~ $ ~ $ ~ $

 

[ICE]

That was me. This is not.

 

[steveray]

Maybe Tiger is requiring these things to feel safe inspecting this subpar work...Thereby within his full authority and obligation.....?

 

[mtlogcabin]

I am with Ice on most of what he said. We will advise contractors of potential hazards, take photos and make it part of the inspections record and let them know we have done this. While doing this we repeatedly tell them this is not a building code issue and we have no authority to make them do anything but if someone does get hurt we will be able to provide documentation to the injured party which will aid them in seeking damages in their lawsuit. Usually gets them to take care of the issue

 

[conarb]

What illegal authoritarian rule are you referring to? Is it conarb's misunderstanding of sewer pipe on private land being the responsibility of the building dept? Is it me calling CalOSHA? What exactly is it that has you convinced I'm a scofflaw in conflict with the constitution, a threat to democracy?

Tiger:

Wherein does the code allow you to make a contractor TV a sewer lateral?

 

[mtlogcabin]

UPC 103.5.8 Other Inspections

 

[SCBO1]

IPC 104.3 Inspections. Can request expert opinion as deemed necessary on unusual technical issues. Boring and pipe bursting would IMO be unusual due to no way of visual inspection unless a camera was used. Without a camera, fall to the sewer main can not be determined.

IRC 104.4 request for inspection reports