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Cell phone squabble pits contractors against city

B

Bryan Holland

Silver Member
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Oct 18, 2009
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241
Location
SW Florida
Do you feel contractors should be able to contact inspectors directly via cell phone???

http://www.nbc-2.com/story/14476410/2011/04/19/cell-phone-squabble-has-contractors

Cape Coral contractors say the city's decision to take cell phones away from building inspectors is slowing down key projects and that it's proving to be costly.Monday, we found five pages of complaints written by Cape Coral contractors who are frustrated with the City of Cape Coral.

"It's nice to have open lines of communication directly with the inspectors," said Jeremy Johnson, President of the Cape Coral Construction Industry Association.

But Cape Coral contractors lost that "direct line" back in February, when the city took away city-issued cell phones to save money.

The city offered employees a stipend for using their personal cell phones for work-related business. The city's 11-building inspectors opted out.

"For inspections it was nice to know when they were coming," Johnson said.

Typically for a contractor to get in touch with city building inspectors, the contractor fist calls a central number.

That message is relayed to the inspector and then the inspector will get back to the contractor.

Johnson says the process is much more tedious than it was before.

"Lost time is lost money," he said.

Cape Coral City Manager Gary King says that he is talking with building inspector Paul Dickson to discuss a number of possibilities.

Those possibilities do not include giving the 11 building inspectors their city-issued cell phones back. King says he doesn't think that will improve response time.

"Keep in mind when the inspector has 12 to 15 inspections a day, they have little time to change their schedule any ways," he said.

Johnson says he's open to hearing King's suggestions.

"We just wanted to keep our communication lines open," Johnson said.
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If the city wants to totally furnish the phone and pay for it

Sets conditions for contractors calling it

And understand it will slow down the inspector

Sure
 
I worked for a jurisdiction that the contractors had our cell phone numbers and in my opinion that's just freakin' wrong. If your in the middle of a frame combo on a 6,000 sf house with a packet of engineering an inch thick or on commercial building and somebody calls to ask what the nailing pattern is on drywall or exterior sheathing it kinda throws off your whole train of thought! They should call the office and leave a message and the inspector can return the phone call at his/her earliest convenance. Just my opinion.
 
I wonder what the inspectors' preference is? I give our staff the option, and they routinely voluntarily give their cell phone numbers to contractors, especially on complex and/or time sensitive projects. The numbers aren't published, so they aren't getting random calls from out of the blue. And if they have 11 inspectors, then they have adequate office staff to answer questions about nailing patterns and similar general inquiries.

If the contractors feel that the direct contact is that vital, why doesn't the city manager charge an additional fee that would cover the cell phone use?

It is excellent customer service and builds great rapport with your clients when you are real-time responsive.

"any ways"?
 
Agree with "NOT" allowing the contractors to be able to call the inspectors directly!

It will subvert the inspection process and the inspectors WILL BE overwhelmed

trying to answer every single question that comes up.

IMO, the inspectors ARE NOT on the individual contractors schedule, regardless of

how much they [ the contractors ] want them to be. There should be some

established boundaries set and maintained!

.
 
texasbo,

I am totally on board with customer service and agree with your statement regarding customer service however IMO if an inspector returns a phone call within 30 minutes I am still providing good customer service. There should be someone in the office that can answer simple code questions without interrupting the inspector during a complex inspection. We have the permit tech call the inspector and ask if he has time to take a call and if we are not in the middle of a complex inspection we say yes transfer them to me. When I was in AZ and the contractors had my cell I was answering 20 to 30 calls a day while trying to perform my inspections.
 
Contractors do not have the inspectors cell phone # period. We have the officed staffed at all times to answer the contractors questions.
 
I'm with MT, some of my inspectors choose to give them out, and they pay for it in lost time and interupted customer service with the customer that they have in front of them. Plus then the contractor gives out the number to all his subs, then they pass it along.........bad idea. Call the office, we can get in touch with the inspector if it really is of importance.
 
I hear you guys, and that's why I leave it up to the inspectors.

One thing I will say, is we never, ever, take a call when we are face to face with a customer, whether it's in the field or at the front counter. There is nothing that p1sses someone off more than to be trying to complete a transaction and have a clerk take a call and start talking. If it's in the office they get put on hold, in the field the call doesn't get answered.
 
I had the option of being issued a town cell phone. I opted not to accept because I do not want to carry 2 phones. Very few contractors have my cell number. When a customer asks me to call them before going to their job, I ask them to call the office before I leav the office for inspections and I can give them a time fram of when I should be their. If not we have a 2-3 hour window for the daily scheduled inspections
 
texasbo said:
I wonder what the inspectors' preference is? I give our staff the option, and they routinely voluntarily give their cell phone numbers to contractors, especially on complex and/or time sensitive projects. The numbers aren't published, so they aren't getting random calls from out of the blue. And if they have 11 inspectors, then they have adequate office staff to answer questions about nailing patterns and similar general inquiries.If the contractors feel that the direct contact is that vital, why doesn't the city manager charge an additional fee that would cover the cell phone use?

It is excellent customer service and builds great rapport with your clients when you are real-time responsive.

"any ways"?
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Some people get the Inspector's number and some don't?

Gee that sounds democratic.

How thick an envelop does it take to get preferred treatment?
 
Let's see: do I take brudger's call or not....?

Guess what the answer is?

Thank God for caller ID.

You know how it works, brudgers, just like the worst architects always get their plans scrutinized a little more closely. Sound familiar?
 
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just got issued a cell phone and my secretary is the only one that has the number. the number is blocked from others caller id. don't bother me!

brudgers,

2" please:mrgreen:
 
I have a city issued cell phone. As an office of one, with no one to answer my office phone, I have actually found it a valuable tool. Several of the local contractors have my cell phone number and most don't use it.

If out on an inspection, I can turn it off. If I am delayed or the contractor/homeowner isn't on site, I can call them and find out where they are. When it is annoying is if I am in a meeting and it rings, but then, I have it turned off. ;)
 
My calls are rigged to ring into the office phone first and then to my cell phone. If by chance I forget to turn on the phone the call's routed back to the desk voice mail. Some how that's the main option when I'm out as I hate the idea of doing some inspection or climbing a ladder when the damn thing goes off, but it has happened.

Incoming calls are easily screened that way since I have to press to accept the call forwarded. Some contractors have figured out how to get the cell number when I call them so those calls to them are usually made back on the office phone.

All in all it works for me.
 
*67, blocks your number from showing up on caller ID, we had ours blocked permanently. *82 unblocks it for the next call only.
 
Brudgers:

How thick an envelop does it take to get preferred treatment?
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I think this is a low blow and unwarranted.

Some of our inspectors give out their cell numbers, and some don't. I'd prefer they didn't, so that all inspection requests could be scheduled through the front desk and documented. However, many of the contractors still call the front desk, because they know they'll get fast turn-around on their requests. We are in communication with the inspectors via cell phone; and it's a two-way street. Inspectors call in to report non-permitted work, erosion problems, and to schedule re-inspections. Communication is the key to good customer service. I'm not sure if the savings in cell phone costs is worth the loss of customer service.

Carol in the Wilds of Idaho
 
notice-hereby-given.jpeg
 
ewenme said:
Brudgers:I think this is a low blow and unwarranted.

Some of our inspectors give out their cell numbers, and some don't. I'd prefer they didn't, so that all inspection requests could be scheduled through the front desk and documented. However, many of the contractors still call the front desk, because they know they'll get fast turn-around on their requests. We are in communication with the inspectors via cell phone; and it's a two-way street. Inspectors call in to report non-permitted work, erosion problems, and to schedule re-inspections. Communication is the key to good customer service. I'm not sure if the savings in cell phone costs is worth the loss of customer service.

Carol in the Wilds of Idaho
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The preferential treatment Texbo describes creates both the appearance of a conflict of interest and the incentive for creating one, because there is an expectation of tipping which accompanies concierge service on the one hand and an expectation of quid pro quo which accompanies favors.

Don't get me wrong.

Although I'm hardly surprised that poor public policy runs rampant in Texbo's department - I've read enough of his posts - I do sincerely hope that it's only due to stupidity.
 
We do not have city issued cell phones. We still communicate with the inspectors the old fashioned way (two way radio). The inspectors each have their own personal cell phone and what they do with their number is their business. But even if we were to have a city issued cell phone, the inspectors would be instructed not to give the number out. All our contractors are instructed to call into the main number and request contact that way. We have voice mail and now email (finally). My inspectors don't take inspection requests, we have a voice mail box for that. I have worked in communities where I did have a city issued cell phone and I DID NOT give my number out. I don't care if the contractor thinks that slows down the process. I work for the people of my community and not the contractor.
 
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