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Cutting codes to cut costs of construction

I agree, drop the drywall inspection. Not that it saves on inspection fees so much as it reduces delays, which cost money. Remember "Time is Money". The only drywall inspections that are required by code are when sheetrock is used for braced wall panels or when it is a UL Listed assembly. All of the homes built in my jurisdiction are using the WSB method instead of the GB method for wall bracing. I have eliminated the drywall inspection and replaced it with an exterior shear panel nailing inspection. This allows for a preliminary framing inspection prior to installing housewrap which can prevent framing errors at an earlier stage of construction, again saving costs while improving compliance.
I am going to look at removing the typical drywall inspection from my list but I do have to say that I have seen some pretty crappy screw jobs over the years. I think that it is still a good idea to check on them every once in a while. Especially when it is a new outfit that doesn't know the drill. (pun intended) :)
 
Caution: Where 5/8-inch Firecode drywall is required (the garage separation), that would be a concern. At some point you need to see the drywall edges to verify that the correct drywall was used with nail or screw patterns and or adhesive/screw/nail patterns. Might need to see pre-rock drywall behind a furnace?
 
Coder,
Not sure if your using any software that makes it easier for the trades or not, but time is money. Does a contractor have to wait on inspections or can he/she schedule inspections by using website software? A small investment by the city in technology might be proposed to save the contractor time.

Could make a list of engineer inspections like footers, walls, drain tile and floors, give the contractor a list of qualified engineers that the AHJ will allow to do inspections and submit the reports to the AHJ. Some projects that can be inspected on the weekends provides a cost savings to a contractor not having to wait on you the Inspector on Monday?
 
I don't know why you think 3rd party inspectors are cheaper. I'm 3rd party and I make more than the inspectors make in a city near by plus the company I work for makes a profit. The local government is not allowed to make a profit on permits. Also get to use the company car for anything I want but the city guys don't. And they have to pay to park there own cars. We charge about 2% of the cost of construction.

Land cost more around here than construction cost of a ordinary house. Especially where they have strict zoning laws that require a house to be on so much land and try to "zone out" townhouses, trailer parks and apartments. Also I forget what it is called but they have a scheme where if a property owner promises to keep a area "open" by not developing it, they get a big break on real estate taxes. Farmers take advantage of this. So if someone buys the land later and wants to develop it they have to pay back all the back taxes that the previous owner saved. All these things just makes land more expensive for the whole area.
I agree! I have worked for private third party companies, government, and had my own third party company. I only know of one governmental building department that is in the black financially and takes in more in fees than it cost to run the dept. All other building departments operate at a loss while third party inspectors have to make a profit to remain in business.
 
Yes the garage lids below living space will still need to be inspected and verified as complying. We fortunately do not have the volume of inspections that require electronic inspection requests. Most are performed the same day they are requested. Good thoughts though. Thanks!
 
I agree, drop the drywall inspection. Not that it saves on inspection fees so much as it reduces delays, which cost money. Remember "Time is Money". The only drywall inspections that are required by code are when sheetrock is used for braced wall panels or when it is a UL Listed assembly. All of the homes built in my jurisdiction are using the WSB method instead of the GB method for wall bracing. I have eliminated the drywall inspection and replaced it with an exterior shear panel nailing inspection. This allows for a preliminary framing inspection prior to installing housewrap which can prevent framing errors at an earlier stage of construction, again saving costs while improving compliance.
Yes, I had a typo. meant to type WSP, not WSB.
 
Coder,
Not sure if your using any software that makes it easier for the trades or not, but time is money. Does a contractor have to wait on inspections or can he/she schedule inspections by using website software? A small investment by the city in technology might be proposed to save the contractor time.

Could make a list of engineer inspections like footers, walls, drain tile and floors, give the contractor a list of qualified engineers that the AHJ will allow to do inspections and submit the reports to the AHJ. Some projects that can be inspected on the weekends provides a cost savings to a contractor not having to wait on you the Inspector on Monday?
Pcinspector1 excellent comment, One of the first things I have done since taking on a new jurisdiction is to implement new software to streamline the permit application, inspection scheduling and reporting process. Previously everything was paper records and had to be done in person at our office. Our investment was minimal and as soon as we are done beta testing it to go live contractors and owners will be able to submit permit applications online, request inspections and receive results immediately via text to voice or email depending on their preference. Not only does this provide a convenience for the builders but also insures inspections don't get skipped, applications don't get approved with incomplete information, staff time is reduced and reporting is greatly improved. The response has been overwhelmingly great to this approach. I have also gone to great lengths to be more responsive and speed up the plan review and permitting processes. This helps lower costs without sacrificing compliance.
 
Yes the garage lids below living space will still need to be inspected and verified as complying. We fortunately do not have the volume of inspections that require electronic inspection requests. Most are performed the same day they are requested. Good thoughts though. Thanks!
Volume? I issue less than a hundred permits a year. I found a software company that bases their fees on permit volume, with no initial setup fee to configure the software. The software pays for itself in saved staff time alone. I have used five different software systems over the last ten years. One was completely useless, one was simply a Microsoft Access database, one was lacking flexibility and the other two were good (one was around $8,000 for the first year, the other $1,200 per year for 100 permits or less per year). It does depend a lot on the software package whether this will help or not.
 
I can do better than that. Here's a link to the software's website. https://www.mygovernmentonline.org/
Ryan Hutchinson is the guy to contact, he's their chief technology officer. If our permits exceed 100 per year we will have additional fees, and it is modular so you can customize it and subscribe to additional modules for code enforcement, planning & zonning, etc. depending on your department's needs. We went with the bare minimum package and that is why it is affordable for my jurisdiction.
 
Yes the garage lids below living space will still need to be inspected and verified as complying. We fortunately do not have the volume of inspections that require electronic inspection requests. Most are performed the same day they are requested. Good thoughts though. Thanks!

Yes there are parts of the drywall inspection that still need to be performed, such as garage lids and separation walls but these can often be combined with another inspection. I did not mean to infer that they should be eliminated altogether.
 
Out of hundreds of drywall inspections I only failed 2. one where they only had 1/2 on the garage ceiling and one that was badly cut-out around the outlet boxes. But I don't think the township would change the fees if they eliminated the drywall inspections for houses. They never increased it when we started looking at air sealing.
 
I agree, drop the drywall inspection. Not that it saves on inspection fees so much as it reduces delays, which cost money. Remember "Time is Money". The only drywall inspections that are required by code are when sheetrock is used for braced wall panels or when it is a UL Listed assembly. All of the homes built in my jurisdiction are using the WSB method instead of the GB method for wall bracing. I have eliminated the drywall inspection and replaced it with an exterior shear panel nailing inspection. This allows for a preliminary framing inspection prior to installing housewrap which can prevent framing errors at an earlier stage of construction, again saving costs while improving compliance.
When I got where I am now they were doing drywall inspections. It took a little time but I finally got them eliminated except for rated assemblies and wall bracing. It falls to me as the plans examiner to recognize those instances and include the required inspection, but it only takes me 30 seconds, and it can save a lot on the other end, for everybody. (Haven't had a single gyp wall bracing, though I did see a few in my last job). I would like us to spend more time on life-safety provisions. Drywall is a good example, an inspector who doesn't need to go look at 5 other non-rated drywall inspections to count screws can spend a lot more time inspecting a rated assembly, it's penetrations, joints etc. Many, many things in the code can't be observed by inspectors (if not then the 5% would be much higher) and must rely on the integrity of the installers and designers, I think drywall can be one of them. If a community starts having an epidemic of drywall falling down then it could be implemented.
Drywall inspections are often an example of an AHJ using them to keep inspectors busy in slow times, which can be a valid but tricky concern, worthy of it's own discussion. Drop an un-needed dw inspection, spend time on the needed inspections, everybody wins. (as long as the politicos and bean counters can be made to see the value in quality of inspections vs. quantity of inspections).
 
I agree, drop the drywall inspection. Not that it saves on inspection fees so much as it reduces delays, which cost money. Remember "Time is Money". The only drywall inspections that are required by code are when sheetrock is used for braced wall panels or when it is a UL Listed assembly. All of the homes built in my jurisdiction are using the WSB method instead of the GB method for wall bracing. I have eliminated the drywall inspection and replaced it with an exterior shear panel nailing inspection. This allows for a preliminary framing inspection prior to installing housewrap which can prevent framing errors at an earlier stage of construction, again saving costs while improving compliance.
We do the exact same thing.
 
I agree! I have worked for private third party companies, government, and had my own third party company. I only know of one governmental building department that is in the black financially and takes in more in fees than it cost to run the dept. All other building departments operate at a loss while third party inspectors have to make a profit to remain in business.

I took in about $6 million in the last 3 years and maybe spent $1.5 million....
 
I carry Planning (who has little revenue), and Engineering Development Review , admin and management (no revenue from any of those) with building permit revenues, it is not as easy as looking at my revenue vs.my expenditures. o_O
 
We are audited every year by the state to make sure we do not support other departments. We are a special revenue fund and are allowed to keep one year of operating cost in reserve if we exceed that amount we need to reduce our fees. It works really well and provides funding for capitol outlay items such as vehicles every 10 years, transitioning to electronic plan review cost etc.
 
When I got where I am now they were doing drywall inspections. It took a little time but I finally got them eliminated except for rated assemblies and wall bracing. It falls to me as the plans examiner to recognize those instances and include the required inspection, but it only takes me 30 seconds, and it can save a lot on the other end, for everybody. (Haven't had a single gyp wall bracing, though I did see a few in my last job). I would like us to spend more time on life-safety provisions. Drywall is a good example, an inspector who doesn't need to go look at 5 other non-rated drywall inspections to count screws can spend a lot more time inspecting a rated assembly, it's penetrations, joints etc. Many, many things in the code can't be observed by inspectors (if not then the 5% would be much higher) and must rely on the integrity of the installers and designers, I think drywall can be one of them. If a community starts having an epidemic of drywall falling down then it could be implemented.
Drywall inspections are often an example of an AHJ using them to keep inspectors busy in slow times, which can be a valid but tricky concern, worthy of it's own discussion. Drop an un-needed dw inspection, spend time on the needed inspections, everybody wins. (as long as the politicos and bean counters can be made to see the value in quality of inspections vs. quantity of inspections).
The only place that I have run into gypsum board wall bracing was in Arizona, and Interior braced wall panels using sheetrock were only on very large residences.
 
I carry Planning (who has little revenue), and Engineering Development Review , admin and management (no revenue from any of those) with building permit revenues, it is not as easy as looking at my revenue vs.my expenditures. o_O

Fatboy:

I know nothing of Colorado law, but if you were in California you could, and should go to jail, from what Mountain Man says Montana is like California, so you better look at what you are doing.
 
This report was just presented to the Canadian Building and Fire Code Commission on sprinklers for single family dwelling units. Based on the report, the CBFCC rejected a code proposal to include sprinklers as a requirement in the next code cycle here.

https://www.chba.ca/CHBADocs/e-Publications/2017-04-14_JTG-ResSpr-Report-Approved.pdf
".....unable to agree and reach a consensus on a conclusion based on the gaps identified and the data used. As such, it is not the intent of this report to provide the EC with any recommendations or interpretations of the analysis...…"

Spend a lot of money, and "unable to agree and reach a consensus on a conclusion".
 
".....unable to agree and reach a consensus on a conclusion based on the gaps identified and the data used. As such, it is not the intent of this report to provide the EC with any recommendations or interpretations of the analysis...…"

Spend a lot of money, and "unable to agree and reach a consensus on a conclusion".
That simply means it makes sense in some areas, but not in others. Jurisdictions with adequate municipal water sprinklers likely aren't much of a big deal. For those of us without...it gets expensive really fast.
 
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