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Mike Holmes in hot water

Just crunched my numbers - which were down this year due to more supervisory duties and a metric crap-tonne of Dangerous and Unsightly By-Law enforcements ...

but the ratio is about 3.5 inspections per permit for me. That's likely to increase as I have a lot of large-scale commercial projects, one of which will likely result in 20+ inspections this year, for one permit.
 
Are any of you counting stops when there are no shows, can't access, not ready, or they forgot or lost the plans? This is about 30% of the time for me.
 
Mr. Inspector said:
Are any of you counting stops when there are no shows, can't access, not ready, or they forgot or lost the plans? This is about 30% of the time for me.
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I count an _inspection_ as any time I am onsite and render an opinion, be that (a) There's new stuff, and it's OK; (b) There's new stuff, and it's not OK; or (c) stuff identified as requiring corrections has been corrected.
 
Mr. Inspector said:
Are any of you counting stops when there are no shows, can't access, not ready, or they forgot or lost the plans? This is about 30% of the time for me.
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People have lost respect for inspectors. I used to have the job site prepared and the inside broom clean. The work stopped and no radios. The plans were in order and on a table… with donuts and napkins. There was always a few workers to address any correction in real time. I addressed the inspector with Yes Sir. We walked with him like he was a VIP. We didn’t argue, raise our voice or curse. It wouldn’t even occur to us to stand up the inspector.

None of that was done out of fear. I wanted the inspector focused on his job because he was there to help me do mine. My experience as an inspector was similar to the way I treated inspectors for the first ten years of my career. Then a slide downhill took hold and now we tolerate all manner of insult.
 
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ICE said:
People have lost respect for inspectors. I used to have the job site prepared and the inside broom clean. The work stopped and no radios. The plans were in order and on a table… with donuts and napkins. There was always a few workers to address any correction in real time. I addressed the inspector with Yes Sir. We walked with him like he was a VIP. We didn’t argue, raise our voice or curse. It wouldn’t even occur to us to stand up the inspector.

None of that was done out of fear. I wanted the inspector focused on his job because he was there to help me do mine. My experience as an inspector was similar to the way I treated inspectors for the first ten years of my career. Then a slide downhill took hold and now we you tolerate all manner of insult.
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Thats like one job a year now...
 
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ICE said:
People have lost respect for inspectors. I used to have the job site prepared and the inside broom clean. The work stopped and no radios. The plans were in order and on a table… with donuts and napkins. There was always a few workers to address any correction in real time. I addressed the inspector with Yes Sir. We walked with him like he was a VIP. We didn’t argue, raise our voice or curse. It wouldn’t even occur to us to stand up the inspector.
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I've been visiting construction sites since 1972, either as an architect's representative or as a building inspector. What you describe NEVER happened in this corner of the universe.
 
Years ago a firm I worked for had a project architect whose response any time he came back from a site inspection and we asked how everything was going was, "They like me." It fairly soon became apparent that "They like me" was code for "I didn't want to find any problems because I didn't want them to be mad at me." He lasted less than a year at the firm.

That said, I was often on site as an architect with the building official. They didn't sweep the floors and shut down the noise for the BOs, either, so I guess they also didn't like them.
 
Yankee Chronicler said:
That said, I was often on site as an architect with the building official. They didn't sweep the floors and shut down the noise for the BOs, either, so I guess they also didn't like them.
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I followed my father's lead. He was an electrical contractor. You know the little bit of insulation that's stripped off when trimming out... that had to be picked up as I went along. If there was a mess, the crew heard about it. It didn't happen twice.

So you have never experienced the respect of a swept out job site... that must have been an East coast habit. I'm from the heartland.. If you want respect, you show respect. That works for the inspector as well. When I was a superintendent I alienated every sub by making them haul off the own trash. I sounded a horn fifteen minutes before roll up and that was the time to clean up after yourselves.


The truth is that it's a bit selfish. I want the inspector to feel good about being there. Quite often the customer is also there. They need to feel good about it too. Oh and let's not forget me, I preferred a clean site.

The job was a tract of houses, apartments, and retirement facilities. There was to be a visit from dignitaries and lenders. I sent the labor crew to clean the sides of the highway leading from town. The owner noticed and was pleased. Clean matters in subliminal ways. I've lived with women that wouldn't let me do the dishes.
 
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ICE said:
I followed my father's lead. He was an electrical contractor. You know the little bit of insulation that's stripped off when trimming out... that had to be picked up as I went along. If there was a mess, the crew heard about it. It didn't happen twice.

So you have never experienced the respect of a swept out job site... that must have been an East coast habit. I'm from the heartland.. If you want respect, you show respect. That works for the inspector as well. When I was a superintendent I alienated every sub by making them haul off the own trash. I sounded a horn fifteen minutes before roll up and that was the time to clean up after yourselves.


The truth is that it's a bit selfish. I want the inspector to feel good about being there. Quite often the customer is also there. They need to feel good about it too. Oh and let's not forget me, I preferred a clean site.

The job was a tract of houses, apartments, and retirement facilities. There was to be a visit from dignitaries and lenders. I sent the labor crew to clean the sides of the highway leading from town. The owner noticed and was pleased. Clean matters in subliminal ways. I've lived with women that wouldn't let me do the dishes.
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I built on the right coast, and I always had a clean jobsite. It was a great opportunity to clean, sweep, and punch out my own jobs since I waited out nearly every inspection. Good practice is not reserved for the heartland...maybe more the norm, but not exclusive.
 
On the subject of un-tidy jobsites;

I showed up for a framing inspection for some row-housing and the place was OK, but the basement was a disaster. The basement wasn't ready for an inspection (the contractor did apologize over the mess), but I told them that I wanted to do a quick walkthrough to make sure there weren't any glaring issues. We were discussing a few potential problems when the future owner showed up. She was not dressed for a construction site with her open toed sandals. She found us in the basement and was walking around and I was watching the contractor get more and more nervous. After a moment I told her that she can't be on site without appropriate footwear. "but I'm the owner" she said. "I don't care who you are, you need appropriate footwear" was my response. She left (later called my boss to complain) and the contractor thanked me. He didn't feel he could say anything because he technically worked for. I told him if the issue continued, just have workplace health and safety there when she got there for a walkthrough as a "happy accident". Their view is that owners must wear safety equipment on a jobsite. They are considered workers like everyone else. After all, if they are not on the jobsite to work, why are they there?
 
ICE said:
The truth is that it's a bit selfish. I want the inspector to feel good about being there. Quite often the customer is also there. They need to feel good about it too. Oh and let's not forget me, I preferred a clean site.
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I was thinking about this thread the other day... when the unique skunky odour of weed permeated the atmosphere of a jobsite.

I think 25 per cent of the framers and drywallers smoke weed while working, and I am not entirely sure what - if anything - to do.
 
ICE said:
I've lived with women that wouldn't let me do the dishes.
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I bet she had your take your shoes off exposing the hole in your sock when entering the garage!

Did you let your co-workers spit chew and sunflower seeds in the codes truck floor?:eek:
 
SCBO1 said:
I bet she had your take your shoes off exposing the hole in your sock when entering the garage!

Did you let your co-workers spit chew and sunflower seeds in the codes truck floor?:eek:
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The garage is mine. No shoes in the house.

A city that I was assigned to gave me a city truck. The person that had it before me smoked in the truck. I gave it back.
 
Inspector Gadget said:
I was thinking about this thread the other day... when the unique skunky odour of weed permeated the atmosphere of a jobsite.

I think 25 per cent of the framers and drywallers smoke weed while working, and I am not entirely sure what - if anything - to do.
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If it is clear that they are consuming cannabis, you have a legal responsibility to contact WorkSafeNB. Not sure what they can do about it though.
 
tmurray said:
If it is clear that they are consuming cannabis, you have a legal responsibility to contact WorkSafeNB. Not sure what they can do about it though.
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Therein lies the rub: Let's assume I'm convinced *someone's* going Pink Floyd on the jobsite. Is it the sparkies? Probably not .. the drywaller? Duct guys? The delivery guy who dropped off a truckload of insulation 10 minutes before I showed up....

I think the next time I am on a site where there are multiple subs and a scent of weed, I will bluntly suggest that if there are indica-tions of consumption, I might be more diligent in my inspections, to be more sativa-fied that things were up to Code. We'll see if the site super gets the puns.
 
I recently did a re-inspection on a project and the dude (guy that smoke some weed) just finished off a fatty. The dude was bouncing off the walls, wouldn't shut up, agreed to do fix everything I pointed out. Other than being in a house with Jr bouncing around, I kinda felt like the only adult in the room.

"Dude, you remember that time we're in Cobo, and that dude lost his sheet! Wow, that was assume!"
You know, that dude's girl went how with me that night!,
No.. no way your trippin!
Yah... I'll move that fan out of the shower...no problem!
 
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