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New Construction in Pennsylvania - Inspected and Signed Off

The only inspections required by the PA Uniform Construction Code:
1. Foundation inspection
2. Plumbing, mechanical and electrical inspection
3. Frame and masonry inspection
4. Wall board inspection

The inspector may conduct other inspections to ascertain compliance with the UCC or municipal ordinances.
The inspector shall conduct a final inspection of completed construction work.
 
Rick18071 said:
The inspector may conduct other inspections to ascertain compliance with the UCC or municipal ordinances.
The inspector shall conduct a final inspection of completed construction work.
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It's a bit early to push my red button, but here it goes.

Some people do their job and others look for excuses not to. Seriously, how lazy do people choose to be?

§ 403.45. Inspections.​

(a) A construction code official shall perform inspections to insure that the construction complies with the approved permit and the Uniform Construction Code.


§ 401.7. Certification category specifications.​

(5) Residential energy inspector.

(i) Inspects one-family and two-family dwellings and jurisdictional accessory structures to ensure that energy installations are made in the manner specified in the Uniform Construction Code.

(ii) Duties include determining compliance of conditioned or unconditioned spaces, R-values for roof/ceiling, floor and wall assemblies and insulation placement, installation of materials for the building envelope and its components, moisture control methods such as caulking, sealing and weather-stripping, duct and dipping insulation and sealing criteria, thermostats for each heating and cooling system, electrical metering, lighting installation and controls and piping insulation, circulation pump controls, heat traps, shower heads and pool cover installations.

(1) Residential building inspector.

(i) Inspects one-family and two-family dwellings and jurisdictional accessory structures to ensure that these structures are free from hazardous structural conditions and comply with the Uniform Construction Code.

(ii) Duties include inspection of footings and foundations, concrete slabs, wood decay and termite protection, floor and ceiling framing, wall framing, roof framing, masonry walls, sheathing, roof covering, interior and exterior wall coverings, means of egress system and safety glazing.
 
jar546 said:
Some people do their job and others look for excuses not to. Seriously, how lazy do people choose to be?
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Because you know how much I love to debate....Too lazy or too busy? FYI, we do not do a roof start or siding start nor sheathing inspections... .....So let's say I have 5 inspectors and we do 10,000 inspections a year doing the minimum inspections and we schedule about 2 weeks out...How do I incorporate more inspections? Go 3 weeks out? Convince the municipality to fund another inspector or 2? If I can't convince the municipality of the value of doing my job better (protecting lives and the grand list), I have no chance...They just keep us as a cash cow...
 
steveray said:
So let's say I have 5 inspectors and we do 10,000 inspections a year doing the minimum inspections and we schedule about 2 weeks out
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So I have 3 guys that do 6500-7000 inspections per year along with plan review and that is more than manageable with an average inspection load of 9 inspections per day so your 10,000 between 5 inspectors is even more manageable, especially if they don't do plan review. That is based on 245 working days per year.
 
There is an exception, but I have never seen a product that has been tested in accordance with ASTM E331

R703.1.1 Water resistance.
The exterior wall envelope shall be designed and constructed in a manner that prevents the accumulation of water within the wall assembly by providing a water-resistant barrier behind the exterior cladding as required by Section R703.2 and a means of draining to the exterior water that penetrates the exterior cladding.

Exceptions:

1. A weather-resistant exterior wall envelope shall not be required over concrete or masonry walls designed in accordance with Chapter 6 and flashed in accordance with Section R703.4 or R703.8.

2. Compliance with the requirements for a means of drainage, and the requirements of Sections R703.2 and R703.4, shall not be required for an exterior wall envelope that has been demonstrated to resist wind-driven rain through testing of the exterior wall envelope, including joints, penetrations and intersections with dissimilar materials, in accordance with ASTM E331 under the following conditions:
 
jar546 said:
So I have 3 guys that do 6500-7000 inspections per year along with plan review and that is more than manageable with an average inspection load of 9 inspections per day so your 10,000 between 5 inspectors is even more manageable, especially if they don't do plan review. That is based on 245 working days per year.
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We all do plan review.....And it depends on what you call an inspection, how far you commute between, and a variety of other factors....
 
jar546 said:
So I have 3 guys that do 6500-7000 inspections per year along with plan review and that is more than manageable with an average inspection load of 9 inspections per day so your 10,000 between 5 inspectors is even more manageable, especially if they don't do plan review. That is based on 245 working days per year.
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You guys aren't counting correctly. I recently worked a day in a city with a population of 210,000. Five inspectors handled 243 inspections for that day....at least that was the story.
 
9 inspections in 9 different locations can be unrealistic in a lot of jurisdictions depending on the travel distance between inspections.
Hendry county Fl is 1,100 sq miles. Sometimes an inspection would take 2 or 3 hours if it was in the southern end of the county.
 
mtlogcabin said:
9 inspections in 9 different locations can be unrealistic in a lot of jurisdictions depending on the travel distance between inspections.
Hendry county Fl is 1,100 sq miles. Sometimes an inspection would take 2 or 3 hours if it was in the southern end of the county.
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Palm Beach County is 2,383 square miles. At one time, while working for a third-party agency doing inspections I would average 16 inspections a day and had as many as 26, throughout the entire county, especially when I covered the county school district so there were times when I had to go from the farthest southeast corner on the ocean to the northwestern most point on Lake Okeechobee. So averaging 8-9 inspections per day would be a breeze.
 
jar546 said:
had as many as 26, throughout the entire county,
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18 minutes per inspection. I can't do that. Sometimes it takes me 15 minutes just to get out of the truck and climb the 3 flights of stairs to get to what needs to be inspected. :)
Do you verify all the truss bracing required by the truss engineer has been installed? That is a very time-consuming inspection when done correctly.

I try to limit my inspectors to six locations a day. Now they are all combo so they actually may have 3 or 4 things to look at during one stop, and yes, I do count each one as a separate inspection.
 
mtlogcabin said:
I try to limit my inspectors to six locations a day.
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Locations is definitely more important than number of inspection. A bad day like 26 inspections (and rare) usually equates to about 12-16 locations, sometimes less. We had 11 roof inspections the other day that were all on the same building but separated parcels.

When you can take pictures with your phone and result the inspection right onto the app, speeds things up quite a bit.
 
We're way off into the weeds.

The reality of the situation is the product of the building inspection regime is directly related to the legislation and policies of the regime.

with a detailed enough plan review and enough inspection stages, we can ensure that absolute compliance is achieved. No one can afford the permit fees or the taxes, but we aren't making any mistakes.

The questions is always how much failure is acceptable before it becomes unacceptable to the general public.
 
tmurray said:
We're way off into the weeds.
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The inevitable thread drift is off of the horizon at this point.

The point was non-compliance due to contractor error and inspector negligence. It then turned to "we aren't required to inspect that" and then the drift started.

The point of the thread was to show how ineffective a lazy inspector can be and the long term results that are possible.
 
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