The advent of portable devices gave the building department’s a lift. It started with cell phones. Next was the laptop computer that went smaller with the Ipad. Initially these tools had limited functionality but then the ability to connect to the B/S intranets opened a host of options. Once the private sector caught wind with software development, the avenues blossomed into highways. Significant expenditures of resources are allocated to the purchase of software with the attendant staff training. Ever improving devices do not come cheap. The workload has shifted to an office chair.
In theory, an applicant can obtain a permit, complete the project while meeting every milestone without any in-person human contact. I suppose that’s a good thing for some aspects of the process.
The software programs will keep track of every minute detail. Those details will remain forever embedded in a machine and are retrievable by anyone with permission. That’s a check in the plus column. The elimination of paper is a climate warrior’s success. The instantaneous transfer of code violations to contractors has replaced hours of handwringing…os so they say. The sophistication and complexity built in to the entire transaction burnished the perception of the least appreciated of government agencies.
Who would think poorly of all of that? Who is so backward and stuck in the past as to not love the newfangled toys? Well that would be me. It’s not so much that I dislike the progress that has taken place, as I think that it has been applied incorrectly.
Human contact has a value that is overlooked. There is no humanity in a computer screen. Nobody is bringing a dozen donuts to permitting software…that sort of thing.
As one would expect, new facets have opened up. There is a remote virtual inspection available almost universally. Virtual inspections are a cruel hoax. The most flattering thing that I can say about virtual remote inspections is that they are better than nothing. And yes I know that so many love them. To you I say, “Well we know better don’t we.” Competence has been sacrificed for convenience.
So my twenty-seven years as an inspector has been a ride that built momentum to a state where we can process evermore projects with greater speed and clarity. The frontier has artificial intelligence leading the way and that will produce surprises that rival the imagination. There is a day not too far off when the the plans will be reviewed, the permit will be issued and the work will be inspected by an infallible building department operative named Optimus.
I have witnessed a dramatic decline in the level of expertise in the ranks of inspector. That this coincided with all the new and improved office environment is not an indication of causation but that can’t be dismissed out of hand. I can absolutely tie some of it to the remote virtual inspection fad. The other notable trait of the times is the lack of practical code training. The hiring of third party inspectors has been part of the problem as the jurisdictions do not spend dollars training contract workers.
New words have entered the lexicon such as ‘resulting’. The more immediate that resulting occurs the better the efficiency performance score. It has reached an equinox whereby the only further improvement would be ‘resulting’ prior to the inspection. You know, I used to do some of that, lol. The goal of immediacy is a nod to the software proponents. Pretty much everyone else does not operate so in the moment.
I expect derision for my view of the state of affairs. That suits me fine, for many have never known any different. They do not understand the good old days when an inspector arrived to an expectant crew. The position an inspector held was construction expert. Inspectors came from construction. We knew what was doable and the sacrifice it took to get there. The job description today starts with computer skill; construction experience is an afterthought.
Does any of this matter/ No I mean it! Would a return to the way it was be an improvement? The transfer of mission from quality to quantity, from stringent to relaxed oversight has occurred in a society that is undergoing a metamorphosis, a turning upside down of sorts. So what impact does that have on the built environment. Apparently not much as it has been this way long enough to manifest any negatives. Buildings aren’t falling down, burning up or asphyxiating the occupants.
Could it be that inspectors have always been paper tigers that kept the third world out of neighborhoods and little else. Ya that’s the ticket.
In theory, an applicant can obtain a permit, complete the project while meeting every milestone without any in-person human contact. I suppose that’s a good thing for some aspects of the process.
The software programs will keep track of every minute detail. Those details will remain forever embedded in a machine and are retrievable by anyone with permission. That’s a check in the plus column. The elimination of paper is a climate warrior’s success. The instantaneous transfer of code violations to contractors has replaced hours of handwringing…os so they say. The sophistication and complexity built in to the entire transaction burnished the perception of the least appreciated of government agencies.
Who would think poorly of all of that? Who is so backward and stuck in the past as to not love the newfangled toys? Well that would be me. It’s not so much that I dislike the progress that has taken place, as I think that it has been applied incorrectly.
Human contact has a value that is overlooked. There is no humanity in a computer screen. Nobody is bringing a dozen donuts to permitting software…that sort of thing.
As one would expect, new facets have opened up. There is a remote virtual inspection available almost universally. Virtual inspections are a cruel hoax. The most flattering thing that I can say about virtual remote inspections is that they are better than nothing. And yes I know that so many love them. To you I say, “Well we know better don’t we.” Competence has been sacrificed for convenience.
So my twenty-seven years as an inspector has been a ride that built momentum to a state where we can process evermore projects with greater speed and clarity. The frontier has artificial intelligence leading the way and that will produce surprises that rival the imagination. There is a day not too far off when the the plans will be reviewed, the permit will be issued and the work will be inspected by an infallible building department operative named Optimus.
I have witnessed a dramatic decline in the level of expertise in the ranks of inspector. That this coincided with all the new and improved office environment is not an indication of causation but that can’t be dismissed out of hand. I can absolutely tie some of it to the remote virtual inspection fad. The other notable trait of the times is the lack of practical code training. The hiring of third party inspectors has been part of the problem as the jurisdictions do not spend dollars training contract workers.
New words have entered the lexicon such as ‘resulting’. The more immediate that resulting occurs the better the efficiency performance score. It has reached an equinox whereby the only further improvement would be ‘resulting’ prior to the inspection. You know, I used to do some of that, lol. The goal of immediacy is a nod to the software proponents. Pretty much everyone else does not operate so in the moment.
I expect derision for my view of the state of affairs. That suits me fine, for many have never known any different. They do not understand the good old days when an inspector arrived to an expectant crew. The position an inspector held was construction expert. Inspectors came from construction. We knew what was doable and the sacrifice it took to get there. The job description today starts with computer skill; construction experience is an afterthought.
Does any of this matter/ No I mean it! Would a return to the way it was be an improvement? The transfer of mission from quality to quantity, from stringent to relaxed oversight has occurred in a society that is undergoing a metamorphosis, a turning upside down of sorts. So what impact does that have on the built environment. Apparently not much as it has been this way long enough to manifest any negatives. Buildings aren’t falling down, burning up or asphyxiating the occupants.
Could it be that inspectors have always been paper tigers that kept the third world out of neighborhoods and little else. Ya that’s the ticket.
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