The Benefits of Building Departments Going Paperless: An Opinionated Take

[ICE]

Nailed it. There's 19 total inspectors in our department. 4 mech, 4 plumbing, 6 electrical, and 5 building with another getting hired this fall. There's also 3 property maintenance inspectors. Depending on the day and what's getting inspected each inspector does anywhere from 10-30 stops on a typical day. Averaging probably about 16 per day.
Like I said it was a rocky transition, and there were a couple inspectors eligible to retire who did. And I'm certainly not saying its a perfect system, there's definitely things I would like different but we find work arounds or get used to what we don't like. My two newer guys don't know any different.

I guess I don't know why it would take them longer to enter their notes/counts on an iPad than writing them down on paper. Any fixture/item counts are a matter of entering numbers, and anything of any length like a description or corrections I dictate in. Its just a different way of doing the same thing.

You must be working 15 hour days and the IG-inspect that you have is remarkably different than what LA County uses. You indicated that the inspectors enter the corrections in the iPad as they find the corrections. I am able to write as I find the corrections but my one finger iPad method is too slow for that. What I have found with cities that use the iPad is that inspectors don't bother with corrections. Now that's purposeless paperless.

 

[mtlogcabin]

My guys take a picture and then use the voice to text option on the I-pad to document and notify contractors about corrections. The fat fingers do not work for them in the field either.

 

[Inspector Gadget]

The new "paperless" method adds a dozen steps. You write corrections on a notepad because the contractor doesn't get a copy... you write the corrections again in an iPad and then email that to the various players... that's no less than three... you immediately get emails with questions. Each trade has a separate permit and the various corrections have to be entered in each trade's permit. I have seen it in action. Each trade gets an email sent. It takes a long time.

We have the capacity to send the inspection reports from one to three addresses. If it's a Part 9 building, owner/contractor. If it's a part 3 building, owner/contractor/designer. It's their job to contact whoever has to do the repairs/corrections/alterations, not mine.

I rarely have questioning emails. I try to communicate effectively, and if I need to, I can send pictures with the inspection report.

Prior to digital, I would conduct maybe five-seven inspections a day in a very rural area. Half the time, the carbon-copy paper was difficult to read, so every report involved me pressing pretty hard. If I frigged something up bad enough, I had to start over. Digitally, I can check the whole thing, make corrections before I insert the digital signature that locks the document. We have a two-tier system, too, where minor inspections can be nothing more than an entry in the database, which means if I am doing a check for "did they install the emergency light like I asked," I can tick the box that says "Inspection passed, file will be closed," add the comment "Emergency light installed per previous request" and mash two more buttons and off I go.

I'm now able to do seven or eight inspections a day if needed, and doing so while also pre-screening applications for completeness of plans, assigning files to the other inspectors and - in some cases - doing plans reviews in the field.

I'm working less overtime, and my records/documentation is vastly improved.

 

[ICE]

We have the capacity to send the inspection reports from one to three addresses. If it's a Part 9 building, owner/contractor. If it's a part 3 building, owner/contractor/designer. It's their job to contact whoever has to do the repairs/corrections/alterations, not mine.

I rarely have questioning emails. I try to communicate effectively, and if I need to, I can send pictures with the inspection report.

Prior to digital, I would conduct maybe five-seven inspections a day in a very rural area. Half the time, the carbon-copy paper was difficult to read, so every report involved me pressing pretty hard. If I frigged something up bad enough, I had to start over. Digitally, I can check the whole thing, make corrections before I insert the digital signature that locks the document. We have a two-tier system, too, where minor inspections can be nothing more than an entry in the database, which means if I am doing a check for "did they install the emergency light like I asked," I can tick the box that says "Inspection passed, file will be closed," add the comment "Emergency light installed per previous request" and mash two more buttons and off I go.

I'm now able to do seven or eight inspections a day if needed, and doing so while also pre-screening applications for completeness of plans, assigning files to the other inspectors and - in some cases - doing plans reviews in the field.

I'm working less overtime, and my records/documentation is vastly improved.

What platform do you use? Fifteen years ago the County decided to go with laptops.. this was before iPads. I was selected to be the beta inspector. I met with the engineers that were spearheading the idea. I asked questions during that meeting and never heard from them again. We didn't get laptop computers. Oracle got a hefty sum for software that was "off the shelf" and clunky... but the real downfall was the time that would be added to every inspection.

Years later I saw the codes on an iPad. I asked for that and was told okay but I would be the beta inspector for that. I was supposed to give a report to a committee on how the codes on an iPad was working out. I never heard from them again.

 

[SCBO1]

When you get pulled into court, do they allow you to bring your paperless system or do you have to print a box of paper? I know they can subpoena your phone.

Do you take your paperless code book?
What about sunshine law request, is that still paper copies?

The City Clerk was boosting about being paperless the other day, then the power went out and I heard her tell the resident "let me see if the building inspector has a copy?" I just shut my door!

No one's home!

 

[jar546]

he new "paperless" method adds a dozen steps.

Complete, exaggeration drama queen statement. You don't know what you don't know. Maybe you worked in a hybrid system that was never set up right but this statement is an abomination of the truth.

 

[jar546]

Fifteen years ago the County decided to go with laptops.. this was before iPads

15 years ago in permitting software was like another world compared to today. You can't compare 15 years ago to today.

 

[klarenbeek]

You must be working 15 hour days and the IG-inspect that you have is remarkably different than what LA County uses. You indicated that the inspectors enter the corrections in the iPad as they find the corrections. I am able to write as I find the corrections but my one finger iPad method is too slow for that. What I have found with cities that use the iPad is that inspectors don't bother with corrections. Now that's purposeless paperless.

8 hour days for the most part. My one finger method goes pretty fast. Having only one useable arm for the past month hasn't even slowed it down. Handwriting would have been an issue. I push the microphone button and start talking. then push it again when done. I do make sure I proofread it when done though. I've had a few times where there were a couple words that made no sense or weren't for use in polite company. As far as not bothering with corrections, the longer the list is the quicker I can enter them with voice to text. I can speak a paragraph quicker than type or write it. Plus someone else can read it. That's questionable with my penmanship.

 

[ICE]

Complete, exaggeration drama queen statement. You don't know what you don't know. Maybe you worked in a hybrid system that was never set up right but this statement is an abomination of the truth.

I'll lower a rope.

 

[ICE]

Complete, exaggeration drama queen statement. You don't know what you don't know. Maybe you worked in a hybrid system that was never set up right but this statement is an abomination of the truth

No… it is my truth. It is the truth of a many inspectors. So far we have heard from people that favor the iPad inspection method. I see their enthusiastic endorsement as a positive indication for the success of the paperless generation. The other paper that they’re going to lose is currency.

LA County struggles because that’s what LA County does with everything. Local cities don’t write corrections, not because of the iPad, but because they don’t write corrections.

We are one generation away from autonomous vehicles … two away from flying cars. The building departments lost sight of the goal post and have become non-confrontational agencies built on equity and a concern for peoples feelings. Corrections are a harsh reality that’s to be softened, even eliminated. There are so many protected classes that I’m pretty sure that I belong to one.

As evidence of the constant erosion of a reason for being, look at the steps taken by the California Legislature intended to hamstring the code enforcement arm of government. We used to do as many inspections of solar projects as we deemed necessary. It started with a rough inspection of the racking with no modules in place. I found plenty of corrections at that inspection. Then the State mandated that we are allowed just one inspection. That is naturally the final inspection. I can’t see much with the panels installed and the work has not improved.

Recently, the State took away our right to perform a plan check prior to issuing a solar permit. It is assumed that inspectors will do a plan check…wait for it… at the final inspection. Well guess what, it will not happen.

The State has decided that building departments can’t perform plan checks for ADUs. Here again, the inspector is supposed to plan check while onsite for an inspection. Will not happen.

I used to think that LA County was bumping it’s head when permit techs were promoted to building inspectors. If you think about it, the techs have proven themselves as pliable, not well versed in codes and willing to cosplay. They are perfect candidates for a faux position. The techs are motivated by greed and will do whatever it takes to get what they see as a plum position. Management loves the virgin minds that can be molded to barely function as a building department. Give me ten invalid inspectors and you keep the one that writes corrections.

Do I have a jaundiced eye for paperless building departments? You bet I do. Well surprise, surprise I don’t trust them at all.

 

[jar546]

No… it is my truth.

Yes, in ICE world, a planet far, far away.

But really, we just use our phones to do the inspection.

 

[Inspector Gadget]

What platform do you use? Fifteen years ago the County decided to go with laptops.. this was before iPads. I was selected to be the beta inspector. I met with the engineers that were spearheading the idea. I asked questions during that meeting and never heard from them again. We didn't get laptop computers. Oracle got a hefty sum for software that was "off the shelf" and clunky... but the real downfall was the time that would be added to every inspection.

Years later I saw the codes on an iPad. I asked for that and was told okay but I would be the beta inspector for that. I was supposed to give a report to a committee on how the codes on an iPad was working out. I never heard from them again.

Simple Lenovo Windows laptops. I could go with a Linux system. I've even filed simple inspection reports with my phone (Android.)

Earlier this summer, I did a complex inspection on a college/university building undergoing renovations. Now, despite being a professional writer in a previous life, my handwriting is atrocious. Since I tried to donate my thumb to a table saw, it hasn't improved. But a simple android phone voice-to-text (basic android note application) allowed me to voice my (extensive) notes. I was able to transfer those notes to my interweb-equipped notebook, which I was able to edit nicely and create a (long) report at way the heck faster than any other method. (And having spent 20 years in journalism, I can transcribe recorded voice pretty damn fast.)

When you get pulled into court, do they allow you to bring your paperless system or do you have to print a box of paper? I know they can subpoena your phone.

Do you take your paperless code book?
What about sunshine law request, is that still paper copies?

The City Clerk was boosting about being paperless the other day, then the power went out and I heard her tell the resident "let me see if the building inspector has a copy?" I just shut my door!

No one's home!

Regulations for our province allow the introduction of digital data as evidence (printed, but nonetheless, not originally printed) if that is the normal methodology for the organization.

I see no reason why I couldn't use a paperless code book. But I have a printed copy .... which I haven't actually opened in a long time, come to think of it.

A suitable UPC system prevents data loss during power outages.

The only real issue is loss of connectivity. Being a redundancy freak, I keep copies of my large building data on my computer anyway. And I back those up to a different internal server that is, itself, backed up. In other words, it's like having four copies of something .... so when paper copies are lost in a fire (I've seen plenty of court transcriptions to demonstrate that yep, that's happened to a municipality that has later had to defend itself from a lawsuit) digital ones can be preserved. Our entire building could be blown into smithereens by aliens overnight, and copies of key permits would still remain in digital form....