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Work not ready for inspection

K

KLSRC

Registered User
Joined
Jul 11, 2022
Messages
12
Location
Illinois
Hi everyone. I'd like to get opinions on a builder who has called for inspection of work not ready for inspection. To set the stage a little, I'll give an example and what has been done to try and correct the behavior:

Builder calls for final electrical inspection - inspector goes out and the electrician is still pulling wire and fixtures are not mounted. Work is clearly not ready. Explained to the builder that work needs to be fully complete..."move-in ready".

Builder calls again for final inspection - inspector goes out and fixtures are missing with wires exposed - again, clearly not ready for final inspection.

This is a small example, but I'm curious if anyone has faced this before and how you have handled it. I don't want to be petty, but I am considering issuing a citation under IRC R109.3 as it states the permit holder has a duty to notify the building official when work is READY for inspection. I believe the intent of that section is mostly pointed at assigning responsibility to the permit holder to actually call for inspections and not skip them, but open to interpretation.

What do you all think? I feel that when a request is made for inspection, we need to honor it, so I don't want to adjust anything there. Again, not hungry to issue fines or spend my time in a court room, but being reasonable and having conversations is not working and this is having a negative impact on staff efficiency.
 
The policy that I dealt with for years was a re-inspection fee could only be requested after the third failure to be ready. The counter was reset at every new project. I had contractors that would not take care of corrections on purpose. Their gambit was a hope that they would get a different inspector that would pass the work anyway. They even told me exactly that. Not just one or two contractors either.
 
The first inspection is free in our jurisdiction. Then you get a free re-check inspection. Then it's a $50 recheck fee for subsequent inspections.
If the first inspection doesn't pass, then you have the free re-check to get everything straight on. If you fail the second inspection, you get to pay the re-inspection fee unless it gets waived by the building official.
 
I have the ability to apply a fee for a re-inspection. I have only done it twice when the client was just too ignorant to let it go.
 
Beniah Naylor said:
The first inspection is free in our jurisdiction. Then you get a free re-check inspection. Then it's a $50 recheck fee for subsequent inspections.
If the first inspection doesn't pass, then you have the free re-check to get everything straight on. If you fail the second inspection, you get to pay the re-inspection fee unless it gets waived by the building official.
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We do something similar...problem is they aren't bothered by paying lots of reinspection fees...
 
Many AHJ's do it many different ways, but more and more AHJ's don't do anything at all due to the never-ending quest to not hurt feelings. I have worked with a few that had a pretty good balance, where fees were only levied on habitual and egregious offenders. Here are two methods I have seen that worked at least a little:

1) (This method was pretty effective ten years ago) On a failed inspection, the applicant could not reschedule for the next day. Ever. Fees or no fees didn't matter (they aren't usually enough to matter). What did matter was that they were usually just trying to get a punch list from the inspector so they could proceed the next day.

2) Additive fees (and substantial). On the first failure, a single fee. The second failure doubled it. The third doubled the double fee, and so on. Not sure how it worked because they rarely failed twice, I guess it just got too expensive.

These methods were used many years ago, and I am not sure (but I doubt) they are still being used today.

The caveat to this is it seems that it seems only a few years ago builders still cared about passing and took pride in their work, but it seems few feel that way today. When I was a builder (more than a few years ago) I took great pride in passing. Every time. I took it as a personal failure if I didn't, even if it was a sub that made a mistake, I felt like I was the one responsible for catching them. I camped at the jobsite waiting for the inspector. I would be there for hours waiting, and cancelled more than a few when I saw something that would not pass, and many times met the inspector at his truck and told them to move on because I wouldn't pass. This approach rarely ever resulted in fees, because I didn't waste their time. When I did get a rare fee I had to drive 45-min. one way to pay it in person before a re-inspection could be scheduled. Of course back then, there was no "next day guarantee". A failed inspection could mean I didn't get another for several days. That seems to be gone too.
 
This is what progressive reinspection fees are for. It keeps guys like that from calling for an inspection every day with no consequences. Staffing is severely affected by reinspections.
 
we balance with being nice and charging reinspect fee for electrical, plumbing and gas it is $75, for building it is $50.The trade inspectors will give the trade a pass the first time after that any job any reinspection fee is assessed, the trad inspect a paid by the inspection and are 1099 subcontractors, the building inspector are salaried.
 
ICE said:
Every BO that I have worked with waived every re-inspection fee that came their way. There were BOs that required the inspectors to get permission to levy a fee.
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NEVER in my shop when I was running it.
 
In one AHJ they had cards that could be given to builders as an atta-boy. They could be redeemed as payment for a re-inspection fee. I suppose if you carry a stick, you should carry a carrot as well. I think their real value was in recognizing positive accomplishments once in a while, a positive reinforcement instead of the only reinforcement ever given by a building department being a negative one.
 
Sifu said:
I think their real value was in recognizing positive accomplishments once in a while, a positive reinforcement instead of the only reinforcement ever given by a building department being a negative one.
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If the work deserved a compliment I would give one ... in the presence of the owner. Hopefully that made them both happy.
 
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