# I Was Told I was Being Picky!



## Mule (Aug 6, 2010)

First off I usually don't perform the inspections. I am in the office most of the day and have a inspector that takes care of the inspections. He took three days off so I am performing the inspections.

Foundation inspection on Monday. Here are my comments in general.

1. Conduit in beam must be secured away from beam steel. (the electrician had thrown a piece of conduit for an island in the beam at the last minute and it was laying in the bottom of the beam on top of the beam steel)

2. Protect PEX and PVC where passing through a beams. (PEX and PVC not wrapped or protected)

3. Beam steel cannot be in contact with PEX. (self explanatory)

4. Remove debris from all beams. (the pad had caved in in several places covering up the beam steel)

5. Beam steel is in contact with the forms at the back of the building. (the beam steel was up tight against the brick ledge form board. If left like this when the forks were removed about 10 feet of steel would have been showing)

6. Pad to high on the south east corner. (string line indicated only 2" of concrete...I figured this is why the steel was in contact with the form in the back)

7. Plastic draped over beam steel in bottom of beam.

There were a other things that needed fixing that I just put a "general" comment about. Steel not supported properly various places.

Reinspection called for Tuesday.

1. Conduit in beam must be secured away from beam steel. (they relocated the conduit from the bottom of the beam and zip tied it to the beam steel in the top of the beam)

2. Beam steel cannot be in contact with PEX. (self explanatory)

3. Remove debris from all beams. (still several places where dirt was covering up the beam steel)

4. Beam steel is in contact with the forms at the back of the building. (Still the same)

5. Plastic draped over beam steel in bottom of beam.

$45 reinspection fee due. Oh.....the engineer had left a green tag specifying everything was okay to pour.

Reinspection called for Wednesday.

Builder was there, concrete contractor was there. there were still a few places that had problems but they fixed them while I was there.

Imagine them telling my inspector that I was picky! The engineer told the builder I was nit picking! The builder was asked my permit tech when the "regular" inspector was going to be back. I informed the builder the "regular" inspector and I were going to have a heart to heart talk about how we have performing our inspections!

This contractor is normally a good contractor. I feel it is our departments’ fault that we have allowed this contractor's quality to become less than what they were in the past.

I feel we owe it to the public to provide this type of "picky" inspection.

I'm proud to be categorized as a picky inspector!


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## pwood (Aug 6, 2010)

Mule said:
			
		

> First off I usually don't perform the inspections. I am in the office most of the day and have a inspector that takes care of the inspections. He took three I feel we owe it to the public to provide this type of "picky" inspection.
> 
> I'm proud to be categorized as a picky inspector!


sounds like your calls were justifiable. be efficient and give the consumer the protection they deserve and also remember that you are always just an "R" away from being the other kind of inspector :mrgreen:


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## texas transplant (Aug 6, 2010)

Mule,

I like to take a couple of days a month, go out and do some inspections.   Keeps me thinking and lets me see what my inspectors are seeing.   Sounds like you may also want to do what I do every now and then.   Go out about an hour behind your inspector and see what he has seen, before the contractors can pour concrete or cover things up.  I take a look at the inspection report left in the box, walk the job, see what's going on.   Be forewarned, this can lead to some serious heart to hearts or to some pats on the back for the inspector.   It also reminds my inspectors that I do care about how well they do their job and they never know what day I am going to follow one of them around, keeps them on their toes a little too.


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## Uncle Bob (Aug 6, 2010)

Mule,

This always happens when the "regular" inspector takes off for a day or two. My last Building Official would always conduct inspections; and on occasion would inspect my area. We have a tendency to get in a rut; and, look for the same violations; or just get lazy.

Once, when my Building Official had taken off work; I took his inspections. I had just failed a plumbing underground for not having horizontal drains properly supported (2006 IRC, P2604).

The builder's supervisor; happened to be on the site and, "informed" me that the Building Official always passed it that way.

I told him that our Building Official was the the best Building Official in Texas; but, was our worst inspector; and to have the plumber make the corrections; prior to requesting a reinspection.

When my Building Official came back; that superivsor spent an hour in his office complaining about the violation and telling him what I had said.

Fortunately, my Building Official had a great sense of humor. I'll never forget being a part of that team. 

They were the best,

Uncle Bob


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## Mule (Aug 6, 2010)

Thanks for all the replies.

pwood...pricky????  

I feel the inspector has gotten in a rut and sometimes it takes times like these to step back and refocus.

TT good idea to go out occasionally. I'll make it part of my routine.


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## mtlogcabin (Aug 6, 2010)

I suggest the plans examiners get out in the field at least one day per month. It gives most people a greater appreciation for the work done by their co-workers and sometimes insight into how to do their jobs better. I have heard plans examiners when in the field say "So that is how a berc clip works"  and many other suprising statements that you would not expect.


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## ewenme (Aug 6, 2010)

Because of recent forensic inspections where a building was damaged by a vehicle [the inspections revealed things that were not up to code and should not have been passed] my supervisor has asked me to do exactly what TT describes. Some of the items that were missed: the hold downs for the alternate braced wall were in the wall, along with the bag of screws that should have been used to complete the installation; joists attached to flush beams without any hangers; ledgers with one row of lags in a nice straight line; no mechanical connections between posts and beams. After the forensics, I dug deeper to try to discover who had done the inspections. It was the BO before me which was corroborated by several people, including the contractor. Needless to say, Quality Control is always necessary, even on inspections!


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## cda (Aug 6, 2010)

Agree do get in ruts and need second opinion on our inspections

By the way I do the same to my boss because he sits in the office and gets old and rusty


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## RJJ (Aug 6, 2010)

Mule: I been called much worst, as I am sure you all have as well. I do my own plan review and all of my own inspections. I have an electrical plan reviewer and two other electrical inspectors. My electrical inspectors no that I am in front and behind them so they stay on their toes. They are reel good so not much missed. I do find things or voids ever now and then it keeps us all sharp.

Now for ruts we all fall in them from time to time. Sometimes it is good to step back and think about the day or the next job we enter before we get inside or what ever. I recently had the opportunity to be in another inspectors shoes for a day. I put up a post about it. It was eye opening and refreshing. We all at some point need to change the day. Find a way to be refreshed. Pick up the little things we may be missing.

I believe fire blocking and draft stopping are two major areas of comment on ever job. I sometimes get tired of say you missed here and over there. A few fail notices often get the attention of the contractor. Anyway ruts happen and most often we don't realize it. So we always must re invent the inspection process in some manner.


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## JBI (Aug 6, 2010)

Not 'picky' Mule, just 'thorough'. There is a difference.


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## jim baird (Aug 7, 2010)

LOL!

In the podunk AHJ where I was a part-timer lots of whispering about my thoroughness went on, resulting in my not being assigned to whiners' jobs.  Many inspectors think they are supposed to be the contractor's "buddy", and call it "working relationship".


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## peach (Aug 7, 2010)

picky.. picky... just picky...  (it's good to throw a code section other than workmanlike manner at them).

Everytime I've run a building department, the plan reviewers went on job sites.. and so did my clerks.  Not every inspection, but every couple of weeks.


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## cboboggs (Aug 9, 2010)

I do the same thing as TT, every so often I will follow behind an Inspector, just as a quality control thing, I also take a few inspections a month to try to stay sharp. A couple of years ago, this practice lead to the dismissal of one of the inspectors. It sounds to me that your write ups were justified.


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