From what I see from talking to homeowners is they have 2 opinions of inspectors
One, they are just scouts for the tax collector
Two, they are there to make your life miserable and discourage you from doing anything yourself.
Where we are, #1 is really pretty bogus. The tax collector uses satellite photos and on site inspections. They don't really change your taxes for things that you do inside and outside things are quickly found anyway. I always say, the tax appraiser has better records of what I have done around here than I do and until recently, I never got permits.
The tax collector just took my money, they never complained about the lack of a permit.
#2 only seems true because they are really used to dealing with pros who know what to do and know what to expect. The inspector seems to be impatient with homeowners because the homeowner is usually not ready to be inspected when they call. That is why I say, if the building department wants to imporove their image with homeowners, they should spend more time with them and just charge more.
I have to honestly say, in my experience, most muni inspections are very superficial. During the go-go times when I built my pool that was somewhat expected but on my addition there were only 35 RES permits pulled by March of that year when I started. They weren't that busy. I still got 60 second inspections.
