ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Who is your Inspector?

State of Nebraska

1) Good state inspection system for everything not covered by municipalities. They are spread thin and only require permits/inspections when a new service is involved. Each inspector has his own interpretations and quirks, but by and large they are easy to work with, with a few exceptions. Each inspector has his own territory, so we deal mainly with just two guys.

2) Larger cities and towns have their own inspectors who are usually general "building inspectors". With these guys there is much more variation. It is allways easier to talk to them ahead of time and make it clear that you will do your best to comply with the NEC and any local rules. Unfortunately this system is sometimes used to make it difficult for "outside" contractors to come into town and compete. Just a fact of life in the trade I guess.

FWIW,
GJ

ours are city, county, or state of oregon inspectors. they have their own certification process, need 8 years experience, a general supervisor license [like a master electrician] and testing and interviews. i've only had one that bordered on incompetent, and was told he got his oregon insp certification because he had inspected in another state. very hard to reach one for questions anywhere, and you get whoever they send. they have to be called the day before the inspection, but they have to be there the next day, unless its really rural, then i think they may be allowed 2 days to inspect. with the slowdown, there have been a lot of inspector layoffs here so we have gotten some private inspection guys if the ahj is short handed.

i didnt mean to sound rude about our inspectors though. they are generally very helpful and know a lot more than i do [but that aint sayin much] i think it helps that they have to come from the trade here, and need to have the general supervisor license to prove it

Bill,
Our inspectors are county or city employees. One jurisdiction I deal with has 12 regular zoned inspectors and 2 "floaters". (Wouldn't you hate for your job tittle to be Floater?) You get to know some of the inspectors to an extent in if you have several jobs in one area, but we get spread around and I'm rarely on site when they show up. Most of them are OK, but some can be REAL jerks, especially if you try to get them to give you the courtesy of an approximate ETA so you can have someone to let them into a locked house.

Our inspectors are city or county employees. We have to deal with local fire marshals on commercial jobs and state fire marshals on assembly halls and larger jobs. I am fortunate to have good inspectors to deal with in our immediate jurisdiction. I speak with them often even if to just say hello. They have given me their cell numbers so I can get right through. They are also good about scheduling for things like shut downs and reconnects. Some of the surrounding areas are not as good to work with and all of them look for different things. I guess I am fortunate here!

Bill,

Here in Pittsburgh, PA we have a Chief Electrical Inspector. He supervises a staff of electrical inspectors. They are all nationally certified by I.A.E.I. All are employed by the City's Department of Public Safety.

We have an opportunity to call them between the hours of 8:00AM and 10:00AM each workday if we have any questions. After 10:00AM they leave their office to do field inspections.

Frank

Gentlemen:
This reply may be a few days late, but....
Here in NJ
All inspectors are State Licensed
Some work for the City/Town/TWP/etc.
Some work for 3rd Party Agencies
Some are PT/Some are FT
Hours and days vary by Towns...
Typical Tues & Thursday...9:00 to 1:00
Some are Mon thru Friday...and even 8:00 to 4:30.
The guy who wrote"if you call by 3:00 you get an inspection that day"...hey that's great.
Most of the calls are made thru the Towns
We utilize a Statewide Uniform Construction Code with standard forms, and it's supposed to be "almost 100%" computer linked to the State DCA

Anyone that has further curiosities about NJ, you can E-mail me (John_HLEC@msn.com)

John

Thank You all for your comments. Although some circumstances are different there seems to be many simularities too.

Bill

here in indiana since we dont have a state licening we have local hired inspectors they are concidered to have limited law enforcement powers and are protected by the states law suit limit of $300k but since the local units of goverment has to adopt any codes before they can be enforced they have to have this level of power to enforce the codes and levey any fines or charges for violations. and these could be as much as $2500 for like working with out a permit or licecines