someone please verify this : i heard that in some towns the electrical inspector collect the fees for inspections,and the said fees become his/her income , is the bs or what?

In Massachusetts, each town is responsible for hiring their own inspector. I know my town pays the inspector salary with a full benefits package.

In NJ the towns have several ways to hire an inspector, the town can use the state inspector, they can hire a third party (independent) agency, or they can hire their own employee. (Either part time or full time.) Any way they do it, the inspector does not collect any fees. All money is paid to the town, then the town either keeps the money or gives it to the third party agency. If you are an employee of the third party agency, then that company pays the inspector. If the town hires the state then the state pays the inspector and the town pays the state.

In my area all inspectors are employed by the city or county.

I would not put it past those smal towns that employ an inspector/justice-of-the-peace/sheriff/fire chief/selectman/viewer of fences/dog officer/preacher

sparky, i was working in a town where the city marshall was the building code inspector, he took me to jail for not having a work permit, $300 to get out, i learn my lesson, check with city hall first.

geez.....
and i was being sarcastic.......

here in north west PA, I work for a third party agency. I collect the fee, and my pay is a percentage of that. I'm sure it will change when all the municipalities are forced into using the state mandated construcion codes, and have named inspectors either as an employee, or an agency to do the inspections. the fees will then be paid to the towns, city, etc.

I forgot to pay my inspector once.

Opened up my checkbook while purchasing gasoline after an inspection, and there was the check written out to my inspector!

I called him up, he said: "Boy, you're slick, I didn't even notice!" And I replied: "So slick I even fooled myself!"

I mailed him the check.


To answer the Q: I believe my inspectors work on a commission basis. Anything wrong with that?

[This message has been edited by sparky66wv (edited 11-16-2002).]

In town here you pay the city $23 for a 200amp residential service, at city hall, the city keeps $1 and the other $22 goes to the state. The state pays the inspector his salary. Our inspector inspects M-W-Th for the local city utility in town. And in our county you pay $22 to the Membership co-op and make the check out to the state of Tennessee and he will inspect on T-F for them. I have three different inspectors for three different counties. They all inspect for DREMC, but they have different offices in each county. The city has a plumbing inspector, a fire inspector, a framing and or general building code inspector, but all electrical is under the state of tennessee. Each utility dictates its own service requirements as for as riser size, SE conductors sizes, ect, and they all differ somewhat.
Large commercial, industrial service are figure on the amperage and complexity of the inspection required. The last large one I worked on 1200amp 480v $800 flat rate fee for all inspections.

WOW, I can't even imagine such a thing.
All of our inspectors are paid by their jurisdictions. Any kind of payment at all directly to the inspector would constitute bribery. (I've had them buy me a cup of coffee after offering them one, which they can't accept).
In the mid-'70s, we had an inspector who was caught in a "sting operation" in the City of Irvine. Seems a contractor set a bottle of Scotch in his truck @ Christmas (if I remember correctly).He was never seen again.

We do have private companies that, when hired, send out "Deputy Inspectors" (ie, an inspector that can spend all his/her time on your job watching the progress). They still are on their company's payroll, and are subject to the "no direct pay" rules. Also they must be pre-approved by the jurisidiction where they're working, and the "real" AHJ must oversee their work.