Thanks for asking Bob. My reasoning is that the code is subjective, open to interpretation. I have seen two different inspectors require exactly opposite things. Rather than waste even more time and money arguing, sometimes I just “fix” it. Or if I have convinced the inspector of the error of his ways there is always 1 item he won’t budge on, because to some degree he still has to be right. Now don’t get the impression I fail stuff often, that rarely is the case. The only time I haved failed is when I’m too busy to be on site. And if it was something blatently obvious I probably wouldn't think of charging anyone.
But getting back to my reasoning, why should I be liable for something I have no control over, that being the ebbs & flows and way the wind blows of some of the inspectors judgments?
And really, this only applies to the smaller resi stuff. I actually think it is harder to fail the bigger commercial stuff because most of the stuff is engineered already, and by the time the project is done you have a good working relationship with the inspector anyway. I shouldn't split that into resi & comm. I should say the smaller jobs are easier to fail. Also there is less time and incentive to do alot of the prediscussion Active 1 is talking about on the smaller stuff.
