ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area GC's,... and inspections..

... GC has his panties in a knot because plumbers getting his rough,but we're not ready as of yet,...so what does he do?? He calls the Boro hall,and makes the inspection appointment for this Friday without telling me,..thinking in his puny brain that I'll hurry up,work overtime,just to make his deadline...He's got another think comin',..I'm gonna call tomorrow,and cancel,until further notice..If I didn't find out about it,..come Friday,the inspector would've shown up on the job,I would've looked like an idiot,and he would fail me as an incomplete/not ready...
Russ

The inspector should only accept inspection requests from the electrical contractor

Rat:
I know what you mean. With my AHJ hat on, I get a few 'not ready' cause the GC/Builder/etc thought it was time.

On the other side, we have quite a few jobs that the EC's 'forgot' to call/schedule or follow-thru on the inspection requirements.

Amazing how many skeletons are in the file cabinets. NJ Law says "EC is the responsible person to obtain all required inspections and approvals". Also, 13:xxx states that the consumer is NOT to make final payment to the contractor until 'final' inspections and approvals are obtained.

John

If this GC is important to your business, I'd say hurry up and get over there and rough it already. But that's just me.

Does the inspector take requests from the builder now? Maybe he called and said he was you. I would let the guy show up and make the GC look like an ass. If he called and said it was you he will get an earfull from the inspector and maybe the building dept will find out and bust his balls.

I only allow the EC or someone that I know is working for him to call in for the inspection.
If the GC or the customer calls for the inspection I call the elecrician.
I am no longer surpized at the homes where the electrician pulls a permit and puts up a temporary and then the HO calls for inspections and the EC says he hasn't been there since the Temp service.
Sometimes the GC is trying to get around not having paid the EC.
If someone other than the electrician calls I tell them that ONLY the electrician knows when it is ready for inspection and I won't be there until he calls.
Alan--Inspector

Alan:

I hope the 'boss' doesn't stop here & browse the forums.....
He may get an idea, and think that the inspectors can do the scheduling too!

The Twp I work in processes about 6500 permits a year, and they could be any combo of Elec;Bldg;Fire;Plumb;Elevator. Last year we were just shy of 5000 Electrical Permits.

John

There is a simple solution....let the AHJ take the opportunity to cite the GC for not having a dumpster and porta-potty....the GC will stop calling real fast!

Tell the guy you don't speak rushing.

I know the story though...
Currently have 4 different jobs all held up on little things like whole new lighting layouts. Or decicsion on device color, so theres nothing to do there. Several others with huge things like a single missing trim. Most of them are due for rough or final in the next two weeks. All are tapping toes, and phone is on rapid fire. But none will be done before they are done. And all of the delays are on them, due to changes or other delays in framing or paint, or just plain laziness on someonelses part. (NMF)NOT MY FAULT!

Many GC's (Who are concerned with finish dates) will use MS Project or the like to post timeline completion shcedules for various stuff. If they do, when-ever you get delayed, you send it back with a bigger line, and later date when things get changed. (A few conciously ignore up-dates to thier files for this, and as long as you keep a record of them, you have something to throw back at 'em when they complain about delay) If they are concerned about a dead date, it needs to known well in advance, not two days.

And if you allow him to do this once, it will happen over and over again. It just not nessesary for me to work for people like that.

In my area the electrical close-in insp. and the building close-in inspection are done at the same time, by the same inspector. The inspectors get mad if they are called in seperately and won't pass one without the other.