Had my inspection all set up, the guy didn't show. Had a between 2-3 time frame. Called him, he calls me back saying he was sorry he got tied up. No problem we make another appointment for today, between 11-11:30. I gave up at 12:30 and left. No call no show. I am not making another appointment but want this permit closed out.
1st time in 20 years this ever happened.

Guys do have a few bad days in a row and stuff does happen but I agree this is unacceptable.
If it gets better Tuesday and it doesn't happen again you guys might have some tales to swap but if this is a pattern, escalate.

Seems nice that you have a fairly tight window of expected time. My office quotes '8AM to 3PM'; "contact the inspector for a better time if possible".

We have 'no show' situations where the office 'adds' a stop and fails to communicate the add-on to the inspector. Yes, we also on occasion may 'miss' a stop; BUT...we do go back if there is someone there.

A blatant 'no show; no contact' would mean a trip to a part of the muni building an inspector may not want to go.

As I have been on both sides of the fence, I was 'stood up' by inspectors a few times over the years. One memorable time involved a 400+ foot trench, a scheduled afternoon inspection, confirmed the day before, and 'no show' by 345PM

A call to the muni bldg got the response of "he did not come in today". That did not sit to well with the DOT guy that was busting me (trench was partial in DOT easement.

Broke out a camera, tape measure, bodies in the trench. Sand in, trace tape, more sand, clean fill & done.

He showed up the following week & wanted it dug out. That did not happen.

8am to 3pm is not acceptable for an inspection. Is the inspection department that unorganized they don't know what was to go when they leave the office?
I understand once all inspections are on the book for a certain day, then you lay out the route and can give a window of time but the wait all day for me isn't going to happen.

JoeyD:
No, my office is not unorganized! The office staff schedules inspections on 'first available date'; the inspection may be for one discipline, or all four. (B/E/P/F)

Most of the 'regular' contractors know to call 730-815AM the day that they are scheduled for a tight window.

Please keep in mind that a 'normal day' is 12 inspections per guy. The majority of my days are 'normal++'

I can understand the whole stuff happens, thats what phones are for. 10 year old kids have cell phones so no excuse there.
I also understand the call the morning of and get a window, Im OK with that too, but not a 8-3 window unless its an all day job that I'm on all day, then you don't mind , it takes the pressure off the inspector trying to get there at a certain time.

I may have come into this from an unrealistic position since I went from IBM to state inspector with a few inspections a day, maybe 60-80 miles apart but I kept a 1 hour window for 8 years.
On the flip side of this, as a builder my wife says Lee County Florida hit that 1-2 hour window most of the time, even when they left the office with 30 or 40 cards (in the "happy times", 2005 or so). I do question how much actual inspecting was going on but postponing them would just mean 50 cards tomorrow. The up side of their job was they might have 20 cards in one neighborhood.
I do understand that a lot of guys simply failed the job on the first thing that looked funny and "catch you tomorrow".

I was very happy that I never had that pressure on me. I could hang around and really get a good look at things. After a few times actually climbing around in the overhead and opening boxes people understood this was more fun than a job for me.
I would usually wait to see the fix if the guy was ready to do it. That made the paperwork easier for everyone.

So I go down to meet this guy at his office today, explain I need inspection no mention of missed dates, tells me to come back next Tuesday to pick a date, he won't pick the date now.
Now I'm aggravated and tell him about the two missed appointments and how I've wasted 4 hours on this inspection and can't get paid until I get the job signed off, he tells me that doesn't sound like something he would do. Tells me he's backed up and there is nothing he can do, come back Tuesday.
I'm at the end with this guy and will try the mayors office or the state board and see what I can do.

JoeyD:

OK, he missed you twice, and it sounds like he blew you off on requesting a new appointment, that's not acceptable IMHO

NJ has 'regs' regarding inspections, and I'm not saying that the 'regs' are followed by all, or all the time.

My office policy is if an inspection is 'missed' and there is a call to the office that afternoon, you WILL see an inspector. Our inspection times are 0800 to 1500 Mon-Fri.

BTW, I feel for you. And NO my office is not 'perfect' by any means, but we do our best for all parties involved.

There are many stories of how my time is 'wasted' on jobs that are scheduled, or 'beggers' that need an inspection 'NOW', but that's another long story.

I went to the mayor on this, he got back to me the next day with apologies and tried to stick up for the guy a little. Once I went through the whole thing with him he said he would see what he could do.
The city has 2 inspectors, the backup guy called me within 2 minutes of talking to the mayor nice as can be and I have an inspection for Tuesday 11-12. I hope this closes it out and doesn't bust my balls over this.
John nobody is perfect and not everything goes to plan but a simple phone call would have prevented any of this.

Communications solve issues before they become disasters.

I agree with HotLine. We all know "things" happen, just let me know you're held up for one reason or another and we'll meet another time. Leaving people standing around for hours just to no-show is just bs.

JoeyD:
FWIW, if you were in my twp., and went to Administration (Mayor, BA, etc) they would ask you for a contact phone number.

The steps they would take:
Call to the Construction Official (or me if he is unavailable)

CO would call me, or my inspector.

Me, or my inspector would call you, and IF you were available, you would get an inspection. If you were not available that day, you would get inspected next day. This applies to all disciplines (B/E/P/F)

Like I said, we are not perfect, but we try to please.

Just to update, got my inspection. He had me pull the panel cover, got a good compliment on my work and out the door he went. This is how all inspections should go.

All we can do is try