inspector salaries

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vegasbaby

Member
Location
LI
I need some ideas. I was asked to give a bid for a 4yr Highway project in which I would be inspecting the street lights, traffic loops.....etc. as an independent contractor in CA. I usually do homes and condos and not sure what a competitive bid for this type of work should be. Any help or direction would be appreciated
 

petersonra

Senior Member
Location
Northern illinois
Occupation
engineer
I need some ideas. I was asked to give a bid for a 4yr Highway project in which I would be inspecting the street lights, traffic loops.....etc. as an independent contractor in CA. I usually do homes and condos and not sure what a competitive bid for this type of work should be. Any help or direction would be appreciated

Do you know anything about those type of installations? The reason I ask is that if you had experience with them I would think you would already have a good idea of the answer to this question, and if you have no experience with them, you probably should not be inspecting them in the first place. JMNSHO.
 

Ruff-N

Member
You will also need bucket trucks, bucket trucks with materail handler rigs, digger derricks, men that are familiar with electric utility work, pole climbing, stringing wire from pole to pole etc.
 

tkb

Senior Member
Location
MA
When you get involved with traffic signals the liability is huge.
You better talk to your insurance company.
 

Cavie

Senior Member
Location
SW Florida
You will also need bucket trucks, bucket trucks with materail handler rigs, digger derricks, men that are familiar with electric utility work, pole climbing, stringing wire from pole to pole etc.

He said he was inspecting not installing. None of that stuff is needed. Just him and his pick up.
 

Cavie

Senior Member
Location
SW Florida
I need some ideas. I was asked to give a bid for a 4yr Highway project in which I would be inspecting the street lights, traffic loops.....etc. as an independent contractor in CA. I usually do homes and condos and not sure what a competitive bid for this type of work should be. Any help or direction would be appreciated

You need to know local specs. They are more stringent than the NEC in these cases. Have you ever seen 480v single phase 2 wire (1 hot 1 neutral)?? They go overboard on grounding. 20' copper ground rods at each pole. 50' copper ground rods at traffic controlers. Tests for 25 ohms or less at the poles. 5 ohms or less at traffic controlers.

Can't help with the $$. Inspections in Florida are done by the engineering team running the job for the State. They inspect every aspec of the job as it goes along. Dig a 3' deep ditch to install conduit and the backfill is density tested every 6". Local inspectors only inspect the services for POCO hook up.
 

macmikeman

Senior Member
Usually where I am at the third party "Construction Management" company that is between the State DOT and the actual construction company doing the work, inspects the work, and is paid roughly the same amount as what the contractor has in his bid for the project. So a typical three million highway install needs to be funded with six million by the state legislation body, so they can fund the contract manager company as well. (by the way the field inspectors working for those companies, who are also low on the totem pole are paid dirt.)
 

Ruff-N

Member
He said he was inspecting not installing. None of that stuff is needed. Just him and his pick up.
Sounds like gravy work. So all he will do is drive up to the job and see if everthing looks good from the ground if not he calls whom ever and someone else does the actual work?
 

jmellc

Senior Member
Location
Durham, NC
Occupation
Facility Maintenance Tech. Licensed Electrician
You need to know local specs. They are more stringent than the NEC in these cases. Have you ever seen 480v single phase 2 wire (1 hot 1 neutral)?? They go overboard on grounding. 20' copper ground rods at each pole. 50' copper ground rods at traffic controlers. Tests for 25 ohms or less at the poles. 5 ohms or less at traffic controlers.

Can't help with the $$. Inspections in Florida are done by the engineering team running the job for the State. They inspect every aspec of the job as it goes along. Dig a 3' deep ditch to install conduit and the backfill is density tested every 6". Local inspectors only inspect the services for POCO hook up.
480 single phase, 1 hot 1 neutral? That's 277.
 

growler

Senior Member
Location
Atlanta,GA
I was asked to give a bid for a 4yr Highway project in which I would be inspecting the street lights, traffic loops.....etc. as an independent contractor in CA. I usually do homes and condos .

Do you know anything about those type of installations? The reason I ask is that if you had experience with them I would think you would already have a good idea of the answer to this question.

I think Petersonra may have hit on something here. Maybe the inspector should know something about the work he will be inspecting. :-?
 

satcom

Senior Member
I think Petersonra may have hit on something here. Maybe the inspector should know something about the work he will be inspecting. :-?

I also think he hit on something, in our state the inspectors need a broad range of experience, and in many cases need to be a licensed PE and if he is doing it as a contractor, he will most likely need some pretty expensive liability coverages.
 
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