Blatant violations approved in residential final

[nizak]

Got a service call today to a new residence that was finished in 2022.

As I’m there working I start noticing several things that stand out .

- Several 18 Cubic inch nail on boxes that have as many as 15 #14 conductors not counting EG’s and the device.
- AC cable on basement poured walls with one strap at the top plate and one 6” above the 4” square box. Just over 6’ of dangling cable. Top strap is a plastic NM staple in the bottom of the floor joist.
-As many as 5 14/2 NM cables in a 3/4” NM connector entering the panel.
- Two of the boxes I opened had the equipment grounds twisted with no wire nut or crimp securing them.
- #6 bare Cu GEC attached to the exposed rebar ufer with 3 clamps. (Why 3 ????) Min#4 required.

These things were in just the utility room.

I chuckled when I saw the Final inspection sticker.
Approved.

Inspectors signature was a scribble not even close to being legible.

It’s a shame that the homeowner is getting this type of work on a $400K plus home.

 

[LarryFine]

Is it worth contacting the AHJ over?

 

[infinity]

I've been watching some home inspection videos on YouTube for tract houses built by big commercial builders. The amount of horrible work and violations is astounding. One can only assume that the building inspection departments doing these inspections are either incompetent, corrupt, or both. It has gotten so bad that home buyers are asking for their own open wall inspections and some of these builders are denying them the right to hire their own inspectors.

 

[LarryFine]

'Incompetence is the worst form of corruption.' - Electra Glide in Blue

Harve Poole: Incompetence is the worst form of corruption.

clip.cafe

 

[nizak]

Is it worth contacting the AHJ over?

I’m 90% certain I know who it was that finaled and approved it.

The house in question is actually in an area I occasionally work in.

Don’t know if calling him out would be wise.

 

[coffeebean]

I invite you to ride with me one day doing inspections. You can witness the lack of basic NEC knowledge, lying, unprofessional language ,and all around shenanigans I deal with "licensed electrical contractors" I didn't even mention the homeowners who lie and put themselves down as the contractor and have unskilled and unlicensed hacks doing the work. I'm tired of hearing the inspectors are the bad guys and miss violations.
I'm doing my best to protect the integrity of the Electrical Trade with a fail rate of about 40%, and that is just accepting bare minimum NEC.

 

[infinity]

I invite you to ride with me one day doing inspections. You can witness the lack of basic NEC knowledge, lying, unprofessional language ,and all around shenanigans I deal with "licensed electrical contractors" I didn't even mention the homeowners who lie and put themselves down as the contractor and have unskilled and unlicensed hacks doing the work. I'm tired of hearing the inspectors are the bad guys and miss violations.
I'm doing my best to protect the integrity of the Electrical Trade with a fail rate of about 40%, and that is just accepting bare minimum NEC.

Yes NJ has a problem. I've been sitting in the DCA electrical inspector CEU classes for 15 years and the stories that I've heard echo what you're saying. GC's have EC's sign permits and then their laborers or some other unskilled person do the work. The EC never even sets foot in the building. Part of the problem is that the inspectors simply do not have enough time to find all of the "shenanigans" as you've called them while doing an inspection. Homeowner permits are another part of the problem.

 

[nizak]

I invite you to ride with me one day doing inspections. You can witness the lack of basic NEC knowledge, lying, unprofessional language ,and all around shenanigans I deal with "licensed electrical contractors" I didn't even mention the homeowners who lie and put themselves down as the contractor and have unskilled and unlicensed hacks doing the work. I'm tired of hearing the inspectors are the bad guys and miss violations.
I'm doing my best to protect the integrity of the Electrical Trade with a fail rate of about 40%, and that is just accepting bare minimum NEC.

To miss as many violations as I listed in such a small space and them all being exposed in plain sight is wrong. Period.

I can appreciate what you are saying when it comes to the caliber of people you have doing the work.

You sir/mam sound like a conscientious individual who is doing the best they can with what you’ve got to work with.The person who approved the work I witnessed was not.

Face it.
- Good and bad contractors, good and bad inspectors.

 

[hillbilly1]

I invite you to ride with me one day doing inspections. You can witness the lack of basic NEC knowledge, lying, unprofessional language ,and all around shenanigans I deal with "licensed electrical contractors" I didn't even mention the homeowners who lie and put themselves down as the contractor and have unskilled and unlicensed hacks doing the work. I'm tired of hearing the inspectors are the bad guys and miss violations.
I'm doing my best to protect the integrity of the Electrical Trade with a fail rate of about 40%, and that is just accepting bare minimum NEC.

I’ve had a mix over the years, some real good inspectors, and some real bad ones. I did a job in south East Tennessee, I asked some of the guys at the supply house how the inspector was? They said he turns everybody down. Turned out he was the best inspector I have run across. He didn’t make up his own codes, but was very knowledgeable. He fussed a little bit about a floor box I put in because he didn’t get to see it before they poured the slab, but he said since I was able to get wires in it, it must have been ok. At the final, he asked if he could take some pictures? He wanted to show the other contractors what it was supposed to look like. I had a state inspector wanting the service bond on the load side of a ground fault protected transferswitch, which would have nullified the groundfault protection!

 

[ptonsparky]

Referencing another thread about one EC doing close to 500 homes a year and subbing things out on piece work, there is NWIH you could keep up with any of it.

 

[BarryO]

One can only assume that the building inspection departments doing these inspections are either incompetent, corrupt, or both.

Or overworked/overextended. In the little county we have here, it's the same guys that do electrical, mechanical, etc.

 

[charlie b]

Our townhouse is about 6 years old. The "violation" that stands out to me is the lack of receptacles on walls that should have them (or not within 12 feet of the next one). I am not confident that the other receptacle rules (e.g., SABC, bathroom receptacles, laundry receptacles, etc.) are in compliance. We are the second owners, so I doubt we could get anything from the original builder. I just am surprised that the inspector did not flag the receptacle issues.

 

[nizak]

Or overworked/overextended. In the little county we have here, it's the same guys that do electrical, mechanical, etc.

So one person inspects all the trades?

Our townhouse is about 6 years old. The "violation" that stands out to me is the lack of receptacles on walls that should have them (or not within 12 feet of the next one). I am not confident that the other receptacle rules (e.g., SABC, bathroom receptacles, laundry receptacles, etc.) are in compliance. We are the second owners, so I doubt we could get anything from the original builder. I just am surprised that the inspector did not flag the receptacle issues.

That’s inspection 101. That’s not even something hiding that an inspector would have to dig for to find.

 

[Hv&Lv]

I’m going the other way on this one. When I was doing EC work steady(side work, separate from the POCO.), I liked talking to the inspectors. This county only has four, the city has one. All were great to work with. I got failed a couple of times, but it was my fault..
A couple of jobs involved another POCO, along with some major work. I would meet the inspector on the job beforehand to discuss what I was going to do and get his opinion. That made it real easy on finals

 

[norcal]

I've been watching some home inspection videos on YouTube for tract houses built by big commercial builders. The amount of horrible work and violations is astounding. One can only assume that the building inspection departments doing these inspections are either incompetent, corrupt, or both. It has gotten so bad that home buyers are asking for their own open wall inspections and some of these builders are denying them the right to hire their own inspectors.

Tract homes are built as cheap as they can get away with, I refuse to say they are built to minimum code.

 

[jmellc]

Yes NJ has a problem. I've been sitting in the DCA electrical inspector CEU classes for 15 years and the stories that I've heard echo what you're saying. GC's have EC's sign permits and then their laborers or some other unskilled person do the work. The EC never even sets foot in the building. Part of the problem is that the inspectors simply do not have enough time to find all of the "shenanigans" as you've called them while doing an inspection. Homeowner permits are another part of the problem.

I had a coworker from NJ several years ago. He told lots of horror stories about trying to run a business there. Good solid guy. Had a customer who had an auto shop somewhere there. He told similar stories. My daughter lived there a couple of years and is now in Philly. Her stories are both good and bad. She is fortunate to have good friends there, in Marlton.

 

[BarryO]

So one person inspects all the trades?

Same guy does electrical and mechanical, and I think plumbing. Small rural county, and the country only does inspections outside city limits.

 

[petersonra]

I'm doing my best to protect the integrity of the Electrical Trade with a fail rate of about 40%, and that is just accepting bare minimum NEC.

Isn't bare minimum that meets code what inspectors are supposed to inspect for? In what case would an inspector have any legitimate authority to demand anything that exceeds code requirements?

 

[petersonra]

- Two of the boxes I opened had the equipment grounds twisted with no wire nut or crimp securing them.

It was a very common practice in much of the country to just twist solid bare wires together to connect egcs. Maybe not code but pretty common. It's not like this practice led to a crap ton of fires. I won't go so far to suggest it is perfectly safe, but it's not something I would get real excited about.

- #6 bare Cu GEC attached to the exposed rebar ufer with 3 clamps. (Why 3 ????) Min#4 required.

Is there any code that prohibits three clamps from being used?

I would not get overly excited about the size of the wire connected to a CEE either. It's not like it is a safety hazard. It's maybe not to code, but as for being a hazard, not so much.

There are plenty of not to code things that are done that actually create a hazard to worry about.

 

[ptonsparky]

Isn't bare minimum that meets code what inspectors are supposed to inspect for? In what case would an inspector have any legitimate authority to demand anything that exceeds code requirements?

I think he is saying the failure rate for minimum standards is 40%.

I would not expect anyone failing that minimum to do any better if they attempt to exceed it. Think spacing of receptacles at 3 per 12 feet vs 1. They just have more places to screw up.