Do Inspectors have 2 modes?

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cowboyjwc said:
I forgot. PIERRE! How's tricks? Hope everything is good.:)
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Hello John
My wife is better, and my father may not be with us much longer, thanks for asking. It is good to get back here and harass you guys...uh I meant to post again. ;)


I have read most of this thread...it confuses me.

Regardless of the inspector, do the right job, or what one thinks is the right job, carry your code book on the job and go from there. The codes can be complex and no one knows it all. Just do your best.
 
Pierre C Belarge said:
Hello John
My wife is better, and my father may not be with us much longer, thanks for asking. It is good to get back here and harass you guys...uh I meant to post again. ;)


I have read most of this thread...it confuses me.

Regardless of the inspector, do the right job, or what one thinks is the right job, carry your code book on the job and go from there. The codes can be complex and no one knows it all. Just do your best.
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That's good to hear about your wife, and I'm sorry to hear about your father. Mine is 80 and in fairly good health, but everytime my phone rings at home after 10:00 or so my heart jumps.
 
cowboyjwc said:
As far as justifying my existince, I did that when they hired me, and as long as there are EC's and laws that require a building and safety department then my existince will be justified also.

I get paid the same whether I write you a correction notice, sign your job card, sit in my office doing plan checks or for that matter even take the day off.

You do your job right and I do my job right, I sign your job card.
You do your job wrong and I do my job right, you fix it and I sign your job card.
You do you job right and I do my job wrong, at some point I'm still gonna sign your job card.

I've said this before, and it's a quote from one of our field supervisors, "you're gonna sign that job card sooner or later, how hard you make it is entierly up to you."

Don't leave something for me to find, if I'm in a hurry, I may not have time to stand around while you "fix" it and then you just cost yourself another day.
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I think you're confusing yourself with someone else I deal with. I never said ALL inspectors are like that, just that there are some.
 
480sparky said:
I think you're confusing yourself with someone else I deal with. I never said ALL inspectors are like that, just that there are some.
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Well there's a sign of a guilty conscience.:grin:

I'm sorry, I didn't mean you in paticular either (I would have quoted you if I did) though I may have used the word "you" a little out of context, but I've heard it before. I've been an inspector for 20 years and there are inspectors that I don't like or I don't like how they do their job.:)
 
growler said:
I don't understand that line of reasoning. I normally don't expect to see a red tag on a job. If there is something that is questionable on a job I would be the one to bring it up with the inspector.

Before an inspector ever sees the job it's important to walk it with a critical eye and look for code violations yourself. If an inpector can actually find violations in 15-20 minutes that I can't spot having been on a job for weeks then I'm in the wrong profession.

Now I have been caught on some local codes that I was not aware of and didn't know to question early on .

If a contractor knows his job there is no reason for anything to be written up on most small jobs. On a bigger job where a contractor is depending on the leadmen and job foremen it's more likely that something will get missed. I have learned that people don't take things as seriously if they are working for someone slse.
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What part did you not understand? I am more critical of my own work than anyone else or that your jobs are not code perfect. Not necesarily your fault but still true.
 
cowboyjwc said:
Well there's a sign of a guilty conscience.:grin:.......
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Guilty of what, though?

If anything, I'm guilty of making a choice based on economics. Either I let the job stand without any violations, have the inspector get frustrated when he can't find anything, he starts making up shirt-pocket rules, we argue, I ask for a code reference, we pull out The Book, he can't find it but is positive it's there, I refuse to back down, and I end up talking to his supervisor...... all of which takes a huge amount of time. And as we all know, time is money.

OR, do I leave him some morsel to 'snare' me with, something simple that takes 10 seconds to rectify?


Hmmm. 2 hours v. 10 seconds. Gee, that's a toughie!


FWIW, I have never failed an inspection. I have been called on a few things, all minor, where the inspector just says, "Yeah, just take care of that and we're good.....", hands me a pass ticket and he leaves.
 
cowboyjwc said:
As far as justifying my existince, I did that when they hired me, and as long as there are EC's and laws that require a building and safety department then my existince will be justified also.

I get paid the same whether I write you a correction notice, sign your job card, sit in my office doing plan checks or for that matter even take the day off.

You do your job right and I do my job right, I sign your job card.
You do your job wrong and I do my job right, you fix it and I sign your job card.
You do you job right and I do my job wrong, at some point I'm still gonna sign your job card.

I've said this before, and it's a quote from one of our field supervisors, "you're gonna sign that job card sooner or later, how hard you make it is entierly up to you."

Don't leave something for me to find, if I'm in a hurry, I may not have time to stand around while you "fix" it and then you just cost yourself another day.
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I am sure you could notice if they are playing a game with you. When they do i would hope you just write the red tag and walk away. Bet they won't play stupid on next job. I am almost always on the job and if they find something it is cause i missed it. If small most will still sign me off. Word travels as to who can be trusted.
 
Jim W in Tampa said:
I am sure you could notice if they are playing a game with you. When they do i would hope you just write the red tag and walk away. Bet they won't play stupid on next job. I am almost always on the job and if they find something it is cause i missed it. If small most will still sign me off. Word travels as to who can be trusted.
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Oh absolutly you learn who you can trust and of course you also know who you need to keep both eyes on. You and I may be able to walk the job and talk about how our kids did playing baseball this weekend or how we bowled tuesday night and I say do me a favor and make sure you get a couple more straps on that MC for me and I sign the card and head out. There are other guys that you don't even want to hear them talk, because you know it's just gonna be some story.

Sometimes I'll start my inspection with "ok let's go out and find that missing KO seal and if I find one you owe me lunch." "What if you don't find one?" "You still owe me lunch, I just won't eat as much".:D

And on the other hand I know there are EC's that have different modes. They don't want to chit chat with the inspector just look at my job and leave and then there are others who will go bird hunting with you or just want to pick your brain for a few minutes.:)

Most of us have never met face to face, nor will we, and we only see the typed words and not always the intent behind it. I think if you talked to most of the local contractors you would find that they think I'm pretty fair and easy to work with. I can tell that my sarcasam is lost on 480.:D
 
cowboyjwc said:
I think if you talked to most of the local contractors you would find that they think I'm pretty fair and easy to work with. I can tell that my sarcasam is lost on 480.:D
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I don't know about that, I have herd that many of those contractors refer to the bathroom as a "John" and have never refered to it as a "Pierre". Something to think about. :grin::grin:

It's true I'm a very sick person. I can't help it.
 
480sparky said:
Guilty of what, though?

If anything, I'm guilty of making a choice based on economics. Either I let the job stand without any violations, have the inspector get frustrated when he can't find anything, he starts making up shirt-pocket rules, we argue, I ask for a code reference, we pull out The Book, he can't find it but is positive it's there, I refuse to back down, and I end up talking to his supervisor...... all of which takes a huge amount of time. And as we all know, time is money.

OR, do I leave him some morsel to 'snare' me with, something simple that takes 10 seconds to rectify?


Hmmm. 2 hours v. 10 seconds. Gee, that's a toughie!


FWIW, I have never failed an inspection. I have been called on a few things, all minor, where the inspector just says, "Yeah, just take care of that and we're good.....", hands me a pass ticket and he leaves.
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If thats what your dealing with then something is very wrong. Here i have never needed to play any games. Perhaps your living in the wrong town. Why should he want to fail you ? Thats just one more stop the next day unless he gets a cut of the inspection fee.
 
Jim W in Tampa said:
If thats what your dealing with then something is very wrong. Here i have never needed to play any games. Perhaps your living in the wrong town. Why should he want to fail you ? Thats just one more stop the next day unless he gets a cut of the inspection fee.
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There's more than one inspector that I deal with, so there's no 'living in the wrong town'.

There's just one who feel the burning desire to find something.... anything... no matter what. Why? As I said before... to justify his work.

As for reinspection fees, that's not is as there are none.
 
480sparky said:
There's more than one inspector that I deal with, so there's no 'living in the wrong town'.

There's just one who feel the burning desire to find something.... anything... no matter what. Why? As I said before... to justify his work.

As for reinspection fees, that's not is as there are none.
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Try inviteing him to this site and perhaps we can change his ways. If its the only way to pass then its very sad you have to deal with him. That kind is what makes the others look bad.
 
Jim W in Tampa said:
Try inviteing him to this site and perhaps we can change his ways. If its the only way to pass then its very sad you have to deal with him. That kind is what makes the others look bad.
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Ever deal with someone who is always late? You invite them to a dinner party, which starts at 6:00. They show up at 6:45. So the next time you know dinner is served at 6:00, you tell him the party starts at 5:00. Sure as rain, he shows up at 5:45. Same principle.

This is just something that is in this persons' nature I'm not going to change. I have simply adapted my behavior slightly to accomodate them so I can make progress.
 
growler said:
I don't know about that, I have herd that many of those contractors refer to the bathroom as a "John" and have never refered to it as a "Pierre". Something to think about. :grin::grin:

It's true I'm a very sick person. I can't help it.
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When I was a kid and they would make fun of me with that joke, I just told them I'm the only one here that everyone thinks about everyday.:grin:
 
ActionDave said:
480 is right. There are inspectors around that need to find something. Then there are also the inspectors that don't even inspect, just show up, shoot the breeze and sign off. I don't like that either.
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There is always that bottom 10% in every occupation. We had an inspector that wanted to inspect by sitting in his car. My employee got mad about that and chewed him out. Several nitpicky items and lots of expensive paperwork were then required.

The employee was right about the inspector being a bottom feeder in the gene pool - but then so was the employee :grin:

In our area, most business license inspectors feel obligated to have a finding. I'm have rental property and the most frequent finding is that a tenant sets a bag of trash on their porch the day the inspector goes by. 50 rental units with the license held up because of one bag of trash on one porch. Toss it and two days later you get your license when they drive by again for the follow-up inspection.
 
Wow

Wow

I find it interesting that anyone has the TIME to make violations or makeup violations. I rely heavily on the EC to show me what he has done. I want him there with me, walking the inspection. I find in doing this, he occasionally finds his own mistakes and can have someone correct it while I'm still on site. Also, if I make a mistake, (WHAT?) I earn more respect by addmitting it, rather than spending time searching for something that might cover the bad call. I have a few EC's that I absolutely don't trust and never will. They have shown no respect for me as a person or for my position and will do whatever it takes to try and get by on me. That said; the majority of EC's are well versed in their job, take pride in their work and want to leave the inspector with a good opinion of them.
 
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