Yuk, Inspectors!!!
Yuk, Inspectors!!!
Not picking on inspectors BUT in a conversation with any electrician, ask about inspectors and seldom do you get MAN THAT WAS A GREAT INSPECTOR.
Speaking in general:
If an inspector comes to someone's job and rips them a new one or hits them on a handfulof items with all legitimate code violations, do you think that anyone will say that the inspector was a great inspector?
If an inspector peeks around a few corners, shoots the breeze for a minute or two and gives you a green sticker, do you think that an electrician is more likely to sing his praises?
There seems to be a certain amount of ego intrinsic to the nature of each job.
An electrician is likely to be offended by someone telling him that what he did is wrong. After all, he has been doing it this way for years and no one has hit him on this issue. Someone has just stomped on his ego. I remember all the problems I caused myself by simply questioning my mechanics(for the intent of learning and understanding). I don't think that there are many electricians that welcome correction.
An inspector can get prideful and power drunk and twist ambiguous codes to be able to hit each job on at least one item. After all He is the representative of the AHJ. Some of the inspectors around my way would look around until they found one thing, then conclude their inspection. Many times, arguing or even disagreeing with an inspector will leave you with major issues down the road. Their ego has just been challanged and some want retribution, especially the ones that really don't belong there in the first place.
I've been on both sides of this fence; worker and inspector. I think that a lot of workers get used to doing things the same way over and over. Of those workers, many don't keep up on the code changes and many are just stubborn about change. If you add this with ego, you could easily see why not many electricians seem to like many inspectors.
On this forum, I think that most of the EC's here don't fall into this general idea. People here seem to be interested in doing things the right way, or at least code compliant. These are the people who have gone out of their way to help others and learn more by listening (reading) others input and suggestions.
Inclusive of all electricians in the trade, I personally feel that the classic bell curve exists with my example being dead center and most of this forum being on the high end. This does lead to an interesting predicament for those on this forum. With all of the knowledge that many here have, they may well be more educated than an above average inspector, leaving them also with a poor opinion of their inspectors.
