Oh..it's the inspector

[electricmanscott]

Doing some wiring for a kitchen renovation and muttering to myself about the hack that wired the place. Loads of violations. Mostly minor but many of them and the kind that make you say what butcher wired this place.

Go down to the panel and there are two "Call blah blah blah for service" stickers slapped on there.

Turns out it is the local inspector.

15 year old house so can't say for sure he wired it originally but in my mind I blame him.

I swear some of the worst wiring I come accross is in houses constructed in the last 10-20 years. Pretty pathetic.

 

[peter d]

I swear some of the worst wiring I come accross is in houses constructed in the last 10-20 years. Pretty pathetic.

My observation is that the majority of the really bad wiring I see was done in the 1970's That seemed like a time period where nothing was done well at all. Maybe some of the "old timers" can chime in and tell us why that's the case.

 

[wbalsam1]

Doing some wiring for a kitchen renovation and muttering to myself about the hack that wired the place. Loads of violations. Mostly minor but many of them and the kind that make you say what butcher wired this place.

Go down to the panel and there are two "Call blah blah blah for service" stickers slapped on there.

Turns out it is the local inspector.

15 year old house so can't say for sure he wired it originally but in my mind I blame him.

I swear some of the worst wiring I come accross is in houses constructed in the last 10-20 years. Pretty pathetic.

Got a situation in my area where the local electrical inspector owns and operates an electrical contracting business and uses an inspector from a competing agency (who knows little or nothing about the code) to inspect his work. The whole thing smacks of impropriety, but no one does a thing. Both agencies know the guy is doing this....nobody cares.
Thank goodness I'm no longer an inspector in New York. I no longer have to apologize for the lack of consistency or fairness. Oversight? What's that?
I just got an email stating the State's in "severe fiscal constraints". What was the excuse in "good" times?........geez.

 

[bphgravity]

In Florida, it is still legal to hold an active contractors license while also working as an inspector / plans examiner. It is left to the individual jurisdiction's building official to determine where conflict of interests may be or where ethical lines are crossed.

It's really interesting when the CBO is the one with the contractor license....

 

[480sparky]

That's why some people don't put stickers/magnets on the main panels.

 

[mdshunk]

I hear you. I reguarly have the pleasure of bidding against an electrical contracting company owned by the owner of a third party inspection agency. They inspect their own work. Tell me how that's right? Sucks, I tell you. They already know what they'll overlook and what they'll pass.

 

[PCN]

Isn't that sort of like an intoxicated cop administering a sobriety test on himself?

There should be a law about inspecting your own work, it's a total conflict of interest, but I suppose if it burns up it's got his name all over it. Although there are some rural areas in Maine with no local inspector where you pull a state permit and sign off stating everything will be installed per NEC. So I guess your kind of inspecting your own work.

 

[stickboy1375]

My observation is that the majority of the really bad wiring I see was done in the 1970's That seemed like a time period where nothing was done well at all.

I actually thought my house was done half way decent, other than all the unnecessary j-boxes in the attic.

 

[William1978]

Here we are not aloud to do electrical work in the county that we inspect in.

 

[stickboy1375]

Here we are not aloud to do electrical work in the county that we inspect in.

I like the old time electricians gone fire chiefs around here, :roll: Yep, not too much of a conflict of interest.

 

[wbalsam1]

Isn't that sort of like an intoxicated cop administering a sobriety test on himself?

There should be a law about inspecting your own work, it's a total conflict of interest, ....................

There is a law referring to dual loyalty. Imagine this: electrical inspector must hand in cut-in card to Poco in order for service to be connected. This is a requirement from the Public Service Law. Now imagine this: electrical contractor does his own service, with his private contractor hat on, then turns around and "approves" his own work with his "governmental" inspector hat on. Two interests being served that are in definite conflict. It is against the law, but since there is no oversight, it goes on all the time.

 

[hillbilly1]

Apparently it's not against the law in Georgia, I know of two different counties that the inspector is also an electrical contractor doing work in that county.

 

[electricmanscott]

I am pretty sure that around here you can work where you inspect, as you should be able to, but you have to have an inspector from a neighboring town inpsect your work. Thats the way I have seen it done anyway.

The point of my original comment was not so much that the guy may have been a hack because he inspected his own work but more that the guy is a hack and he is going to inspect MY work.

 

[Pierre C Belarge]

The point of my original comment was not so much that the guy may have been a hack because he inspected his own work but more that the guy is a hack and he is going to inspect MY work.

Then you will not have to worry too much about him finding your mistakes. :wink:

 

[mdshunk]

Then you will not have to worry too much about him finding your mistakes. :wink:

Of the inspectors that I normally get, they fall into two distinct groups. Guys who are retired electricians who were very good and still want to contribute. The other end are guys who were never any good, and are now inspectors because that's the only place for them in the trade. I almost want to say there's nobody in the middle, but that's not really true lately. The new breed of "combo inspector" is pretty much in the middle, but they only seem to know what's on a checklist.

 

[Pierre C Belarge]

Marc

I think that is very well stated and works for our general situation up here as well as where you work.


It boils down to a lack of any oversight, education and other reasons of which I will not mention here on this site.

 

[wbalsam1]

Of the inspectors that I normally get, they fall into two distinct groups. Guys who are retired electricians who were very good and still want to contribute. The other end are guys who were never any good, and are now inspectors because that's the only place for them in the trade. I almost want to say there's nobody in the middle, but that's not really true lately. The new breed of "combo inspector" is pretty much in the middle, but they only seem to know what's on a checklist.

When I first entered the industry of electrical inspections, I worked for a company who would hire retired state police on the basis that they knew the area and knew how to research data out of code books. That was it! They did not have to demonstrate any electrical knowledge at all.
I was with this company for 10 years...became a senior inspector....they continued their hiring policy all that time. Great bunch of fellows, but dumber than paint when it came to the NEC.

 

[c2500]

It is my understanding that in SC you cannot work in the area you inspect. Though I don't know how they break it out since we have county and city inspectors. I bet it is you can't work in the county you inspect.

c2500