Only In California

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bkludecke

Senior Member
Location
Big Bear Lake, CA
Occupation
Retired Electrical Contractor
You gotta love this state. I'm bidding a job at a regional headquarters building of the California Highway Patrol. The project involves installing a new contactor controlled panel-board, running 6-8 30amp 208volt 1phase circuits, install about 28kva worth of roof/gutter heat.

When I looked at the job specs I didn't see a requirement for an electrical permit. When I inquired about this the PM told me that a permit is not required and in fact he later added "building permits are not required" to the job specs so every bidder would understand this.

Now I know I'm not in Kansas anymore.

Has anyone else ever experienced this?
 
In my area the only time we inspect government work (state, County, local) is for a service, ( the power company requires this) or when the specs call for a third party inspection. Most of the time the municipality will hire an engineering firm, or just use the engineer of record on the project to preform inspections.




Joe Villani
 
Right. It's not like government work is totaly uninspected. They sometimes have their own insane inspections. I think insane is a good word in this case.
 
bkludecke said:
When I looked at the job specs I didn't see a requirement for an electrical permit. When I inquired about this the PM told me that a permit is not required and in fact he later added "building permits are not required" to the job specs so every bidder would understand this.
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They will probably send an engineer out to make sure the job meets their job specs. which is actually harder than just an electrical inspection.
 
Here in town we require permits and inspections on city jobs, but they are a no fee permits and depending on the job, they are going to get finaled whether I sign it or not.

Since it is a CHP building it is considered an essential services building and has to meet more stringent building codes than your average building. I am sure that there will be a state inspector over seeing the work.
 
The project engineer will look at the work opon completion but he admits to knowing almost nothing about electrical and is relying entirely on the EC to insure the work is CEC compliant.

Don't get me wrong, I've done alot of work for the Couty, City, and Feds and I almost always pull a permit. I will probably get a permit on this one too (if I win the bid) just to cover my bets.
 
cost

cost

The majority of the cost for an electrical permit is for the cost of inspection on the project. Being the government employees their own inspectors there is no reasoning for a permit.
 
Sorry Bob, didn't even pay attention to who was posting.:grin: If I had known it was you I know you've done these kinds of jobs before.

zeilzabob: The thing with government jobs is that you want to cross you i's and dot your t's:rolleyes:, and depending on the situation you either do or don't want your signature on the paper work. Nothing worse than at the end of a job where they ran all over you, someone slides you a piece of paper and a pen and says, here sign the final.
 
zeilzabob said:
The majority of the cost for an electrical permit is for the cost of inspection on the project. Being the government employees their own inspectors there is no reasoning for a permit.
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The reasoning is this. IMO. I think that the both the Building Code in this state and the CEC require a permit for this type of work. The project manager is, by his own admission, not qualified to inspect the work. So since there is no prohibition for getting a permit, I will have the benefit of a County inspector's eyes on the work which could come in handy should any future problems arise. An example might be that a disgruntled bidder whines that the work is not to Code. Or if something goes wrong with the roof heating system,causing an insurance claim, investigation etc.
 
Assuming prevailing wage work, and there will be contract compliance people, PM's ect. swarming the place at all times. You might be surprised at how much they know about the work you are doing....
 
bkludecke said:
The reasoning is this. IMO. I think that the both the Building Code in this state and the CEC require a permit for this type of work. The project manager is, by his own admission, not qualified to inspect the work. So since there is no prohibition for getting a permit, I will have the benefit of a County inspector's eyes on the work which could come in handy should any future problems arise. An example might be that a disgruntled bidder whines that the work is not to Code. Or if something goes wrong with the roof heating system,causing an insurance claim, investigation etc.
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we have the same rules here; no permit for gov't work. i've never done any, but i think it goes like this: they do inspect it, you just don't pay $$ for the permit. and the inspector depends on which gov't agency owns the structure. state owned properties would have the state inspector come down. whereas a local municipalitie's building would have inspector gadget from city hall.
 
CHiPs worrying about roof icing? Haven't they heard about this global warming thing?

What's wrong with this picture?
ComRoof.jpg
 
Where I am at the inspectors work for the city/county. If you want to pay for a permit, they will inspect a state facility job as a courtesy, but it is not required to take a permit out to do a state job.
 
bkludecke said:
You gotta love this state. I'm bidding a job at a regional headquarters building of the California Highway Patrol. The project involves installing a new contactor controlled panel-board, running 6-8 30amp 208volt 1phase circuits, install about 28kva worth of roof/gutter heat.

When I looked at the job specs I didn't see a requirement for an electrical permit. When I inquired about this the PM told me that a permit is not required and in fact he later added "building permits are not required" to the job specs so every bidder would understand this.

Now I know I'm not in Kansas anymore.

Has anyone else ever experienced this?
Click to expand...
I always think of California as the Surfer Giirl, Eternal summer state. Heat tape????
 
Yeah heat tape. Where I am (elevation 6700' AMSL) it gets cold in the winter. Four days ago I woke up to -7 f . The good part is that in 2 hours drive time I can be at the beach in +75 f and bodysurfing in Malibu.
 
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