BridgeMan

Miriam,

Don't feel badly--we've been waiting more than one month for the county's HVAC inspector to give his/her blessing to our new heat pump installation. The heating contractor's matter-of-fact "they'll get to it when they get to it" remark was his take on accepting the inefficiency of government workers, even though he understood I won't pay his bill until the permit has been given final inspection/approval.

notmrjohn

"I think this may be the result of excess drinking." That doesn't seem to have affected the laws down here in Texas.
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Excuse me, I seem to have fallen out of my chair, I think I even passed out for a second there.
So, you're gonna call the Dept. of Commerce who will send out an inspector of inspector inspectors? If that is the right Dept., down here the Railroad Commision is in charge of oil and gas wells. " Oh, I been drinking on the railroad." Building codes are responsibility of local govts. here.
And we use Shiner and just about any brats made by butchers in small German or Czech towns, like New Braunfels or West.
Like Villa, with sausage in hand and beer baited breath I await the oucome, hoping it is for the best and not the wurst.

nealtw

There is no doubt that waiting for inspections is a pain and can be expensive when it causes delays.
BUT get your head out of the sand, your cities are broke and are cutting staff in every dept. I guess it would be better to lay off police or firemen so we can get our inspections. We could always insult their pride with offers of saugages or something.
Or maybe we should take away all the regulations and get rid of all of them.
We have days to take your son or daughter to work. Building inspectors should have a take a bitch to work for a day. Of coarse that would mean, he would have to listin the B>S> all day.

Wuzzat?

What's to keep an inspection dept. that is just screwing off from claiming "budget cuts?"

Regarding POing people you depend on:
when I went to apply for my contractor license I had the audacity to ask when I could reasonably expect it.
The counterperson responded by stopping just short of accusing me of attempting to defraud the licensing agency by shifting money around in various accounts (you had to have some minimum amount of money).
I responded by writing a letter to the agency head stating that I had come to their place to get a license and not to get defamed and slandered.
I got the license.
That agency is probably still thickly or sparsely populated with jerks but they don't much mess with me and my subsequent letters were routed directly to that same CEO.

notmrjohn

nealtw, recently laid off, over worked building inspector. Or somebody who never had to lose a day's pay waiting for inspector to get around to it.
What's a little delay, a day's loss in labor can only cost a few hundred thousand dollars on some jobs. And even on some measly little bathroom plumbing job, so what if home owner was relying on a reasonable schedule? They can wait an unspecified time to turn the water back on. What do they need water for, besides bankrupt cities have raised water rates, home owner saves some money.

What's wrong with expecting a reasonable response for a required service? If we have to follow all the rules, shouldn't they? Building permits have an expiration date, if we aren't ready by then, gotta pay for a new permit. If lolly gagging inspector don't show up, any body but builder or home owner have a problem?

Poor over worked inspectors, don't even have time to pick up phone and explain delay, much less return calls.
Ain't nobody gonna hurt my pride with offers of sausages or beer or "somthing"
I don't think OP is a whining BSing bitch, but somebody who wants to get on with the job and is wondering when she can put up the walls. Its kinda breezy in there at shower time.

notmrjohn

"budget cuts", "cutting staff in every dept."
In the great majority of cities, the Building Code Inspecting and Enforcement Department is self supporting thru permit fees. City charters and state laws often require it, and prohibit permit fees and fines from being used for unrelated activities. More building to inspect means more permits sold, more funds to hire inspectors, call in "axillary" part time inspectors, inspectors from less busy cities in cooperative agreements, and/or contract inspectors. Budgetary cutbacks are no excuse for inspections not being done in timely manner.

CallMeVilla

I try to treat Inspectors the way I would like to be treated. It is good business and human kindness. However, every city deparment should require their front line people to work for 30 days at Starbucks or take the customer service training classes at Nordstrom's . . . We OWN the City and they WORK FOR US. Honestly, the sense of entitlement from public "servants" -- especially in the Planning and Inspection Depts -- is astonishing.

Wuzzat?

I thought only world leaders and my next door neighbor to the east were subject to this mental disorder

nealtw

Wuzzet said:

I responded by writing a letter to the agency head stating that I had come to their place to get a license and not to get defamed and slandered.
I got the license.
That agency is probably still thickly or sparsely populated with jerks but they don't much mess with me and my subsequent letters were routed directly to that same CEO.
This is what taking action looks like and he got results. Anybody here want on the city council or evan go to a meeting where complaining might do some good.