Building inspection timing regulations

Greetings,

I am unable to find if there is a regulation that dictate how long a person is supposed to wait for an inspector to perform is work. I had an electrical inspector come and he said he was going to talk to the building inspector to take a look, despite the fact that there is no building going on. So, now we are waiting for the guy to call and on hold to closing the walls, etc. I just do not know if there is a time limit where the inspection is forfeit. The plumber told me that for plumbing it is 48 hours. After that the inspector looses the right to view the work. That is in Wisconsin, by the way.

Thanks. Be well
Miriam

Can you call your local building code dept and ask them? Then maybe that leads into the conversation that you've been waiting for your inspector and haven't heard anything....... Be polite. Don't piss off your inspector for your own good.

I know, I thought about that, but in reality I feel like inspectors are an interesting bunch. I am afraid of calling and getting them on the wrong side. You see, the electrical inspector was here to see the electrical and he did not even do his job. I think he was the inspector of the inspector or something. I think I may call the State dept. of commerce and try to find from them the regulations. Oh well... When you try to do the right thing, then this is what happens. No wonder a lot of people just do remodeling without never asking for permit. In all honesty after seeing the electrical inspector, I found that the whole permit thing is a joke. At least in my part of the country. Hopefully there are real inspectors out there that do as they are suppose to.
Thank you. I will try to find out and hopefully move along. Be well
Miriam

brasilmom (or Brazilmom depending on your ancestry) -

In your part of the world (Republic of Wisconsin) there is a long history of strange standards and codes that only apply there. ASTM standards and national codes were not accepted unless they could write unique requirements in order to keep people busy and confused and insisted on their own unique codes. I imagine that the same applied to code enforcement since they still may be under the sames department. The bureaucracy was overwhelming but it seems it has improved.

Make two calls or contacts - one to the local code official immediately and one to his boss a few days later and explain who said what and when. There is no excuse for having to wait for inspector that dictates everyone's schedule.

No wonder Svetlana Stalin ended up living in Wisconsin near my relatives.

Contacting the local official gives them a chance to do something without going out of there way. Have some coffee and donuts ready IF he shows. By delaying your call to the boss, you are giving the inspector time to do something.

Dick

Thank you Dick.

Laws in general are weird in WI. I think this may be the result of excess drinking. I will call tomorrow and see what I can find out. I know that for plumbing the inspector has 48 hours to show up. If she fails to show, than too bad. I am not sure that the same is truth for building inspector.

You know, I may even record the calls, just in case it turns up to get me later.

As far as coffee and donuts, I think I will succeed better if I have beer and brats! No inspector would resist that in WI.

Thanks. Be well

Miriam (brasilmom, as I am Brazilian by birth)

brasilmom -

You are living in a state where the laws and codes are generally written and administered in a city that is 1/3 politically oriented, 1/3 college students/professors and 1/3 other people. For some reason, the two beautiful lakes seem to makes things slip by. Communication and the internet have improved the horrendous situation somewhat from what it was 30 years ago.

The 48 hour rule is a concept that was created to give the applicant a possible time with no guarantees. Even Comcast cable even advertises a 2 hour window and only the last 15 minutes of it really means anything

I caught the spelling difference in your name since I have been there several times (Rio once, Sao Paulo 2 or 3 times, and Florianopolis 3 times during all seasons, to appreciate the seasonal changes). Unfortunately I was working did develop some great friendships with locals that has continued through the years.

Dick

On one project, I had five appointments for inspections blow off by them without a reason. I went to the supervisor, nicely, and he took the project away from them -- with apologies. However, we were 6 weeks behind due to inspectors so we sealed the plumbing (concrete) but took pictures. When they finally ambled out for inspection, they were annoyed but saw the pics and could see we did an up-to-code job. Got signed off on the concrete . . . and then he noticed some minor problems elsewhere which were legit. Got all of it done and it was OK after that.

You take a chance if you do not know what you are doing. They can make you rip it out. Be cordial, be honest, but be clear you reached the end of your ability to wait on them.

Thanks Dick and CallMeVilla. The 48 hours is up by the end of the day today so I will wait until the morning to contact the people.

That thing here is that the electrical inspector wants to get the blessing from the building inspector. No building is being done. The bathroom was gutted, but no modification to the layout or anything is being made. However the electrical guy did not want to hear any of that. If he at least did his job I would be fine with it. He did not even inspect all the electrical that was done. Oh well.

Dick, glad to hear you enjoyed Brasil. I am from São Paulo, and hope your visits there were always pleasant.

Be well

Miriam

Miriam,

If you're really sincere about wanting to keep the inspector chute well-greased, make sure it's Miesfeld's brats (from Sheboygan) and Leinenkugel beer. I make a killer simmering sauce for the brats (after they're charcoal-grilled) using fried Zwiebels, lots of butter and the Leinie's. Making me drool just thinking about it (I grew up near Sheboygan).

We are all waiting anxiously to see what the inspector finally did . . . are you "good to go" or are you "in jail"?

Just askin'

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

"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.

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.

CallMeVilla said:

sense of entitlement -- is astonishing.

Click to expand...

I thought only world leaders and my next door neighbor to the east were subject to this mental disorder
[ame]http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=%22sense+of+enttitlement%22+dsm&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8[/ame]

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.