Need for permits

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

So you can build a 10x12 shed without a permit, but you MUST have one to erect a light post?????

[Charlie Velasquez]

So you can build a 10x12 shed without a permit, but you MUST have one to erect a light post?????

Yes, it is electrical.

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

But the electrical wasn't the issue.

[Brian Elfert]

Electrical inspectors inspect electrical. They don't look at building code issues. Many electrical inspectors locally work for themselves and not for government. Their goal is to inspect fairly quickly so they get onto the next inspection. They have to do quite a few inspections per day to make a decent living.

My previous house was built with a huge bonus space over the garage that was framed for two additional bedrooms and a bathroom during construction. I finished the space some years later and did the wiring myself. I had the rough-in inspection done and the inspector was literally in the space for less than 30 seconds. He said it looked like I knew what I was doing and signed off. He spent more time walking to/from his car than actually looking at the electrical.

[Dan Friedrichs]

My previous house was built with a huge bonus space over the garage that was framed for two additional bedrooms and a bathroom during construction. I finished the space some years later and did the wiring myself. I had the rough-in inspection done and the inspector was literally in the space for less than 30 seconds. He said it looked like I knew what I was doing and signed off. He spent more time walking to/from his car than actually looking at the electrical.

So do you think the inspection was without value? For something like bedrooms where the electrical is only lights and outlets, it probably only takes 30 seconds to confirm that it's done correctly. For every inspection like yours, I bet that inspector has to deal with one that takes 30 minutes to explain things like:
-no, you can't run an oven on 14awg
-no, you can't reuse that old piece of aluminum wiring
-no, you can't run THHN outside of conduit
-no, you can't splice some Romex together with electrical tape

etc.

He may have only been there 30 seconds, but if you did the work correctly, I bet he was able to mentally run through a HUGE list of potential problems and see that they didn't apply to your situation in that short time.

[Brian Elfert]

So do you think the inspection was without value? For something like bedrooms where the electrical is only lights and outlets, it probably only takes 30 seconds to confirm that it's done correctly. For every inspection like yours, I bet that inspector has to deal with one that takes 30 minutes to explain things like:

I was just making the point that electrical inspectors do their work quickly. They aren't building inspectors unless something is glaringly obvious.

[Dave Zellers]

Many electrical inspectors locally work for themselves and not for government.

I'm trying to make sense of this. If the town is paying them to be an inspector, then during their inspections, they are working for the town. They are doing these inspections in the name of the town that hired them and if there is a problem, it is the town that will have ultimately have to answer for a lax inspection.

[Ryan Mooney]

I'm trying to make sense of this. If the town is paying them to be an inspector, then during their inspections, they are working for the town. They are doing these inspections in the name of the town that hired them and if there is a problem, it is the town that will have ultimately have to answer for a lax inspection.

Not generally true (I mean you can certainly sue and in some rare cases win but your odds are low), the inspecting authority is not liable for failure to identify safety or even compliance issues if they are not glaringly obvious (and even then the liability is very limited).

http://scholarship.law.campbell.edu/...02&context=clr
http://www.rutan.com/pubs/xpqPublica...etail&pub=1541
http://www.coler.com/pdf/MunicipalBu...Inspectors.pdf
https://www.mikameyers.com/news/arti...cted-residence

A search for "municipal inspection liability" will take you much further down this rabbit hole than you'd ever want to go.

[Dave Zellers]

Then municipal inspection is rather worthless.

Maybe it was diligent, maybe it wasn't.

Yay government!

[Art Mann]

I don't see how inspection in this case would have accomplished anything at all. It is not possible to prevent people from doing stupid things or allowing their children to do so. If the lamp post were engineered to withstand heavy side loads, then someone would inevitably run their car into the lamp post and get hurt. There would then be people would be complaining that the lamp post was not engineered to break away during side loading and we would see the same silly arguments about lack of inspections.

[Brian Elfert]

I'm trying to make sense of this. If the town is paying them to be an inspector, then during their inspections, they are working for the town. They are doing these inspections in the name of the town that hired them and if there is a problem, it is the town that will have ultimately have to answer for a lax inspection.

They are inspecting on behalf of the city. The city still issues the permits. My point is that they are paid by the inspection, not by the hour. They have a monetary incentive to do as many inspections as possible in a day to maximize their revenue. Cities do this because they don't have enough work to have a full time electrical inspector. Independent electrical inspectors usually inspect for several cities.