By Greg Vanden Berge
There's only one way to deal with the building inspector
and that's to put a smile on your face and try to get along with this
person. You should treat the building inspector like they're your best
friend, because they can cost you a lot of money and time, if you were
to create an enemy instead of a friend.
It's always a good idea to be friendly with everyone in the construction
business, but your local building inspectors, can make or break a
construction project.
I know contractors and superintendents that often take the building
inspectors out to breakfast, just to get to know them a little bit
better. This often isn't a bad idea, if you're working on a large
project.
Whatever you do, do not buy any building inspectors, anything. If you
take a building inspector out to lunch, make sure that he understands
that you are just buying him lunch as a friend. If the inspector
refuses, you could always suggest going out to lunch and splitting the
bill.
Make sure that the building inspectors understand that you're not trying
to put anything past them or buy their friendships. I have seen
contractors make friendly gestures to building inspectors, only to find
out later that this irritated the building inspector and created
frustration throughout the rest of the job.
Some building inspectors like to joke around, so I joke around with
them. Some building inspectors are serious and I still joke around with
them. I seem to get along better with building inspectors that take
their job seriously, but understand that it's people like us that keep
them in business.
Be nice to your building inspector and they will usually be nice to you.
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