Suggestions For Dealing With Building Inspectors

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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