Building control ‘at crisis point’ as inspectors struggle to find insurance cover

[Triassic]

A spokesperson for the Association of Consultant Approved Inspectors (ACAI), which represents private building control bodies, said: ’Statutory regulations on professional indemnity and public liability insurance are currently excessively stringent, meaning many insurers are unwilling to provide cover for inspectors. This is creating a crisis point within the building control industry.

 

https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/building-control-at-crisis-point-as-inspectors-struggle-to-find-insurance-cover/10043285.article

 

According to Radio 4 a number inspection companies have ceased trading as they are no longer insured.

[Jeremy Harris]

Interesting spin on the cause of the demands by insurers.  My take on this is that the insurers have become aware that building inspection has been a sham for years now, with poor/inadequate inspections that have allowed vast numbers of defects to go unchecked (not just Grenfell, there are stacks of examples of construction defects in housing that should have been picked up had there been a competent inspection regime in place).

 

The private inspection companies only have themselves to blame for this situation, IMHO.  Had they not been so eager and willing to sell new build sign offs with minimal inspection, in order to compete with each other for big developer business, then they would not be facing this problem.

 

Trying to blame excessively stringent public liability insurance premiums seems to be just a deflection technique, aimed at masking the underlying problem that exists with the inspection system.

[Temp]

Heard this on Radio 4 today. Some people that used a private BCO have had to revert to the LABC. LABC wants evidence their foundations and drains were installed correctly but private BCO is now uncontactable.

 

Moral of story... If you use a private BCO take hundreds of photos before covering anything.

[bassanclan]

Interesting.

My private inspector randomly contacted me last week wanting to inspect. I explained I wasn't ready for the next stage and was very confrontational "are you saying I can't come and inspect? Is there a reason you won't let me inspect the progress?" And very insistent that he should be able to come and look.

 

We were able to agree that he wasn't just going to come round and either sign it off or wash his hands of the job, but maybe there's an insurance situation if the property hasn't been inspected within a certain time period.

[Triassic]

I had something similar last month, I got a letter stating that the inspector hadn’t been for over 12 months and could I call the office to arrange a visit. Interestingly their information was incorrect as I’d had a visit in March, where I’d been asked to supply structural calculations and I had the emails to prove the point.  I’m assuming the high turn over of staff, I’ve had six different people visit, most of whom  have now left, resulted in poor record keeping. 

 

My advice is to keep a record of all visits, maybe even to the extent of emailing the inspector after the visit to confirm what he’s looked at and what was agreed.