How Often Does Your Building Inspector Visit?

[Triassic]

When I started my build I signed up with a private Building Inspection Company. In the last 18 months I’ve had 6 different people visit, they tend to be straight out of college and move on quickly. Recently I’ve phoned and emailed the inspector but i’m still awaiting a visit.  How often does you inspector visit, did the inspector specify when they need to visit etc?

 

Should I worry that my inspector is showing little interest in my build?

[ProDave]

I think I have had 3 visits, trenches pre concrete pour, external drain inspection and pressure test and timber frame complete.

 

They were not interested in inspecting the treatment plant. Recently when I was set up for the internal drain pressure test they could not attend so just ticked that off. when asked what next inspection they want, they said "completion"

[NSS]

3 minutes ago, ProDave said:

I think I have had 3 visits, trenches pre concrete pour, external drain inspection and pressure test and timber frame complete.

 

They were not interested in inspecting the treatment plant. Recently when I was set up for the internal drain pressure test they could not attend so just ticked that off. when asked what next inspection they want, they said "completion"

Pretty much the same as we experienced. When I questioned the "Completion" answer to the same question after our timber frame was up, he said, "you're building this for yourself aren't you? So, you're not going to cut any corners then are you."

 

We insisted he came back once we'd insulated, and again when first fix had been done but he really wasn't too interested.

[Triassic]

My last planned inspection should have been timber frame Completion. I phoned and emailed the inspector to tell him the frame as complete, I followed this up with an email containing the structural calculations for the frame, floors and foundations. This was met with deafening silence! 

[ProDave]

I hope later this year to apply for a temporary habitation certificate. I wonder if they will need to actually visit for that?

[Weebles]

We have had two visits so far.  The first visit was at our request when we discovered we had no clay so wanted a view on foundation depth.  At this point there was nothing to see bar a big hole, nothing in it.  The second (different person) was when the timber frame was completed.  In between we had a Facetime call on the morning of the concrete slab pour.  Since then they have chased me multiple times saying I need to keep them updated as the next inspection is drainage.  I message back each time and tell them that we haven't got round to any drainage yet but we have done insulation (sound and thermal).  They request that we take photos.

 

They haven't said as much but I suspect the "you're building for yourself, you won't cut corners" argument applies to us too.

 

We are taking loads of photos so we can evidence everything.  They have an order to inspect in.  The fact that we are not building in that order is irrelevant to them.

That said, if we ask a question, they do respond.

Private building control, not local authority.  Connected to our warranty.

 

So I wouldn't worry.  But I would take loads of photos and send regular update emails.

 

 

[nod]

10 hours ago, Triassic said:

When I started my build I signed up with a private Building Inspection Company. In the last 18 months I’ve had 6 different people visit, they tend to be straight out of college and move on quickly. Recently I’ve phoned and emailed the inspector but i’m still awaiting a visit.  How often does you inspector visit, did the inspector specify when they need to visit etc?

 

Should I worry that my inspector is showing little interest in my build?

Local authority 

Call before 10am and a visit that day

Same price as private 

I said before I can’t see any advantage in using private The most obvious disadvantage 

is the problem your having 

[Russell griffiths]

I can’t fault Cotswold district council, e mail the day before and he’s on site the next day

i don’t know why anybody would go with a private company, unless it’s linked to your warranty. 

£700 all in plans approval and inspections. 

At the end of the day if it all falls down you will be on your own. 

I don’t believe warranties are worth the paper there written on. 

[Jeremy Harris]

Same here for our LABC in Salisbury.  'Phone call first thing in the morning and they were always here the same day.  I think we should have had four or five inspections in total, with nothing being looked at between the visit when the insulation was being blown in and the completion inspection.

[Moira Niedzwiecka]

Local Authority Building Inspector has been out 7 times so far.

Call prior to 10am & he comes out that day.

He would not normally visit that many times but he has been so helpful.

He knows I am a novice & said right at the start if I was ever unsure & needed advice to call.

My build has just entered its 3rd year so I am not taking up too much of his time.

[Big Jimbo]

It's so nice when you get a helpful one. I did a large extension, on a house a few years ago. Every time i phoned the bco, he said he was too busy, take a few photo's and carry on. The first time i met him was the final inspection. He stayed about 40 seconds, didn't want to see any of the photo's, and sent through my completion cert.

[nod]

As many visits as you want for 700

LA 

Great value 

[Ed Davies]

Council inspector who was very helpful during the warrant process.

 

He's been to site three times: called him in the afternoon while the holes for the foundation bases were being dug, came as arranged at 11 o'clock the next morning before the concrete was poured in. A bit later I was concerned about a change I'd made to the founds so asked him to come and have a look. That took a week or two to set up, he was on holiday then busy catching up from that IIRC and as it wasn't an “official” stage he had to give it lower priority. Third time he just dropped by after doing a nearby inspection for a friendly chat, said he'd been by a couple of times but I hadn't been there. Next formal inspection will be on the structure before I put any insulation in.

[Big Jimbo]

1 hour ago, Ed Davies said:

Council inspector who was very helpful during the warrant process.

 

He's been to site three times: called him in the afternoon while the holes for the foundation bases were being dug, came as arranged at 11 o'clock the next morning before the concrete was poured in. A bit later I was concerned about a change I'd made to the founds so asked him to come and have a look. That took a week or two to set up, he was on holiday then busy catching up from that IIRC and as it wasn't an “official” stage he had to give it lower priority. Third time he just dropped by after doing a nearby inspection for a friendly chat, said he'd been by a couple of times but I hadn't been there. Next formal inspection will be on the structure before I put any insulation in.

Yeah, some of them are great. I think if i had my time over i would quite like to have been a BCO

[TerryE]

We used JHAI.  They seem to do 3 visits as standard during the build: foundation; outer skin ½ up for internal frame and validate airgaps, etc.; and final inspection.  We also had our BIsnp come around once pre build at the design stage, and he made some very useful suggestions / recommendations.  For example:

• We had to change the internal build design and re-layout our 1st floor landing and 2 flight to loft floor, because of marginal headrooms -- something that was easy to change before we had finalised the timber frame design with MBC, but which have involved major rework if only picked up during inspection.
• We also had foul-water gradient issues because our stacks are at the rear of the property and the sewer access to the road at the front, so we discussed options and he agreed to having a foul-water run straight across and under the slab centre -- so long as we had rear rodding access.

I also resolved a couple of other issues by email. 

 

I was somewhat amused by the final inspection, as it turned out.  I had gotten a bit paranoid about issues that might come up, so I had made absolutely sure that we had nothing outstanding and I had gone around dotting i's etc. so to speak,  but when the inspector came his opening observation was: "Just by looking at the frontage, I can see that you've obviously done everything to top spec, so I doubt that I'll find any issues", and he basically breezed around the build cooing.  Even so, our lead Inspector did decide that he wanted copies of three other certification documents before issuing final sign-off -- one of which he already had, and for the other two he accepted copies of my previous self sign-off commissioning reports (MVHR and DHW / CH); another upside using of SunAmps -- no safety issues requiring independent 'competent person' sign-off. 

 

We JHAI also acted as the inspectors for our warranty provider and so these inspection doubled up for this, though we did have an additional site visit by the WPs technical manager.

 

Overall, I was extremely pleased with their service and would recommend them on this basis.

 

Edited April 11, 2019 by TerryE