We all know that buildings and structures are designed to meet certain standards. Whether they’re related to engineering requirements, material placement or building codes, it’s understood that contractors must adhere to strict guidelines when it comes to performing construction duties correctly. While owners and project initiators could simply trust that everything’s being built 100% correctly, the numerous construction disasters that’ve happened over the years prove just how costly – and even deadly – improper construction can be. Sure, there’s pretty much zero risk involved in painting a wall or putting down some new flooring, but projects that involve structural work, utilities, major alterations or public exposure must be monitored closely throughout the process to ensure that all work is being done correctly. That’s where building inspectors come into play. Let’s go through four key construction inspector responsibilities.
An Overview Of Construction Inspectors: Who Hires Them, Liability, Etc.
Before we go through our list of four key construction inspector responsibilities, here’s a bit of basic information about construction inspectors and how they’re involved in the larger construction process.
Construction inspectors are not designers. When a project is initiated, the owner typically hires architects, engineers and other similar professionals to handle any and all aspects of project design; this includes designing the structure to be in compliance with the latest building codes. Construction inspectors are not usually brought onto a project until the design is complete, the work has been at least partially permitted and contractors have been hired.
Construction inspectors act as a third party. As you may imagine, contractors aren’t allowed to hire their own construction inspectors – doing so would be a blatant conflict of interest. Who’s to say that the inspector hasn’t worked out a ‘back door’ deal with the contractor to let things slide? Thus, inspectors are required to act as a ‘third party’ by not favoring either the contractors or the owners when making judgements – even if the inspection firm has been hired by the owner. While this may seem like a conflict of interest as well (and has the potential to be), an owner is much less likely to cut corners on their own project and are still ultimately bound by local building authorities to act in the public’s best interest.
Now that we’ve addressed some of the basics, let’s get into the four key construction inspector responsibilities you’ll likely encounter on your projects.
1. Verify That Work Is Properly Permitted
One of the most basic, yet all-encompassing responsibilities of a construction inspector is to ensure that the work taking place has been permitted. While inspectors aren’t responsible for filing the permits, they’ll want to see the permits that’ve been pulled for the project, along with which items of work have specifically been permitted.
Seeing a contractor’s building permit is only the first step, though. A construction inspector must also see a set of plans that’ve been stamped by the party who issued the permit; most likely the Dept. of Buildings for the town or city in which the project is taking place. These plans dictate all the details of the work that must take place, along with how it needs to be done.
In short, a construction inspector will need to verify are that permits have been filed/pulled for the work taking place, and that the plans for the project have also been approved by the permitting authority.
Read Next: Understanding Building Permits, Plus A Building Permit Process Flowchart
2. Ensure That Work Conforms To Design Requirements
Once a construction inspector has acknowledged that work is permitted on a project, it’s time to actually make sure that the work being done is going according to plan(s) – literally! Terrible joke.
This is perhaps the most important out of all a construction inspector’s responsibilities. While plans and permits are important, the biggest and most consequential construction mistakes will occur when the actual work is taking place. These hazards can range from improper finished quality of the work, all the way up to failure of the finished product that results in malfunction, damage and even loss of life. With this in mind, it’s absolutely essential that inspections are performed before a mistake is made!
The types of inspections performed vary just as much as the types of projects that exist out there. While I can’t write out too long of a list, here are some common examples:
- Concrete: Rebar sizing/laps, rebar coverage, joint spacing/details, moisture content, etc.
- Structural Steel: Bolt type & sizing, bolt/fastener torque, steel type, hole placement, welds, etc.
- Anchors: Hole size/depth, spacing, proper prep, etc.
- Plumbing: System testing, pipe/drain placement, hangers/supports, connections to main lines, etc.
- Earthwork: Proper shoring/stability of excavations, ground prep, sloping, etc.
While the responsibility of error will ultimately fall on the shoulders of contractors, building inspectors are onsite specifically to provide oversight in these areas, and will certainly face consequences if they deem improper work as ‘acceptable’.
Read Next: Temperature & Humidity In Construction: Impacts + Top 3 Monitoring Tools
3. Inspect Materials For Quality & Appropriateness
If a contractor uses improper material while performing their work, the level of workmanship and overall quality won’t matter – the work will likely be rejected by a construction inspector. Improper materials are often the main cause behind major failure of some kind. Consider the Big Dig ceiling collapse in Boston, which ultimately occurred due to the use of epoxy in a vertical (hanging) application that wasn’t able to hold ceiling panels above a certain weight.
This is just one example of what can go wrong when faulty or improper materials are used. Thus, material inspections are amongst the more common and important of all construction inspector responsibilities.
Not only must inspectors ensure that the right material is used, but they must also test it. Prior to a concrete pour, a construction inspector will double check that the correct type of concrete mix is being used, including correct ratios of cement, sand and aggregate. They’ll then take samples of the concrete that’ll will be typically tested 7, 14 and 28 days after the pour to make sure the mix meets or exceeds the design strength i.e. 4,000 psi, etc.
These are just a few examples, but it’s clear that the proper use of materials is important on any project – while contractors are ultimately responsible for using the “right stuff”, inspectors play a big role in ensuring that mistakes aren’t made in this regard.
Read Next: Buying Materials For Contractors Directly? The Pros & Cons To Consider
4. Monitor Site Conditions
Last but not least on our list of construction inspector responsibilities is the monitoring of various site conditions. This is not always required on a particular project, nor does it always fall within an inspector’s scope of work, but site monitoring can be a significant part of all sorts of projects.
Here are a few examples of site monitoring that construction inspectors are often involved in:
- Vibration: Certain projects require that vibration levels are monitored around the clock to make sure that the work isn’t subjected to a movement above a certain tolerance. For example, work that’s sensitive to vibration could be taking place within a few feet of a busy city street – a large truck or bus driving by may shake the ground enough to affect the finished work.
- Surveying: Construction sites are dynamic environments with a variety of different tasks taking place simultaneously. Whether it be due to vibration, weather or other work taking place, stuff moves around on job sites. Inspections can sometimes include intermittent site surveys to ensure that elevations/locations of finished work or existing structures stay consistent.
- Crack Monitoring: If an existing structure on a job site is damaged, it’ll often be monitored to make sure the conditions don’t get any worse. This includes inspecting and monitoring existing cracks, including length and width.
- Other Damage: A few other examples of monitoring site conditions include inspecting for leaks, hollow voids in concrete (via sounding), soil content (composition, water content, etc.) and more.
Read Next: 11 Ways Contractors Screw Up Construction Projects
A Final Word…
If you’ve read any other articles on PM Problems before, you’ve likely heard me say this a “million” times – every project is different. With that said, the scope of work and responsibilities that a construction inspector has will vary from project to project, as it will by location (building codes), type of structure, design specifications and more. This article has at least provided you an overview of the basics and gives a reasonably detailed insight into construction inspector responsibilities that are pretty consistent across many different types of projects. I hope you’ve found this article helpful – thanks for reading.
