"I don't know what expertise you have on this subject, but as a contractor I know this is insane, especially in the wild west contractor atmosphere that is going on in New Orleans at this time, with money flowing and every failed contractor in America migrating into the area.
These senseless drive by comments, like saying that inspectors only check to see if the fee is paid and that they don't actually inspect the work, can only be claimed by guys that know nothing about the building trades."
I happen to live in a county that is recognized to have one of the most stringent building codes in the country. And I can tell you that a lot of it has nothing to do with safety. It does indeed have to do with generating revenue and make work for the inspector. The inspector may very well be doing his job, but it's a bunch of nonsense. I have to have a permit to build a frigging doghouse. What is the reason for that?
Rather than allowing shoddy contractors to do more work, I'd rather see inspectors shut them down until they are deemed competent. That would reduce the need for all these inspections.
"Rather than allowing shoddy contractors to do more work, I'd rather see inspectors shut them down until they are deemed competent. That would reduce the need for all these inspections."
I am a competent contracter and I know that inspections keep contracters from cutting corners, from ignoring codes that they think don't serve an important purpose (or that aren't worth the overhead), and I know that an inspecter can often catch mistakes that truly dedicated contracters have made, but didn't catch.
Even work that has been done perfectly by the boss can have a flaw in materials that only shows up in the test required for signoff, tests that so often seem like an unnecssary, time consuming expense, because you put every piece together yourself and you just know it is perfect.
What county is it that requires a code for a dog house, I'll look it up maybe you were misled.