how jaded are you

huangyhg

how jaded are you?
what is your first reaction when a contractor calls the project owner to voice his opinion that the third party inspector hired by hte owner is on the job site too much?
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my first reaction is what is the contractor trying to cover up.
but the owner might think am i paying for services i don't really need.
tell the owner this is his quality assurance and for the contractor to not meddle in this.
vod
find out why the cotractor is calling. it could be for a couple of reasons.
1.) the contractor is unhappy the inspecor is making him do what he ought to do. althouh unfortunate, thhis is why you have the inspector.
some valid contractor concerns are:
2.) deficencies should be reported to the contractor's engineer or superintendent. find out who the inspector should report to. i have had inspectors direct crews to redo something they did not like that had been directed by the owner with a revision to be issued. on the other hand, i have had inspectors observe deficiencies, write them in their report, submit them to the owner and 2 weeks later i get a nonconfomance report. now it takes a day or two to fix something that would have taken 15 min. if the inspector had told someone. proper communication n a job is very important.
3.) some inspectors do not have a good feel for what is important. we have been directed to adjust rebars for footings to the nearest 1/8 inch and have had work stopped because 2 inches of splice length were not attianable, yet been directed to pour 15 cyds of slab in 14 degree and falling temperature.
4.) then there are te inspectors that do a good job of inspecting, but just like to talk all day. if he is constantly talking about his last fishing trip with someone on the crew, the contractor may not appreciate it.
i guess my point is that there is always a second side to every issue, and the contractor may have a valid concern.
my first reaction is the contractor is actually having to do the job correct and not cut corners and doesn't like it.
second is the inspector is not knowledgeable, but thinks he/she is, and is causing a lot of problems due to his or her ignorance and haughty attitude.  i've had this happen before.  the contractor was doing things as directed but the inspector didn't understand and had attitude about it and was creating a lot of extra work (unnecessary) both for my company and the contractor in addition to creating issues with the owner.
there was an article in the newspaper yesterday about miller park (where the brewers play) about toilets that flush into the milwaukee river which flows into lake michigan.  they don't know the extent of this problem yet but clearly the system of checks and balances between contractors, inspectors, construction managers, and building officials failed.  
assuming the newspaper was correct.
don phillips
the latest report is that the problem has been fixed but i don't know the details.  i'm curious about this story because it's interesting that these things can happen, but i suppose not surprising.  stuff does happen.
-mike
i'm with ucfse.  gut feel is the contractor is just whining, but we still need to check out the situation and see if maybe the inspector needs some re-educating.
hg