Top 10 things to do to **** off your inspector

[Bellboy]

2. Lack of supervision on the jobsite.

Owners, Supers arent on site enough. Leaving foreman who arent qualified to run the job. Many whom cannot speak english well enough for me to communicate effectivle with.

Down here, we have a foreman who tells the site agent to tell the operator what to do. Foreman= english, site agent = english + isiZulu and operator usually only speaks isiZulu. Hence, if you can't speak Zulu, or Venda, or Tswana, or Xhosa or any other of our 11 official languages, then a site inspector is not a good job for you down here.

And on a similar note, I recently did a school project involving interviewing operators, the thing that really irritated me to no end was the shouting and large hand gestures. My brother was with me at almost all occasions, and he got 97% for his isiZulu mark and I got 91%, so we got on very well with the operators. Knowing how to speak the lingo really helps.

 

[Pecord Exc]

Cant speak english? Where are you working, or where are your foremen from?

unfortunately many of our smaller non union contractor employ spanish speaking laborers from south america. It is hard to find good help in my area quite a few people feel that they are "to good" to work with their hands. I am sure that anyone else who works in my area can attest to that!! This is getting more common on a lot of my jobs where everything seems to be going to the lowest bidder, it is easier to be the lowest bidder when your overhead is limited to illegal immigrants who dont pay taxes and nake 150 a day cash!:usa

 

[Bellboy]

The thing is, that native people, or locals don't want to do the jobs, but poor cross border immigrants will do anything to get some money, but the problem is that no-one will employ them if they have a varsity degree from their country of origin because the qualifications are not those of your own country's education standards. Here we have a nursing staff shortage, but the thousands of qaulified and experienced Zim nurses in this country don't have South African certificates, and are so stuck doing clean up and menial GA work.

 

[LowBoy]

One thing I learned this summer is always deal with just the foreman, unless its something simple and the foreman is no where to be found. Also NEVER tell the foreman HOW to do his job, just tell him that this or that needs to be done or changed.

Soooooo, what if the foreman is nowhere to be found, but the operator is someone with 30 more years experience than the inspector...and knows what's going on moreso than the inspector...we shut down till the foreman returns? Or, the foreman and operator are present, the operator has 30 years experience in the field, the foreman.. 30 months? And, no eye contact is made with operator by the inspector (whom by the way is actually PERFORMING the task) but relays his thoughts/opinions when he is closer to the operator than the foreman is while working?

Any of you guys fresh out of college should take a little advice from some of the people who have the time in the field, and try and assess the situation before making your assumptions about operators in general. There's a lot of different personalities and attitudes to deal with, but part of your job or at least your supervisors job should be to teach a little about "people skills" before you start passing judgement and offering knowledge from a textbook.

Some of us "operators" have done more than others, some less. Some of us have made the painstaking decision to venture off on our own, make grueling payments every month, and be everything from the "operator" to the mechanic to the estimator and secretary, so I'd advise some of the more "full-of-themselves" grads to take it a little easy until they get some whiskers in the field.

Just the opinion of one.

 

[LowBoy]

And to prove I'm not degrading ALL inspectors, I want to mention I'm working on a job currently getting a road ready for pavement next week. We are getting the subgrade set and putting 12" of gravel down and compacting.

Around a cul-de-sac we're pitching everything to the outside towards the CB's, installed 4" sockpipe underdrainage because we got into some clay unexpectedly (just in case,) and stringlining at 50' intervals. The inspector who's working with us is one of the most fun guys I personally have ever come across to work with. He'll allow 1-2" +/- in grade, while I've had others give me a hard time for that. He was throwing candy bars into the machines as we were working, and I honestly think he'd be the life of the party given a few beers. A pleasure to work with, and we go the extra mile to make things right, so he leaves us alone for the most part.

This is the kind of working relationship everyone should be happy to be invloved in onsite. Makes the day (and job,) go much easier.

 

[dirt digger]

hey hey now....i'm going to be one of those "full of myself" grads in the spring...and unfortunately i will most likely end up having to do inspections

as my boss says "why go out and be hated by everyone when you can stay here and run iron all day"
...guess he wants me to stay with him

 

[CM1995]

6. Have a transit on site a string line doenst cut it in my book for footings or a foundation.!

Care to elaborate just why a string line doesn't cut it? Many structures have been built with string lines.

On the last site we were on the surveyors (who were also the civil engineers) had fancy GPS equipment to lay the building out. We prep'd the site and the building pad and all was good - until we came back to lay out the parking lot drive lanes and parking spaces. Well the ol' trusty 100' tape discovered that the building was 2' too close to the highway which made the drive lane and parking spaces too short. Of course there was nothing that could be done at that time and the GC said "just put it in".:cool2

Also on the same project the FF elevation was .33' higher on the civil drawings than the architecturals, that was interesting. The surveyors laid out the building elevation by the architecturals and the curbs by the civils. Makes somewhat of a challenge to tie the curb into the sidewalk.:Banghead

unfortunately many of our smaller non union contractor employ spanish speaking laborers from south america. This is getting more common on a lot of my jobs where everything seems to be going to the lowest bidder, it is easier to be the lowest bidder when your overhead is limited to illegal immigrants who dont pay taxes and nake 150 a day cash!:usa

I caution you to not stereotype someone as an illegal immigrant that does not pay taxes just because they speak Spanish and are from South America - at least here on this forum.

 

[Pecord Exc]

Care to elaborate just why a string line doesn't cut it? Many structures have been built with string lines.

That is all fine and good and it CAN be done, but if a contractor comes onto a million plus dollar job with out the proper tools what does that say about him, I saw a guy last week set a FFE using about 200 feet of string and a line level off of the benchmark. Some instances where grade is tight i dont think that a line level is a full substitution for a transit.

I caution you to not stereotype someone as an illegal immigrant that does not pay taxes just because they speak Spanish and are from South America - at least here on this forum.

I do not mean to be stereotyping. In my area illegal immigration is a big problem. So much so that the police arent even allowed.... ALLOWED to break up a groups of immigrants from loitering because of lawsuits against the town for harrassment... meanwhile a young kid skateboarding can get locked up! I know a contractor that hired about 30 of them a year, for some reason half of them have the same social security number? I dont care if you hire martians to do the work, but make sure that your job is staffed properly so that the inspector or anyone else can ask the guys a question. I dont know if anyone on here does work in florida but i have been told on the DOT jobs the inspector isnt even allowed to talk to the contractor or anyof his guys.

I just try to do my job to the best of my abilities.... I am 27 years old and i plan to be working in this field for a long time I do my best to establish good working relationships with my contractors becasue that is what makes the job go smoothly. if they have a question, my job is to get them an answer right then so I dont slow anything down. And I ask questions of my guys all the time, becasue that is the only way to learn ask questions and doing it yourself.

 

[Bellboy]

Why not, instead of struggling with these employees who seem to have the same Social security number, why not take a course and learn to speak Spanish. It will definately make your job a helluva lot easier. Just break down the language barrier.

 

[dirt digger]

Why not, instead of struggling with these employees who seem to have the same Social security number, why not take a course and learn to speak Spanish. It will definately make your job a helluva lot easier. Just break down the language barrier.

because this is America haha

 

[BigK600]

Soooooo, what if the foreman is nowhere to be found, but the operator is someone with 30 more years experience than the inspector...and knows what's going on moreso than the inspector...we shut down till the foreman returns? Or, the foreman and operator are present, the operator has 30 years experience in the field, the foreman.. 30 months? And, no eye contact is made with operator by the inspector (whom by the way is actually PERFORMING the task) but relays his thoughts/opinions when he is closer to the operator than the foreman is while working?

Most of the jobs I've been on the foreman is usually on site all the time. If hes not I always have his cell phone number. I make it a point to go to the foreman, even if hes harder to get a hold of. If its an emergency then I guess I have to go to the operator but hopefully that doesn't happen. Esperience is one thing but specs are another. When I did inspection usually just had to make sure everything was done with in spec. Theres different specs used, most operators don't know the all 300 pages of the spec book. Now I ususally don't do everything by the book, if I question the way something is being done usually we reach something else that will work, no biggy. Like I said most contractors know what there doing, since they've been doing it forever. I think this summer I only had to correct the contract 2-3 times.

 

[LowBoy]

because this is America haha

Can't add anything to that...:usa

 

[LowBoy]

hey hey now....i'm going to be one of those "full of myself" grads in the spring...and unfortunately i will most likely end up having to do inspections

as my boss says "why go out and be hated by everyone when you can stay here and run iron all day"
...guess he wants me to stay with him

Just keep all this "chatter" in mind when you hit the big time dirt digger...Remember that it could be lonely at the top...:idea

 

[LowBoy]

Theres different specs used, most operators don't know the all 300 pages of the spec book.

That's totally understandable, and agreed. I personally wouldn't want to have to memorize all 300 pages of any spec book myself. However, what I'm saying is...if the line of communication between the inspector and "qualified" operator would remain open, and the proper spec is relayed on a particular issue if in question, things would almost be simple then. Business is simple...put people into it, and it could become difficult sometimes.:thumbsup

 

[mikef87]

Can't add anything to that...:usa

Teddy Roosevelt said that any immigrant that comes to this country must learn English within 5 years. If only they made this a law.

 

[dayexco]

#8 might work if you're dealing with a shady contractor who historically has had problems. were an inspector on my job try to get me to dig pipe up on his whim....i'd have his boss on the jobsite, and negotiate a crew hourly rate first. for every spot check that was at spec, his boss, or the owner would pay. the engineer and owner's are always aware of what, when, and where i'm doing. it is up to them to have representation at my jobsite for quality control purposes.

another way to get an inspector's attention....just start throwing change orders at their office as fast as you can...sure, 9 out of 10 might get turned down, but still a considerable expense for the inspector's boss to process and respond to. the boss will eventually call you and ask you what's going on.

i fully see the need for inspection, and would not hesitate to have full time inspection on my projects. we all can have attitudes, and i guess i can adjust mine just as quickly as the inspector can.

 

[jmac]

dayexco, that is good point on the #8 issue. I should of made the GC pay me for the time it took to dig up my trench to prove that did it to spec. I try and be as nice as possible because I am kinda new but I find that when I am nice I just get stepped on. The more I fight better it is. I would like to think that the GC and sub's and owner can work together but I am realizing this is not the real world. This job I started in July I have yet to get my first check for. Was told that I would have it Monday, I am sure that is only because they need me to do more work and I said "no check no work". The reason for the slow pay is the GC took a extra 60 days to get his paperwork into the state to get paid so I have not been paid. My contract is I get paid 10 days after the GC gets paid, what do you do if the GC doesn't do what he has to do so you don't get paid? The more work I do the more I realize that this sub contracting thing sucks.

 

[dayexco]

#8 might work if you're dealing with a shady contractor who historically has had problems. were an inspector on my job try to get me to dig pipe up on his whim....i'd have his boss on the jobsite, and negotiate a crew hourly rate first. for every spot check that was at spec, his boss, or the owner would pay. .

i've had happen long ago, where an inspector "failed" density tests on me in an attempt to make a point. he had some explaining to do when i hired a competitive soils firm to come and take tests RIGHT next to the ones the inspector said had failed. it cost me about $3k overall for tests/proctors...and the inspector's boss didn't like having his competitor on the job double checking his work. the inspector made a point...i did too.

 

[Pecord Exc]

i've had happen long ago, where an inspector "failed" density tests on me in an attempt to make a point. he had some explaining to do when i hired a competitive soils firm to come and take tests RIGHT next to the ones the inspector said had failed. it cost me about $3k overall for tests/proctors...and the inspector's boss didn't like having his competitor on the job double checking his work. the inspector made a point...i did too.

An inspector like that is just as bad if not worse than the contractor that puts 6" of Item 4 down under the road when the plans call for 9"!

There are good and bad in both fields.. MANY inspectors do not know how to do thier job and arent flexible with the contractors, they dont understand that just becasue something looks nice on paper doesnt mean that it all works out perfect in the field. Both the contractor and the inspector work for the same people at my office, and the guys know that, we work together in most cases to do give the client the job that they paid for.

Unforutnately more and more I am running into contractors that arent qualified to be on a job and hopefully some of these "snake-oil" salesman will be weeded out sooner rather than later.

 

[Turbo21835]

Ive had them both. Ive had inspectors that work with you, and I have had ones that wont. As an operator, i usually dealt with the inspector when I was doing compaction. It was agreed that the foreman wasnt needed unless issues arose. If i had an area that did not pass, the inspector and I came up with a solution, sometimes it was me hitting it again, others it was plowing it up, up to the foreman, and other times it was the soils guy bumping his proctor one way or another.

I had one guy that failed every compaction test on a building pad. No matter what we did, he failed it. Apparently trying to prove a point? The office called for a different geo company to come out and test out work right beside the first soils guy. Our soils guy actually came out, did a field sample of the material, cooked the water out, pounded a cone, and figured out what proctor should be used for that material. Sure enough, according to our guy, we were passing, according to the original guy, we still failed. The original soils techs office was called, by the general, and it was requested that we have someone else come out. After that we had no problems