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

[BigK600]

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

Ok I understand what your saying. In my experience the foremans have told me to go through them only. They tell me something about a little chicken to the rooster :beatsme ....anyways...some foremans don't care and some do. I dont want to **** off the foremans or anybody for that matter. I understand sometimes it would be alot easier just to talk to the operator.

 

[dayexco]

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.

jmac, nothing wrong with being a sub, we do a lot of subbing....but typically, GC's pick up the cheapest hooker standing on the street corner. don't be one of them. you got burned on the payment schedule this time....now you know. don't sign any subcontract agreements that are detrimental to you. make him go to the bank and borrow money if he needs to , so you don't have to.

 

[jmac]

Dayexco, this has been a real education. Every one that I have spoke to about this issue say the same thing about the same GC, he pays slow. In fact they say he pays the slowest. This is the 6th job that I have done for this GC, the first one was slow and then the next 4 went very well, had money no later than 45 days, all private commercial work This is the first state job that I have done for him. I have done other state work for other GC's and they paid in 10 days but not this large. This GC has also played other games along the way on this one and have mentioned some stupid charge backs that have really pissed me off. I finished yeterday and did get a check on Monday but I am still still owed a little less than a third. My question is do you have contracts on state work with GC's that pay net 30 no matter what. How many years did it take to get a customer list large enough to support you and payed you in 30 days. I hate to burn the bridge, but at some point the wait just isn't worth it. I was this GC 's bank, I loaned him the money and with no intertest. I realize that this is the way things are done, but I hope that somewhere out there someone has found a way to do it better than I have so far.

 

[LowBoy]

jmac,

The only way I survived those circumstances in my past business ventures was to utilize my bank's service to purchase my receivables, less 10%. I submitted my invoice to my banker 24 hours after completion of work, and 24 hours later I had 90% of my money.The bank invoiced the customer directly and collected the amount (which also looked "more official" coming from them rather than us,) once the customer paid in full, the bank forwarded me another 6% and kept 4% for the service. 4% sounds like a lot of money to leave on the table, but I always had positive cash flow that way, and it was worth it to me to have it.

There were various other ways to structure the settlement depending on the length of job.

I'm not sure if the banking industry is even offering this product in this economy anymore...It sure kept me going when times were good.

 

[dayexco]

jmac,

The bank invoiced the customer directly and collected the amount (which also looked "more official" coming from them rather than us,) once the customer paid in full, the bank forwarded me another 6% and kept 4% for the service. 4% sounds like a lot of money to leave on the table, economy anymore...It sure kept me going when times were good.

i prefer to either write, or review the terms of my payment options with customers. i personally, refuse to give my bank another 4% of my gross income. i just won't do business with those who refuse to pay. BTW, what happens to those invoices that don't get paid? i've heard the bank after 90 days "sweeps" that money back out of your acct....and you're reponsible to collect all bad debt?

best thing is...know your costs, know who you're dealing with, have contractural documents in your favor

 

[LowBoy]

i prefer to either write, or review the terms of my payment options with customers. i personally, refuse to give my bank another 4% of my gross income. i just won't do business with those who refuse to pay. BTW, what happens to those invoices that don't get paid? i've heard the bank after 90 days "sweeps" that money back out of your acct....and you're reponsible to collect all bad debt?

best thing is...know your costs, know who you're dealing with, have contractural documents in your favor

The way my deal was structured with my particular bank was I chose which "iffy" customers I wanted to invoice through this process, so I wasn't obligated to run everything through them.
If the customer didn't pay the terms agreed within 90 days, they went after them directly. I had one non-paying customer that went chapter 7 on us, and the bank never turned to me for the difference.
Keep in mind, all this was in and around 1992-'94...things probably have changed since then given the time lapse.
I wish my crystal ball showed me all the good and bad clients I would have worked for, but unfortunately it broke before I got all that information.
As for contracts...only worth the paper they're written on. Nothing saying you're guaranteed your payment, even if it's stated...the payee has to be WILLING to do so in the end.

 

[milling_drum]

In milling, we always run the inspectors off to the paving crews behind us

You people went at it a little rough here. Inspectors have the job to "QC". Thats that.

I'm gonna type that I'm entirely on pecords side about the new companys, specially the failure to communicate issues. Racial overtones exist multiplane at operator/laborer levels. On many jobs I have been on, (especially recently) communication failures destroy production.

 

[liebherr1160]

Ive never had a problem with inspectors ...normally we go through the motions do our thing and carry on ...If the guy is really being a moron ..Myself and the crew we dog it down take a coffee and come back after he's gone ...He usually gets the hint after the second time and come to the realization its not coffee time ...

However...

I had a run in with one in particular ..Tandem Pick and Carry with a 75t grove RT and a 60T Tadano ...
i was on the Grove ,,the guy running the tadano had no clue (but was a great guy in a bad circumstance)..
My job was to hand him one end of 32000lbs, meaning i had the whole ..Between looking after him and getting him into postion and set ,,getting my own machine in postion and set ,setting up the boiler makers with rigging and getting a few guys to clear the road ...I had omitted the dunage on my pad behind me .... and along comes(ministry of labour inspector) Mr. Man while i have the load in the air with his padowan learner ..book in hand ..
this guy went stupid ..he starts barking at the guy on the tag line to tell me to put wood under my pad ,(his leaner is bringing up the page in the book ..)..the boiler maker ...responded in true boiler maker fashion ...

then he climbs on my crane (load still in the air )..and barks get wood under the pad!!!..(his learner has the page now )I begin to plead for restrant on his part..only to get a heightend blast of hot air ..(his leaner is reading to me now the law ,i still have the load in the air )...Cheesed to no end ..on my part at this point ...i order the biolermakers clear hold the tags in one hand ....
I jam open the throttle and haul my jack up ,with 38000 lbs in the air ...one of the crew slides a pad in ,down it goes .... when i look around ,,this yo-yo is getting into his car with his learner ....and is gone ...
I gave mention to the onsite safty officials what transpired with witness accounts ,,not to mention the number of OSHA safty violations he preformed in the process ..including the direct order for me to put wood under my pad ..load in the air

that guy came back countless times never once even stopped by my machine ....or any other crane for that matter ..

A liitle drawn out but ....

 

[pafarmer]

:guns:jerry:stirthepot

honestly tho...you sound nothing like any inspectors that i have ever come across....too bad none of them around here share your ideals :beatsme

Amen. Dude sounds like a real ****. Tough guy with a degree. Maybe someday as he mutures he will get over himself.

 

[coorecat]

Usually I'll do all ten of these things to the Inspector's that sound like this and then when we have our monthly progress meeting when concerns are brought up that the "construction observer" as I like to call you can't explain, I'll take over as the engineers will listen to me more and generally you will be replaced by another observer that will work with me.In my line of work treatment plant construction and grading you are an observer nothing more than someone to document the work and if you thought you would be able to make me take every joint of my pipe out of the ground while following specs and passing air and water tests you're sadly mistaken!

 

[Pecord Exc]

Amen. Dude sounds like a real ****. Tough guy with a degree. Maybe someday as he mutures he will get over himself.

Thanks, I have been called much worse, In retrospect in the few years since i have created this thread, I realize that I came across quite brash but I can assure you that I am not quite the **** that you may think I am. I was having a bad day and over vented about a couple of contractors that I was dealing with that just picked up a couple of spanish guys off the street, rented some equipment and called themselves excavators.

 

[Nige]

On the subject of lifting operations & Inspectors. I had an Inspector/Safety guy one time drive into an area red-taped off and signed "No Unauthorized Personnel - Seek Permission from Supervisor before Entering" without first asking permission over the radio. We were in the process of installing a boom weighing about 100,000 pounds on a shovel. It was pi$$ing it down with rain and were making the final adjustments of the boom position before starting to install the pins. It's a tricky job at best of times, even more so when it's raining, but the rain had caught us when we already had the load in the air and 90% of the way into position. It was easier to carry on with the job than it was to take the load back to ground level again. Also I wanted to make sure I knew where everyone was and the instruction was that no-one moved or did anything unless they cleared it with me first, pretty much an SOP for that type of job. We had the boom hanging from 2 cranes at the time. He then proceeded to climb up the access stairway up on to the top of the machine where we were working also without asking permission.

My first question to him went something like "Who the fcuk invited you up here?". Remember I was pretty much soaked to the skin by this point & my patience (short at the best of times) was pretty well non-existent. I then offered him an 2 alternative solutions to the issue. The first was to walk back down the stairway the way he had come, go to his truck & leave immediately. The second was that he could reach the ground the quick way straight over the machine handrails with my assistance, taking that option put into severe doubt whether he would be able to go to his truck and leave as in Option 1. It was a drop of about 30 feet. His choice........... Sensible fella he chose to walk down the stairway. He's never been near me or my crew since that day almost 2 years ago.

 

[2stickbill]

You all have the wrong Inspectors.I have seen Pipeline and Power line Inspectors make good money under the table by looking the other way.Seen some come on the job being hard cases about doing their job.Then a few days later you hardly see them.Some Inspecters will not even drink coffee with the Contractor and others will take what they can to have a blind eye.I have seen then sign off on time sheets at two o'clock then leave when they are supposed to stay till crew leaves.

 

[Pecord Exc]

You all have the wrong Inspectors.I have seen Pipeline and Power line Inspectors make good money under the table by looking the other way.Seen some come on the job being hard cases about doing their job.Then a few days later you hardly see them.Some Inspecters will not even drink coffee with the Contractor and others will take what they can to have a blind eye.I have seen then sign off on time sheets at two o'clock then leave when they are supposed to stay till crew leaves.

That make me sick, I am the kind of person that takes pride in my reputation and how someone can willingly destroy theirs just to line their pockets amazes me, the money will dry up one day and is all they will have left is their reputation!

 

[pafarmer]

Thanks, I have been called much worse, In retrospect in the few years since i have created this thread, I realize that I came across quite brash but I can assure you that I am not quite the **** that you may think I am. I was having a bad day and over vented about a couple of contractors that I was dealing with that just picked up a couple of spanish guys off the street, rented some equipment and called themselves excavators.

Good to know. With age comes experience. try not to think you know it all and you will learn more than you think. Some of the men you will be dealing with in life can teach you many things. It pays to give them the respect they deserve and in return you will get the respect you seek.

 

[bigshow]

The whole inspector/contractor relationship is a two way street. We do D.O.T. work and an inspector is with the crew at ALL times, even if I get sent to a landowners house to grade their private driveway, there is the inspector, standard protocol. You learn to work with each other, we don't do half assed work, at least in our minds anyways, certain unforseeable things that aren't hugely critical get a blind eye. It just boils down to common sense. We once had a pipe inspector on a run of 5' dia.drainage check every joint, with a target for a pipe laser, a transit, and a rover. I'm sure most people know that checking with 3 different forms of measurement doesn't work out so good and it didn't. The E.I.C. got involved and he backed off, but I must say that this gentleman was very thorough, 8 inch lifts, compacted to 98%, in the median. Needless to say we weren't banging out 500 meters a day, oh well thats life.

 

[Pecord Exc]

Good to know. With age comes experience. try not to think you know it all and you will learn more than you think. Some of the men you will be dealing with in life can teach you many things. It pays to give them the respect they deserve and in return you will get the respect you seek.

I cannot agree more, I would not be where I am today if it wasn't for some of the good guys out there, I have learned a lot from almost all the crews that I have worked with.

 

[cecil89]

hail lowest bidder! I know I am late on this but that is what you get when you want to get rich quick

 

[Nige]

On the subject of lifting operations & Inspectors. I had an Inspector/Safety guy one time drive into an area red-taped off and signed "No Unauthorized Personnel - Seek Permission from Supervisor before Entering" without first asking permission over the radio.

A follow up to my comments 7 posts up this page. It's now a tad over 2 years and, guess what, the famous Inspector/Safety man's contract came up for renewal and he was shown the door ............. that gives me a warm fuzzy feeling because I thought it was just me who thought he was an oxygen-waster. Obviously not.

 

[GroundWorks]

A follow up to my comments 7 posts up this page. It's now a tad over 2 years and, guess what, the famous Inspector/Safety man's contract came up for renewal and he was shown the door ............. that gives me a warm fuzzy feeling because I thought it was just me who thought he was an oxygen-waster. Obviously not.

It's called Karma baby! He had it coming....