A lesson for building inspectors in the use of reinspection fees.

The first wet niche light grounding inspection failed because there was two feet of ground water in the pool and the pool was filled with 2x4 lumber from the pool shell forms. The inspector could have, but did not, assess a reinspection fee. The correction notice stated: “pump out ground water and remove debris for access to wet niche for inspection.”

This photo was taken at the second inspection. The water level was merely reduced. The trash remained. The inspection failed a second time and a reinspection fee in the amount of $75.00 was assessed.

The next photo was taken on the third inspection after the contractor had paid the $75.00 reinspection fee.

The inspection passed this time.

The lesson to be learned is that first inspection “Freebie” was a waste of time. It was obvious the contractor did not check the work before calling in for inspection. The Florida Building Code requires that the contractor provide access to the work for the inspection. The violation was blatant and had the contractor been fee’d the first time the municipality would not have incurred the cost of the third trip to the job site and the inspectors time could have been better utilized elsewhere.

Additionally the clean up work that was done was required as the next step in the pool construction prior to plastering and therefore did not present any burden to the pool contractor.

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