Down The Sewer Pipe – Politically Speaking

There arises, now and again, the question of  “why does it take so long to build a building?  The answer is both oddly vague and vaguely odd.  Inspections must be done to insure that processes and codes are followed.  Several different disciplines are followed, plumbing, carpentry, electrical, and communications.  Each needs several inspections over the life of the project.  The bigger the project the more inspections required.

In point of fact, a two story house with garage can be built I ninety days.  Three months time from start to finish.  The problem is inspections and how they are conducted.  If an inspector were on site, instead of the contractor having to call city hall and schedule an inspection appointment, then things would move much faster.  However, that is not practical, even for big cities.

What could be done though, is for the inspector to arrive, quite unannounced, every two or three days.  Make the inspection and then sign off on that phase or make suggestions to bring something up to code.  This would do several things:

• Ensure that short cuts would be found out, because there would be no set appointment for the inspection. Inspections should catch things wherever possible.
• Make the next phase possible without the contractor having to wait weeks fro the inspection, that must happen before they can continue.
• Create added tax revenue, because the building is completed in time for the property tax addition.

The added benefit of this doing inspections this way is two fold.

• 1. The general public sees the money that your city is paying the inspector, as “getting the best bang for the buck”.
• 2. Timely inspections that make possible the building and occupation of something that will add revenue to your community.

If building a store or a house takes a year or more your city will be seen as opposed to human habitation.  Who would want o live there?  Unless, of course, you can find people that like living in a sewer pipe.

Sherman