On Fri, 4 Mar 2016 21:35:06 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:



I find your thinking on this subject to be somewhat conflicting but also
amusing. On one hand you dismiss the importance of
having qualified and licensed people doing structural or electrical
work on homes or whatever yet you brag about your 8 years of being
a super sleuth "inspector" of other people's work.


It was just a hobby for me and I was paid by the hour per inspection
so there was no reason to rush. I was probably the easiest going
inspector any of these guys have ever dealt with, since I really did
not have any "red tags" and no real attitude about who I was. I got
compliance by cajoling them into just doing their job. Most were
state employees so they would get paid either way and there was not
really much I could do to them.
In a few cases I actually fixed the violations myself.

The contractors were actually better and I did have a little weight
over them because I could hold up their pay.

The best pure mechanics were inmates in the prisons. They had all the
time in the world and a desire to keep their job.

I do think it is important to hire qualified people but I am just not
sure the current licensing and inspection process guarantees that.
Certainly not in Florida. The biggest complaint you hear at an
inspector meeting is about the lack of workmanship among the trades
and how little they can do about it. The codes just take a sideways
swipe at workmanship and without a specific violation, there is not
much you can do about sloppy. You can go to just about any inspector
web site and look at egregious violation pictures of work done by so
called "qualified" people.

If for no other reason, the home owner should be trying to do a good
job, because he has to live there. Things I build exceed the code as a
general rule.