This was an epic day at the office, several years ago.
A client called me on a job that I designed for him, he was a subcontractor on a medical office building down east and they were having a problem with the building inspector refusing to pass the framing inspection. He described some of the issues that were pending and I immediately thought, damn, this is a Barney Fife situation.
For those not versed in the building industry, the framing inspection is typically the critical point in the job. The structure is up, roof is on and exterior walls in place. All the plumbing and electrical rough-in is completed. With regards to a “Barney Fife” situation, it involves a government employee tasked with inspecting the work who doesn’t really know what he’s doing and assumes more authority than he legally has.
After our phone conversation I took the State Code book off the shelf and within a minute or so found the section that I was looking for. Basically what it says is that if a licensed engineer hands the local building inspector a report stating that an element of the building was constructed properly, the inspector shall approve it. The old Southern Building Code made this explicit; the newer version based off the International Building Code has it “hidden” in the administrative section.
We arrived at the site and the first thing I noticed out of the ordinary was the building under construction at the next site over. It had obviously been abandoned, so I asked the General Contractor about it. “They had so many problems passing inspection that the contractor went belly-up.” The project foreman piped in, “he’s made a game out of this, told me straight up that he’s determined to ‘fail me’ on something.”
The architect arrived and we went through the list of issues as we walked through the building. One by one we decided on simple fixes to address each item. Then we came to the sticky wicket, a hanging cripple wall over the reception area designed to carry small signs, overhead task lighting, and had a series of gentle curves in both plan and profile. The architect had shown it on the plans as curved lines and since it is non-structural, a cryptic note on how to construct it: ‘24 ga metal stud assembly’. I looked over the assembled frame, noting two screws per connection, studs 24” on center. The foreman, without prodding from me, jumped up, hung from it and did a pull-up. “Looks okay to me” I laughed.
The five of us stood there and looked over our copies of the list again, confirming that we had addressed each item. I asked the architect, a petite woman in her 50’s, that since she was the designer of record, and that the building was ultimately her responsibility, would she feel comfortable running the meeting for us. I looked over at my client, 6’-2”, then the GC, at least 6’-5”, and the foreman, another 6’-2” guy, then at the 5’-2” architect, and they all nodded in agreement.
Then the five of us drove over to the County office building for our scheduled meeting. The architect found the inspectors office, and then we were directed down the hall to an empty meeting room. I took my seat at the far end of the table on one side with my client ahead of me and the GC next to him. Across from my client sat the foreman and the architect across from the GC, leaving the head of the table for the county Codes Enforcement Officer. A minute later he walks in and, just as I had predicted, was at best 5‘-5” tall, and the Barney Fife analogy was complete.
COE Barney went through the itemized list one by one, each time the architect summarizing, asking the appropriate person to provide more detail, then confirming the appropriateness of each with the CEO. When it came to the hanging cripple wall, she turned to me.
“What exactly are you looking for, sir?” I asked the CEO. “I need to see cross sections at each different section, load calculations, required type and number of fasteners. You ought to know this, being an engineer and all” he said with the hint of a smirk.
“Yeah, well, I decided that’s going to take too much of my time drafting all that up, and since time is money, would cost my client too much for what it’s worth. I saw this gentleman here do a pull-up on it earlier this morning. It’s obviously okay, so I’m just going to go ahead and approve it.”
“Wait just one minute- I’m the only one here that does any approving” he said with much indignation.
Actually, sir, according to the Administrative Code, section xyz, once I hand you a letter stating that the structure is okay as built, ‘the CEO shall approve it.’”
He launched out of his chair and practically climbed up on to of the table towards me and shouted “It doesn’t say shall!”
I looked over at the GC, elbows on the table, looking off in the distance, holding his chin. Everyone in the room, based on the reaction that they had just witnessed, knew that I was 100% correct. Calmly I corrected the CEO. “Actually, sir, it does. It’s right here in section…”
“Look here” interrupting me, suddenly assuming a more pleasant tone as he sat down. “We don’t have to turn this into a pissing match.” As his ass hit the seat he turned to the architect as she quietly said “maybe if I draw a generic cross section and sealed it, would that be sufficient?”
“Yeah, that would work for me.” And the meeting was over. As we filed out he shook everyone’s hand except mine.
A client called me on a job that I designed for him, he was a subcontractor on a medical office building down east and they were having a problem with the building inspector refusing to pass the framing inspection. He described some of the issues that were pending and I immediately thought, damn, this is a Barney Fife situation.
For those not versed in the building industry, the framing inspection is typically the critical point in the job. The structure is up, roof is on and exterior walls in place. All the plumbing and electrical rough-in is completed. With regards to a “Barney Fife” situation, it involves a government employee tasked with inspecting the work who doesn’t really know what he’s doing and assumes more authority than he legally has.
After our phone conversation I took the State Code book off the shelf and within a minute or so found the section that I was looking for. Basically what it says is that if a licensed engineer hands the local building inspector a report stating that an element of the building was constructed properly, the inspector shall approve it. The old Southern Building Code made this explicit; the newer version based off the International Building Code has it “hidden” in the administrative section.
We arrived at the site and the first thing I noticed out of the ordinary was the building under construction at the next site over. It had obviously been abandoned, so I asked the General Contractor about it. “They had so many problems passing inspection that the contractor went belly-up.” The project foreman piped in, “he’s made a game out of this, told me straight up that he’s determined to ‘fail me’ on something.”
The architect arrived and we went through the list of issues as we walked through the building. One by one we decided on simple fixes to address each item. Then we came to the sticky wicket, a hanging cripple wall over the reception area designed to carry small signs, overhead task lighting, and had a series of gentle curves in both plan and profile. The architect had shown it on the plans as curved lines and since it is non-structural, a cryptic note on how to construct it: ‘24 ga metal stud assembly’. I looked over the assembled frame, noting two screws per connection, studs 24” on center. The foreman, without prodding from me, jumped up, hung from it and did a pull-up. “Looks okay to me” I laughed.
The five of us stood there and looked over our copies of the list again, confirming that we had addressed each item. I asked the architect, a petite woman in her 50’s, that since she was the designer of record, and that the building was ultimately her responsibility, would she feel comfortable running the meeting for us. I looked over at my client, 6’-2”, then the GC, at least 6’-5”, and the foreman, another 6’-2” guy, then at the 5’-2” architect, and they all nodded in agreement.
Then the five of us drove over to the County office building for our scheduled meeting. The architect found the inspectors office, and then we were directed down the hall to an empty meeting room. I took my seat at the far end of the table on one side with my client ahead of me and the GC next to him. Across from my client sat the foreman and the architect across from the GC, leaving the head of the table for the county Codes Enforcement Officer. A minute later he walks in and, just as I had predicted, was at best 5‘-5” tall, and the Barney Fife analogy was complete.
COE Barney went through the itemized list one by one, each time the architect summarizing, asking the appropriate person to provide more detail, then confirming the appropriateness of each with the CEO. When it came to the hanging cripple wall, she turned to me.
“What exactly are you looking for, sir?” I asked the CEO. “I need to see cross sections at each different section, load calculations, required type and number of fasteners. You ought to know this, being an engineer and all” he said with the hint of a smirk.
“Yeah, well, I decided that’s going to take too much of my time drafting all that up, and since time is money, would cost my client too much for what it’s worth. I saw this gentleman here do a pull-up on it earlier this morning. It’s obviously okay, so I’m just going to go ahead and approve it.”
“Wait just one minute- I’m the only one here that does any approving” he said with much indignation.
Actually, sir, according to the Administrative Code, section xyz, once I hand you a letter stating that the structure is okay as built, ‘the CEO shall approve it.’”
He launched out of his chair and practically climbed up on to of the table towards me and shouted “It doesn’t say shall!”
I looked over at the GC, elbows on the table, looking off in the distance, holding his chin. Everyone in the room, based on the reaction that they had just witnessed, knew that I was 100% correct. Calmly I corrected the CEO. “Actually, sir, it does. It’s right here in section…”
“Look here” interrupting me, suddenly assuming a more pleasant tone as he sat down. “We don’t have to turn this into a pissing match.” As his ass hit the seat he turned to the architect as she quietly said “maybe if I draw a generic cross section and sealed it, would that be sufficient?”
“Yeah, that would work for me.” And the meeting was over. As we filed out he shook everyone’s hand except mine.
The Last Thing you want to do is piss off the Building Inspector. That's Rule #1.
