Building inspector

“ In many cases the buildings are so far gone that the only proper thing to do is to tear down and build new. A movement in this direction has already been begun. When the rebuilding com- mences, however, a building inspector should be upon the ground to see that no dark rooms are put in, and that the plumbing arrange- ments are adequate. ”

“ Thus, if it is an inspectorship of public buildings that has to be filled up, one who is utterly ignorant of architecture is appointed, and the new inspector, on entering on his duties, is accustomed to boast of his peculiar fitness for the post, by reason of knowing nothing of the construction of houses. ”

“ These restrictions were directed either to the practice in the exploitation of the forest or in the use of the material. In the latter direction the attempts at reducing the consumption of building timber are of special interest. Building inspectors were to approve building plans and inspect buildings to see that they were most economically constructed; that repairs were made promptly, to avoid the necessity of more extensive ones; that new buildings replacing old ones were not built higher than the old ones. ”

“ An act of 1895 established a Bureau of Building Inspection in the city Department of Public Safety. Officials of this bureau are required to examine buildings in the course of construction or alteration, and houses reported in an insecure or dangerous condition. The superintendent and inspectors, as in other cities, are required to be men of practical experience in work connected with building construction, but must not be engaged in such work while holding office. ”

“ In the large majority of cases that have been under my observation, they are entirely incapable of passing an intelligent opinion on any of the materials and work that make up a building, or at least on very little, and the gross impositions practiced upon them by their sub-contractors is startling. Their work is covered-in and is so left, I doubt not, in the majority of cases, as the inspection furnished by the "Department" is entirely inadequate for proper protection. The confidence of the public is continually bolstered up by such descriptions as the editorial above mentioned. ”

“ Office Inspection as a Check on Field Work.—The office inspection furnished many valuable data for checking the judgment of the field men. For example, the number of cubic yards of excavation and embankment on probably the greater part of the mileage had to be secured by the field inspectors, either because the records had not been kept or the changes of line and grade had been so extensive as to destroy their reliability. Every field inspector, therefore, made his own estimate of the yardage of pay earth. ”

“ They are intrusted with the superintendence of all that is going on, and it is their duty to report privately to the king. The city inspectors employ as their coadjutors the city courtesans; and the inspectors of the camp, the women who follow it. The best and the most faithful persons are appointed to the office of inspector. ”

“ Inspectors, whether appointed by the engineer in charge or not, should be absolutely under his control, including the power of dismissal without unnecessary formalities. Where they are under civil service regulations and can be dismissed only upon charges and after a hearing before some third person, the obstacles in the way of promptly getting rid of an incompetent or unfaithful inspector are often so great as to be discouraging if not deterrent. ”

“ Dishonest and unscrupulous workmen have many tricks to get by the inspector. These tricks are best learned by experience as no academic list can impress them properly on the memory. The position of the inspector is not always enviable. He must hold the respect of the workmen, of the contractor, and of the engineer. ”

“ Section four, Chapter 550 of the Acts of 1907, provides that the building commissioner, or one of his inspectors, shall inspect every building which he has reason to believe is unsafe or dangerous to life, limb or adjoining buildings, and, if he finds it unsafe or dangerous, shall notify the owner to secure the building, and shall affix in a conspicuous place on its walls a notice of its dangerous condition. ”

“ Good workmanship embraces many small details that are essential, and inferable from the specifications, but cannot be stated at length therein, and the inspector should have a good working knowledge of these.
Unfortunately, large numbers of inspectors are employed for personal or political reasons, or because more competent men are not available. They know little or nothing from practical knowledge and experience about the work they are assigned to inspect. Efficient service cannot be expected from such, even if they possess the other necessary qualifications. ”

“ I should like further, to ask you to publish to the New York City public, the fact that the "Department", the "Health Department", with its Bureau of Plumbing and Light and Ventilation, and the Building Bureau of the Fire Department, are unable to protect property owners and purchasers from errors in sanitation and construction as they are supposed by too many to do. Owners frequently think that unless they want "fancy" drawings and fronts, an architect is superfluous. ”

“ We think it not an unreasonable construction that if the engineers disagree they shall submit their differences to the inspector, and that a determination agreed to by one of them in conjunction with the inspector shall fulfil the requirements of the act. It must be remembered that this tribunal is to settle, not a private property right, but a matter affecting the public safety ”

“ Inspection.—In the inspection of workmanship and materials, the engineer is assisted by a corps of inspectors and assistants who act under his direction. The duties of the inspector are to be present at all times that work is in progress and to act for the engineer in enforcing the terms of the contract, the details of the drawings, and the tests applicable to the workmanship and materials that he is delegated to inspect. ”

“ Further, we may appoint clerks-of-work and other watch-dogs to follow the contractor at every step on the building itself, or rather to attempt it, and yet we may be fooled by work made off the site and brought to it, or by work done on the job and covered up before the architect or any of his agents, including the clerk-of-works, can see it. ”

“ The inspectors of permanent way are responsible for the discipline of their men, and for keeping a correct account of the time they work, and the wages paid to them. It is their duty also to keep a record of all materials received and used, to see that every care is taken of the property of the Company, and to report to the chief inspector of the district, or to the divisional engineer, every circumstance of an unusual character which may come within their knowledge. ”

“ For instance, the number of inspections to be made might depend not only upon the size of the mines and the number of the operatives, but upon the character of the work being done, the nature of the soil being excavated, the depth of the excavation, and a dozen other features, all of which might enter into the basis of a classification by a competent inspector, and no one of which can be said to be determinative. ”

“ GENERAL REMARKS ABOUT INSPECTION AND INSPECTORS The necessity of having competent and honest inspectors upon any public work during its construction need not be here argued. It is generally understood and recognized in the case of work carried out by contract. Where the contractor is incompetent, careless or unreliable, inspection is absolutely necessary if good work is to be secured. ”

“ The responsibility of the engineer is diminished, because he may be compelled to modify his plan in a manner in which he may not thoroughly approve, and the inspector has no responsibility in the matter, because, after having approved of the general scheme, he has no control over the details or the execution of the work, nor can he be in any way held responsible, if the result were a failure. ”

“ Inspectors who habitually expect or accept compensation or gratuities from the contractor violate the first requirement, and their number is astonishingly large. These are useless, or worse than useless, to the municipality. There are not a few contractors who will take advantage of the presence on the work of such inspectors to do things that they would not do if thrown wholly on their own honor and responsibility. Contractors can hardly be blamed for expecting some compensation for the money thus exacted or accepted by the inspector from them. ”

“ No familiarity diminishes the disagreeable duty of proceeding through low, hot, and damp galleries, bent with the chest on the knees, under the oppression of clothes damp with moisture or perspiration, which the inspector must endure.
Proprietors themselves, whose direct interest it is to be aware of what is going forward under ground, are obliged to depend for inspection on their underlookers or foremen, who have been colliers. ”

“ The present organization of the field staff not only gives work of both kinds commonly to the same inspector but tends toward an identity of viewpoint as between inspectors who are chiefly doing only one or the other kind of work. ”

“ In the towns, it is rare that one-story houses are erected where the ground is of much value; and it will be a low average to take all the new houses as of two stories, that, is, fourth-rate houses, for which a fee of 2l. has been proposed to be paid. Before the building surveyor can proceed, the sewers’ surveyor must have seen that the drains are properly laid, and the builder have obtained a certificate from him to that effect. The labour of the budding surveyor, if properly performed, may require as much as an hour for the inspection of each new building. ”

“ The temptation of the special staff men, call them inspectors or efficiency engineers, if you please, is to become meddlers. They are so enthusiastic for the cause that they desire to save the country and reform the road all on the same day. The men who succeed at special staff work are those who stick to the principle enunciated. An inspector, because he is a staff officer, should never give an order.
The coming new department of inspection or efficiency, like all innovations, will have its troubles. ”

“ The inspectors, again, are under the district superintendent or engineer, who makes frequent inspections both by walking and on the engine. The ganger, if in want of men or materials, reports to his inspector, who, if they are required, sends a requisition to the engineer, keeping a small stock at his head-quarters to supply urgent demands. The engineer in his turn keeps the whole in harmony, sanctioning the employment of the necessary men, and ordering the materials, the only check upon the number of men or quantity of materials being the total half-yearly expenditure. ”

“ Even where the contractor thoroughly understands his business and intends to faithfully comply with the specifications and to do all his work in a proper manner, the inspector cannot safely be dispensed with. The contractor cannot at all times be on the work; whatever may be his intention and instructions, foremen and laborers cannot be depended upon to exercise the proper 92care and judgment, even where they have no inclination, motive or interest to do otherwise, which is not always the case. ”

“ That by the new regulations the horses offered must remain at the expense of the contractor twenty-four hours in the inspection yard, into which no other person than the inspector and his assistants shall be permitted to enter until the inspection is completed. ”

“ We agree to professionally supervise work constructed from our plans, for an additional 1-1/2 per cent, or 5 per cent in all, where the work is in the city, and inspect work out of city at the same rate per cent, visits not to exceed 2 per month. In any case where a Clerk-of-Works is required, either on account of the magnitude of the job, or the inefficiency or carelessness of the contractors, the cost of same is to be paid by you in addition to our compensation for supervision or inspection, and said Clerk is to be approved by us. ”

“ None of these requirements is at all questioned here. What is questioned is the ordinance provision, Code of General Ordinances § 806-30, authorizing the Housing Inspector to enter at any reasonable hour any dwelling whatsoever, and commanding the owner or occupant to give him free access at any reasonable hour for the purpose of his inspection. It was armed with the naked authority of this provision, and not with any warrant (the ordinance provides for none) that the inspectors approached Taylor's door, even after he had made clear to them his intent not to admit them on this basis. ”

“ The unreliable and haphazard inspection of town officials has passed entirely, superseded by the inspector whose sole duty is inspection, in which duty he is aided by assistants immediately under his own command, or by members of other departments of government. The tendency towards the development of distinct inspection departments is quite unmistakable though the exact form of their future organization is less easily predicted. There are two toward which present forms lean, one exemplified in Massachusetts, the other in New York. ”

“ Day before yesterday—the morning after the fire—the district inspector was due here to pass judgment on the two upper laterals. As you know, the contract provides that the inspector must look over every yard of excavation and approve it before it can be considered as actually done. Lo and behold, no inspector appeared. The boys were wild with anxiety to start their levee-work before the rain should wash the soft new banks down into the canal; for the company is responsible for every cave-in, and every slide of land means double labor in digging all that soil out of the ditch again. ”