Building Control Officers:\u00a0 The National Careers Service advises that the following are essential requirements over and above a HND in an associated subject: Maths knowledge.\u00a0 Analytical skills. Customer Service skills. The ability to use initiative.\u00a0 Patience and calmness in situations.\u00a0 What?<\/p>\n
My initial advice for any applicant for the job, is that the Job Title does not suit those with surnames such as Pratt, Burke, or anything that rhymes with a profanity.\u00a0 \u201cHunt\u2019 springs to mind, but \u201cTucker\u201d or \u201cProsser\u201d will quickly bring notoriety without reason.<\/p>\n
To a dodgy builder, they are on the same level as Traffic Wardens.\u00a0 But even to a craftsman-builder, the Inspector can cause irritation.\u00a0 Stood at the counter at my local Travis Perkins, I heard a broad Brummy accent moaning about the building inspectors here out in the sticks.\u00a0 Moaning about the footings.\u00a0 \u201cThey\u2019d have passed that in Brum.\u201d\u00a0 Do they do many barn conversions in Birmingham?<\/p>\n
The Inspectors are NOT the enemy. They are Building Control Officers who inspect.\u00a0 But they live in our 21st<\/sup> C\u00a0 litigious world whereby everyone has to cover their arse or be sued, appealed, whatever.\u00a0 Why should we have to have a mechanical extractor in a bathroom with a window?\u00a0\u00a0 Think double yellow lines when arguing your case.<\/p>\n One Golden Rule: Do not assume.\u00a0 Because the plans passed assume a 1200mm foundation depth, even if the ground is perfect for this, do NOT order a concrete pour until it is passed by the Building Inspector..\u00a0 (One Golden Rule (plan B)\u00a0 states that, if you do assume, take photographs of the excavation and pray to your favourite Saint, cross your fingers or put in a gum-shield).<\/p>\n In my case, the Building Inspector, whose name rhymes with \u201cBuffoon\u201d pointed out a Hawthorn hedge within 7 metres.\u00a0 1200mm depth for our footings was not enough.\u00a0 2500mm, he said, and not even a please.\u00a0 I had ordered the concrete, not four hours away.\u00a0 A panic call to Ralph, our Structural Engineer, and his first question was \u201cis it a tree or a hedge?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A hedge, I replied.\u00a0 About seven foot high.<\/p>\n \u201cEstablished?\u201d\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Evidence? Yes – a 112-year-old photograph shows it.\u00a0 \u201cThen pour your concrete.\u00a0 I\u2019ll write up a report.\u201d<\/p>\n Retrospectively, we supplied our calcs and the fact is, our Building Inspector was half-right.\u00a0\u00a0 A 300-year-old hedge does not have the same effect as a Hawthorn tree left to it\u2019s own devices, i.e.\u00a0 27-30ft and roots to suit.\u00a0 He knew that.\u00a0 So did Ralph.\u00a0 But our Building Control Officer\u2019s main priority was his own arse sticking out of the window, and wanted it covering. So, he drops the ball in my court.<\/p>\n This does not assist in the hours in between, while I am contemplating the potential removal of the concrete I am due to pour, should our man with the Council clip-board be right, our Engineer be wrong, and we DO have to excavate twice as much.<\/p>\n Our S E played a blinder, and thankfully he was available to reassure with no risk. \u00a0He worked off the same charts that\u00ad our Building Inspector used, and based his judgement on experience and site knowledge.\u00a0 That\u2019s what the letters after his name are for.\u00a0 They out-trump the inspector\u2019s qualifications.<\/p>\n New-build is one thing, but conversions and restorations of existing buildings are almost impossible to predict without ad-hoc discussion when encountering a potential can of worms.\u00a0\u00a0 At this point, listen to your Building Inspector.<\/p>\n For example: replacing an oak beam with an RSJ is a reasonable problem for you both to solve:\u00a0 The Conservation Officer, on the other hand, can make unreasonable demands based on what it looks like, what is being removed, and why, and an open-plan kitchen or any other dream is not an objective.<\/p>\n Your Building Inspector, on the other hand, is only interested in getting you what you want without it falling down or rotting by condensation.<\/p>\n There is a growing trend in the engagement of Private Building Inspectors. Rather than pay the Council\u2019s Fees (which cannot entirely be avoided) you can instruct your own Inspector.\u00a0 A local builder who I respect enormously for the quality of his work, summed up his reason for going private thus:\u00a0 \u201cYour\u00a0 Local Council Building Inspector has the power to hold up your job with immediate effect.\u00a0 We all have the same ends, i.e. a good build.\u00a0 The Freelance Inspector will take responsibility for decisions and will not hold up the site while we carry on working in confidence that the reports and spec are in hand.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s a smack of whoever pays the Piper choosing the tune: I\u2019m sure it\u2019s not like a dodgy underworld solicitor, but I keep faith that, like Planning Officers who go private, likewise Building Inspectors, then just like Ralph our structiural engineer, they do so to enjoy the freedom of getting what the customer wants and utilise their experience and knowledge, free from the restraints of Council directives, budgets & instruction.\u00a0\u00a0 And a decent salary.<\/p>\n Busby<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Building Control Officers:\u00a0 The National Careers Service advises that the following are essential requirements over and above a HND in an associated subject: Maths knowledge.\u00a0 Analytical skills. Customer Service skills. The ability to use initiative.\u00a0 Patience and calmness in situations.\u00a0 What? My initial advice for any applicant for the job, is that the Job Title […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-listed-building"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/listedmoneypit.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/listedmoneypit.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/listedmoneypit.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/listedmoneypit.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/listedmoneypit.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=150"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/listedmoneypit.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":184,"href":"https:\/\/listedmoneypit.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150\/revisions\/184"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/listedmoneypit.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/listedmoneypit.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/listedmoneypit.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/listedmoneypit.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}