DIY Network

WEB-EXTRA -- Advice from Home Builders: Dealing with Inspections and Codes From "Be Your Own Contractor: Vacation Homes" episode DBCV-106

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Following below is some advice on building codes and the inspection process from some of the DIY do-it-yourself contractors.

Dome house. Sedona, AZ.

Timber-frame island home. Put-In-Bay, OH.

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Homeowner David Walske

Advice from Our Do-it-Yourselfers on Dealing with Inspections and Codes

David Walske
Dome Home
Sedona, Arizona

"Dealing with the building inspectors -- there is a bit of an art to. It's a bit of a psychological art at a certain point. I think that it's very easy to fall into an adversarial relationship with your building and planning department and, specifically, the building inspector who is coming out onto the site inspecting each and every phase and component of your building. The first thing you have to do is recognize that he is there to protect your interest. When you're an owner-builder, there can be sort of an adversarial relationship at the beginning. My technique was to always have a question for my building inspector. To allow him to be my mentor and instruct me in elements of construction. Once I established that relationship, we were on the same team."

Rick Ziebarth

Rick Zeibarth
Timber-Frame Home on an Island
Put-In-Bay, Ohio

"Having never done this before, the people I worked with at the county for both the building permit and dealing with the health department were very helpful. I was very fortunate in that they were willing to take the extra time to work with me, to educate me and to guide me through the process. The day I showed up at the building department with my plans to build the home and obtain a building permit, I showed up with the proper forms, the application and the check required to get a building permit. They began firing a lot of questions at me. I knew [the answers to] many of them, but then we reached a point where I was clearly in over my head. The clerk at the building department looked at me and smiled and said, 'You've never done this before, have you?' And I said yeah, this is my first time. She said 'Come with me,' and took me back to her office, and took extra time to help me with the things I couldn't answer."

Don and Connie Helgoth

Don Helgoth
Log Home
Westcliffe, CO

"It was a little bit difficult in that [the inspectors] only visit once a week and it's during the week. It was pretty inconvenient to have to come down here not knowing what time he was going to arrive. So I had to be here at like at 8:00 in the morning and he may not show up until three or four in the afternoon. So I had to set aside an entire day from my workweek and hope that, when they arrived, that everything was ready to be inspected. So it was very inconvenient because of that."

"Part of the of the homework in getting ready for the electrical wiring [was to] get a permit from the State of Colorado. In that permit, they gave us a very detailed -- it was actually like a book, a pretty thick pamphlet -- talking about what the code is, what some of the new changes had been in recent years, some schematics and things like that. A lot of getting started on the electric was just knowing what the code was."

Lundy Wilder
Concrete-block home
Gulf Shores, AL

"I thought it was best to be really honest with them. I went to the building-inspection office from the very beginning. I said, 'Well, I'm getting ready to do this project, and it's this unfamiliar product that we've never used. I'm going to need all the help I can get from you guys, so please be nice to me.' And they laughed. And theywere really, really nice to me. I also made it a habit of bringing them chocolate chip cookies."

"I found it to also be helpful to request the same fellow if I could get him -- even if it meant waiting a day. It was easier to have continuity by [talking to] the same person."

Glen Morgan
Fairplay, CO

"I think the real key to dealing with inspectors is, first, to respect them -- because most of them do have the knowledge of what code is and how things are supposed to be put together. I mean, you can't argue with them. You have to try to understand. I think the best thing is just to respect them and ask them questions. Just try to work a bit with them. They're here to help you."

RESOURCES :

Investing in a Vacation Home for Pleasure and Profit
Author: James H. Boykin
Order this book from Amazon.com
Publisher: South-Western Educational Pub (2005)
ISBN: 0324314116

How a Second Home Can Be Your Best Investment: New, Tax-Free Methods for Using a Vacation Home for Recreation, Retirement and Investment
Authors: Tom Kelly, John Tuccillo
Order this book from Amazon.com
Publisher: McGraw-Hill (2004)
ISBN: 0071429700