October 22, 2009
Grab a buck Wisconsin
A directive from the governor’s office could result in headaches for homeowners and contractors who are doing remodeling and construction projects.
State law requires residential construction to meet Uniform Dwelling Code (UDC) standards and be inspected by certified building inspectors. Municipalities have the choice to either enforce the codes locally or fall under state enforcement with inspectors contracted to cover those areas.
In an effort to grab every buck it can, the governor’s office snuck out a directive through the Department of Commerce suspending those contracts and bringing the inspections in-house.
This would be fine if the state had the resources to actually do the inspections, however all indications are that rather than bring on additional staff the state plans to use the already overburdened commercial building inspector for the region. Sam Solberg based out of Stevens Point serves Taylor, Lincoln, Marathon, Wood, Portage and Waushara counties. So in addition to the already cursory job of inspections for commercial construction, the state wants to pile on the hundreds more residential inspections.
Under state codes, a building inspector has 48 hours to do an inspection from the time they are called or the project can proceed. Given the size of the area to be covered, the chances of an inspector actually showing up to ever look at a construction project in progress is slim. In the best case, the lack of response will result in construction delays as contractors sit idle waiting for an inspector to show up. In the worst case, shoddy work will not be discovered and preventable tragedies will occur.
Of course regardless of the outcome the state will continue to cash the checks for the permit fees regardless of if the inspection was done.
While this works out great for the state’s bottom line, it is a disservice to current and future property owners. Enforcement of the UDC is all about ensuring homeowners aren’t being wrung out to dry by unscrupulous fly-by-night contractors who live by the motto that drywall and a few coats of paint can hide a multitude of sins.
Effective enforcement levels the playing field for contractors so professionals who follow the codes are not undercut by others who bend or flat out ignore the rules in the hope that they are never going to be caught. It is a sure bet that if the governor’s scheme to make more money for the state while doing less work goes into effect there will be an explosion in shoddy work, which will have long-range consequences for homeowners down the line.
Rather than grabbing a buck and reneging on state contracts to local inspectors, Madison should keep its greedy paws off the inspection fees and remember that the purpose of government is to actually provide services not just to charge fees to make the books balance.
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