The ICC made it clear that changes were imminent in 2020. Permit backlogs, inspection delays, and manual paper trails stifled innovation in the construction sector.
It sparked a period of intense collaboration and dialogue between the ICC team and Inspected leadership around remote video inspection technology to transform permits, inspections, and plan reviews.
Ultimately, it was a team effort to produce a new playbook that eliminates manual paperwork and spreadsheets and introduces a new generation of remote virtual inspections accessible to code officials, homeowners, and contractors across the county.
Since then, private provider third-party inspections and permitting are gaining wider acceptance among slow-moving municipalities across Florida. To date, our team has completed over 50,000 virtual inspections.
However, achieving this milestone and overcoming resistance required deep determination and conviction in our Inspected workflow documentation engine for officials, contractors, and home builders.
Let’s examine some ways we are different from other private providers. We emphasize transparency, speed, and cost reduction – key considerations why the ICC endorses our approach to streamlining the inspection and permitting process.
1. Risk of Biased Approvals:
- Challenge: There is a potential risk that private inspectors, due to their special relationships with builders, will grant biased approvals.
- Solution: Inspected trains all inspectors to adhere uniformly to code requirements, enhancing consistency and reducing the risk of biased approvals.
2. Liability and Accountability:
- Challenge: Contractors typically bear liability for any issues, not the private inspectors, which could limit accountability.
- Solution: Inspected documents every inspection step in real-time and store all data securely, providing a comprehensive audit trail for accountability.
3. Oversight of Private Inspections:
- Challenge: Officials’ thoroughness of review may vary, and some may defer to private inspectors’ assessments.
- Inspected Rebuttal: Inspected’s cloud-based system ensures that all inspection data is accessible for easy review by officials, enhancing oversight.
4. Regulatory Restrictions:
- Challenge: Florida law limits private inspectors from conducting fire safety inspections.
- Solution: While Inspected doesn’t cover fire safety inspections, it provides comprehensive inspections for other aspects, ensuring thorough compliance.
5. Quality and Competence of Inspectors:
- Challenge: The quality of inspections can vary depending on the inspector’s competence.
- Solution: Inspected requires licensing for all inspectors and provides additional training to maintain high standards.
6. Government Audits of Private Inspections:
- Challenge: There is a concern over infrequent government audits of private inspections, as noted recently in Jacksonville.
- Solution Inspected’s detailed record-keeping aids in more effective and frequent government audits.
7. Public and Industry Perception:
- Challenge: Public concerns regarding the impartiality and reliability of private inspections exist.
- Solution: Positive customer testimonials and a strong reputation help improve public and industry perception, demonstrating Inspected’s reliability and professionalism.
8. Expedited Review Risks:
- Challenge: Proposed legislation to reduce permit review times could compromise safety checks.
- Solution: Inspected’s virtual inspection capabilities ensure thorough safety checks, mitigating risks associated with expedited reviews.
9. Automatic Approval Risks:
- Challenge: Shortened deadlines could lead to unsafe projects proceeding due to auto-approvals.
- Solution: Inspected’s timely and efficient virtual inspections reduce the likelihood of missed deadlines and maintain safety standards.
10. Limited Information Requests:
- Challenge: New legislative limits on additional information requests could impact the depth of permit evaluations.
- Solution: Inspected captures comprehensive data during virtual inspections, addressing concerns about limited information requests.
11. Safety and Compliance Concerns:
- Challenge: Accelerating permit approvals might lead to safety oversights, highlighted by incidents like the Surfside collapse in Miami.
- Solution: Inspected’s focus on adequate virtual inspections supports high safety and compliance standards.
12. Developer Influence:
- Challenge: There are concerns that legislative changes favor developer interests over public safety.
- Solution: The partnership between ICC and Inspected demonstrates a commitment to safety and efficiency that benefits all stakeholders.
13. Local Autonomy:
- Challenge: There is potential for reduced local government control over building safety enforcement.
- Solution: Inspected technology empowers local governments to efficiently manage and enhance their building safety enforcement capabilities.
The above scratches the surface of how virtual inspections tip the scales in favor of contractors and home builders seeking a competitive edge.
We intend to re-invent building inspections through technology integration to resolve long-standing construction inefficiencies in HVAC, Solar, Roofing, and more.
In particular, the ICC noted how our software has a winning edge:
“…robust features such as automatic algorithmic geo-tagging, photo and video recording, scheduling, record-keeping, and cloud storage capabilities ensure effective and consistent virtual inspections.”
The edge becomes even sharper and more significant once we factor in productivity savings.
Our software aims to reduce costs by 50%. Engineering firms can complete plan reviews in just 48 hours. Solar permit closures expedite in under four weeks, compared to the typical three months, while HVAC permits finalize within 24 hours post-inspection.
If you wish to learn more about our features and benefits, please get in touch with our sales team for a free demo.