Permits and Inspections: What the City Inspector Actually Checks

Inspectors

Do you believe in inspectors? I have heard it enough from customers who say they don't worry about who installs their roof because the city will inspect it. This article isn't going to be very long, so let's dive right in.

When a roofing contractor pays for permits, this is what you get. A city inspector comes by the site on the first day to verify our claim that we are:

• Installing new roofing over only one existing roof layer and no more.
• Removing all roof layers down to the substrate.
• If new sheeting is required, they may check the nailing.

Once the project is done, they make one final inspection to verify that the roof was completed.

What you are not getting

What you're not getting is a manufacturer specs inspection, or a check on whether the work was done to any standard of quality. We may see the inspector one time, on the first day of a project. Often on the final inspection we set a ladder for them so they can just look to verify completion, and otherwise they drive on by.

City inspectors do not know the products we install, and they don't know the manufacturer specifications. All they are doing is documenting a few details for future records.

Most customers feel at ease paying the roofing contractor even before the final roof inspection. Every once in a while I hear a customer say, “We won't pay them if it doesn't pass the city's inspection.” If the crew roofed over only one layer, or tore the roof off and did a half decent job installing the new one, it will pass and you will pay.

Where the quality actually gets checked

On a roof, quality lives in the details that get buried within a day or two: whether the underlayment is lapped correctly, whether the flashings at walls and penetrations are new and sealed, whether the nails are driven straight and flush, and whether the manufacturer's installation instructions were followed from the first course to the ridge. Once the shingles are on, none of that can be seen from the street, and none of it is what a permit inspection is built to measure.

That leaves the checking to the contractor's own people, which is why who is on your roof matters more than whose name is on the permit. Ask who will be inspecting nails and flashings as the work goes in, and what they are inspecting against. The right answer is the manufacturer's written specs, not a habit.

Please do not rely on inspectors to make sure the work is done properly.