Got nailed on compliance today

[Robert McGowen]

Public pool, accident, lawyer, lawsuit, sign out of compliance..............

I would be THANKING the inspector! But that's just me.......

[Keith Outten]

You think this is insignificant?

There are people who roam around every day all day long looking for minor infractions of the law so they can file a lawsuit. A public facility can spend hundreds of thousands of your tax dollars protecting themselves from greedy people who find the most insignificant infractions that will put money in their pockets. The very day you open up to the public these people are at the door waiting to get in...and you can bet that there will be more than just one. How do you know who they are? They have measuring tapes, dial calipers and a whole host of measuring tools in their hands, they are inspecting every aspect of your brand new building working the facility looking for pay day.

I have direct knowledge of one case that I have been involved with but I can't share the information publicly. I wish I could because it would be proof how important these seemingly insignificant details can be.

Robert is right, Inspectors that enforce the specification to the letter are doing the public more of a service then you can imagine.

Sorry Larry but that 1/8" discrepancy in the sign letters could easily cost the taxpayers over ten thousand dollars if they settle out of court. If you decide to go to court the figure will go sky high with legal fees and awards, you know that you will lose since you know your sign letters are not the required height. The Courts will generally be very forgiving concerning older buildings that were built to less restrictive specifications. If your building is brand new you better pay strict attention to the specs, you won't get any slack from the judge.

Protecting the taxpayers has become a very expensive ordeal. Even a compliance hearing can be very costly to prepare for since you have to pay for your own defense.

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[Jamie Cowan]

Around here, most inspectors for things like that are usually the idiot brother-in-law of some politician. They get a job that they aren't really all that qualified for, and some treat it like a no-show job, while others act like little Napoleans. I don't know which is worse.

[Anthony Scira]

Yeah and never try to slip them some cash. It does not work like the movies..........don't ask.

[Stephen Edwards]

I thank the good Lord that I live in one of what is probably one of the few remaining counties in America that has no building inspections to speak of. The only permits required and the only inspections performed are for electrical and sewage. That's it!

We don't have to have a building permit to build a shed, a barn, an addition or even a house. However, I realize that as more and more people move in to this remote area of Tennessee, that situation will change. But for the time being, it's wonderful! So far, Tennessee allows each county to decide whether or not they wish to adopt the state uniform building codes, with the exceptions of the two above mentioned inspections....septic and electrical.

[Scott Shepherd]

Did a job in a very large building the other day. Full and I mean full of law offices and actual court rooms as well as the public offices of some of the supreme court judges.

Not a braille sign in the entire building. If it's not enforced in the buildings occupied by the Department of Justice.......

[Joe Pelonio]

Did a job in a very large building the other day. Full and I mean full of law offices and actual court rooms as well as the public offices of some of the supreme court judges.

Not a braille sign in the entire building. If it's not enforced in the buildings occupied by the Department of Justice.......

I'm not surprised, I found the same thing at the local Social Security office.
I've found that regardless of the owner or tenant, ADA is enforced only when a complaint is made or on a building permit inspection, except for the handicap parking spaces. The manager of a business I use stopped by to pick up paperwork on a Sunday while his store was closed, and was ticketed for parking in his own store's handicap space, while no one else was in the entire lot.

[Larry Bratton]

Joe:
As I have been reminded several times in this thread...The law is the law. The cop that came along and ticketed that guy was "just doin his job".

I have another problem to solve next week. I'm doing a 200 unit apartment project and the fire marshall in an e-mail to the GC stated that on the sprinkler rooms (1 per bldg) he wanted a red sign with Sprinkler Room in 6" high letters. Using an Arial font, Sprinkler with 6" letters is 20" wide. Unless I greatly distort the lettering, their is not room to place it anywhere close to the door other than on the door itself. . The doors are panel doors and not flush doors, but we may have to stick it on there.He may want it on the building, I'll have to ask

He's the same FM that is having the owner put a building number sign with 6" high reflective letters on all 4 sides of each building. Want's to be sure the fire truck spot lights can identify the building. I would think that the one with the FIRE and SMOKE would be a dead giveaway...go figure. No problem for me though, I gladly made the 32 signs and charged accordingly.

[Joe Pelonio]

That reminds me of a land use sign I had to do. The city had just incorporated and it turned out to be the very first one done to their written specs., which had to be changed after I contacted them.

The sign was 4'x4', and it called for leaving space at the bottom for 17"hx11"w laminated paper to be stuck on. There was 9 lines of text, all were required to be helvetica medium, 3" letters. Plus logo at top. With the logo and space at bottom, there was 25" left for the text - 9 lines of 3" letters is 27" even without spacing between lines!

[Larry Bratton]

Well Joe, the beat goes on! Today, I sent an e-mail to the fire marshal and asked to clarify that he wanted these signs with reflective on them on ALL buildings, including the little pool cabana, the maintenance building and the detached garages. The answer was "any building that has an address" gets 4 signs. This means the order increased by at least 30 signs. Probably isn't making the owner too happy but it suits me OK. At the time I quoted the project, some of these buildings didn't have addresses, but the local power company fixed that.
It is difficult for people that don't make the products to grasp how difficult it can be sometimes to fill their requirements.