Unreasonable Building Inspector

[shore968]

My partner and I have purchased our first house and are in the middle of renovating before we get married, we think the main building was built in the 1700's with an extension built in the late 1970's at the back.

The building inspector was accepting images from us as we progressed with the work as we are undertaking the work ourself's in the evening or weekends. He has just turned round and said pictures wont be accepted and needs to inspect and see the elements which we have already completed and finished off, does this mean now we are going to have to rip up all our works to allow him to see this even tho all the images we have sent while doing the work he kept saying have been noted thank you and have we got any other images, which we have provided as we went along.

It just feels like they are now turning right around and causing so many issues for us, we have a single skin block wall which every time we come to him with an idea he rejects it even tho its using manufacturers spec's and he is wanting written confirmation from the manufacturers as the BBA certification we have provided isnt enough.

Does anyone have any advice on this, if we can change building inspector or anyone we can speak to as this isnt the first issues he is doing, for example he has made us build a wall in out dining room loosing nearly 2ft of the room even tho this isnt a supporting wall if anything it is a partian wall, but he requested we done a concreate block cavity wall with insulation....the building is over 300 years old!!

I would put what you have written here to the head of building control for a way forward. It shouldn't be such a difficulty to get clear answers doing work like this.

I have never heard of a building inspector inspecting through photos. I’ve done a number of renovations / builds and they have always been in site to inspect.

They inspect not to inconvenience you but to ensure the works are done to the correct / safe standard. The inspector is the expert here, not you. Not sure how you are qualified to argue his recommendation?

You need to suck it up. Without the final inspection certificate it will be extremely difficult to sell in the future.

Is this a council building control officer or an AI? They can and do accept photos so surely your first port of call is to speak to them and ask what's the reason for the change in their views re photos and if no joy with them, escalate to their line manager.

I've recently survived quite an extensive building project (3 storey extension). They visited 22 times in total.

Building Control at my local council had very clear instructions on their website regarding what they needed to sign-off in person vs when a photo was acceptable. At no stage were only photos acceptable.

If you had a builder or project manager, they should have been aware of these rules, but I see you have done the works yourself, is that right? If so, I would be humbly apologetic to the head of department, explaining -with evidence- why you thought just photos would be ok.

In the meantime, stop work until you are very clear on the Building Control requirements, then follow them completely. If there is a culture of mistrust, you might find they pay closer attention to your build than usual!

Building inspectors often allow pictures for intermediate stages subject to site visits at key stages for larger projects or even just a visit to confirm the works have been completed. Provided they have confidence or a relationship of trust with the builder.

It sounds like your inspector may initially have been prepared to do this but perhaps was alarmed by something or got the sense that you didn’t have much experience doing this sort of build or needed more hand holding.

Are you using private BC or council?

Just get him round and talk to him (they are actually human :-) )