Who pays for special inspections? The Owner (unless…)
There are a lot of posts, including ones I’ve commented on that clarify what inspections and special inspections are. However, I’ve recently realized that there are some inherent logical conflicts in the practice surrounding special inspections. So I'll put this out there so others may weigh in. My concern arises when we have seen questions on the test that force you to choose the “most correct” answer or more significantly, where a correct answer involves sorting out the definition of something in the support of another issue. For example, who pays for a “special inspection” of a concrete form for a foundation? Here’s where we get into a strange problem. Concrete forms are frequently allowed to be inspected by the design professional that designed the foundation, and this is something called a special inspection. However, the engineer’s services such as this are part of the commonly contracted services provided under the architect’s contract per the A200 series. So this would directly conflict with the concept that the owner pays for the special inspections.
The basic definition is in the Guidelines for Special Inspection. http://www.cctia.org/guidelines/2010_Blue_Book_Final_110424.pdf The list includes a lot of inspections that most engineers provide as a routine and part of their CA phase. To further cloud the issue, in practice, if you ask a building department clerk or building official what a special inspection is, they will most likely show you a form that outlines the required “special inspections” and have the applicant verify that a qualified independent design professional hired by the owner is performing them on your project. For the sake of this conversation, we’ll call these “third party independent special inspections”. For example, a structural engineer will conduct what are classified by the guidelines as “special inspections” and those are included in their contracts as part of their CA phase services. Soils engineers will also conduct routine field inspections such as excavation soil verification and bearing types, that are classified as “special inspections” by the guidelines, but are not considered “special inspections” by the local jurisdictions.
Newer trends: Some jurisdictions now require you to have a third party inspection firm show evidence and verify that they are have hired on by the owner to perform such inspections PRIOR to application.
You're help and discussion of this is appreciated.