Pay cheap, Pay dear....
Obviously the inspector appears to have missed some critical information, and this is unacceptable. However, as a professional in the construction industry I am continually baffled how clients can expect to pay less in real terms year on year and not think that quality will be affected; especially in an environment of increasing compliance costs for suppliers eg cannot use ladder given high OH&S risk profile.
Without being disrespectful to the poor owner who is now facing unanticipated work, how much did the inspector get paid?
Perhaps they got paid $400 for a 7 page inspection report. So after overheads he might take out $150 for 4 hours work; ie $38/hr. A fruit and veg shop counter employee at my local grocery gets paid $25/hr with no risk, no climbing onto roofs, no litigation of $10k coming their way because they missed a rotten apple, hidden behind a panel that they couldn't open to see inside......
As with all things, seeking the lowest price consultant rarely results in getting the right or best answer. As a structural engineer, I ask people why would you risk 99% of the construction budget by screwing the engineer down on his 1% of construction costs fee (presently at 0.55% which used to be 4% in 1980), when you could pay him double to save the project significant amounts of time and money. Quality requires time and money.
When you buy insurance the rate is typically 0.5% to 8% of insured object. How is that engineers or inspectors are supposed to insure their work with professional indemnity insurance and carry out the task for less than the insurance rate of the property?
And if the owner paid above market rate costs (say $1500) for the inspection and the inspector had at least 8 hours to inspect; ask him how he would like to make good? In my view it would be reasonable to at least return his fee in this instance, and possibly more.
Steel Concrete
MEng MIEAust CPEng RPEQ
