Image: Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee speaks in Knoxville. Image Credit: Gov. Bill Lee
The Center Square [By Jon Styf] –
Tennessee contractors can now hire third-party inspectors instead of having local governments inspect the project.
The law, which goes into effect Oct. 1, requires fees charged by a local government for third-party plans, examination, inspection, review or permit packaging to be the same charged by the local government to perform the same service.
“As a former contractor, I know that a bureaucratic permitting process is bad for everybody except for the government,” Gov. Bill Lee said this week in Knoxville. “We want to flip that around and make the processes that we have in state government good for the customers who we are serving.”
The third-party inspectors are required to be registered and certified by the appropriate state agency, whether it be the State Fire Marshall, Tennessee State Board of Examiners for Architects and Engineers or certified by the International Code Council or National Fire Protection Association.
“It is reasonably assumed that the majority of third-party inspectors and plans examiners currently have insurance coverage; therefore, requiring them to maintain liability insurance will not have a significant impact on insurance premium tax revenue,” Senate Bill 2100’s fiscal note says.
Lee said that there is more construction in many areas of the state as the population grows and properly moving the process forward faster is key.
“With more building comes more plans reviews, more permitting, more inspections and with more reviews and permits and inspections, traditionally, that means more costs for those who are building these buildings because time is money and time that equates to money that equates to cost equates to dollars out of the back pockets of Tennesseans,” Lee said. “This house costs more if it takes longer to build.”
About the Author: Jon Styf, The Center Square Staff Reporter – Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies. Follow Jon on Twitter @JonStyf.
One Response
I fully understand the complaints of the builders have been in construction for more than fifty years. What I have seen time and time again is the third party inspection system become rife with corruption in a very short time and most often leaves those injured either physically or money wise by this have little or no recourse. The permitting process leaves too much to the opinion of the issuers and worse, and I have had this happen more than once, an inspector says your doing something wrong yet can’t show you in the book. I get out the book, show him he’s wrong and get harassed the rest of the job. There’s no easy answers, just my observations.