Occupancy Inspections: What Building Inspectors Look For

(knocking) Knock, knock. Who's there? Ah, the building inspector. Shit. Coming. Let's get into it.(upbeat music) Welcome to What the RFI. I'm Matt Brennan, and this is the podcast all about CA. So we're picking this up from episode 49, which was the S-1001 testing. This is our third part out of four series, talking about how to go from Octomy Prep to closing out and getting that final octomy scene, right? So definitely take a look at the links below. And of course you can watch the previous episode, the link above here, and then again, we'll get you all figured out. But the reality is we're doing this whole series to go into it. So like I said, the first one was all about the Octomy Prep. The other episode was the S-1001, integrated testing, what that day of life would look like. And we've been, to date, we've been gathering all the documents, getting the sub consultants signed off, testing life safety systems, chasing the deficiencies, preparing the building for occupancy. And hopefully the S-1001 testing is complete. Maybe there was some retests that were required, but eventually you got that completed report. Hopefully the fire alarm was working. Hopefully the elevator was recalled, and hopefully all those doors actually unlocked. And the authority, having jurisdiction, the AHA is coming to site. And that's what today we're talking about. We're talking about the AHA occupancy inspection from the construction administration perspective. Who is the AHA? When should you involve them? How to prepare? What are they going to look at? And what happens if they find something? And what do you do when the inspector acts for something nobody was inspecting? Let's get into this episode. Lots to cover. So first of all, you've heard me say it a few times, what is the AHA? Well, let's start with the acronym. AHA Authority Having Jurisdiction. This will be your local municipality where your project is being built in the state, province, whatever the case is. And it doesn't necessarily mean one person here. It depends on the project and jurisdiction. You may be dealing with, you've got the building officials, building inspectors, the fire department, fire prevention, and maybe there might be some electrical authorities and gas authorities and health authorities. Definitely health. If you've got like a commercial kitchen or you've got a licensing or anything like that, daycares, you'll have that health approval as well. But really the prime suspects here is the building inspector and the fire department. And again, when we say fire department, it may be the fire department chief along with the other individual firefighters. It ranges. Sometimes I was dealing with one myself, how lady were the individual, he wasn't really a firefighter. He was part of the fire fire crew, but all he did was review buildings, right? So he never got his hands dirty and picking up hoses and all that kind of stuff. He was just making sure that the goody new buildings inside and out. So it's a group of individuals that form this AHA Authority Having Jurisdiction. Okay. And for today's episode, we're gonna primarily talk about the people who ultimately are involved in getting us that occupancy building permit. Okay. An important point is not every AHA operates the same way. We can keep that in mind, right? Different municipalities can have different processes, different submission requirements, different inspection procedures, and different interpretations of what they expect, right? And especially the documentation side. So which meets this kind of next point is know your AHA, right? Know what to expect in the occupancy prep video. I mentioned Chilliwack requires a special red binder and a scheduled G form that has to get signed by the CRP. Do your homework, right? Again, don't look this up the day before that they're coming here, before that you've called for that request for occupancy. You wanna basically get to know this information well in advance, right? Typically, I had one district where they require all documents to be submitted five business days before, before you can even schedule that occupancy. And they require two weeks in advance to schedule. So everyone's a little bit different with their schedules and their requirements and everything, but do your homework. It's really important. We dive into that. And again, in the occupancy prep demo, a lot of that will be covered in that. But again, just as a friendly reminder. Okay. And that kind of ties into the point don't meet your inspector for the first time on occupancy. You should have a relationship with this team before. It's a for, you know, you don't wanna make it be the first conversation you're having with it. Hi, we're gonna be going for occupancy tomorrow. You probably waited too long if that's kind of the questions that you're opening up with, okay. And the AHJ should know the project. You submitted it for a building permit, you know, 18 months ago, two years ago, they have an idea of what this project is, especially if it's an important project, like a school or community center, they'll already know it. But again, just be paired with it, right? And depending on the project, they actually may have been the ones doing some building inspections already. Maybe the same people go through the construction process are the ones that do the final review. Usually not, but you never know, right? And that ties into the fire inspections, fire stopping reviews. They get, they may wanna be involved or they won't be relying you as the CRP. It all depends on each one. From the CA side, start to understand the occupancy requirements months before the occupancy date. We, again, being a broken record, if you have been following this series, I've been saying, start with four months in advance, get this information and, you know, kind of a month or so before, start bringing the AHJ into the conversations because we wanna, hey, get them booked and to give them a head up that it's coming, okay. And when we're there, we'll, you know, we'll have our occupancy checklist. We'll ask them for what documents are required, schedules, as we kind of already noted in that previous one. One thing I like to do is I like to provide my own personal checklist, the checklist that we've been talking about in the previous episodes to the AHJ. What it does is it basically shows that, you know, you know your shit with this project. You've gone above and beyond that you've got this outlined and you're taken responsible. You're not wasting their time. When they come to site, they're on board and they're ready to rock and roll with this, okay. And like I said, this continue ties into that occupancy prep episode, okay. And again, just don't wait till the last minute, you get it, right. Ask them, what do you need from us? Ask the AHJ, just confirming, do your due diligence, get that checklist all started. So once you feel like you're getting closer to this occupancy, book it early, give them some time, you know, again, don't be Friday, call the building apartment and, you know, can we meet next week? You may or may not get lucky, right. We wanna make sure that we're on board with that. And before the AHJ comes to site, I want you to walk the building before they do. And what I mean by that, and this is a big one, is do your own pre-occuracy review, right. Put a different hat on, throw your, you know, building inspectors, you know, vision on, and go out there and look at the building, right. Ideally, you know, like look at, don't worry about the paint touch ups, who cares about that. But focus on the light safety code requirements, right. Pretend you're walking that building with your sock feet, literally walking that building with your sock feet, right. Can you get from point A to point B, no problem. Put yourself in someone in a wheelchair, does it work, right. Start an occupied route, can I get out? Can you follow the exit route? Does the doors work? Correct hardware? Is if one thing we keep finding on some of these jobs is that we've got these outdoor patios, well, if it locks on the outside, well, that's the life safety issue, right. So those things, just do all those checks, because again, you can't correct this in front of, when you do this AHJ walkthrough. It's really important, just try and cover your bases, get it all done. Making sure you have all your schedules, you name it, right. And like I said, just don't just review the drawings, actually walk the site, put your lens, of what you feel that the building inspector is going to catch and look on, okay. And again, kind of getting into the details here, what are they going to be looking at? What are they going to be really laser, putting laser focus on? And you'll have a variety of projects in different jurisdictions, but the common areas that deserve attention are exiting egress, exit doors, door swings, exit hardware, exit signs, emergency lighting, clear widths, corridors, guardrails and handrails, the high climb-ability, right. It's a big thing, I just had this on a different school that we had to address. Your handrail extensions, right, common stuff, fire separation, fire doors, fire stopping, any penetrations, rated rooms, service rooms, right. All these come into play. Accessibility, huge, right, super important. Especially accessible entrances, can I push the door operator button to actually let the door open for me, right. That's step one, it's going to fail right away if I can't get into the building, right. Clearances, the washroom, grab bar, signage, pass the travel, you name it. Very important that we have all this. The building systems, we just finished an S 1001 test but the HJ may want to actually look at some of this. They may want to pull some fire alarms and we'll get into that in a second, right. The exterior, you know, fire department access, hydrants, you know, exterior exits, guardrails, path of egress, all these things that they're going to look at and comment, critique and maybe not give you occupancy, right. It doesn't stop at the exterior wall, it goes much beyond that, it goes at the whole building as a single entity. And then let's not forget about the fire department. They're going to come to this meeting, they should come into this and they're going to have their own little checklist that they want to see. Stuff like the fire alarm enunciator panel, put yourself as a fireman right now, as you come to the building, what do they look for, right. They're not going to care about guardrails or anything, they're looking about putting out the fire. So what things do they need to be working for them? Like I said, the whole fire alarm operation plan, right. The smoke alarms, the bells, the enunciator panel, tell them which zone is needing to be addressed, right. Where is the hydrants? What does the hydrants look like? Hey, this hydrant is on private property, therefore it needs to be painted a different color. These are critical things, right. Do your homework, look it up. Fire access routes, where's my truck coming in? This would have been addressed at the building permit stage, but maybe things have changed, right. Maybe they just upgraded their trucks to longer lengths. Whatever the case is, you need to be on top of this because it's really hard to change after that concrete's poured and laid out. Very, really important. The lock boxes, this is something that comes up at every project in every state, every municipality, it's a little different. Every fire department does it different. Typically, you can go get the fire department lock boxes, where it's basically where you put a set of keys in. So when the fire department comes, they can get a set of keys and go away. Now, basically get access to the full building. Some put that inside the building, some put it on the outside. It just changes per municipality, per state, per location. So really important that you find out if you're buying that box or if the fire department's buying that box and where do we need to install it? All really, really critical things. And just again, the access, the service room identification, this is service here, this is mechanic room. They're gonna look at these things. They wanna go to the sprinkler room, they wanna see all this thing. They wanna see the sprinkler lines labeled really clearly. So all these things, they've got their own set agenda as well. And this is again, where the whole local requirements matter, why having more experience and doing your due diligence and finding out in advance is much better. I wish I could just give you a simple one page list that you could follow for every HJ, but that's not a reality. So again, know your HJ, your authority, having jurisdiction. Now, the big day has come. It's the occupancy party. Well, let's see if we can make it a party. I don't know, maybe a sad day after all. Let's get here. The inspection is here. We've arrived to site, be early. It's just common courtesy. And what does that day actually look like? So before the HJ live, right? Get to site early, as we said. Do one quick walkthrough, just make sure not that you can change anything, but just be on guard what's gonna happen. Make sure the doors and corridors are clear, right? If teachers have been moving their furniture in, well, that can't happen. We have to have access to this. And just make sure everything's functioning and have keys available and have your trades on site. Sometimes we do want those trades. So who should be there? Well, of course, the architect CRP, that goes without saying, the general contractor, that'd be important. The building inspector, fire department, if that's applicable. The mechanical, electrical consultants. And the owner would be a good one too, right? They should be present for this. You don't need a huge amount of group compared to what we had on the previous S-1001 testing. But the HJ may want to do some tests, right? They may want to do pull the fire alarm, right? In that case, then that's where we talked about an S-1001 bag, meaning that you've got your fire alarms, your smoke and everything. So having those trades on site, it's good to know if we need them there or not. Sometimes the HJ may just want to do a couple tests. So having those trades locally, it's good. It's almost like an S-1001, but a much condensed version. We don't know what they're gonna ask for, but we've got to be ready, okay? And basically, let's, we meet with the building inspector. Good morning, here we are. What do you want to see? Let's go for a walk, right? And typically, you'd probably walk the exterior first. And during this walkthrough, looking at this, let the inspector inspect, listen, take notes, take photos, record locations, get the appropriate consultants to answer any technical questions come up, bring your drawings, I can't if it's enough, bring the drawings. And don't try and solve problems while you're standing in the hallway, right? It may not be solvable. Maybe something that you have to take back if it's something that's failing, needs further review. Just politely say, we understand the concern, we'll review it and get back to you. There's nothing wrong with that, all right? If some things you won't be having to answer, you can pull it up right away, great. Having chat GPT, your local building code on your, in that system, you can ask it questions, you can get some of those real-time answers from a code perspective, it's not a bad approach, right? But just keep things moving, right? And before everyone leaves, just do a quick debrief with the HJ and most determine, did we get occupancy? And, or what is preventing us from getting occupancy? We'd like to know that, we'd like to have a clear list. And there might be 20 comments to this from the HJ, and there may be three that are critical, right? It's hard to say, but before that meeting concludes, after you've gone around with the HJ and he's looked at the washrooms, he's looked at some of the fire rooms, he's wanted to pull a couple of poll stations, he wanted to try out the emergency lighting. These appointments can take anywhere from, you know, a half an hour, an hour at least, and then they can take a three hours if they want to do a mini S-1001 testing where they do want to test everything, right? Really, really critical just to pay attention, be respectful, right? And as they bring stuff up, you know, don't argue about numbers, right? Just get into it. But most important, when this meeting is done, when they've done the review, and if you got occupancy, fantastic, jump up a door, shake hands, thank you. But if you didn't, like I said, find out what needs to be corrected, what documentation is outstanding, maybe they need some additional schedules, what requires consultant confirmation, and you know, when and what requires a re-inspection. We want to, typically we're antsy getting this occupancy, sometimes it gets pushed to like our deadlines, we want to be on top of it. So get the right information from it. The AHJ would typically would send you something after at the end of the day. So really important just to follow up with them in that respect. And the inspector leaves, and everyone looks at the list, and then of course the question is, somebody might say, well, that's an extra. Maybe, maybe not, right? It all depends, which brings us to the next section is, where did that come from? And this is the AHJ items and changes that required to get that occupancy. And we all thought the building was ready. All right, that was our mind, because we're looking at the same project every day, every day, right? It's tough, you get into that mindset that you're 100% perfect, well, you're not. Clearly, someone from an outside source came in and they picked up some items that need to be addressed. And the building inspector is gonna find some stuff that was unexpected. Maybe it was additional signage, right? Maybe there was a mechanical area that was, we missed that particular sign, service room, mechanical room, fire exit, right? Really important, that might be something that we're gonna have to jump on. Maybe there's some egress work. Maybe I had a job where we had a path, we had basically an exit, we did, our space was very limited, but the reality is we did have, we could exit the left or the right. The way that this would be burning down, it'd be either left or right, there was always two exits. But on our far right, our path actually, we were going into grass and therefore, we had to put an actual solid compacted fill path to allow that egress, right? Maybe there's some guard concerns, maybe some fire stopping that we gotta follow up with a ULC rating, right? Maybe some door hardware changes, right? It can be a variety of things, but the reality is we wanna be on top of it and just first, we just wanna understand the concern before moving forward in that thing, right? And don't wanna argue on the spot. In this moment of when the AHD just bring it up, ask for clarification of what it is, not necessarily challenge them. Again, you gotta be, you want to be respectful, you wanna show them good faith and everything, but if it's not a code thing, then just politely say, as per the code, I wanna see where it states that we need this item, right? And it's just little stuff like mountain or mole here, heel here, guys. If it's just a sign saying service area, yeah, maybe by the code doesn't say you need it, don't fight it. Just put a vinyl sign and then away you go. Simple, it closes that off and it gets you that closer to occupancy. So really important, right? And again, like what the contractor's saying, hey, this is an extra, it might be, right? It might literally be, and they should be, if they're doing extra work to get this through and it wasn't any contractual documents, no worries, it'll be okay. Get it done, pay the contractor, okay? But the priority is, is basically, we need to fix this and get occupancy. It's, it shouldn't be about who pays for it. Just get it from that contractual point. We have a goal, let's get the occupancy. And if for some reason you didn't get the occupancy, fair enough, it happens, right? Sometimes it takes two rounds, no worries, now what? Well, you know, get that list like we talked from the AHJ. Everything is pretty much done. Prioritize that list. Again, we don't need the contractor to do in touch up. It's a pain, we need them to be focused on those things. Ideally, if we can respond to the building inspector within that, you know, heck, if we can respond within 24 to 48 hours of them coming out with the items at the address, that's fantastic. We wanna keep momentum going here. We don't wanna just respond a week later and another week later. And then next thing you know it, it's September and the kids are supposed to come in, be on top of this. Keep it fresh, keep it moving. Keep putting the ball on the court to the AHJ to keep things moving. And that's really, really important to keep going. And if there was life safety items that didn't pass, well, hands down, you gotta get that fixed and resolved. That goes without saying. But again, you shouldn't be seeing these things because they would have been resolved in the S-1001 testing. So this is really the final, final to get, you know, doing this. And, you know, when we do make this list of outstanding stuff, again, just own it, assign it to the right person, move on, get it done and follow up with it, okay? So after you've kind of documented it, then you've basically responded by email to the AHJ. Here's all the items that are outstanding. You noted, I've completed all these. Yes, I did receive your updated schedules. Appreciate Matt. Here you go. I do have a couple of questions on this. Here we go. Hey, an additional thing I saw, but I forgot to note when I was on site, but I've put in my phone report. How are you doing with the exposure here? Well, here's our code plans. Here's our, our alternate solutions, all these different things, right? Just basically put it back, the ball and court back to them. Okay. And eventually we're gonna get that occupancy permit. You should, right? And long as you're following the drawings, you're following what was the code and you're basically addressing the needs from the AHJ. We're going to get that. And then we may have to do a re-inspection. The AHJ is gonna come out. We're gonna do a final inspection to that. And majority of the deficiencies are completed. The S-1001 was completed as we tarred. And eventually, finally, finally, we're gonna get that occupancy letter. And it's such a relief. It's fantastic. I got one a few days ago and going through the motions of, chasing documentation, chasing consultants, chasing the contractor. It was fantastic to get that. It was a great celebration. We've got kids coming in to that school in two weeks. So this gives time for the teachers to prep. It's such a great thing. This is really, when you get these moments, this is worth the celebration with you, your team, your consultants, your own staff, crack a bottle of champagne, crack a bottle of scotch, whatever the case, whatever you're picking that case. But the reality is you've got the occupancy and that is so important and it's fantastic. And keep in mind, it might not be full occupancy. Maybe it is, maybe it's a partial, maybe there's a condition to the occupancy. These are all things that you can address per that. And what I mean by, for example, the condition occupancy is we've been in those moments where everything was done, everything was working life and safety. But guess what? The bleachers didn't show up on time. So we had to basically say under condition that we'll call the building inspector to review the bleachers when they actually arrive. Maybe there's a set of stairs that goes into a playground while our railings didn't show up in time. Well, we're gonna rope that off and we'll get a conditional basically saying, once the railings are installed, then we'll grant you full occupancy. So these partials will only last for so much time that you'll need to respond and address them. So, but at least you can start using the building. You can occupy the building. And that's the most important thing with this. And with occupancy now, it does not mean the project is finished as we've talked about, right? And this ties into the last episode for this series, right? The owner can move in with the occupancy, right? People can start using the building. We can all celebrate and the contractor starts picking up, but we're not quite done yet. We still have a thing, we're not done. We still have the deficiencies, the closeout documents, the OM manuals, as bills, training, warranty, final consultant's review, construction and contract requirements, the takeover, and substantial performance. That's gonna be an episode on its own too because there's so much to jam back into that. Ockency is a major milestone and you should be proud of yourself that you got this far, that you did get it. This is huge. It really does solidify everything that you did from that first day you met with that client, started drawing it on that piece of paper, conceptually brainstorming, putting it into the renderings, getting the community excited. And now this, fantastic. You should be very proud that you made it to this point. Okay. And as we kind of, from the CA perspective here, document everything, right? Bring into, when you're out with those inspections, record, make your notes. We just want to be prepared. We want to do this. We've got our checklist. We're being a broken record here, but you get the point. So kind of our CA takeaways for this episode here, if you're managing it is one, start early, right? Know your HJ, know the process, what they're expecting, what forms they're expecting, get them involved, start early, walk before they do. Get on that site, look at it, pretend you're that building inspector, note all the deficiencies. Let's not have any surprises onsite, right? Stay organized, have your documents ready, have your drawings there, be ready to answer any questions that come up during that moment. Maybe I've been in those moments where I've had a contractor, or excuse me, a building inspector, take the guard rail and shake and go, I don't think this is engineered. Well, actually here's the schedule, SBSC. It is engineered. Okay, no problem. I'll give you the occupancy, right? Things are really important. Okay. Leave time for things that go wrong. Like I said, 50-50, you're gonna get your occupancy or not. And if you don't, no worries. You've got a buffer of time before when you're planning on occupying this building. And remember, the HJ request doesn't necessarily mean that it's an extra, right? It depends if it's in contract or not. Occupancy, urgency, and contractual entitlement are two different things. And finally, don't celebrate until you actually have the occupancy. Let's just be very clear. Don't tell your teachers and move in until you have the occupancy. And just because we had a good inspection doesn't mean you got your occupancy and permit. Two different things, okay? So in closing here, guys, hey, we did it. The paperwork's in, the S1000 passed, the fire department's happening, building respecting is happening. And finally, we have occupancy. Fantastic, okay? People can move into the building. We're not done as we talked. There's a whole nother episode on how to wrap up this project. We are very close, very close in making this. And just because getting permission to document the building isn't actually closing out the construction contract, there are two different things, but that's where part-thor of this episode's going to do it. So, but last but not least, architects keep designing. Contractors keep making those blueprints reality. We'll see on the next one.(upbeat music)