Why does nobody talk about the difference between a basic and a full commercial electrical inspection?

We just finished wiring a new restaurant in Midtown, and the owner only paid for the basic city inspection. A month later, they had a small fire in the kitchen hood system that the basic check missed. My crew went back and did our own full inspection, which takes about four hours and checks every connection and load. Found two more spots that were a real risk. The extra $500 for the full service would have saved them a huge headache and a closed dining room. Anyone else see places cutting corners on inspections just to open faster?

2 comments

2 Comments

tyler_fox411mo agoMost Upvoted

Yeah, the "cutting corners to open faster" thing is so real. I mean, we did a small office rewire last year and the client pushed us to skip the final walkthrough. Idk, maybe it's just me but that last look catches the little stuff that builds up.

mark_smith591mo ago

That push to skip the final walkthrough is the whole problem. It's exactly when you find the loose neutral or the overloaded circuit. Those small fixes are cheap insurance against a real failure later on.