Baltimore City Special Inspections Program

What are Special Inspections?

Special inspections are when a client, engineer, or contractor hire a third-party engineering firm to perform inspections such as foundations, drainage, electrical, rebar placement, plumbing, framing, etc. Hiring a third-party inspector (special inspector) can allow you to more control over the timing and frequency of inspections, and give you an advantage of addressing an inspection result prior to those results being sent to the permit office. Special Inspections can be scheduled during nights, holidays, and weekends, which are typically not possible when working with the city provided inspector. Special inspectors can be hired for commercial, residential and government work.

Hiring a third-party (special) inspector means you will have to pay for each and every inspection. Using the city provided inspector is free as long as you don’t have the city inspector work after hours. But, depending on how much delays cost you, it could be cheaper in the long run to hire a special inspector.

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How does Baltimore City Approach Special Inspections?:

Baltimore City does not have a third-party special inspections program. They exclusively utilize their own city employed inspectors to field verify code compliance.

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Working with the Baltimore City inspector is not an exact science. They do not have the ability to visit your job at an exact date and time. Even if you confirm an exact date and time, there is a chance that they will get tied up on another inspection earlier in the day. Because of this, it is important to reach out to your inspectors, discuss what kind of work you are doing, and confirm how inspections should be performed. Doing this early on will save you time, money and headache; as you will only be performing the required inspections and won’t miss any inspections.

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How does Baltimore City Approach Testing?:

However, Baltimore City does not perform most testing work. Meaning if you are performing a structural concrete pour, you will need to hire a third-party testing agency to test your concrete for air entrainment, slump, compressive strength, etc.