Jep G. :
I THINK that you will find that The code laws are the national standards, it is mostly at the state level that the Qualifications for a Code Enforcement Officer
is laid down, In most rural Counties this is an appointed part time job that (s)he may be trying to grow into a more full time job !!
Most Code Enforcement Officers C.E.O.s have some contracting /construction background, and at least have tried to read through the book since being appointed by
local
Town level officials, here the idea is to try to rein in certain poor practices without people suing their Town Council because of the way that the C.E.O. is interpreting their
job !
Sadly, many C.E.O.s have a dozen or so areas that they loosely understand but closely check to make sure that the general Contractor is following closely, This is a poor
way for a C.E.O. to do his job, it poorly serves the Standards , the builders, property owners, or the local government !
For every code in the book there is a section of the book that deals with
Reasonable/Safe Alternative Practices that legally can be allowed, but they are very poorly
understood by the C.E.O.s. Standard practice 'in the field 's to Require that an Architect ''sign off ' on these Alternative Practices, this removes the potential liability off of
the C.E.O. and the local governing body !
All this can be boiled down to a simple phrase "" Its a crap shoot '''' Sometimes just asking the locals will get you a lot of useful information - However if a local contractor
is 'wise to' the areas a specific C.E.O. checks- its food out of his kids mouths to tell everyone exactly how to not 'need' that contractor !
The only advice I can give and it is DAMNED hard to follow, get a feel for local practices before you buy the
land, after is to late. You have just picked the C.E.O. that you
will have to work with ! ( I hope you were not looking for a list of names ! ) For the Good of the Crafts ! Big AL
