Failing an Inspection.

The final inspection shall be made after all work required by the building permit is completed.
Click to Enlarge
The final inspection shall be made after all work required by the building permit is completed.

There are many reasons an electrical inspection can fail or be denied by the electrical inspector, and not all of them are always directed to the workmanship of the electrician.

Below are a few examples:

There are however times that the electricians work, or readiness will be the cause of a failed inspection.

Most electrical inspectors have a specific routine or route which includes organizing their inspections for the day based on location. Some inspectors perform their first inspection at the job site farthest from the office and gradually work their way back so that they are near the office as they finish up their day.

Many inspectors charge a fee and lock the permit so that no inspections can be scheduled for up to 48 hours to deter workers from scheduling an inspection before the work has been completed. Electricians who are not quite ready for the inspection will commonly schedule an inspection the night before with the hopes that that they can finish their work the next morning before the inspector arrives. A change in the inspector’s schedule, or a different inspector covering for another can result in the inspector showing up first thing and issuing a red tag for the electrical work not being ready for inspection. When an electrician realizes that they will not be ready for the scheduled inspection, its best that they try and call the inspector and cancel rather than risking having the inspector show up when work is not ready and assign a fee or place a temporary hold on scheduling additional inspections. Inspectors deal with “work not ready” every day and often get to a point where their entire day is wasted with these types of inspections.

All day long the inspector will deal with electricians who just need to fix one or two items for their inspection to pass and they will ask the inspector to approve the inspection and “trust them” that they will fix those items after the inspector leaves and before the wall or ceiling is covered or closed up. Most inspectors will refuse such requests. If the inspector says yes every time this occurs, over the inspectors career, there is potential to be thousands of code violations that were present when the inspector approved the inspection that may have never actually been fixed.


The NEC® doesn’t say much about phases of construction or when inspections should be scheduled, but most jurisdictions use the below language in the IBC as a basis for all types of inspections:

IBC 110.5 Inspection requests. It shall be the duty of the holder of the building permit or their duly authorized agent to notify the building official when work is ready for inspection. It shall be the duty of the permit holder to provide access to and means for inspections of such work that are required by this code.

IBC 110.6 Approval required. Work shall not be done beyond the point indicated in each successive inspection without first obtaining the approval of the building official.

The building official, upon notification, shall make the requested inspections and shall either indicate the portion of the construction that is satisfactory as completed, or notify the permit holder or the permit holder’s agent wherein the same fails to comply with this code.

Any portions that do not comply shall be corrected and such portion shall not be covered or concealed until authorized by the building official.

IBC 110.3.12 Final inspection. The final inspection shall be made after all work required by the building permit is completed.

Did You Like This? Let Us Know With A Like! Thanks!

Failing an Inspection.

Below is a Real Question from our Electrical Continuing Education Courses for Electrical License Renewal:

According to the IBC, which of the following is true regarding the required approval of inspections?

A: It is the duty of the foreman to provide access to and means for inspections.
B: The final inspection shall be made at any time during the construction project.
C: Any portions of work that have code violations may be covered or concealed before the building official reinspects the work.
D: Any portions of work that do not comply shall be corrected and such portion shall not be covered or concealed until authorized by the building official.
Please register or sign in for electrical continuing education courses.

If you were already signed in, your session probably expired, please sign back in.