1 00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:35,920 S. What up? Everybody? Welcome to another edition of Let's Ask Paul, 2 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:40,439 the podcast where you get to ask me Paul Abernathy anything you want about 3 00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:45,920 the National Electrical Code and all things electrically related. We're gonna have a great 4 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:50,960 podcast today, So hopefully you've listening on one of your favorite listening platforms. 5 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:58,799 We broadcast on Spotify, Spreaker, Deezer, iHeartRadio, Apple Podcast, Google 6 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:02,280 Podcasts, all of your favorite platforms. But of course you can also listen 7 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:06,799 to our podcasts on our free mobile app. You just go to our website 8 00:01:06,879 --> 00:01:11,680 and it's downloadable. 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It's just one click on 16 00:01:34,519 --> 00:01:38,519 there, put it in your new username password that you create and Boom. 17 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:42,840 Then you get access to all the other features, but it also allows you 18 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:46,879 to use the chat feature and interaction feature and stuff that I post on there 19 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:49,599 that don't post anywhere else, that type of stuff, So make sure you 20 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:53,840 get it. And I will talk about in this podcast a couple of new 21 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:57,519 things that are going to be coming out in the next couple of weeks, 22 00:01:57,359 --> 00:02:01,079 and I'll spoil the beans on one of them, going to be a nice 23 00:02:01,079 --> 00:02:07,079 little newsletter that comes out that you can subscribe to with a code change in 24 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:09,680 it each week, and something that we have. So anyway, I don't 25 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:13,759 want to I don't want to spoil that because you want to make sure you 26 00:02:13,759 --> 00:02:17,439 subscribe to that. So anyway, welcome to the show. Today is going 27 00:02:17,479 --> 00:02:23,319 to be interesting topic today. We're going to be talking about electrical inspections and 28 00:02:23,319 --> 00:02:30,840 there's a lot of misconceptions and uh, misunderstandings circulating all over TikTok, Twitter, 29 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:37,800 Instagram, all types of platforms, and we want to make sure that 30 00:02:37,879 --> 00:02:40,719 we, you know, kind of spill the beams on that because there's a 31 00:02:40,719 --> 00:02:46,639 lot of misconceptions about that, uh and uh, so that's kind of what 32 00:02:46,719 --> 00:02:50,439 we want to do with that. So that's what we're going to be talking 33 00:02:50,439 --> 00:02:53,280 about on today's episode, we're going to be talking about electrical inspections and kind 34 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:57,039 of killing some of the myths. Now I get it right off the bat. 35 00:02:57,199 --> 00:03:00,599 The negativeness of this. What people have on social media is they say, 36 00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:05,280 well, the AHJ makes the rules, they can do whatever they want. 37 00:03:05,479 --> 00:03:08,120 They want you to drive five hundred ground rods. That's example somebody gave 38 00:03:08,199 --> 00:03:14,360 on TikTok. I believe ors TikTok or Facebook is they believe that, yeah, 39 00:03:14,599 --> 00:03:15,919 they can make you do anything. And I'm here to tell you that 40 00:03:16,039 --> 00:03:20,319 is not the case. It may be what you feel, but I'm going 41 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:23,039 to break that down for you a little bit, and we're going to talk 42 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:28,159 about enforcement. We're going to talk about what they can and what they really 43 00:03:28,199 --> 00:03:34,120 can't do. We're going to talk about the local amendments and how you would 44 00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:38,240 change that. But we're also going to focus on the fact that there is 45 00:03:38,280 --> 00:03:40,680 also an issue where they do they do not want to get in trouble for 46 00:03:40,759 --> 00:03:46,599 something we call retaliation. So we're going to break all that day now in 47 00:03:46,719 --> 00:03:52,719 today's episode. All Right, So, first and foremost, I'm a big 48 00:03:52,759 --> 00:03:58,960 supporter of licensed electricians. If you're not licensed. You're an electrical worker and 49 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:01,759 you're working to wards licensure. Whether or not your state requires it or not, 50 00:04:02,719 --> 00:04:08,879 it still should be your ultimate pinnacle to be licensed. So with that 51 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:14,919 said, we help you get that license over at our websites fastracksystem dot com 52 00:04:15,639 --> 00:04:20,279 or master the NEC dot com whatever. All of roads lead to teaching you 53 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:27,160 something about the National Electrical Code and helping you have a better chance at passing 54 00:04:27,199 --> 00:04:30,480 your licensing exam. And of course, if you want to continue to learn 55 00:04:30,519 --> 00:04:33,920 THENEC, we have programs for that as well, grounding and bonding and all 56 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:40,079 kinds of good things over on fasttracksystem dot com. And we appreciate all of 57 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:43,519 that support. If that's hard for you to remember, folks, you can 58 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:46,360 just go to master THENEC dot com as well. It'll get you there. 59 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:56,480 So all right, so let's talk about HJS. HJS is an acronym for 60 00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:03,639 authority having jurisdiction. Now, one of the misconceptions about electrical inspectors is or 61 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:06,560 any inspector, is that they are the AHJ. Now, if you're in 62 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:12,759 a small community where the building official is also the person doing the inspections, 63 00:05:12,839 --> 00:05:17,399 they're the one that's in charge of enforcing the state adopted standards, or if 64 00:05:17,399 --> 00:05:24,279 you're in a state that doesn't adopt it, and they utilize the ANYC at 65 00:05:24,319 --> 00:05:28,959 some point where they local, jurisdictional, regional, however they do it. 66 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:32,800 If they enforce the ANC for electrical installations, then there has to be somebody 67 00:05:32,800 --> 00:05:39,040 that's going to take control on AHJ that has to be the one that's going 68 00:05:39,079 --> 00:05:42,680 to make those ultimate decisions. For example, even if you had a military 69 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:47,079 base, uh and it was outside of the scope of the National Electrical Code 70 00:05:48,439 --> 00:05:56,240 and they're making decisions and they want the base to follow the National Electrical Code 71 00:05:56,519 --> 00:06:01,079 for their installations because it's a good minimum safety standard, somebody has to be 72 00:06:01,160 --> 00:06:08,800 designated as the AHJ that that may be the actual base commander. It may 73 00:06:08,839 --> 00:06:15,240 be just like what they inspection for a municipality. They may have a building 74 00:06:15,319 --> 00:06:21,240 official that deputizes, if you will, the other inspectors or in this case, 75 00:06:21,279 --> 00:06:25,519 FI was a military base and it's not under the purview of the of 76 00:06:25,639 --> 00:06:30,920 the municipality, then they have their own rules they have to follow, but 77 00:06:30,959 --> 00:06:35,519 they assign somebody as an ah J and they make a lot of those decisions 78 00:06:35,519 --> 00:06:41,279 and it passes it down and you have deputies and in our case in municipality, 79 00:06:41,399 --> 00:06:44,839 those deputies would be your local, your your your inspector that goes out 80 00:06:44,839 --> 00:06:47,199 and looks at the project. Again, small communities, that might be one 81 00:06:47,199 --> 00:06:51,240 guy that does all those and wears all those hats. Right, But at 82 00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:58,800 the end of the day, it's typically, uh, usually a building official 83 00:06:58,959 --> 00:07:04,240 or a building commissioner, and they're going to have additional inspectors that are going 84 00:07:04,279 --> 00:07:09,959 to be out there as their eyes and ears. Okay, So the HJ, 85 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:13,920 let's get this one out of the way first. The AHJ typically is 86 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:18,560 going to be the building official or building commissioner that is going to be the 87 00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:25,480 final say, the inspectors that are out there inspecting. Uh. If they're 88 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:30,519 not the building official or the building commissioner, then they typically are the deputies 89 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:38,600 for the building official. So they're HJ by proxy of their extended power from 90 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:43,600 the AHJ or the building official or the commissioner. Okay. So that's the 91 00:07:43,639 --> 00:07:48,480 first thing. So when an electrical inspector comes onto your project and they reject 92 00:07:48,519 --> 00:07:53,800 it, they are not the ah J again unless they're you know, you're 93 00:07:53,839 --> 00:07:56,839 in a small county that's a one man show that one guy does everything. 94 00:07:56,839 --> 00:07:59,959 He may be or she may be, but not generally that's not the case. 95 00:08:00,879 --> 00:08:03,920 Okay, So now I'll and that's kind of gives you an idea of 96 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:07,519 what we're going to talk about today. And I'm gonna go deeper because I 97 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:11,839 come from that background. Okay, So people that when I post on TikTok 98 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:16,600 or Twitter or I guess it's X now all these others, and they go, 99 00:08:16,639 --> 00:08:20,000 well, you don't know what people seem to forget. And it's not 100 00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:26,199 braggadocious by me. It's the fact that I'm blessed enough to have lived a 101 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:31,720 lot of experiences. Most people know. I worked for NIMA and I was 102 00:08:31,759 --> 00:08:35,480 there, you know, electrical expert for the South. I worked as the 103 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:41,200 electrical engineer too for the City of Richmond, Virginia, oversaw inspections UH and 104 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:46,559 UH did the training for all of our inspectors and you know all you know, 105 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:50,320 electrical plan review, fire alarm review, all this kind of stuff. 106 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:54,639 And I was also at the City of Alexandria, Virginia, where I was 107 00:08:56,279 --> 00:09:03,720 supervisor of the UH of codes or inspections and oversaw inspections, whether it's electrical, 108 00:09:03,759 --> 00:09:09,519 plumbing, mechanicals, so and obviously done and as an inspector myself for 109 00:09:09,639 --> 00:09:13,840 years, okay, not just being a master electrician, an educator and all 110 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:18,200 this other stuff. I walk to that walk in that air, so I 111 00:09:18,279 --> 00:09:24,440 understand clearly what my limitations are of electrical inspector. Now we're going to break 112 00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:28,039 that down because again I can already hear people in the comments or people that 113 00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:33,320 are listening saying, look, that's different in my jurisdiction. I'm here to 114 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:37,279 tell you that's bullshit. It's not different in your jurisdiction. It's what you 115 00:09:37,279 --> 00:09:39,799 will allow it to be in your jurisdiction. Okay, So I'm going to 116 00:09:41,039 --> 00:09:45,440 explain what I mean by that. Now we're also going to talk about sometimes 117 00:09:45,480 --> 00:09:52,159 it's there's some issues that may be just not worth the effort. When you're 118 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:56,000 dealing with somebody that's just so hard knows and maybe they are misinterpreting it or 119 00:09:56,039 --> 00:10:01,200 they don't understand it, and they're forcing you to do something, and you 120 00:10:01,279 --> 00:10:07,960 personally personally give in and say, look, the inspectors they allow you to 121 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:09,519 they tell you to do whatever they want you to do, and you just 122 00:10:09,559 --> 00:10:13,080 got to do it. That means you have given in. That means you 123 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:18,039 have given up. Okay, that means that you're willing to do whatever they 124 00:10:18,200 --> 00:10:20,919 tell you to do. And so that's what we're going to talk about today 125 00:10:22,440 --> 00:10:28,320 as well. Okay, so let's get into that topic. We are going 126 00:10:28,399 --> 00:10:33,919 to do our first break and talk about a sponsor and then we'll get deep 127 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:41,360 into more information on this topic today. Hey, folks, if you've ever 128 00:10:41,519 --> 00:10:46,080 wanted to have a great video platform that does not have the commercials, does 129 00:10:46,120 --> 00:10:50,840 not have the stuff that takes you away from the learning process from really engaging 130 00:10:50,879 --> 00:10:56,240 in videos, well I invite you to check out our fasttrackstube dot com. 131 00:10:56,240 --> 00:11:01,159 That's fast trackstube dot com. For ninety nine dollars. You get access to 132 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:05,799 it for twelve months. You get access to all recorded webinars, you get 133 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:11,320 access to past webinars. We have some great series over there, Grounding and 134 00:11:11,360 --> 00:11:16,919 Bonding series. We have the webinar that was eight hours on calculations. Really 135 00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:22,919 great stuff over there, and we do our effort to procure great videos throughout 136 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:26,759 the internet, filter them, go through them, and make sure that all 137 00:11:26,799 --> 00:11:31,799 of the information is relevant, accurate, and beneficial to our subscribers. If 138 00:11:31,799 --> 00:11:37,559 you're interested in showing your support, then go over to fasttrackstube dot com. 139 00:11:37,799 --> 00:11:43,159 And subscribe today. That's fasttrackstube dot com ninety nine dollars annually, and I 140 00:11:43,279 --> 00:11:48,279 promise you it would be the best investment in your learning process you've ever made. 141 00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:54,519 All Right, So let's get back on to Let's get back on to 142 00:11:54,559 --> 00:11:58,440 our topic. So inspections inspectors. So let's talk about the first thing that 143 00:11:58,639 --> 00:12:05,759 people want to talk about is does an inspector electrical inspector have any liability? 144 00:12:05,799 --> 00:12:09,159 Do they have immunity? I hear that all the time from people and inspectors 145 00:12:09,159 --> 00:12:13,440 have immunity, that things like that. Well, there's certain things that you 146 00:12:13,519 --> 00:12:18,600 have to understand, and it does change throughout different administrations through the enforcement community. 147 00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:24,200 One state in one city may have different rules that are changed. But 148 00:12:24,879 --> 00:12:31,240 as a whole, an electrical inspector, if they miss something, and they 149 00:12:31,320 --> 00:12:35,559 just honestly miss something, then they have up to In Virginia, for example, 150 00:12:35,559 --> 00:12:39,159 I use that as a key example, they have up to two years 151 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:46,279 in order to correct an error of something they may miss. Now, the 152 00:12:46,399 --> 00:12:50,000 problem with that is if the building's already done, and it's already moved on 153 00:12:50,039 --> 00:12:52,120 into the process, CEO is issued, and people are living in there, 154 00:12:52,159 --> 00:13:00,639 then chances are they'll never encounter it, right, But if an inspector passes 155 00:13:00,759 --> 00:13:05,519 something that they know is wrong, uh, they know it's wrong and or 156 00:13:05,960 --> 00:13:11,960 you know, that's a problem because then they can be held accountable. So 157 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:18,240 there's no blanket immunity for you know, ignorance. So we have this thing 158 00:13:18,279 --> 00:13:22,320 in the industry called miss Jesus, maul Jesus and non Jesus. And one 159 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:26,600 of the concepts is is if an HJ or an inspector is a deputy of 160 00:13:26,639 --> 00:13:31,720 the HJ, carrying out their orders on behalf of the h J, which 161 00:13:31,759 --> 00:13:37,279 gives them that power. What happens is if you knowingly pass something that you 162 00:13:37,480 --> 00:13:43,320 know is wrong, okay, and you know it's wrong, and that's a 163 00:13:43,559 --> 00:13:48,039 that's a bar that you have to you'd have to convince somebody that they didn't 164 00:13:48,080 --> 00:13:52,440 know it when they passed it. And so if you do that, then 165 00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:56,519 the chances of the AHJ being held accountable for anything or the inspector is slim 166 00:13:56,559 --> 00:14:01,440 to none. Okay. The old thing is we all make mistakes. That 167 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:05,440 doesn't mean they can't be sued or attempted to be sued, because you can 168 00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:11,080 sue anybody in this world. Everybody gets sue happy. But typically you're probably 169 00:14:11,080 --> 00:14:15,080 not gonna win that case. They'll just plead ignorance and they didn't know. 170 00:14:16,399 --> 00:14:20,120 Now if they know better. So if they have a high level of threshold, 171 00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:22,759 let's say they attend a lot of education, a lot of training, 172 00:14:22,759 --> 00:14:26,559 and we'll pull all that out. If you were to have to go to 173 00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:31,080 court, we'll find the level of their expectation that they should have been knowledgeable 174 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:35,919 in something. If you can argue that any electrical inspectors should have known this 175 00:14:35,960 --> 00:14:39,679 is is basic one oh one in their course material. In other words, 176 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:43,200 what I would do is I would pull if they do continuing education for electrical 177 00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:48,559 inspectors, I would have them pull their their their education log to determine whether 178 00:14:48,559 --> 00:14:52,720 they went to training. I would subpoena the training material to see whether a 179 00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:56,440 certain topic is covered or not. We would turn no stone unturned in order 180 00:14:56,480 --> 00:15:01,000 to find out whether this is pure knowledge that they should have known, and 181 00:15:01,039 --> 00:15:07,879 if that's the case, then they can be held liable for that. The 182 00:15:07,919 --> 00:15:13,919 biggest thing that I run into is when the question is can an inspector be 183 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:20,159 held accountable if they make you do something that's not code, If they make 184 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:24,440 you do something that is not code and something happens, they most certainly can 185 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:28,600 be held liable. Okay, this is why I always used to tell my 186 00:15:28,679 --> 00:15:33,240 inspectors that, look, I do not want you imposing your own will on 187 00:15:33,279 --> 00:15:37,960 somebody's installation. Just follow the minimum safety code and let it be the choice 188 00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:45,919 of the installer and their relationship with their customer. Right, that is the 189 00:15:46,039 --> 00:15:50,919 choice in order to do something that may be above and beyond code. A 190 00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:54,720 great example of this is over on social media the big debate, and this 191 00:15:56,480 --> 00:16:00,879 one is a trip, the big debate about using anti shit short bushings for 192 00:16:00,159 --> 00:16:04,519 MC cable. You have a select fused people that say, oh no, 193 00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:10,600 it's I've done it, and it stops shorts and it saves a fire and 194 00:16:10,639 --> 00:16:15,720 all that. I call bullshit on all of that. Bullshit on all of 195 00:16:15,759 --> 00:16:21,679 that. Okay, that you may have one or two incidents where it was 196 00:16:22,039 --> 00:16:26,919 actually the cable was stripped and done improperly to begin with, that has nothing 197 00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:30,279 to do with the anti short bushing. It's the ignorance of somebody's ability to 198 00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:36,600 understand the trade and how to do something properly. So I will chalk that 199 00:16:36,679 --> 00:16:44,559 up as poor training and poor skill sets. Okay, the way fittings are 200 00:16:44,559 --> 00:16:48,759 listed for mc cable makes this requirement for an anti short bushing irrelevant. It 201 00:16:48,759 --> 00:16:52,240 doesn't appear in UL fifteen sixty nine. It doesn't appear in the NEEC. 202 00:16:52,759 --> 00:16:57,000 Now, ac cable's a different story. Article three twenty dot forty is going 203 00:16:57,039 --> 00:17:02,600 to give you that guidance. But when it comes to mc cable, three 204 00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:07,799 point thirty dot six requires listed fittings. The fittings are designed by the manufacturer. 205 00:17:07,039 --> 00:17:10,480 It does not require an anti short bushing. Now, you might buy 206 00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:14,720 a fitting that has a red throat in it that is an abrasion proof throat, 207 00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:18,920 okay, And that's because they're fitting where the wires come out of the 208 00:17:18,039 --> 00:17:22,440 end could be sharp, and so they put this because they're using really thin 209 00:17:22,519 --> 00:17:27,000 sheet metal to stamp this thing out or something like that. So they might 210 00:17:27,039 --> 00:17:30,920 put a grammet in there. But that is not an anti short bushing. 211 00:17:30,119 --> 00:17:34,200 That is just a Brasian grammut Okay. So got to understand the difference. 212 00:17:34,559 --> 00:17:38,039 But my point is if you want to use them or not, that's a 213 00:17:38,119 --> 00:17:45,440 purely your decision, not the neec's decision. So I'm not here to tell 214 00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:49,400 you that you can't use them. Go ahead, knock yourself out. I'm 215 00:17:49,400 --> 00:17:52,039 not going to use them, and people say, well, your a heck 216 00:17:53,359 --> 00:17:56,920 whatever. I'm using a listed product, the listed fitting that doesn't require anti 217 00:17:56,920 --> 00:18:00,599 short bush If you want to call that a act, you go do you 218 00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:04,319 boo. But in the end of the day, it is a something that 219 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:07,440 has to be decided and if you feel better about it, then go for 220 00:18:07,519 --> 00:18:12,200 it. People say, well, the manufacturers supply them, so that means 221 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:15,359 you have to use them. That is not true. Now, when you 222 00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:19,559 have a product that has instructions, and the instructions are submitted as part of 223 00:18:19,599 --> 00:18:23,599 a listing for a product, then that is one thing. But anti short 224 00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:30,119 bushings are not part of any listing that has been submitted for evaluation. The 225 00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:34,160 manufacturers supply anti short bushings for MC cable. I'm gonna say this once today 226 00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:37,839 and we'll get back onto inspector topic. I'm gonna say this once today for 227 00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:42,200 all of you people out on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, all the bullshit 228 00:18:42,279 --> 00:18:47,759 that you spread. Okay, the reason I'm going to tell you right now 229 00:18:47,839 --> 00:18:51,839 and ask me how I know. You know how I know the reason that 230 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:57,240 manufacturers have supplied you anti short bushings for MC cable in the past is because 231 00:18:57,240 --> 00:19:02,960 we are ninety nine points eight nine percent. Sure you don't know the difference 232 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:07,680 between MC and AC cable. So in order to make your life easier, 233 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:12,319 we're gonna give you a baggie of these little anti short bushings. That's all 234 00:19:12,359 --> 00:19:18,240 it is. It's not part of the listing, it's we're giving them to 235 00:19:18,319 --> 00:19:22,960 you. Now, that's different with AC cable armored cable. The standard UL 236 00:19:23,079 --> 00:19:29,359 four requires us to supply thirty five of them for every two hundred feet coil 237 00:19:29,519 --> 00:19:33,119 of AC cable. That's right in the standard, folks. So everybody that 238 00:19:33,359 --> 00:19:38,279 argues with me about anti short bushings, why do you think they don't require 239 00:19:38,319 --> 00:19:42,960 them for MC? Of all these years? Why do you think we have 240 00:19:44,039 --> 00:19:47,599 manufacturers? Don't you think that they would have an increased risk of liability? 241 00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:51,440 The fitting people, the cable people. Don't you think that the standard they 242 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:53,680 would push for these these anti short bushings if they were such a big deal 243 00:19:53,759 --> 00:19:57,920 for MC cable. Don't you think we pushed for it because manufacturers of wire 244 00:19:59,359 --> 00:20:03,359 and cable and fittings, they want to do whatever we can do to reduce 245 00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:07,720 our liability. That's one of the things I do for major manufacturer is I 246 00:20:07,799 --> 00:20:14,400 reduce their liability by knowing how to utilize the NEEC. So when something frivolous 247 00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:18,480 comes in, I throw it back in their face due to improper installation. 248 00:20:18,839 --> 00:20:22,519 There's a little secret. I will find something wrong with your installation that will 249 00:20:22,559 --> 00:20:27,799 cause anything that you present to be thrown out. So you have to install 250 00:20:27,839 --> 00:20:33,240 it right. You install it wrong. Don't have any expectations of any product 251 00:20:33,319 --> 00:20:37,759 to be reliable or whatnot because you install it wrong. That's why it's so 252 00:20:37,799 --> 00:20:44,720 important to learn the NEEC right to you install things correctly. Anyway, I 253 00:20:44,799 --> 00:20:48,680 digress, but just remember manufacturers do not require it. Hell, go to 254 00:20:48,759 --> 00:20:52,920 all the product sheets for every MC cable manufacturer and there'll be a note on 255 00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:56,759 there that says that anti shortbushings are not required. If you want to use 256 00:20:56,799 --> 00:21:00,839 them, knock yourself out. If you make it. If it makes you 257 00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:03,759 feel better, knock yourself out. But stop being an a hole and say 258 00:21:03,799 --> 00:21:07,720 that other people's jobs are inferior because they don't use them. Wake up, 259 00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:15,279 Wake up. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. I never do the 260 00:21:15,279 --> 00:21:18,000 minimum code. I always go above the minimum code. Again, I'll say, 261 00:21:18,039 --> 00:21:21,559 like I always do. You do, you boo, But that doesn't 262 00:21:21,599 --> 00:21:26,440 make you a better electrician. Okay, so nough of that. So bringing 263 00:21:26,480 --> 00:21:33,200 it back to the inspector, if an inspector makes you do something that is 264 00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:37,759 above the NEEC, or makes you do something that is below the NEEC, 265 00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:47,599 then they are accountable. Okay. They are accountable because if something goes wrong, 266 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:55,599 they forcibly deviated from the minimum safety standard. Okay, that's important fact 267 00:21:55,599 --> 00:21:59,359 to remember when it comes to inspections. And this is what I tell inspectors 268 00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:03,200 out there all the time. There was an example on TikTok or Facebook, 269 00:22:03,559 --> 00:22:10,519 one of them, I can't remember which one, where the individual said that 270 00:22:10,759 --> 00:22:18,200 an inspector made him drive five hundred ground rots in order to achieve twenty five 271 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:26,240 oms. I'm sitting here thinking, I'm suing that municipality for my labor, 272 00:22:26,079 --> 00:22:33,240 my time, my costs. I'm suing them, And you think, well, 273 00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:37,359 you know, what's the point. Look, people sue. There's people 274 00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:41,640 who say things about other people and they sue them for deformation. You know 275 00:22:41,720 --> 00:22:45,720 that didn't cause them any harm, and they end up getting millions of dollars. 276 00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:51,519 And you're going millions of dollars for what you know, you have to 277 00:22:51,599 --> 00:22:55,640 show that you were harmed. Well, if you make me do something above 278 00:22:55,759 --> 00:23:00,799 code and you forced me to do it, then you are harming me. 279 00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:07,279 You are harming me financially. You're taking away my time, and my time 280 00:23:07,359 --> 00:23:10,640 is expensive and it's up to me to determine what my time is worth. 281 00:23:11,039 --> 00:23:15,119 And so I'm suing you. At the end of the day. There's a 282 00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:18,880 lot of electricians out there that say, Paul, I just it's not worth 283 00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:22,559 it. They have too much power. I'm gonna call bullshit again. You've 284 00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:26,559 accepted them, folks. I've been there. I've worked for municipalities. Trusts 285 00:23:26,559 --> 00:23:32,319 me, they do not want you raising a stink and so, yes, 286 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:36,480 you might get an overzealous inspector, but the moment that you call them out, 287 00:23:36,599 --> 00:23:41,880 you go to their supervisor. You don't stop. You be vicious and 288 00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:44,480 you say, well, I don't want to do this because they'll affects me 289 00:23:44,519 --> 00:23:48,000 on other jobs. Then you document it and you have what's called retaliation, 290 00:23:48,599 --> 00:23:52,799 and you go to their supervisor. If that doesn't work, I'm telling you, 291 00:23:52,799 --> 00:23:56,200 because I've been there, go to the city manager, go to the 292 00:23:56,240 --> 00:24:00,519 mayor, go to a council meeting. You have to stand up if you 293 00:24:00,599 --> 00:24:06,119 feel there's something huge going on in your community and you accept it and roll 294 00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:10,119 over. Then don't blame everybody else, blame yourself. It's kind of like 295 00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:11,880 when you don't like what the NEC says, but you don't get involved in 296 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:15,559 change, then we don't want to hear it. We don't want to hear 297 00:24:15,599 --> 00:24:21,480 it. You either get involved or get out. So now the question that 298 00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:23,319 comes from some people is like, well, Paul, it's just a little 299 00:24:23,319 --> 00:24:26,319 thing here. They're making me do this. It's just a little thing, 300 00:24:26,359 --> 00:24:30,559 and I don't mind doing it. Then that's a choice that you make. 301 00:24:30,599 --> 00:24:33,599 And I get it. Sometimes not rocking the boat helps a project get done. 302 00:24:34,039 --> 00:24:37,279 I get it, dude. I've been there. I've been an electrical 303 00:24:37,279 --> 00:24:42,400 contractor. I've taught people electrical contracting consulted. I work with electrical contractors. 304 00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:48,279 I understand it. I worked as inspector. I've worked as a head of 305 00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:52,200 jurisdictions. I get it. I even worked with NIMA, who worked with 306 00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:56,000 five over now I think it's four hundred and fifty manufacturers around the country. 307 00:24:56,039 --> 00:25:00,680 I was their expert for thirteen states in the South. Look, I get 308 00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:07,039 it. But if you don't stand your ground for something, then it hurts 309 00:25:07,079 --> 00:25:14,240 everybody else. And sometimes a big mouth does get results. Okay, sure 310 00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:18,440 it gets the attention, but it gets results. Do not accept an electrical 311 00:25:18,480 --> 00:25:25,160 inspector forcing you to do things that you think is wrong. And I've offered 312 00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:30,519 this forever, folks. I've offered this service for free forever. If you 313 00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:34,759 have something in inspectors making you do, just go to Paul Abernathy dot com. 314 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:38,960 It's a free freaking service. I've been doing this for years now for 315 00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:45,559 you folks. Free. Send it information in, give me as much detail 316 00:25:45,599 --> 00:25:48,519 as possible. Tell me the jurisdiction, Tell me exactly what they're doing, 317 00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:55,960 and I will give you a response that you can present to them, and 318 00:25:56,039 --> 00:26:00,000 I will help you with your argument because I want to stop this this enforcement 319 00:26:00,319 --> 00:26:06,240 that goes way above the minimum standard. That needs to be a choice between 320 00:26:06,279 --> 00:26:08,559 you and your customer if you want to go above the minimum standard. Plus, 321 00:26:08,599 --> 00:26:15,160 folks, we have to educate and not all inspectors they're educated as well, 322 00:26:15,039 --> 00:26:18,519 just like not all electricians are educated as well. Look, I don't 323 00:26:18,519 --> 00:26:23,680 know any other educator out there that offering this stuff for free. I've been 324 00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:27,559 doing it for years. It's free consulting. You just have to do it 325 00:26:27,599 --> 00:26:33,960 through our Paul abernaty dot com portal because of our disclaimer. I'm not designing 326 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:37,880 systems, I'm not doing it. I'm giving you what the code says, 327 00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:44,039 purely black and white. So anyway, that's that's my thought. That's that 328 00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:48,519 first part of that one there. So before I go into the next topic. 329 00:26:48,079 --> 00:26:52,599 If an inspector's making you do something above the minimum safety standard and you 330 00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:56,839 know that they're wrong, you've consulted and you know what is and then people 331 00:26:56,880 --> 00:27:02,920 say, well it's up to interpretation. Well, if their interpretation is crappy, 332 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:07,440 then you can poke a million holes in it. But there's always somewhere 333 00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:11,279 to go. Now with that, let's talk one. Let's let's shift gears 334 00:27:11,319 --> 00:27:17,279 to what we call retaliation. And so you're out there saying, well, 335 00:27:17,279 --> 00:27:18,920 look if I bring up these things and the guy is going to give me 336 00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:22,720 a hard time on the next installation, it's all how you do it if 337 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:26,440 you want to be an asshole, and how you confront the guy. That's 338 00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:30,880 one way, but there is a tactful way to do this with a an 339 00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:37,960 attempt to educate the ignorant. Okay, so again that's it's it's you have 340 00:27:38,039 --> 00:27:41,920 to understand how to do that. So if you're a kind of guy that's 341 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:47,720 just just in your face. Then you need to rethink about how you deal 342 00:27:47,839 --> 00:27:52,720 with Maybe you need to take our course on what's called soft skills and and 343 00:27:52,039 --> 00:27:56,119 and smooth out your edges a little bit. Smooth them out a little bit, 344 00:27:56,680 --> 00:28:00,680 and then learn how to present an actual case your inspector. Now I 345 00:28:00,759 --> 00:28:04,519 get it to some people that'll say, look again, if it's something little, 346 00:28:06,119 --> 00:28:07,720 they're like, ted, it's not worth the argument. I don't want 347 00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:11,680 to delay the project. Don't worry about that. Then that's a decision you 348 00:28:11,839 --> 00:28:15,680 make. Don't blame anybody else, don't blame the jurisdiction at this point, 349 00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:18,799 that's a decision that you're willing to accept. Suck it up, accept it, 350 00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:22,720 do whatever they want you to do, and get it done. Like 351 00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:25,640 the five hundred ground rod guy, Dude, if you're okay with that, 352 00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:30,359 drive your damn five hundred ground rods and leave. I could never be okay 353 00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:34,039 with that ever. Okay, So anyway, so that type of thing. 354 00:28:34,079 --> 00:28:41,319 Now, let's talk a little bit about retaliation. Okay, let's talk a 355 00:28:41,359 --> 00:28:47,079 little bit about retaliation, because that seems to be the number one topic beyond 356 00:28:48,039 --> 00:28:49,799 the issue of well, the inspector tells me to do this, and I'm 357 00:28:49,839 --> 00:28:53,000 going to do it because they're going to make my life difficult on the next 358 00:28:53,039 --> 00:28:57,839 project. And so am I here to say that that does not happen. 359 00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:03,799 Absolutely happen. Right, If somebody gets a chip on their shoulder and you've 360 00:29:03,799 --> 00:29:07,480 had an altercation with them and they come to your next project, then there's 361 00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:11,000 a higher probability there's going to be a lot of tension there. So, 362 00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:19,079 but here's the thing. Retaliation in the enforcement world is very bad because the 363 00:29:19,119 --> 00:29:25,680 city managers, the city council, the community, nobody wants to think that 364 00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:30,440 there's somebody out there retaliating. It's almost like a cancel culture thing. Whereas 365 00:29:30,559 --> 00:29:34,200 something happened, you know, when Trump got the attempted assassination and people started 366 00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:37,920 posting on there about and him, you know, wish they did miss which 367 00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:41,880 is disgusting, disgusting human beings that would ever post anything like that. I 368 00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:45,839 don't care whether you're a Democrat or Republican. Never wish that on anybody. 369 00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:48,920 I would not wish that on Biden. I would not wish that on Harris. 370 00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:52,079 I would not wish that on anybody. They got kids, they got 371 00:29:52,160 --> 00:29:57,039 family. It's just a job. So anyway, enough of that, But 372 00:29:59,119 --> 00:30:03,880 my point being is that retaliation is kind of in that same area in the 373 00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:10,440 fact that nobody wants to be exposed for just making life harder on the person 374 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:12,359 that's trying to feed their family, trying to grow their community, trying to 375 00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:18,240 bring jobs, and so retaliation. I'm gonna give you an example because we 376 00:30:18,279 --> 00:30:23,839 went through it. I have experienced this before. If an inspector fails you 377 00:30:25,960 --> 00:30:30,200 and you have a confrontation with them, you know, you have a you 378 00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:32,759 know, we'll talk about later how you're supposed to do it. But let's 379 00:30:32,759 --> 00:30:37,799 say something happens and now the next project, the electric specter comes out there 380 00:30:37,839 --> 00:30:44,599 and then fails you for something that is totally not right. It's just retaliation. 381 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:48,799 Now granted, if he finds something maybe that you piss them off, 382 00:30:48,039 --> 00:30:52,720 So now they're going to be hyper focused. That's okay. I mean I 383 00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:56,319 would I want the inspector to be focused anyway, right, because we're talking 384 00:30:56,319 --> 00:31:02,319 about protecting people's property in their lives, right, So I wanted to be 385 00:31:02,359 --> 00:31:04,400 focused. I don't wanted to just let things go. I don't ever like 386 00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:07,920 an inspector that lets things go. Okay, So they're hyper focused. That 387 00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:12,400 doesn't mean they're retaliating against you. That just means you have narrowed their scope 388 00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:18,559 of focus to where they're watching everything you do. That's okay. I don't 389 00:31:18,599 --> 00:31:23,680 have a problem with that. Now, if they make something up or force 390 00:31:23,759 --> 00:31:29,599 you to do something that is beyond the minimum safety standard, that is not 391 00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:33,000 an interpretation issue. It's just blatant retaliation. You document it, You write 392 00:31:33,039 --> 00:31:38,680 it down. Hell, you send me at Paul abernaty dot com your scenario 393 00:31:38,759 --> 00:31:42,720 and I'll give you the code references and all that kind of stuff. And 394 00:31:44,119 --> 00:31:48,599 if they're doing this simply out of spite, then at this point, after 395 00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:53,119 your first initial encounter, you should be documenting everything. In fact, I 396 00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:57,720 tell people all the time, we sell these little notebooks over on Electricianpride dot 397 00:31:57,759 --> 00:32:01,799 com, these little notebooks that is like inspection logs. I tell people, 398 00:32:01,839 --> 00:32:06,240 I said, I would make notes of every inspection that you have, everything 399 00:32:06,279 --> 00:32:10,480 that happens, every altercation that happens, a document, especially if you think 400 00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:15,799 there's an issue with a certain inspector, document it. Write it down while 401 00:32:15,799 --> 00:32:19,640 it's fresh in your mind, and be very neutral in it, even though 402 00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:23,200 you're upset. Write down what's going on. Because at the end of the 403 00:32:23,319 --> 00:32:27,880 day, if somebody's forcing you to do something over and over and you know 404 00:32:27,960 --> 00:32:32,200 it's wrong or it seems blatant, and I can't judge what that is. 405 00:32:32,400 --> 00:32:36,519 You know your installation and you know what's going on between you and them. 406 00:32:37,119 --> 00:32:39,559 But if that's the case and you feel it's retaliation, then you most certainly 407 00:32:39,599 --> 00:32:45,079 go to their supervisor. You most certainly stirre the pot because the heat will 408 00:32:45,079 --> 00:32:50,480 come down on them and they will change that behavior if they want to keep 409 00:32:50,519 --> 00:32:54,359 their job. And you've got to be vicious. I hate to say it, 410 00:32:54,440 --> 00:32:59,039 you've got to be vicious if you are getting retaliated against it, and 411 00:32:59,119 --> 00:33:01,440 you can follow a complet with the city. You can go to the city 412 00:33:01,480 --> 00:33:08,440 council meeting and speak out. You can put that person on blast on blast, 413 00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:14,960 Okay, if they're making you do something that is not documented anywhere, 414 00:33:15,039 --> 00:33:17,440 it's not in an amendment that they may have, it's just their own personal 415 00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:22,720 wills and use to me. I will write you an official letter from a 416 00:33:22,759 --> 00:33:29,200 code panel member representing a corporation that does nothing but teach people the NEC. 417 00:33:29,759 --> 00:33:31,279 I will write you a letter that you can present to that city council. 418 00:33:31,359 --> 00:33:36,359 I will do it for free. That's what I'm here for. I'm here 419 00:33:36,359 --> 00:33:40,160 to help you. And again I'm not getting paid for that stuff. It's 420 00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:44,720 I do this because I want people to learn. And even if an electrical 421 00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:49,119 inspector is doing something wrong, I want them to learn. I want them 422 00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:52,519 to learn the right way. So at the end of the day, that's 423 00:33:52,559 --> 00:33:59,599 why we offer those types of services to people. So don't stand for it. 424 00:34:00,039 --> 00:34:04,039 Valiation is even worse. That gets them in more trouble because now they're 425 00:34:04,079 --> 00:34:07,280 retaliating against you. And you can raise the bar now whether you want to 426 00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:10,519 accept it or not. And people say, well, that's just too much 427 00:34:10,559 --> 00:34:15,960 work. That's just too much work, dude. This is the same reason 428 00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:19,159 people don't get out and vote. This is the same reason people don't get 429 00:34:19,199 --> 00:34:24,840 involved in any c development process because they're lazy. They're lazy. Sometimes you 430 00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:32,199 have to stir the pot in order to get change, you know what I'm 431 00:34:32,199 --> 00:34:37,039 saying. But if you're willing to accept it, then that's okay. That's 432 00:34:37,159 --> 00:34:43,280 your choice. Don't blame others or rip others for their choice or whatnot. 433 00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:45,960 You can do it in a tactful manner. Nobody wants to be intimidated. 434 00:34:46,039 --> 00:34:51,320 Nobody wants to be retaliated, you know, that type of thing. So 435 00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:57,199 the retaliation will get them in more trouble. But you have to start documenting 436 00:34:57,239 --> 00:35:01,280 it and then if they and so. So that's the important part of retaliation. 437 00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:07,960 So the next topic we're going to talk about is code references in what 438 00:35:07,199 --> 00:35:14,559 a good electrical inspector should do and how they should do their inspections. We're 439 00:35:14,559 --> 00:35:20,679 going to talk about that next after this word from our sponsor. Okay, 440 00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:24,639 so let's go on and move into the topic of what makes a good electrical 441 00:35:24,639 --> 00:35:30,639 inspector. So when I worked for the City of Richmond, Virginia and Alexandria, 442 00:35:30,760 --> 00:35:37,280 Virginia, and we're developing inspector programs and doing education and teaching and enhancements, 443 00:35:37,400 --> 00:35:42,960 and a lot of the times we also worked on engagement and engaging with 444 00:35:43,039 --> 00:35:45,679 the public because you have to. You have to remember that an electrical inspector 445 00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:51,239 is a public official, so they're working at the will of the people. 446 00:35:51,880 --> 00:35:55,400 That's the first thing that I tell electrical inspectors is to take off your electrician 447 00:35:55,440 --> 00:36:00,719 hat that you had for years. You need to stop the way you used 448 00:36:00,719 --> 00:36:04,920 to think. Don't worry about what other inspectors maybe made you do. If 449 00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:08,360 you were electric electrician for years before you came an inspector, put all that 450 00:36:09,239 --> 00:36:14,960 in the back past. When you've become an electrical inspector. I used to 451 00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:20,559 tell people it's analogy like you've seen that movie Over the Top where Sylvester Sloan 452 00:36:20,679 --> 00:36:22,679 turns his hat backwards, you know, and kind of gets into this mode, 453 00:36:22,719 --> 00:36:27,519 this focus. It's the same concept when it comes to be an inspector. 454 00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:30,280 So you're going out to do a job, and you're going out to 455 00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:36,559 do inspections to keep your community safe. Okay, you turn that hat. 456 00:36:36,639 --> 00:36:38,960 You turn it from your electrician hat or whatever you've had to do in the 457 00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:43,760 past, or you've had maybe some inspector who was hard on you in the 458 00:36:43,760 --> 00:36:47,039 past and things like that, and now you're one and you want to impose 459 00:36:47,079 --> 00:36:51,800 your will on somebody else. Maybe you learn bad habits. I don't know, 460 00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:54,559 but now you're going to be the one going out there enforcing things. 461 00:36:55,199 --> 00:36:59,960 Turn that hat around and now put your inspector hat on. Be fresh, 462 00:37:00,039 --> 00:37:04,000 and that means fresh perspective, and understand that your job is to enforce the 463 00:37:04,039 --> 00:37:08,960 minimum safety standard or any additional amendments that are adopted by your jurisdiction and state 464 00:37:09,519 --> 00:37:15,239 and do your job. Just to do that. The job is hard enough 465 00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:21,000 to impose your own will on anything, Okay, So just go out day 466 00:37:21,039 --> 00:37:24,519 in and day out and enforce the minimum safety standard. Do not impose your 467 00:37:24,559 --> 00:37:30,559 own personal will. So what's a good electrical inspector look like? Okay, 468 00:37:30,599 --> 00:37:31,920 when I'm training an electrical inspector, here's a good one. Here's what it 469 00:37:31,960 --> 00:37:37,679 looks like. For one, I want the electrical inspector to carry themselves in 470 00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:43,559 a professional manner. They're never to argue with the customer on a project. 471 00:37:44,119 --> 00:37:47,000 If there is a debate, it stays very civil. I didn't want to 472 00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:52,480 hear any of my inspectors get into a shouting match or have any bystandard report 473 00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:59,559 a shouting match. I much prefer the inspector to walk away before it becomes 474 00:37:59,559 --> 00:38:02,960 one of those. It can't control what the consumer does, but I can 475 00:38:04,079 --> 00:38:08,519 control what the inspector does. So cool head got to have a cool head. 476 00:38:08,519 --> 00:38:12,320 And that's not so easy for me because I've been a hot head. 477 00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:15,679 So that's the first thing that we try to focus on, is like, 478 00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:22,599 you know what, don't let it escalate. And I cannot say that I 479 00:38:22,599 --> 00:38:29,639 have always practiced that, but I learned from that. Okay, So anyway, 480 00:38:29,760 --> 00:38:36,480 the next thing I'll tell you is that every electrical inspector must continue their 481 00:38:36,599 --> 00:38:42,119 education and continually learn. Now, in most states you have to take some 482 00:38:42,239 --> 00:38:45,880 continuing it whether it's enforced by the state, but there's or by whoever does 483 00:38:45,920 --> 00:38:52,239 the inspector licensing for your state or your jurisdiction. It's not a given in 484 00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:55,679 every state. But a good electrical inspector is going to continue to learn and 485 00:38:55,880 --> 00:39:00,360 thirst for knowledge. Okay, They're going to continue to strive to learn things. 486 00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:06,000 They're not going to be closed minded. Now they know what they know, 487 00:39:07,119 --> 00:39:09,760 and so they're going to enforce what they know. And here's the thing 488 00:39:10,880 --> 00:39:16,559 all good electrical inspectors barring on great electrical inspectors, is that all of the 489 00:39:16,679 --> 00:39:23,000 good ones provide a code reference to substantiate why they'll turn why they're turning down 490 00:39:23,159 --> 00:39:28,519 a project. Now, that doesn't mean that if somebody, you know, 491 00:39:28,559 --> 00:39:31,239 I did have an inspector one time, he's rest his soul. He passed 492 00:39:31,239 --> 00:39:36,599 away a couple of years ago. That was back in Virginia. And when 493 00:39:36,599 --> 00:39:40,199 he would cite somebody for something that would be grounding and bonding. He would 494 00:39:40,239 --> 00:39:44,280 turn them down and just put I mean, at least he followed by rules, 495 00:39:44,400 --> 00:39:46,199 you know, had to give a code reference. The only problem is 496 00:39:46,199 --> 00:39:51,960 that he would give article two fifty the whole freaking article. And I told 497 00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:53,559 him, I said, you can't do that. At least you're not going 498 00:39:53,639 --> 00:39:59,280 to do that under my supervision. I ain't. If you're going to reject 499 00:39:59,320 --> 00:40:06,199 somebody, then you're going to give them the specific section that pertains to why 500 00:40:06,239 --> 00:40:10,119 they failed. And one of the big arguments that people said was, you 501 00:40:10,199 --> 00:40:13,920 know what, that's going to slow down the inspector because they have to stop 502 00:40:13,960 --> 00:40:17,719 and look things up. And you know, one of the things that I 503 00:40:17,800 --> 00:40:22,400 used to tell my inspectors is, you know, the majority of the things 504 00:40:22,440 --> 00:40:27,719 that people fail on projects are repetitive means that they fail the same thing. 505 00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:30,599 Jobs fail for the same thing, generally over and over and over and over 506 00:40:30,639 --> 00:40:34,320 again. So people say, Paul, when you quote code, you spit 507 00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:38,519 out code. It's because I do it all the time an inspector. That's 508 00:40:38,639 --> 00:40:45,920 all you do. So you will get to know what the codes are. 509 00:40:45,320 --> 00:40:50,519 You will get to know what references that you need to give. And if 510 00:40:50,519 --> 00:40:53,239 you don't that's why you have a supervisor. That's why you step away. 511 00:40:54,239 --> 00:40:58,320 And one big advice that I gave to an inspector one time is they were 512 00:40:58,320 --> 00:41:01,239 on a project and they knew there was something was wrong. They just didn't 513 00:41:01,239 --> 00:41:06,440 know. They couldn't find the code reference and the and the customer was there. 514 00:41:07,239 --> 00:41:10,480 And what they did is they said, how do we handle that? 515 00:41:12,280 --> 00:41:15,239 If you just don't know what you know something wrong? Then I tell them, 516 00:41:15,760 --> 00:41:17,119 take take a break, tell them, you know what, let me 517 00:41:17,159 --> 00:41:21,760 go back to my vehicle. I'll be right back. I'm gonna look something 518 00:41:21,840 --> 00:41:24,840 up and then go back and then pick up the phone and call your supervisor. 519 00:41:27,920 --> 00:41:30,880 And now I've got electrical inspectors all over the country that pick up the 520 00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:34,960 phone and give me a call on the job. I say, Paul, 521 00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:37,280 I got a quick question. Can you answer a quick question for me? 522 00:41:37,360 --> 00:41:40,320 And I'm more than happy to help. That's who I am. So I 523 00:41:40,360 --> 00:41:44,559 got my haters out there, but people can't say I don't help people. 524 00:41:45,079 --> 00:41:47,679 Okay, you know, you might catch me at a bad time and I'm 525 00:41:47,719 --> 00:41:51,880 short with my response, but it just because I got so many things going 526 00:41:51,920 --> 00:41:53,840 on. But you can email me, you can text me, you can 527 00:41:54,519 --> 00:41:58,920 do a Paul Abernathy dot com. I mean I am approachable, okay, 528 00:42:00,159 --> 00:42:05,119 so I will help you out in that scenario, and then you go back 529 00:42:05,159 --> 00:42:08,400 to the customer. So that's the first thing I'll tell you. Electrical inspectors 530 00:42:08,760 --> 00:42:15,400 never engage in a debate with a customer on site unless you know the code 531 00:42:15,400 --> 00:42:20,360 section that you're enforcing. And if that means you have to step away for 532 00:42:20,440 --> 00:42:25,039 a second in order to get some additional information to come into the discussion educated, 533 00:42:25,639 --> 00:42:31,880 then do so. But do not educate or try to educate from thirty 534 00:42:32,159 --> 00:42:37,119 thousand feet and just say, okay, yep, it's a violation of Article 535 00:42:37,119 --> 00:42:40,000 two fifty when you know it may be the sizing of the equipment ground and 536 00:42:40,039 --> 00:42:45,760 it needs to boil down at the two fifty one twenty two ABCDE whatever it 537 00:42:45,800 --> 00:42:51,760 may be. So you got to be specific. And if people specters say 538 00:42:51,800 --> 00:42:55,719 they don't have enough time to do that, shame on your jurisdiction. Shame 539 00:42:57,000 --> 00:43:04,039 on your jurisdiction. How do you expect an electrician to fix something that if 540 00:43:04,079 --> 00:43:07,199 they did it wrong in the first place, and you don't tell them exactly 541 00:43:07,239 --> 00:43:10,039 what they did wrong, how the hell are they supposed to fix it? 542 00:43:10,679 --> 00:43:16,679 Are they supposed to read your mind? No, you have to give guidance. 543 00:43:19,079 --> 00:43:22,760 So that's my message to all you electrical inspectors out there. Raise your 544 00:43:22,800 --> 00:43:24,880 game. This is your profession, this is what you chose to do. 545 00:43:25,800 --> 00:43:32,159 Be professional about it. And that means every time you cite somebody, give 546 00:43:32,280 --> 00:43:38,440 them the actual code reference that justifies your rejection of a project because you're stopping 547 00:43:38,480 --> 00:43:43,400 the project, you're slow in progress. It's going to cost that electrician money, 548 00:43:44,199 --> 00:43:46,639 it's going to delay the owner of the building or the property. Everything 549 00:43:46,679 --> 00:43:52,199 gets stopped and time is money. So if you're going to justify a stopping 550 00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:59,159 because you think something is a minimum safety standard which justifiably needs to be corrected, 551 00:44:00,159 --> 00:44:02,480 make sure you're giving them the proper references. Don't just give them the 552 00:44:02,519 --> 00:44:09,079 thirty thousand foot answer. That is your responsibility as an electrical inspector, plumbing 553 00:44:09,079 --> 00:44:15,960 inspector, or mechanical inspector or whatever. So that means that it's your responsibility. 554 00:44:15,320 --> 00:44:20,280 And we have some great ones out there. My inspectors that were in 555 00:44:20,320 --> 00:44:25,039 Northern Virginia, for example, these guys were very highly educated. They spent 556 00:44:25,159 --> 00:44:30,599 the time learning the code. I would hold code training weekly and they were 557 00:44:30,639 --> 00:44:31,760 all there. Now. I know they were required to be there, but 558 00:44:32,519 --> 00:44:37,960 they really did care about understanding the code, and if there was something they 559 00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:42,840 did not understand, they knew they could pick up the phone and call me 560 00:44:43,880 --> 00:44:47,119 right away and I will give them an answer right away. Okay, I've 561 00:44:47,119 --> 00:44:51,760 been doing this for a long enough time that i will give them an answer. 562 00:44:52,639 --> 00:44:59,119 Because the things that the electrical inspector typically run into are repetitive. It's 563 00:44:59,199 --> 00:45:05,400 the same stuff over and over and over and over again, in just different 564 00:45:05,480 --> 00:45:12,320 flavor from project to project. So my advice to an electrical inspector is, 565 00:45:13,320 --> 00:45:16,760 don't impose your own personal wills. You may be wrong in your interpretation, 566 00:45:16,960 --> 00:45:22,039 and if you're called out on it, be open to discuss it. If 567 00:45:22,039 --> 00:45:24,920 there's something on a project that you want to reject and you're not exactly sure, 568 00:45:27,239 --> 00:45:30,159 then take a picture send it to your supervisor. If your supervisor doesn't 569 00:45:30,199 --> 00:45:35,440 know, then that's a problem. Then you need to go even maybe to 570 00:45:35,519 --> 00:45:39,159 the building official. And at that point, you know, the building official 571 00:45:39,360 --> 00:45:44,360 or the supervisor probably has somebody that they can reach out to. Maybe it's 572 00:45:44,440 --> 00:45:46,639 me, you know, maybe it's other experts in the industry to give them 573 00:45:46,639 --> 00:45:50,239 an opinion. Because at the end of the day, you do want what's 574 00:45:50,320 --> 00:45:55,079 right. Right, So again I appeal to the inspectors out there, do 575 00:45:55,119 --> 00:46:00,519 the right thing. Get your education, don't stop learning, keep learning the 576 00:46:00,519 --> 00:46:05,119 code. Remember that your responsibility to educate. When you have that knowledge, 577 00:46:05,239 --> 00:46:09,360 let people know, give them all the information. Okay, that's my advice. 578 00:46:09,360 --> 00:46:14,000 That's how you are a good electrical inspector. That type of thing. 579 00:46:14,960 --> 00:46:20,280 Okay, okay, So that's how you become a good inspector is learn your 580 00:46:20,320 --> 00:46:25,119 craft. Be cordial, don't let you don't get hot headed if you don't 581 00:46:25,119 --> 00:46:28,880 know something but you know you're going to reject it because you think it's something. 582 00:46:29,199 --> 00:46:34,880 Take pictures, document, walk away, call somebody for assistance. Maybe 583 00:46:35,239 --> 00:46:37,360 meet up with other inspectors so that you all can be on the same page. 584 00:46:37,400 --> 00:46:42,000 Get on a phone call. Uh. Don't think that that can't happen, 585 00:46:42,079 --> 00:46:45,000 because it did. I know because I was ahead of a jurisdiction and 586 00:46:45,039 --> 00:46:49,119 all these things happened, and it did not take a lot of effort. 587 00:46:50,039 --> 00:46:53,320 Because you should want it done right. But do not impose your own personal 588 00:46:53,320 --> 00:47:00,639 will. Do not force people to do things that is beyond the minimum standard. 589 00:47:00,920 --> 00:47:05,480 Let them make that choice. Okay, it's not your choice, it's 590 00:47:05,480 --> 00:47:08,400 not your place. Just make sure it doesn't fall below the minimum standard. 591 00:47:08,599 --> 00:47:14,000 Okay, that's okay. Now, the next topic we're going to get into 592 00:47:15,440 --> 00:47:21,280 is we'll get into is how electrical contractor or the electrician should act when it 593 00:47:21,360 --> 00:47:25,760 comes to interactions with an electrical inspector. That's what we're going to talk about 594 00:47:25,800 --> 00:47:32,760 next after this word from our sponsor. Okay, so let's talk about how 595 00:47:32,840 --> 00:47:39,960 an electrical contractor should react when there's a confrontation with an electrical inspector. Now, 596 00:47:40,000 --> 00:47:49,360 this comes from experience. This comes from overseeing many electrical inspectors and dealing 597 00:47:49,400 --> 00:47:54,119 with internal things, complaints that have been followed by customers on the inspectors, 598 00:47:55,159 --> 00:48:04,239 having to do a mediation between disagreements between inspectors and building officials, and dealing 599 00:48:04,239 --> 00:48:07,000 with the general public or the consumer or the electrician, all those type of 600 00:48:07,000 --> 00:48:13,079 things. So this comes from experience in kind of looking at seeing how this 601 00:48:13,280 --> 00:48:16,679 interaction plays out. Obviously, a level head always saves the day. But 602 00:48:16,840 --> 00:48:22,559 at the end of the day, an electrical contractor, let's say you're doing 603 00:48:22,559 --> 00:48:29,079 a project, and let's use the example that we have of the five hundred 604 00:48:29,119 --> 00:48:32,639 ground rods. Okay, because that's the most extreme shit I've ever seen in 605 00:48:32,679 --> 00:48:40,199 my life, and that is really was posted by somebody to me. I 606 00:48:40,239 --> 00:48:44,559 have to call BS. I mean, really think about it. Who's going 607 00:48:44,639 --> 00:48:47,199 to drive five hundred gud? I mean, come on, really, I 608 00:48:47,280 --> 00:48:52,480 call BS. I think it was just somebody that's bloviating online. But okay, 609 00:48:52,920 --> 00:48:57,400 five hundred okay, So let me tell you how I get how I 610 00:48:57,400 --> 00:49:01,320 would engage that situation. You know, you can't laugh in their face, 611 00:49:01,599 --> 00:49:05,519 Okay, I just want to show you how we how would I would deal 612 00:49:05,559 --> 00:49:08,400 with that situation. Okay, you ready? Okay. So the first thing 613 00:49:09,159 --> 00:49:15,159 that I'm doing as an electrical inspector, I'm doing the inspection and I have 614 00:49:15,239 --> 00:49:21,159 an inspector come out to the project and they're looking and they go, you 615 00:49:21,159 --> 00:49:23,760 you have to you have to get twenty five oms or less. And I'm 616 00:49:23,760 --> 00:49:27,400 paraphrasing because I'm just trying to get you to the point where we can have 617 00:49:27,440 --> 00:49:30,519 a discussion. And they go, you got to have this ground rods, 618 00:49:30,559 --> 00:49:34,920 not twenty five oms or less. And the way I interpret it, the 619 00:49:34,960 --> 00:49:39,119 way I interpret to fifty fifty three is that you have to get it to 620 00:49:39,360 --> 00:49:43,960 twenty five oms or less. Okay, so that may be they're weird interpretation. 621 00:49:44,360 --> 00:49:46,039 Okay, So me, as an electrician, I'm going to respond like 622 00:49:46,079 --> 00:49:52,280 this. I'm going to go, I understand what you're saying, but can 623 00:49:52,320 --> 00:49:58,679 we have a discussion about what the any are you open to a discussion about 624 00:49:58,800 --> 00:50:05,599 looking at the National Electric Code together and understand where you're coming from, and 625 00:50:05,599 --> 00:50:09,440 then listen to where I'm coming from. And then you pause. And there's 626 00:50:09,480 --> 00:50:14,639 two paths that an electrical inspector can take. The electrical inspector can have such 627 00:50:14,639 --> 00:50:16,519 a chip on their shoulder that they say Nope, it's my way or the 628 00:50:16,599 --> 00:50:21,559 highway, okay, and then there's no sense in you going beyond that. 629 00:50:21,679 --> 00:50:25,079 There's no sense in you trying to argue with somebody. And I find this 630 00:50:25,159 --> 00:50:30,440 on TikTok and Instagram. There is no sense in arguing with somebody that is 631 00:50:30,519 --> 00:50:36,079 not willing to discuss it. Are there's so set in their ways that they're 632 00:50:36,119 --> 00:50:39,159 not even willing to give it a consideration, okay, especially when you know 633 00:50:39,239 --> 00:50:44,639 different. Okay, So let's assume they say nope, my way the highway. 634 00:50:45,159 --> 00:50:50,639 Then you stop arguing immediately. You're going to judge the situation on whether 635 00:50:50,719 --> 00:50:53,800 or not this is financially feasible, whether or not your project needs to go 636 00:50:53,880 --> 00:50:58,199 forward, whether or not you're going to want to stir the pot, you 637 00:50:58,280 --> 00:51:02,239 have to make that decision. I tell you right now, making me drive 638 00:51:02,519 --> 00:51:07,280 ground rods until I achieve twenty five homes or less is not something that I 639 00:51:07,320 --> 00:51:12,800 am willing to do. Okay, I am not willing to do it. 640 00:51:13,239 --> 00:51:15,840 So at that point my reaction would be, Okay, you know what, 641 00:51:16,840 --> 00:51:22,119 I just want to respectfully tell you that I disagree, and I'm going to 642 00:51:22,159 --> 00:51:25,760 be contacting your supervisor. Hell, I'm going to be contacting the city manager, 643 00:51:27,000 --> 00:51:30,639 the mayor, city council, whatever I can do, because you're getting 644 00:51:30,679 --> 00:51:37,519 ready to put my company in financial hardship. A contractor trying to do what's 645 00:51:37,639 --> 00:51:45,559 right, and you're imposing your own personal will and the NEC which is in 646 00:51:45,639 --> 00:51:50,679 my opinion, an incorrect interpretation unto me. So I'm not going to argue 647 00:51:50,679 --> 00:51:57,039 with you. I respect you, but I'm not going to be doing that 648 00:51:57,400 --> 00:52:00,079 at this moment. But I will remind you that I'm I'm going to document 649 00:52:00,679 --> 00:52:07,840 my lost time in this process for me to have to go to your supervisor, 650 00:52:07,519 --> 00:52:13,880 for me to have to go to your ce CBO as a chief building 651 00:52:13,880 --> 00:52:19,320 official or certified building official or your commissioner. I'm like, look, and 652 00:52:19,320 --> 00:52:22,719 I'm not doing it against you, thank so, I'm i a right. 653 00:52:22,840 --> 00:52:24,800 You have to do this in a very mono tone, okay, and you 654 00:52:24,920 --> 00:52:29,559 have to trust me. Folks, you have to separate yourself when you do 655 00:52:29,679 --> 00:52:34,519 this very monotone and say, I just want you to know that that's where 656 00:52:34,519 --> 00:52:37,360 we're going to go with this, because I do not agree with your interpretation 657 00:52:37,559 --> 00:52:42,960 of this. Now, remember how we got there. We got there because 658 00:52:43,000 --> 00:52:46,199 the guy wasn't willing to discuss anything. So all you're doing is not yelling. 659 00:52:46,440 --> 00:52:50,119 You're not arguing. You're not going to win anything. You're not going 660 00:52:50,199 --> 00:52:52,840 to change a guy by browbeating him. You just let him know what your 661 00:52:52,880 --> 00:52:59,519 intentions are. Everything's on the table, and that is a case where I'm 662 00:52:59,599 --> 00:53:02,239 going to fight. So the first thing that I'm going to do, and 663 00:53:02,239 --> 00:53:05,920 I'm going to tell you I can tell you this by experience. First thing 664 00:53:05,920 --> 00:53:08,320 I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go down to City Hall and I'm going to 665 00:53:08,400 --> 00:53:13,480 ask them that you need you would like to file a complaint, and that 666 00:53:13,599 --> 00:53:20,639 you have an intention to also attend city Council meetings and bring this up and 667 00:53:21,239 --> 00:53:25,719 uh, again, you don't need to threaten, only to the level that 668 00:53:25,760 --> 00:53:32,239 you're letting the know that you're not dropping this okay. And you can also 669 00:53:32,360 --> 00:53:36,920 say at that point, you know, I'm following this complaint, I would 670 00:53:37,199 --> 00:53:42,679 like to set up an appointment with your building official or if he has a 671 00:53:42,719 --> 00:53:44,960 supervisor, you want to start there. You can say, I'd like to 672 00:53:45,000 --> 00:53:52,880 set up an appointment with inspector whatever's supervisor and discuss something that is causing me 673 00:53:53,079 --> 00:53:59,079 a great deal of financial hardship or has the potential to do that. And 674 00:53:59,199 --> 00:54:05,039 I'm a contract and you're a public official, and I would like the respect 675 00:54:05,119 --> 00:54:08,119 to be able to have that conversation. So the point is, don't follow 676 00:54:08,159 --> 00:54:13,199 me verbiagely word for word. The point is you go in there and you 677 00:54:13,360 --> 00:54:19,440 state your case, and everybody has a supervisor. Everybody. Now, if 678 00:54:19,480 --> 00:54:22,760 the building official in a small community is not only the inspector, but the 679 00:54:22,800 --> 00:54:27,480 building official, then what you do is you have to understand in that small 680 00:54:27,519 --> 00:54:32,679 community, they probably have a city manager. They probably also have a a 681 00:54:35,119 --> 00:54:39,559 mayor, right And the other thing that you can do is you can send 682 00:54:40,360 --> 00:54:46,920 certified letters to the members of city council. Now that's something that a lot 683 00:54:46,960 --> 00:54:50,440 of people think is a lot of work, and it's not a lot of 684 00:54:50,480 --> 00:54:54,599 work. All these people's information is public. Send a certified letter and this 685 00:54:54,840 --> 00:55:00,960 is where you actually explain what happened, and you know, don't make it 686 00:55:01,039 --> 00:55:04,559 bad by getting in an argument with the inspector. That's why I say, 687 00:55:04,880 --> 00:55:07,159 if you realize that they're not going to have this discussion, that you monotonely 688 00:55:07,599 --> 00:55:10,400 explain to them what you're going to do, and that's what you put in 689 00:55:10,440 --> 00:55:14,400 a letter. And then that's when you reach out and make sure that your 690 00:55:14,480 --> 00:55:20,119 interpretation is accurate, reach out to people like me, other people and make 691 00:55:20,159 --> 00:55:23,360 sure that you know you've got your your ground to stand on, and then 692 00:55:23,480 --> 00:55:30,400 submit that to the city council. Okay, And that's another way to do 693 00:55:30,440 --> 00:55:31,400 it, And it sounds like it's a lot to do, but you have 694 00:55:31,480 --> 00:55:36,920 to understand something. If you don't change them, or you don't get involved 695 00:55:36,960 --> 00:55:39,639 in it, then the next person is what's getting stuck with this as well. 696 00:55:40,840 --> 00:55:45,039 And then at the next person and the next person, and if this 697 00:55:45,239 --> 00:55:52,519 inspector is not willing to have a simple conversation about it, then you know, 698 00:55:52,880 --> 00:55:55,639 now then that's wrong and we have to fix that now. If you're 699 00:55:55,800 --> 00:56:00,800 fighting and you're wrong, I will be the first to take you you're wrong, 700 00:56:01,320 --> 00:56:06,920 okay, but you can't really know you're wrong unless they give you the 701 00:56:07,000 --> 00:56:09,800 code reference, they give you the information, and if they give you nothing, 702 00:56:10,440 --> 00:56:14,360 then that is the grounds where you have to you have to fight. 703 00:56:15,639 --> 00:56:17,159 Now. I get it. There's many people out there that say, you 704 00:56:17,239 --> 00:56:21,039 know, and I'm not fighting with the inspector. Again, I talked about 705 00:56:21,079 --> 00:56:27,480 this earlier. He'll make my life miserable. That's retaliation, and you follow 706 00:56:27,519 --> 00:56:30,519 the same course of action for retaliation. Again. At the end of the 707 00:56:30,599 --> 00:56:34,760 day, what do you give a shit if they're ego eyed on your inspector. 708 00:56:34,800 --> 00:56:37,679 If you're doing everything right and you know your trade and you're doing it 709 00:56:37,079 --> 00:56:39,519 to the best of your ability, and you're taking pride in your work, 710 00:56:40,400 --> 00:56:44,559 you don't care whether somebody is looking over your work with an ego eye. 711 00:56:45,079 --> 00:56:52,519 I don't care. Right, if you're doing it right, then you're not 712 00:56:52,719 --> 00:56:55,920 trying to cut corners. Then who cares that you get an inspection? Really? 713 00:56:57,000 --> 00:57:00,239 Who cares? I want to do it right. Every electrician should want 714 00:57:00,280 --> 00:57:05,280 to do it right. You should not want to pass off crappy work. 715 00:57:06,400 --> 00:57:08,559 When you go get a surgery done, do you want the doctor to pass 716 00:57:08,639 --> 00:57:14,079 off crappy technique? Do you want them to leave a freaking scalpel in your 717 00:57:14,199 --> 00:57:19,360 body? We have to start remembering that the electrical profession, you have to 718 00:57:19,400 --> 00:57:22,039 take the pride in it and its requirement of us to continue our education, 719 00:57:22,519 --> 00:57:27,880 to learn what we don't know it, be inquisitive about things we want to 720 00:57:27,960 --> 00:57:34,119 know and learn more about, and challenge the status quo. Do not just 721 00:57:34,360 --> 00:57:40,719 accept what somebody says as gospel research it, get interpretations from other people, 722 00:57:42,840 --> 00:57:46,320 form your own opinion. Okay, so it you know, With all that 723 00:57:46,519 --> 00:57:53,519 said, being very tactful as an electrician first and making sure that before you 724 00:57:53,639 --> 00:58:00,719 get into an argument or a disagreement over some inspector pulling something out of their 725 00:58:00,760 --> 00:58:07,440 ass ask that question. Just simply diffuse it and say are you willing to 726 00:58:07,679 --> 00:58:14,320 discuss the reason for you rejecting this project? Are you willing to discuss because 727 00:58:14,320 --> 00:58:16,039 I disagree with this? If they give you a code reference, by the 728 00:58:16,079 --> 00:58:21,480 way, are you willing to discuss this again? If they immediately say nope, 729 00:58:21,519 --> 00:58:24,320 there's nothing to discuss, just fix it and you know you're right. 730 00:58:25,559 --> 00:58:29,159 Then you want to do just like I said a few minutes ago. You 731 00:58:29,239 --> 00:58:35,000 want to say, Okay, well I disagree, respectfully disagree, And since 732 00:58:35,039 --> 00:58:38,079 you will not discuss it and you don't want to have a conversation about it, 733 00:58:38,760 --> 00:58:44,519 then I'm have no choice but to go to your supervisor or follow whatever 734 00:58:44,679 --> 00:58:49,039 chains is necessary in order to deal this. Deal with this, because you're 735 00:58:49,119 --> 00:58:53,079 costing me money, you're costing me time, you're delaying the project. Now, 736 00:58:53,119 --> 00:58:59,000 I'm going to caution you that what I see on TikTok, what I 737 00:58:59,079 --> 00:59:01,840 see on Instagram, what I see on YouTube, and all this kind of 738 00:59:01,880 --> 00:59:07,840 stuff people that electricians and I'm not disrespecting anybody that's listening. Please don't take 739 00:59:07,880 --> 00:59:12,519 this personal because I have no way of knowing who I'm talking to. I'm 740 00:59:12,599 --> 00:59:19,199 just talking in general. Some of the stuff that you post on here would 741 00:59:19,239 --> 00:59:25,119 not be worthy of a very good argument to an electrical inspector. It'd be 742 00:59:25,280 --> 00:59:31,199 like arguing about something and it's very clear that you're not educated on it. 743 00:59:31,480 --> 00:59:34,599 You may have heard it from somebody, you may have heard it from the 744 00:59:34,599 --> 00:59:37,800 grapevine, you may have just learned it through osmosis from somebody, but it 745 00:59:37,840 --> 00:59:42,960 doesn't make you right. So that is the number one thing that causes problem 746 00:59:43,039 --> 00:59:46,840 is when you have a confrontation between electrician and inspector on a project. The 747 00:59:47,239 --> 00:59:53,920 electrical inspector is citing something and the electrician disagrees with it, but they're this 748 00:59:54,199 --> 00:59:59,039 They're not going to be able to argue their position based on knowledge. It 749 00:59:59,159 --> 01:00:01,320 may be just been legend, it might be what they think they know, 750 01:00:01,480 --> 01:00:08,159 and from any indication on social media, it's amazing what people don't know but 751 01:00:08,280 --> 01:00:12,400 they think they know. Now, I'm not saying that to make fun of 752 01:00:12,440 --> 01:00:15,880 anybody. That's not my point here. My point is it would be much 753 01:00:15,960 --> 01:00:20,000 better for you to do this. You're not going to win anything in a 754 01:00:20,079 --> 01:00:24,079 tit for tat battle on a job site. So I used the example early 755 01:00:24,199 --> 01:00:29,159 of the five hundred ground rods, which is ludicrous, but I would like 756 01:00:29,239 --> 01:00:31,679 I said, I would have said, you know, I respectfully disagree with 757 01:00:31,840 --> 01:00:37,239 your interpretation and this code reference, and since you're not willing to discuss it 758 01:00:37,760 --> 01:00:42,280 and we can go look at the code together, I am going to have 759 01:00:42,480 --> 01:00:46,360 to take this to higher source because you're costing me time, labor, you're 760 01:00:46,440 --> 01:00:53,119 slowing the project, and you're not listening to my concerns and you're a public 761 01:00:53,239 --> 01:00:59,280 servant and I'm an electrical contractor. I paid for the permit, we paid 762 01:00:59,360 --> 01:01:04,400 for you to be here, and so if we can't have that discussion, 763 01:01:04,960 --> 01:01:07,599 then I'm gonna have to go to a supervisor. Now, the key here 764 01:01:07,800 --> 01:01:13,039 is if you get into a tit for tat and you're wrong on the code, 765 01:01:14,199 --> 01:01:16,280 you're not gonna win that battle. And it's gonna look worse if you 766 01:01:16,400 --> 01:01:22,000 even go over their head and cause a lot of problems. So the best 767 01:01:22,039 --> 01:01:28,159 advice I can give for an electrical contractor is have a level head, ask 768 01:01:28,400 --> 01:01:32,159 immediately whether or not they're open to discussing this and looking at the code together, 769 01:01:34,679 --> 01:01:37,760 in taking the time, and if the inspector says nope, it's my 770 01:01:37,880 --> 01:01:39,800 way or the highway, I'm out of here. I gotta go. I'm 771 01:01:39,840 --> 01:01:43,280 not sticking around. I'm not gonna Then you say, you know what, 772 01:01:43,920 --> 01:01:47,239 I understand. I understand, I respect you as the electrical inspector, but 773 01:01:47,360 --> 01:01:52,960 I disagree with your interpretation or I disagree with especially if they don't give you 774 01:01:52,000 --> 01:01:55,840 a code reference. And I'm say, you know what, I'm gonna take 775 01:01:55,920 --> 01:02:00,239 this and I'm obviously going to have to go above you to your supervisor. 776 01:02:00,920 --> 01:02:05,119 Uh. And if it means I got to go to the commissioner building commissioner 777 01:02:05,159 --> 01:02:07,960 building official, or even to city council or even to the mayor, I'm 778 01:02:08,000 --> 01:02:13,960 going to do that because at this point you're not willing to discuss anything with 779 01:02:14,119 --> 01:02:17,679 me, because look, you can get on a job site and argue it's 780 01:02:17,800 --> 01:02:22,880 not going to win you anything, especially if the electrical inspector has a chip 781 01:02:22,960 --> 01:02:25,960 on their shoulder, You're not going to win. You're not going to win. 782 01:02:28,800 --> 01:02:32,519 So that's my advice for electoral contractors. Ask the question up front. 783 01:02:32,559 --> 01:02:36,679 If they reject you and you get it, and you call them up and 784 01:02:36,719 --> 01:02:40,039 say, look, I'd like to discuss why you turn me down. Give 785 01:02:40,119 --> 01:02:43,360 me If they don't give you the code reference, the first thing you should 786 01:02:43,400 --> 01:02:46,679 always do is ask for code reference. Please give me the code reference and 787 01:02:46,760 --> 01:02:51,679 explain to me why you rejected me. If they refuse to do that, 788 01:02:52,920 --> 01:02:58,280 then dude, you have got to not just be complacent in it. You 789 01:02:58,519 --> 01:03:02,840 have to fight the system. But you do. It's smart. And if 790 01:03:02,880 --> 01:03:07,480 you're worried about retaliation, just listen to what I said earlier in this podcast, 791 01:03:07,599 --> 01:03:09,719 go listen to this podcast. Later I talk about retaliation, I talk 792 01:03:09,800 --> 01:03:14,199 about the process, all that kind of stuff. I talk about what a 793 01:03:14,280 --> 01:03:17,000 good electrical inspector should do. Listen to it. Hopefully, if you came 794 01:03:17,079 --> 01:03:20,880 into this late, then you'll go back and listen to that, because this 795 01:03:20,920 --> 01:03:23,000 has been a fairly long podcast. All right, folks, that's all I 796 01:03:23,079 --> 01:03:27,079 got for today. I just wanted to make sure we covered this topic on 797 01:03:27,480 --> 01:03:30,320 that. Obviously we can go deeper into this type of subject. But again 798 01:03:30,480 --> 01:03:36,480 that's my thoughts on electric inspections. And you have to stand your ground, 799 01:03:37,280 --> 01:03:39,559 have to be respectful, don't get into an argument on site, be very 800 01:03:39,599 --> 01:03:44,280 professional. You're electricians. Stop the arguing, stop the bitterness, stop the 801 01:03:44,320 --> 01:03:50,039 bounding the chest, support your information, back yourself up with the receipts, 802 01:03:50,159 --> 01:03:52,280 the goods. Make sure you have the goods. And if they still won't 803 01:03:52,320 --> 01:03:57,159 listen to you, do not be afraid to go over their head. Everybody 804 01:03:57,239 --> 01:04:00,039 has a boss. Okay, all right? Until next time, folks, 805 01:04:00,039 --> 01:04:04,559 Stay safe, God bless, and remember check us out over on fasttracks system 806 01:04:04,639 --> 01:04:08,960 dot com. If you want some good nec education, if you want to 807 01:04:09,000 --> 01:04:14,039 get access to our exclusive videos, check out fasttracks tube dot com. Until 808 01:04:14,119 --> 01:04:15,039 next time, Stay safe, God bless