Development Services Public Directive

 
Directive Type:  Policy Change
Effective Date:  Immediately
Date of Issuance:  June 18, 2021
From:  Office of the Building Official
Pertinence:  Building Inspections                                                                                    

Directive:

               Effective immediately, the current COVID-related building inspection directive will be rescinded and the following alterations will take effect.

1. Occupied residential home inspections may, at the inspector’s discretion, require occupants to answer the following questions prior to the arrival of the inspector. Please have contact information available for the inspector should they request it. Preferably, include this information in the scheduling request.
   1. Do you have any of these symptoms which are not caused by another condition?

1. Within the past 14 days, have you been diagnosed with COVID-19 by a medical professional, received a positive COVID-19 test result, or awaiting test results from a COVID-19 test?
2. Have you been in close contact with anyone with COVID-19 in the past 14 days? Close contact is being within 6 feet for 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period with a person or having direct contact with fluids from a person with COVID-19. 
3. Within the past 14 days, has a public health or medical professional told you to self-monitor, self-isolate, or self-quarantine because of concerns about COVID-19 infection?
4. All currently applicable CDC and local Health Department requirements shall be adhered to during inspections.
5. Certain types of inspections are available for virtual inspections through the VuSpex Go inspection app. These inspection types include, but are not limited to;
   1. Residential water heater, furnace, and AC change outs
   2. Residential backflow preventers
   3. Egress windows
   4. Other small project inspections as determined by the Building Official and implemented into the VuSpex app. 
6. VuSpex Field Reports, a version of virtual inspections in which the contractor simply provides video and/or pictures of their installation and the inspector reviews at a later time, will be coming online in the coming months. Certain inspection types will become available for Field Report submission and certain inspection types may be designated as Field Report only inspections in which the Field Report procedure must be utilized. Training aids for VuSpex Field Reports will be available on the City website once this feature is fully implemented.
7. Commercial inspections will return to normal with respect to MEP and Building inspection scheduling. Trade inspections will need to be scheduled on separate days with Building being the last inspection scheduled. This pertains to both rough-in and final inspections.
8. Commercial projects will continue to utilize the inspection phasing requirements currently in place. This process requires commercial projects to submit designated inspection areas if floor-by-floor inspection areas are not sufficient for the contractor’s workflow. While inspection phasing is approved on a project-by-project basis, general approval conditions allow for up to 4 inspection areas per floor with the ability of underground inspections to be separately phased. Once the inspection areas are designated and approved, all trades must complete their work in an entire inspection area before scheduling inspections. It is imperative for general contractors to communicate with subs prior to submission of the project inspection phasing plan.

The above alterations to inspection procedures are intended to increase the efficiency of the inspection team while allowing contractors to effectively manage their operations. It is the intent of the Building Department to provide multiple inspection venues to better utilize resources of both the Building Department and contractors. 

Should you have any questions regarding this directive, please contact Aaron Bowman, City Building Official at BowmanA@ci.missoula.mt.us for assistance.

End of Directive