The Politics of Onsite System Inspections: Part 5

The Politics of Onsite System Inspections: Part 5
If installers and inspectors attend the same educational seminars, they will be on the same page about industry trends and regulations.

Interested in Education/Training?

Get Education/Training articles, news and videos right in your inbox! Sign up now.

Education/Training + Get Alerts

Returning momentarily to part three of this series where we discussed mutual respect as a requirement between the installer and the inspector to create a win-win relationship, equally satisfying for both professionals. I promised some field examples, so let’s begin. 

Remember there are two forms of mutual respect — positional, which comes automatically with the position held and personal, which must be earned. 

Here’s an example of a common field dynamic, this one in the area of education: 

The installer and the inspector both have required minimum credit hours to maintain their licenses. The installer typically pays his own way, taking personal time away from his business (which costs him money) and gains new knowledge of products and procedures to apply toward improving his bottom line. 

An employer usually pays for an inspector’s education and also pays him for his time to attend any classes. The inspector will also learn about new technologies, but he’s often required by state and local regulations to follow existing rules and procedures. 

This can cause resentment between the installer and the inspector. After putting in his own time and money, the installer is not encouraged to use the newly gained knowledge. 

The installer also receives updated information from manufacturers and other free enterprisers within the industry to keep him on the cutting edge of technology.   

Installers generally are more active in local industry associations and regularly attend conferences to improve their knowledge and skills. Few inspectors will follow suit because they follow structured guidelines enforced by the government. In general, inspectors will not spend their own personal time and money to get credit hours over and above the minimum required and to get information which, while helpful as a professional, they may not be able to apply to their daily work. 

When inspectors and installers don’t have the same education and are not members of the same industry associations, the industry becomes stagnant. Staying up to date with technology and attending conferences are necessary for both inspectors and installers to keep the onsite industry moving forward. 

Without this collective knowledge, an installer might suggest a new methodology, a new technology, or a new procedure, only to have an uninformed inspector limited by current regulations and procedures. 

If the inspector cannot understand and implement the installer’s recommendations, he might lose the installer’s personal respect. 

Soon, the installer wonders, “Why should I spend all my time and money learning something new, when the inspector can’t implement my suggestions?” This prevents growth in the onsite industry. 

In the next article, we’ll look at how the installer can lose the personal respect of the inspector. 

About the Author
Frank Aguirre owns Septic Systems Express, a system design and inspection company located in San Antonio, Texas. Contact him at 210/275-7866 or via email at frank@septicsystemsexpress.com.

This article is part of a series on onsite septic inspections:



Discussion

Comments on this site are submitted by users and are not endorsed by nor do they reflect the views or opinions of COLE Publishing, Inc. Comments are moderated before being posted.