What are special inspections?

England Enterprises Inc. Building Officials

Charleston, SC
4764-A Rivers Ave
N. Charleston, SC 29405
Phone: 843-747-3575
Fax: 843-746-9222

"Helping build safer communities"©

What are Special Inspections?

According to Chapter 17 of the ICC, special inspections for certain structural elements

must be preformed by qualified and certified personal.

When the 2003 edition of the Code was adopted, Chapter 17 was also adopted into law. According to IBC 106.3.4 & 1707.4.1 the Design Professional shall summit a “Special Inspection Program” which will be reviewed by the state engineer (Building Official.) Special inspectors must be hired by the design

professional or the owner; they cannot be hired by the contractor. “Where structural observation is required by Section 1709, the inspection program shall name the individual or firms who are to perform structural observation and describe the stages of construction at which structural observation is to occur.”

Special inspectors do not take the place of the building inspector, but augment building code enforcement inspections and reports all finding to the building code official and/or building code inspector. Special inspectors must furnish all labor, materials and equipment to carry out the special inspection and/or test.

A special inspector’s duty is to perform certain laboratory tests. In addition, a special inspector may be on the construction site at all times for quality control of a specific material (ie: concrete or mortar.)

When are Special Inspections Required?

Chapter 17 special inspections are required for the type of special inspections listed in the above paragraphs and when certain limits are reached such as:

pouring more then 50 yards of concrete;
areas where wind speeds exceed 110 mph (coastal side of I-95); and
areas where seismic activity is likely to occur (the entire state of South Carolina.) South Carolina is the only place in the continental US where both wind and seismic occur.

England Enterprises has been conducting and using subcontract special inspectors and testing agencies for many years.