ELECTRICAL
Permits, inspections, and the electrical job that stalls quietly
A Kendall panel job is "in progress" for six weeks. Nobody is worried, because it is permitted work and the county is slow. Then the homeowner calls to ask why nobody has come back, and it turns out the rough-in inspection was never scheduled. The job did not stall at the county. It stalled on your board.
A note on what this is. We are not describing Miami-Dade permit rules; those are the county's to explain. This is about how a job that is waiting looks exactly like a job that is forgotten, and how to tell them apart.
Two jobs, one column
Job one is waiting on the county to schedule a final. Job two had its rough-in passed three weeks ago and nobody called the inspector back. On a board with a column called "In progress," they look identical. On a whiteboard they look identical. In the tech's head they look identical until the customer calls.
The dates a permitted job has
- Permit applied. Permit issued.
- Rough-in scheduled. Rough-in passed.
- Final scheduled. Final passed.
- Each one is a date. Each one is either done, waiting on you, or waiting on the county.
WAITING ON WHO
Putting the dates on the card
Each job card carries the permit steps as checkboxes with dates. The column stays "In progress," but a card that has sat at "rough-in passed" for more than five days without "final scheduled" turns a color. The office sees it at 7 AM without asking anyone.
The homeowner gets a text at each step, in her language: "Rough-in passed today. We will schedule the final this week." She stops calling to ask, and the job stops looking like it went cold from her side too.
The county is still slow. The point is not to speed up the county. It is to make sure nothing is waiting on you while you blame the county.
Questions we get asked about this
Does this connect to the county permit system?
No. The steps are checkboxes your office ticks when something happens. It is a record, not a link to the county.
Can the tech tick the step from his phone?
Yes. Rough-in passed, one tap, on site. The date is saved and the customer text goes out if you set one.
What if I do more than three inspections on a job?
Add steps. The card has whatever steps your jobs have. Three is the starting draft.
Related
Look at your in-progress column
Count the permitted jobs that have been "in progress" for more than 30 days, and mark which are waiting on you. Bring both numbers to a 30-minute call.