Inspectors At Work In City Of Shakopee

Press release from the City of Shakopee:

December 4, 2020

This year, Shakopee Building Inspector Jim Davis has spent a lot of time traversing the city.

Davis spends most of his day in the field, inspecting water heaters, roof trusses and backyard decks – typically conducting more than 20 inspections a day. “I know pretty much every street in Shakopee, and I know the shortcuts,” said Davis, who has been a Shakopee building inspector since 1998.

The city is on pace to break record permit numbers in 2020 thanks to a flux of new homes, ongoing commercial developments and residential remodeling projects from people stuck at home due to COVID-19.

“It’s definitely been busier [than normal],” said Shakopee Building Official Nathan Buska. “I’m guessing it has to do with a lot of people staying home and just looking to stay busy.”

Ensuring Public Safety

Like police and fire, building inspections is a critical public safety service to protect the health and safety of residents, employees and visitors.

Building inspectors review building, mechanical, electrical and plumbing work before, during and after installation to ensure it complies with state building code. This includes reviewing architectural and engineering plans prior to issuing building permits.

“Our job is to ensure contractors are building safe, solid structures that meet state building code,” Buska said. “We have seven different building manuals we need to know inside and out to properly inspect Shakopee buildings.”

Seeking Building Inspectors

While building inspections is a critical service, many cities struggle to find qualified building inspectors and officials. Buska said many current inspectors are reaching retirement age; however, training programs for prospective new inspectors are difficult to find.

To become a certified Minnesota building official, a person must pass a written exam. The state has two levels of certification – a building official master-level license and building official-limited license. An individual must acquire qualifying points through education and experience working in a construction field to sit for the exams.

This fall, the City of Shakopee was one of seven Minnesota cities to receive a two-year state grant to help introduce more people to the inspections field. The funding will allow the city to hire a full-time apprentice who will gain on-the-job experience in preparation to take the state exams.

“What makes Shakopee unique is our variety – an amusement park, hospital, prison, schools, multifamily, industrial, a giant Amazon warehouse,” Buska said. “Someone training here gets a taste of everything.”

In addition to Buska and Davis, Shakopee also has a full-time, master electrician on staff, which, while unique among metro cities, allows the inspector to conduct more in-depth electrical inspections. Two permit coordinators manage all the city’s permits and paperless, online plan system, which streamlines the department’s work.

“During COVID, our permits never shut off because every step of the process can be done online,” Buska said.

Breaking Permit Records

Since Jan. 1, the city’s building inspections division has issued 4,568 permits – well up from 3,826 the first 10 months of 2019. While new housing construction is driving some of the boon, Shakopee also has seen an increase in smaller residential remodeling projects.

“People are at home, doing their basement finishes and adding that deck they’ve long wanted,” Davis said.

The increase in residential permits, combined with ongoing commercial development, means a lot of daily inspection visits. Each new single-family home has an average of 20 separate inspections for building, electrical, fire, mechanical and plumbing work. Those numbers compound for multi-family and commercial buildings.

For example, city inspectors have conducted nearly 925 separate inspections at Triple Crown Apartments since construction started in 2018. They recorded 560 visits to Benedictine Health Systems’ senior living complex. Many commercial projects take years to fully wrap up.

Building inspections is a fiscally self-sustaining department, since permit fees cover department expenses, and no general fund dollars are used. Long term, the improvements and new construction add to the city's overall tax base.

"Building inspections is a critical city service, and right now, based on our numbers, it's one of our busiest," said Michael Kerski, director of Planning and Development.

This press release was produced by the City of Shakopee. The views expressed here are the author’s own.