Special Inspections in PhiladelphiaStrucTech Structural Engineers

Special inspections get triggered by the permit, not by a problem. If your approved drawings include a statement of special inspections, the work listed on it has to be observed by a registered special inspector while it happens. Miss a pour, skip a weld inspection, and there is no way to document it after the fact short of destructive testing. That is the situation we get called into most: a job already moving, with an inspection schedule nobody assigned.

The categories are set by IBC Chapter 17 as adopted by the Philadelphia Building Code. In practice that means structural steel and welding, high-strength bolting, concrete placement and sampling, reinforcing steel placement, masonry and grout, post-installed anchors, and soils or deep foundation work. Which items apply depends on your specific statement of special inspections, so we review it with you before the first site visit and build the schedule around the construction sequence.

On-site the work is straightforward and procedural. We show up at the point of the operation, not after. Reinforcing gets checked against the drawings before concrete arrives. Cylinders get cast, slump and air get recorded, and placement gets watched. Welds get visually inspected and bolts get verified for the specified condition. Anchors get checked for hole prep, embedment, and torque. Everything is photographed and logged the same day.

Documentation is where projects usually stall, so we treat it as part of the job rather than an afterthought. Each visit produces a dated report with observations, any discrepancies, and the correction status. Discrepancies get flagged to the contractor immediately, tracked, and closed out in writing. At completion we issue a final signed and sealed report covering every listed category, formatted for direct L&I submission.

If you have a statement of special inspections and no inspector assigned, get us the drawings and the schedule. Call (267) 310-1172 or send the permit set through the contact form and we will tell you exactly what needs to be covered.