For the past few weeks I’ve had the ‘pleasure’ of having my local water quality inspector come on-site looking for violations. Of course, they’ve found a few minor ones which I’ve had corrected.
The inspector has now requested that she be allowed to interview my plumber and be shown what repairs he made. I’m fine with the inspector being on-site and inspecting, but my views are that it is completely inappropriate for the government to want to speak to my contractors. I feel it is more appropriate for me to handle all government communications, rather than to allow the inspector to go around me and communicate directly with my repair crews.
But, perhaps I’m paranoid and approvals would be sped-up if I opened these lines of communication…
It depends on how smart, social and loyal your plumber is.
I know that the parks I work in have reasonably or highly intelligent maintenance men. They are constantly working with government officials and learn quickly how to manage them. They understand the meaning of “give and take”. If your plumber doesn’t know how to schmooze, or thinks he/she is always right, you could be in trouble. It is not unique to find quality repairmen/women who are sharper than the government officials/inspectors.
If you don’t let the inspector have her way with you…er… with your plumber… er… with information from your plumber, she may wonder what you are trying to hide. Once she is satisfied…er… figures out your plumber knows what he is doing, she’ll back off.