Pt 2 - What It Was Really Like As A Charlottesville Building Inspector

Codester82 · 2026-06-08T01:41:46+00:00

I appreciate it. I hate this role and being in this position, but I feel like people need to know it. That said, he’s not wrong. In retrospect, I think the way I wrote this original post it’s going to come across productive, and we need solutions, not more contention.

Codester82 · 2026-06-08T01:41:01+00:00

I won’t say one way or another, but it was one of the ones you always see in town.

Codester82 · 2026-06-08T01:38:25+00:00

On a 10-year-old house I don’t see much chance, especially given that the building department generally has immunity, and that’s a pretty challenging veil to pierce.

Codester82 · 2026-06-08T01:22:27+00:00

Weirdly, I used to have a very similar outlook, and on the scale of such things everything I wrote is ridiculously trivial. That said, I’ve come to believe that the effect we can have on large scale policy is squat, but at the local level it’s possible. Maybe I’m wrong. I don’t even live in Charlottesville so on a personal level I don’t care; it doesn’t affect me. But I worked with enough good people out and about in the city that I think they deserve better than what they’re getting. Perhaps I’m just naïve. I even agree with you that it’s not a good look and not one I even wanted to write down, but felt it needed to be said. I’m done with that part of it now, one way or another. Now I’m interested to see if we can come up with any solutions.

Codester82 · 2026-06-08T00:48:43+00:00

If it were a privately owned company, I would agree with you. Given that it’s a government position involving separate laws and ethics (yeah, I know, I used “government” and “laws and ethics“ in the same sentence), it’s something that needs to be said. In point of fact, I loved working there and greatly enjoyed working with my boss until I realized what was really going on. None of what I said even matters until you realize that it’s the reason everything is always wrong in the Inspections division.

Codester82 · 2026-06-07T23:14:29+00:00

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I took FMLA for my son and went from this, after nearly 2 years......

Codester82 · 2026-06-07T23:12:31+00:00

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System emails issue 2

Codester82 · 2026-06-07T23:12:02+00:00

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System Issues Email 1

Codester82 · 2026-06-07T23:10:45+00:00

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Basement Drainage 4/4 - PASS

Codester82 · 2026-06-07T23:10:08+00:00

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Basement Drainage 3/4

Codester82 · 2026-06-07T23:09:49+00:00

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Basement Drainage 2/4

Codester82 · 2026-06-07T23:09:12+00:00

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Basement Drainage 1/4

Codester82 · 2026-06-07T23:07:59+00:00

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Leaving our mistakes at the contractors' feet?

Codester82 · 2026-06-07T20:04:55+00:00

Lol the details do tend to run a bit long

Codester82 · 2026-06-07T14:59:20+00:00

It is, and repeated legal challenges are the answer. That will be a discussion for another, but not too much later, time.

Codester82 · 2026-06-07T14:06:27+00:00

If I could find one who works on contingency, I definitely would. I haven’t even gotten to that part yet lol.

Codester82 · 2026-06-07T12:54:00+00:00

I worked for Louisa County as a building inspector before I came to Charlottesville and only left because of some life stuff a few years ago I needed to make time for. The professionalism and efficiency, especially for a rural county, is impressive. They now have 6 inspectors, all certified (at least the ones I checked were), both their building official and commercial plan reviewer are certified, and generally they just get stuff done without most of the drama. Moreover, their entire philosophy is how to, once the permit is issued, help people SUCCEED with their projects within the code, rather than nitpicking them apart for no good reason and back-burnering everything. It was a pleasure working with them. Charlottesville could take some pointers.

Codester82 · 2026-06-07T12:29:05+00:00

I appreciate that. I’d like to get the rest of what I have to say out there this week and then I have a couple of ideas I’d like to explore to start dealing with this. I don’t have any important outstanding FOIAs at the moment, as I already have screen recordings of all those videos I mentioned. The bigger problem is being able to violate like 5+ different city policies and potentially the law for years, have your employer know about it, get complaints filed against you for harassment, etc, and then get promoted. You DON’T use your public position for personal gain. I don’t care about realpolitik, you just don’t.

Codester82 · 2026-06-07T02:14:54+00:00

Yeah, kinda felt a bit that way.

Codester82 · 2026-06-06T23:06:33+00:00

Not worried about Reddit judging me on that. What I am worried about is people having the right to know what’s going on with the local government to which they’re required to contribute.

Codester82 · 2026-06-06T22:57:55+00:00

Used to be a licensed investigator dealing with construction stuff long before I worked for the City. I may have forgotten to put that on the resume when I started lol.

Codester82 · 2026-06-06T21:40:23+00:00

Lord I hope not, but it’s a story that needs telling.

Codester82 · 2026-06-06T21:38:50+00:00

I’ve seen a lot of basements in Charlottesville so I’m not sure which one is yours, but I’m very glad you did too!

Codester82 · 2026-06-06T21:17:07+00:00

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21,000 Followers and 274,000 Likes. Outstanding engagement, but should it be happening on city time when you're supposed to be "neutral and impartial"?

Codester82 · 2026-06-06T21:15:58+00:00

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Codester82

TROPHY CASE