Inspection on your project should consist of a combination of quality control and quality assurance. This process is on-going and the end result is a project completed to specification with an acceptable level of quality.

Inspection services come in many different shapes, styles, and sizes offering a range of services, deliverables, and values. A disturbing trend that I see occurring more and more often is the “staffing agency” approach to inspection services. My opinion (based on years of observation) is that this approach undermines the overall quality process by not providing real value.

The quality process on construction projects generally consists of Quality Control (owned and executed by the construction contractors) and Quality Assurance (performed by the owner or owner’s representative). As the owner, the one piece of the quality process you have the most control over is Quality Assurance. If you’ve experienced results that were less than what you were hoping for, I suggest taking a closer look at how Quality Assurance is being executed and, more specifically, who is executing it.