Framing Inspection Checklist

In this article

• Consequences of Missed Framing Inspections
• Why Framing Inspections are Difficult With Paper
• Inspect a House for Framing Easily with a Digital Checklist
• Why Use SafetyCulture (formerly iAuditor) Digital Framing Inspection Checklists?
• Free Framing Inspection Checklists

A framing inspection includes the following:

• Nail drilling
• Fire stopping
• Stud columns
• Roof trusses
• Joists and girders

Consequences of Missed Framing Inspections

Unchecked inspection items can create life-threatening safety hazards, especially in construction projects. While inspectors are well aware of how important their jobs are, the sheer number of things to inspect may lead to them missing certain checklist items such as base screws at the bottom of a fireplace. This and other fire stopping mechanisms prevent fires from starting and spreading to other living areas.

If a fire does occur, it’s important to ensure that firefighters have access to the building and fire exits are kept unobstructed. Missing these safety precautions during a framing inspection can result in numerous fatalities and injuries. Aside from the safety hazards mentioned above, overlooked areas also cause unnecessary construction delays and expenses.

For example, if the inspector didn’t notice during the framing inspection that the head height or stair headroom was incorrectly measured, then the construction crew might end up building stairs with the wrong measurements. This would lead to them having to tear out the finished stairs and redo them completely. This is especially aggravating for both client and contractor because, in this case, valuable time and materials are wasted due to an oversight by the inspector. 

Why Framing Inspections are Difficult With Paper

Traditionally, framing inspectors carry a bunch of papers to use as reference while walking through and inspecting the property. While there is nothing inherently wrong with this process, paper-based inspections make the inspector’s job harder than it needs to be. Here are three common problems inspectors face when conducting framing inspections with paper:

Inspectors Forget to Check a Critical Component

While this is typically caused by human error, using a paper checklist doesn’t help prevent this. As stated earlier, there are serious consequences for not conducting framing inspections thoroughly. Unfortunately, it’s easy for the inspector to get lost in the many pages they have to read and go through during the inspection, resulting in missed inspection items. 

Inspectors Can’t Find the Information They Need

Aside from being wildly inconvenient, paper inspections cause needless inefficiencies. Inspectors have to constantly sift through their stack of papers to find the information they need to conduct the framing inspection properly. This can be a source of great irritation for inspectors as it hinders them from doing their job to the best of their abilities. 

Inspectors Still Have to Encode Inspection Reports

While typically included in the job description, it takes extra effort on the part of the inspectors to write reports after a full day of inspections. Aside from being unable to remember everything from each inspection conducted on that day (or the day before), inspectors are also most likely very tired from being on their feet all day and going to different sites. This may lead to them making incomplete or incoherent inspection reports.

Inspect a House for Framing Easily with a Digital Checklist

Though digital framing inspection checklists can seem intimidating, it’s actually quite easy to incorporate paper documents into a digital workflow. Since engineering layouts, design plans, and data sheets are usually given to the inspector as paper documents, this can be an issue for those unconvinced of the benefits of using a digital checklist.

Luckily, inspectors can either scan or snap a photo of a paper document to add to their inspection or convert it into digital form. As for finding the information they need, inspectors can jump to any page of the framing inspection checklist with a single tap or click. No need to go through an endless amount of papers just to check that one thing.

Inspectors also won’t have to worry about typing up reports at the end of the day since inspection reports are automatically generated and can be shared with or sent to multiple people via email.