Burlington, NC Building Safety: Building Inspections (2026)
Key Facts
- Trigger
- Contractor's own location or installation error
- First extra inspection fee
- Set in council's fee schedule
- Second extra inspection fee
- Separate, higher fee in schedule
- Regular inspections
- No extra charge for normal construction sequence
- Billed to
- The contractor or builder, per Sec. 7-6
Summary
Burlington's building inspectors don't charge extra for the normal sequence of construction inspections. Section 7-6 instead bills the contractor or builder an escalating fee, set in the council's schedule, for every additional inspection trip caused by the builder's own failure to locate or properly install the work.
Additional inspections or inspection trips made necessary through the failure of any contractor or builder in charge of work to specify location of work, or by failure of said contractor or builder to install any apparatus in proper manner, or any other extra inspections or trips made necessary by such contractor or builder are hereby designated "extra inspections." For the "first extra inspection," a fee set forth in the fee schedule adopted by council shall be charged against and paid by said contractor or builder to the city. For a "second extra inspection," a fee set forth in the fee schedule shall be charged against and paid by said contractor or builder to the city. For "all inspections after a second extra inspection," a fee set forth in the fee schedule shall be paid by said contractor or builder to the city. Nothing herein shall be construed to require extra fees for the several inspections made necessary in the regular order of construction work.
Full Breakdown
Section 7-6 defines an "extra inspection" as any additional inspection or inspection trip made necessary through the contractor's or builder's own failure, either to specify the location of work for the inspector or to install any apparatus in the proper manner. The fee structure escalates with repetition: the first extra inspection carries a fee from the council's adopted fee schedule, a second extra inspection carries its own fee from that schedule, and every inspection after a second extra inspection carries a further fee from the schedule, each charged against and paid by the contractor or builder responsible, not the property owner as such.
The section draws a careful line around what counts: it explicitly states that nothing in it requires extra fees for the several inspections that are simply part of the regular order of construction work, so a normal string of foundation, framing, and final inspections carries no added charge. The rule sits in the same technical-codes framework as Section 7-4's base permit fee and Section 7-15's adoption of the state building, electrical, plumbing, and other technical codes that the inspections enforce, and it has stood since 1986, amended in 1994, 1999, and 2009 before the 2018 recodification.
Violations & Fines
A contractor or builder who mislocates work or installs an apparatus improperly, forcing the inspector back out, owes the escalating extra-inspection fee directly to the city: one fee for the first extra trip, a separate fee for the second, and a further fee for every trip after that, all set in the council's adopted fee schedule and billed to the contractor or builder, not routed through the routine inspection process.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Burlington charge extra for routine building inspections?
Who pays Burlington's extra inspection fee?
How much more does a second extra inspection cost in Burlington?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Burlington
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