Swimming Pool Inspections

[pmccarthy]

The council gave me until 31 May to get my pool fence inspected. Inspector charged me $495 and failed it. Fair enough, it needed some attention which took me three days. I just contacted him, he wants another $495 to come back. My options:

Tell him to get nicked the try to find someone else. Presumably will cost me another $495 for a first inspection.

Try to negotiate lower, with the risk he will fail it again out of pique.

Roll over.

 

What would you do? I think it is extortionate. And I still have to pay a registration fee to the council. Where i live in the country there seems to be only one inspector and others want big bucks to travel from Melbourne area. (The house came with a pool, I didn't want it, but now the grand kids do!)

[Jerry_Atrick]

Whoa! Are we talking about a private, residential house that is not let out?

[Yenn]

Funny. I have a pool over two metres deep and I don't need a fence. It is just a hole in the ground, filled by a seasonal creek. I regularly swim in it, but not at this time of year. I just cannot understand how a home pool can be so dangerous, but a farm dam is safe.

Don't stir up the pollies about this, I don't want to have to fence it.

[pmccarthy]

Whoa! Are we talking about a private, residential house that is not let out?

Yes just a private backyard.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Jeez! Every time I think I should again try and con the missus to moving back to Aus, something like this comes out of the woodwork. I get the need for a law on it.. and when building the pool or selling the house, making sure it is up to scratch - or if you are renting it out - but what seems to be a regular inspection for your own use - seems over the top to me. WHen I last lived in Aus, we rented a house with a pool for 2 years. It was properly fenced (old metal fence) and never had an inspection. Our son was 15 months old when we moved in and as parents we made sure we knew where he was and the pool fence gate was shut when we finished it, etc

 

I get it is to stop kids drowning - there had been a few a year.. My ex-finacee's brother worked in the pool indistry and had a beautiful back yard pool - no fence. Every so often, the mother wold have to pluck a young son out of the pool, so It is not a bad law to require a fence (she knew where they were and always had sight of them - not negligent - just they were quick to get to the pool - they were not in any real danger). A few people die each year in house fires caused by electrical faults - do we require inspections of the electrical systems every so often? I rented a unit in Melbourne and in winter we were feeling quite ill and lethargic. Turns out the flue was broken at the back of the heater and spewing out CO. The heater was prob 10 years old and I guess there was never a requirement for gas inspections for rentals, either.

 

What can you do? If you are happy your pool meets spec, I would try and negotiate the price down unless the work was that major it could have affected the rest of the fence. Otherwise, get another inspector... At least he doesn't get the satisfaction of fleecing you twice.

Edited May 24, 2020 by Jerry_Atrick

[old man emu]

That inspector sounds like a shonk! Most decent types will do the inspection, identify the failings and withhold the certificate until the failings are fixed. That's the idea of independent inspections - to get things corrected. Imagine taking your plane to a maintenance place and when you went back they told you that it needed an oil and filter change and some other snags fixed, but that they would charge you for the inspection, but not fix the faults.

 

Just to get back at the shonk, I would contact the authority that licensed him and let them know that he was not acting within the spirit of the Regulation. Advise your local Councillor and the By-Laws manager of the council. You don't have to "roll over" for these shonks.

[spacesailor]

I you fill it with a truck load of sand, it,s no longer under the shonks durisdiction.

The kids will get a kick out of having such abig sandpit.

spacesailor

Edited May 24, 2020 by Guest

[Yenn]

Didn't pm say it was not up to scratch and he knew it. Maybe the inspector had a gut full of doing inspections so that people could maybe get away with a shonky job, or find out exactly how little they could get away with.

Years ago I was doing inspections of construction work and in a few cases I had to lower the boom as I would be called in when the work was nowhere near completion, the contractor expected me to stick around while he completed the job.

[pmccarthy]

Well, it was not up to scratch but I didn't know it. Rules had changed since it was built ten years ago. Anyway, I have reached an agreement on a fair price for a re-inspection.

[Bruce Tuncks]

I would want to leave the dead inspector tied to the fence as a warning to others. Alas this would be a bad idea.

So you just have to pay I'm afraid. Go crook at all the elected reps you can .

You have all my sympathy and you are right to be angry.

[Jerry_Atrick]

On 25/05/2020 at 7:50 AM, pmccarthy said:

Well, it was not up to scratch but I didn't know it. Rules had changed since it was built ten years ago. Anyway, I have reached an agreement on a fair price for a re-inspection.

Interesting to know how the rules have changed - have they made a material difference to the safety or quality of materials that would ensure the fence lasted between inspections any better than previously?

 

[Yenn]

OME. Your comment about an aviation maintenance organisation not doing work uncovered at an inspection is exactly what an annual inspection means. In aviation the maintenance people do an annual inspection, which may uncover several faults. Some of those faults may be able to be left unattended to and some may be serious enough that a new maintenance release cannot be issued. The owner can get the faults fixed by someone of their choice and the people who did the inspection may then issue the Maintenance release, or they could decline. When getting an inspection done it is essential to have the inspector know whether he is supposed to fix all faults, of inspect and discuss how they are fixed.

[old man emu]

I think that it is implied that if a fault is uncovered in the course of routine maintenance (including annuals) that it will be rectified if the cost to do so is minimal, or approval will be sought from the owner if the cost is a factor.

 

On 24/05/2020 at 5:55 PM, old man emu said:

Imagine taking your plane to a maintenance place and when you went back they told you that it needed an oil and filter change and some other snags fixed, but that they would charge you for the inspection, but not fix the faults.

What I meant here is situation where the owner left the aircraft for maintenance, expecting maintenance and small repairs to be done, but on returning was simply given a bill for going over the aircraft and noting what needed to be done. A pretty unrealistic example, I admit.