Durham County Inspections Department

Working with Steve Parks and the team at the Inspection Department has been an outstanding experience. Steve is professional, knowledgeable, and incredibly thorough in his work. He takes the time to ensure every detail is addressed and communicates clearly throughout the process, which makes a huge difference in keeping projects on track. His responsiveness and willingness to go the extra mile have been invaluable, especially in navigating permit and inspection requirements efficiently. It’s clear that he cares about both the quality of work and the people he serves. I truly appreciate Steve’s dedication and the support of his team. They have been a pleasure to work with, and I look forward to continuing to collaborate with them on future projects.

Dreadful Experience with the Inspections Department As someone who recently interacted with the Inspections Department, I am compelled to leave this one-star review based on my abysmal experience. Firstly, scheduling an appointment was a nightmare. It seemed like they were operating in a time warp, completely oblivious to modern scheduling conveniences. The process was convoluted, involving numerous phone calls, long holds, and inconsistent information provided by different staff members. It felt like they were intentionally making it difficult to access their services. When the inspector finally arrived, they exhibited an appalling lack of professionalism. Not only were they late, but they also seemed disinterested and ill-prepared. Their demeanor was rude and dismissive, as if they were doing me a favor by showing up. Any questions I had were met with condescending remarks, making me feel ignorant and unwelcome in my own space. The inspection itself was cursory at best.

Terrible group of people who hate when you question them and hate even more when you point out flaws in their system. Especially the head of the mechanical inspections department.

Good lord. I will never take another job that requires a permit in durham. The office is non responsive, inspectors are not helpful. Scheduling is inconsistent. The inspections take longer than the work and its no wonder why many companies illegally do work. But companies like mine are essentially penalized for doing things the right way. CONTRACTORS BEWARE. WE WILL NEVER SERVICE DURHAM AGAIN.

The office staff are excellent. However we had a project with a rough in inspection. Paid a lead Plumber to go check test and sit around wait on inspector. No inspector by about 11:00 so I called to get a ETA so atleast he could go to lunch. No Bog deal but No Answer left voicemail. Called inspector again hr later no answer my guy went to lunch. Came back sat around for another 2 hrs no inspector. So I text the guy this time just to get a window or see if they were coming today no response. So then at 3:00 in the afternoon I called twice back to back and got answer on second time. He was nice but just flat out said yea I won’t make there today I got sixty inspections on me. I said man hate to be a pest but a phone call or sometime of communication would have been great or if you started out the day with no intention of getting to all the inspections would have been great if we could have got a phone call email something and I could have rescheduled. But paying a lead tech to wait on inspector that was never coming is expensive. His response was respectful but just like he was just overwhelmed. So I only partially blame him but if handled my customers this way I wouldn’t have any.

Mechanical Chief Gary Wheeler provided us excellent customer service. The Durham City/County Inspections office handles a huge load but does a fine job most of the time. We build in five different municipal government jurisdictions. From our viewpoint Durham seems to be the most organized and efficient. We are delighted to post this five star review.

I experienced a house fire in November 2017, resulting in damage to a significant portion of my house. In the year + that followed, I dealt with overwhelmingly dishonest and unprofessional contractors, sub-contractors and insurance adjusters ... and was very surprised to find that the Durham County Inspections department was the only entity I worked with who carried themselves in a professional, fair and productive manner. After firing my general contractor for stealing, I repermitted the job into my own name, as well as one of the trade permits. A number of people in various positions at the inspections department went out of their way to be helpful in the transition. (John Read, Karey Liptok and WC Blalock to name a few). I made a couple mistakes along the way and the office held me accountable ... but did so in a very fair and just way, while being professional every step of the way. After all the horror stories that were told to me regarding the inspections department, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that, while they certainly do uphold regulations ... they respond with professionalism if you make every effort to follow those regulations.