With damage from Hurricane Ian seeing countless homes in Cape Coral needing repairs, many are experiencing long waits for inspections.

Inspection delays, of course, while frustrating, are to be expected to an extent, as the city as of last week was actively processing and reviewing roughly 4,600 permits.

Since Ian, city officials said they have seen “unprecedented” permitting activity with thousands in need of repairs. The city said since the storm, they have received approximately 21,693 permit applications and have issued more than 22,000.

There have been few delays with the permitting aspect of recovery, as the vast majority of permits being issued immediately through the city’s “push-button permit” via their Self-Service portal. The city also waived permitting fees related to storm damage (until Jan. 16).

These “push-button” permits, which include roof repairs, emergency electrical work, garage door replacements, plumbing re-piping, shutters, and awnings, among others, constitute over 50% of all permits applications received by the city after Hurricane Ian, said Cape Coral Special Projects Coordinator Matt Grambow, adding that, “Contractors who apply for these push-button permits are able to immediately print their permits and begin work.”

While permits are being churned out, inspections times have taken a hit with the high volume of requests.

A local roofing company, Lloyd Roofing, told The Breeze that inspection times in the Cape are running 30 days out.

So, how does the process work and where are the biggest hang-ups? Before a contractor can repair or replace a roof, they need a permit from the municipal or county government, and it’s normal for that to take a couple days or even weeks. Once the permit is issued, a roofing crew can tear off the damaged roof and install roof decking and “underlayment.” Underlayment is essentially a layer of waterproof protection between the plywood roof deck and shingles (it kind of looks like a white/light paper).

The city then must inspect and approve underlayment before the contractor can continue laying shingles or tiles. This is where the delay is happening, the roofer said.

It used to take five days or so days to get an inspection. Now, it’s taking up to and in some cases, more than a month. According to manufacturer warranties, the underlayment cannot be exposed to the elements (rain, sun, wind) for more than 30 days or it must be torn off and redone. This is why so many homes in Cape Coral seem to be covered in that white paper, but work appears to have stopped – they’re waiting on inspections.

After the underlayment inspection, crews can install shingles, then request a final inspection from the city.

“Reducing inspection wait times has become the primary issue being addressed by city staff, especially considering the surge of demand for roofing work after Hurricane Ian,” Grambow said. “While the city has some discretion in the type of work necessary for approving certain types of permits under the Florida Building Code and Florida law, inspections must be completed by certified Florida Building Inspectors or passed through an engineer’s letter.”

Prior to Hurricane Ian, the city had offered next-day inspections for over 5 years, according to city officials. The city estimates that the widespread roofing damage caused by Hurricane Ian will require over 50,000 roofing inspections. To address this surge in demand, the city officials say they have hired two additional building inspectors, contracted with four different third-party building inspections agencies, conducted inspections on weekends and on holidays, and transferred staff from other city departments to assist with inspection scheduling and documentation.

“The city continues to reach out to additional third-party inspection providers to assist in this initiative,” Grambow said. “The city is averaging over 600 building inspections per day, with the city completing over 700 inspections most days.”

Lloyd Roofing told The Breeze shortly after Ian hit, the inspection delay time began to mount. It went from five days, to two weeks and now to 30 days.

If a permit is approved and work begins, but required inspections cannot be done in the necessary window of time, conflicts arise.

While the company understands the immense demand, it can be difficult to schedule projects in advance, and homes are having open roofs for up to two weeks.

“Which is a problem,” said Lloyd Roofing Division Manager Rast Bryant.

He used an example that with a the recent cold front, schedules were pushed back and some types of products could not be installed.

“If I had those projects already scheduled in being proactive, now I have to move them again and homeowners have a roof that’s open for three to four weeks to be inspected,” Bryant said.

Another issue lies in that many insurance companies do not provide homeowners with a check until they receive all permits and certifications from inspectors. This is leaving homeowners on the hook to pay contractors while they wait for all of the paperwork.

“The real problem here lies with the consumer not being able to get compensation for their work,” Bryant said.

If an inspection window is dwindling, there is another option to get inspections done; via a private company. Contractors do not need to have the city complete their inspections. They can hire a private provider to complete inspections or submit an engineer’s letter to complete an inspection.

“Though there is currently a multi-week delay in scheduling a city inspection for certain types of inspections, including roofing inspections, any contractor can use either of these options to complete a roofing dry-in, 90-pound or final roofing inspection,” Grambow said.

The city is currently paying for several third-party inspection providers to supplement the city’s own inspectors, officials said. The cost of these private inspection providers varies by agency, and can be based on the number of inspections completed or the number of hours allocated to completing inspections.

“The city has allocated several hundred thousand dollars to the private inspector provider initiative after Hurricane Ian, and has also submitted mutual aid and resource requests to the State of Florida for building inspector services,” Grambow said.

Inspections are typically included in the base permit fee, but there may be a re-inspection fee if a specific inspection does not pass.

The roofing company said they have had to go private (outside of the city) on multiple occasions to meet timelines, which is an additional expense of $300-$500 depending on the company. The city does offer permit fee discounts for using a private provider, but that discount only applies if permit fees are being charged, city officials said. Many of these permit fees have been waived by the city, as previously stated.

Bryant said he’d like to see alternative options that other municipalities offer when things get backed up, such as being able to send photos of work done as part of the permit packet to get the ball rolling on some things.

City officials said they are not “rolling over” inspections, even with the surge in inspection demand.

“The permitting portal provides contractors with a ‘next available date’ for a given inspection, based on the number of requested inspections and the availability of inspectors,” Grambow said. “City inspectors are completing between 23 and 30 inspections per day, even though the industry standard is 15 to 18.”

City officials said all permits applied for since Nov. 14 have permit processing and inspection information online HERE by searching the address or permit number.