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Highlands Today

Building Inspections Slow As Industry Declines

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By Gary Pinnell | Highlands Today

Published: October 17, 2007

In January 2005 alone, the four-man crew from S.Y. Moseley's office inspected 1,682 residential, commercial and other buildings.

In 2006, Highlands County had to hire two more building inspectors to keep up with the load.
But the housing boom busted in 2006, and now inspection requests are down 55 percent, according to records in the building official's office. In August, only 10 building permits were issued.

One inspector who left won't be replaced, and another has been reassigned to inspecting roofs, said Helen McKinnney, assistant to Building Official S.Y. Moseley.

That doesn't mean the construction of housing and commercial buildings has ground to a halt though, said Jim Polatty, Highlands County's chief planner.

In 2006, 1,210 permits were issued to build houses, and in 2007, 853 residential permits were pulled though September, according to statistics provided by Carol Shackelford, permit clerk.

Impact Fees

To avoid paying impact fees, which began after Feb. 28, builders applied for and were issued 532 permits in January and February.

Those permits were good for 180 days, said McKinnney.

"That doesn't mean they won't do the work," she said.

But because orders for new homes fell in Highlands County — along with the rest of the nation, the permits have expired for 70 houses and 13 commercial buildings, issued in January and February, McKinney said. Builders had to substantially finish the structures by Aug. 28.

Candi Nelson, office manager at Bevis Construction in Lake Placid, said home construction has not ground to a halt for her company.

"I've heard some other companies are at a dead stop, but for us, we're still selling contracts," Nelson said. "It's slowed some. It's not as busy as it was last year."

This is the slowest it's been in 25 years in Highlands County, John Wiseman indicated in August from his research.

"And as bad as it is here, the closer you get to Naples and Pinellas County and Dade and Broward, the worse it gets," said Wiseman, president of Core Construction, which has offices in Naples, Orlando and Sarasota. This year, he's serving as president of the Florida Home Builders Association.

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