NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 44

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Comparing Notes
THEY FIGURED IT OUT SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO: A VETERAN AND
A NEWBIE SHARE RVI LESSONS LEARNED

Jim Muir, the top building official in Clark County, Washington,
and Tim Mikloiche, his counterpart in West Hartford, Connecticut, make for a fascinating contrast. In 2012, Clark County
became perhaps the first building department in the US to adopt
widespread use of remote video inspection (RVI). West Hartford,
on the other hand, only started using RVI in March when the coronavirus pandemic shut down the town offices.
Though each came to it in different times and under different
circumstances, both Muir and Mikloiche have a wealth of valuable
information on how to build and maintain a successful remote
video program.

half the time, maybe less. Now I'd say we have an acceptable
signal about 75 percent of the time.
Jim, since the pandemic, you said you've been
getting a lot of calls about RVI from other inspectors.
What's the most common question?
MUIR The biggest question is probably about the kinds of inspections that can be done remotely. The answer is most things. There
are a few obvious ones where it's not very likely. We wouldn't
want to do a whole framing inspection on a house remotely, for
instance-it's not an efficient way to review a big-picture part of
a construction project. But for lots of individual components and
systems, RVI really works well.

" I DON'T KNOW IF THIS IS GOING TO

SOUND CORNY, BUT IF YOU DON'T
HAVE YOUR TEAM DEDICATED TO THE
MISSION, YOU'RE PROBABLY GOING TO
GET PUSHBACK AND AMBIVALENCE.

JIM MUIR
Clark County, Washington

TIM MIKLOICHE
West Hartford, Connecticut

Jim, how did you come up with the idea of
remote video inspection for Clark County?
MUIR We were coming out of the recession, and it was difficult
hiring employees to keep up with the demand for inspections. And
at the same time, I had one inspector who was battling cancer and
was on light duty in the office. So it was kind of like a mother of
invention moment. We had this resource-a guy who really wants
to work-and one that we could really use to get more inspections
done. Everything just came together.
Tim, you had very little time to create an RVI program.
How did you do it?
MIKLOICHE The NFPA white paper [available at nfpa.org/rvi]
helped a lot-it added credibility to the program. With that, we created an outline and filled in the details. We had to throw it together
really fast, and so we're on revision eight after two months. It's a
learning curve.
What's an example of one of those learning moments?
MIKLOICHE We would need to measure the depth of a pier, but
the tools to do that wouldn't be available at the site, or we'd need
to see a roof, but there wouldn't be a ladder. So we instituted rules
that the contractor has to be there with the right tool to conduct
the inspection-a ladder, a tape measure, a plug-in tester to check
an electrical outlet.
Jim, what were your biggest challenges with RVI early on?
MUIR A good WIFI network. We have a large county-a big portion of it is rural, and some of those areas have a poor WIFI signal.
Obviously, there's no way we can do the video inspection if there
isn't a connection. When we started, we had an acceptable signal

What's an important thing for building officials
to know if they're just starting with RVI?
MUIR I don't know if this is going to sound corny, but if you don't
have your team dedicated to the mission, you're probably going to
get pushback and ambivalence. So my best advice is to make sure
that you're connected to your team, and they understand and buy
in to the team's mission of trying to do their job more efficiently
and keep up with technology.
MIKLOICHE Early on we developed some inspection checklists for RVI, which are really just guides for inspectors. With this
pandemic, more inspectors are doing inspections outside their
concentration, so checklists have been great. Check, check,
check, and you're done.
What's the biggest misconception
inspectors have about RVI?
MIKLOICHE Two big ones are that video inspections are of lesser
quality and that they take a lot less time. I think for us it takes
roughly twice as long to complete a video inspection, because you
can't just turn your head and look at something else. Also, in a lot
of cases, it's actually a much more detailed inspection, because
you can get up close and personal. If you're there in person you
might have to stand six feet away [for safety reasons], but on a
phone you can zoom in.
How do you get buy-in on RVI among your partners
like contractors and homeowners?
MUIR Being in contact with the various industry and building
groups is advisable all the way around, especially if you're trying to
roll out something new. If you don't have at least a basic relationship with those partners, you'll be fighting an uphill battle. We've
always attended trade meetings and local association meetings-
real estate and banking meetings, and public community agencies
like Rotary clubs. If you get an opportunity to present who you
are and what you do, it's always good to be out in the community
trying to do as much outreach as possible. --JR

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NFPA Journal - July/August 2020

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