LaSalle County staff told the Land Use Committee on Aug. 6 that an updated contract from SafeBuilt, the county’s contracted plan-review and inspection firm, is pending and will be returned to the committee after review by the state's attorney and the finance committee.
County building staff said most plan reviews are now completing faster and that an additional inspector hired by SafeBuilt is intended to improve footing and other time-sensitive inspections on Tuesdays and Thursdays. "Everything's...being done by Matt in the office, so it's much quicker turnaround time on that," a county staff member said when describing plan-review changes.
Contractors raised procedural and inspection-quality complaints through committee members. Committee member Dave Torres said he had spoken with contractor Michael Durden, who reported one recent footing inspection scheduled on a Thursday with no timely response from the inspector; Durden said he poured concrete anyway after failing to get an inspection confirmation. Torres relayed Durden’s concern that inspections have become "nitpicky" about items such as plastic vapor barriers while not consistently measuring concrete thickness or rebar placement.
County building staff described two related strands of response: enforcing the state code as written and reviewing contract and process details to improve service. "They're gonna enforce what's in the book to the t," a county official said of SafeBuilt. Staff said they would pursue practical remedies in contract language — for example, specifying days/hours for inspectors and expectations for footing inspections — and they also discussed the option of returning to an in-house inspector if the contract terms proved unsatisfactory.
Committee members asked county staff to reach out to contractors to identify whether Durden’s complaints are isolated or widespread, to accompany inspectors on field visits where appropriate, and to consider a handout summarizing the major code changes since the county moved from the 2003 to the 2024 code. Staff said the new wind and snow-load requirements (the county now requires higher wind loads) and deck ledger attachment changes have produced some permit delays because contractors must obtain updated truss certificates or modify designs.
No contract was approved at the Aug. 6 meeting. County staff said once SafeBuilt returns the proposed contract, it will go to the state's attorney for review, then to finance and fees and to the county board for final action.