To our Readers:
In an effort to keep our community informed during the public-health crisis, we will post local virus-related information free of charge.
If you have any crisis-related stories, please submit them to ([email protected]).
For comprehensive daily news, home delivery and online only subscriptions are available via itemlive.com.
Builders bearing but not grinning about Lynn’s COVID inspection fees
By Thor Jourgensen | May 6, 2020
LYNN — Inspectors hired by the city to ensure construction projects protect against coronavirus come with a thousands-of-dollars-a-month price tag for contractors.
“To the extent we can absorb the cost, we will try to. But if it can’t be absorbed, it becomes an extra that will have to be passed on to the project owner,” said DeIulis Brothers Construction Vice President Patrick DeIulis.
He said after the Lynn firm restarted work on St. Mary’s new Gateway Building and the Boys and Girls Club renovation, city officials contacted the firm and outlined the coronavirus inspection procedures.
“They didn’t have a lot of details except that we would have to pay for it,” DeIulis said.
The procedures and the requirement for contractors to pay for the inspections are included in the executive order Mayor Thomas M. McGee issued on April 3 detailing construction site coronavirus prevention and protection procedures.
The order states that the “Director of Public Health may require the Owner of a private project employing 10 or greater employees (including subcontractors and day laborers) to pay for an independent, third party inspector or inspection firm (or to pay into a pool to pay for such inspections).”
In a statement provided by mayoral spokeswoman Elizabeth Gervacio, McGee said: “Rather than issuing an order ceasing all construction projects in the City of Lynn, such as orders issued in Boston, Somerville and Cambridge, the City of Lynn, chose to put into effect a broad range of safety measures and to require any construction project employing 10 or greater employees, subcontractors or day laborers to pay for third party inspections to ensure compliance with the Order and thus ensure public health and safety of our community and the employees of those respective construction sites.”
McGee in the statement said the order is modeled after Gov. Baker’s order for state construction site coronavirus protections.
But Greater Lynn Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Colin Codner questioned the order and said builders are worried about having to pass on inspection costs to their clients.
“If a business is hit with extraordinary costs, those costs are getting passed on,” Codner said.
City Inspectional Services Director Michael Donovan said four local construction projects — Needham’s Landing, 34-38 Munroe St. and 254 Lynnway residential projects and the medical building at 480 Lynnfield St. — were placed on the inspection list on April 27. The YMCA addition and St. Mary’s and Boys and Girls Club work was added this week.
Donovan said the city contracted with Lowell-based TRC Environmental Corporation and Commodore Builders of Waltham to do the larger-scale construction site inspections.
“They have experience in safety issues at construction sites. The expectation is maintenance of public health to minimize the spread of the virus,” he said.
The city currently has 90 permits approved for construction work ranging from small-size home repairs to big building projects. Donovan said the city’s two inspectors will inspect smaller projects while TRC and Commodore focus on compliance with the April 3 order on large-scale job sites.
Contractors covered under the order are required to have an initial site inspection conducted and prepare a “COVID safety plan.” The initial inspection costs $1300 and bi-weekly follow-up inspections will cost $600 each or $1200 a week.
But the fee structure is also based on the size of the project and builders like DeIulis and John O’Connor, director of development for The Dolben Company, managing agent for Lynn Redevelopment LLC at 254 Lynnway, are awaiting additional details.
“We’ve been told it will be forthcoming. We’re certainly not going to push back — it’s hard to question government action during a pandemic,” DeIulis said.
Lynnfield-based Procopio Companies has decided to maintain multiple inspection layers to guard against coronavirus: The firm hired an inspector independent of the company to inspect its job sites, including its Munroe/Oxford Street residential tower. That measure is in addition to the city-mandated inspections.
Vice President Michael Procopio said he knows contractors who are “pretty upset” with the city inspection order and the costs associated with it.
“From my perspective, although I certainly would rather not be paying for them, I don’t really have an issue with it. We do like that it is an independent set of third-party eyes on the situation, and it gives the city a certain level of confidence as to what is happening on the site,” Procopio said.
As of May 1, the inspectors hired by the city had performed $9,200 in inspections at Needhams Landing, 480 Lynnfield St., Munroe Street and 254 Lynnway.
“To date, the third party inspectors have conducted nine inspections on four sites across the city. Four additional construction sites employing more than ten workers have commenced this week and will also be inspected by the third party inspectors,” McGee said in his office’s statement.
Codner said the construction is one of the larger industry sectors represented among the Chamber’s 400 members and he feels the city order and its inspection requirement is “targeting” the industry.
“Construction is pretty much a low-impact industry,” he said.