Darcy Spears Reporting

Keeping a careful eye on construction, that's what homeowners rely on building inspectors to do. But homeowners who have to sue their builders over defects say they're not getting the protection they expected. News 3 Investigator Darcy Spears has been inspecting the inspectors and reveals information the city doesn't want you to know.

How does an inspector get out of his car, check a home's blueprints, examine a subcontractor's work and return to the car in less than 15 minutes? That's the average amount of time city inspectors spend looking at each home. The city says they get the job done. Homeowners we talked to, and records we examined, say otherwise.

"You buy a house with the hope that it's gonna be done right, and it's not."

Not at Jewel White's house, and not at Mary File's either.

"We should only see the building paper. When we see the sill flashing that means it's reversed."

Which means, when it rains outside, water runs inside Mary's walls.

A construction defect to be sure... which is why the home is one of nearly 50 in this development that make up a class action lawsuit against Beazer. But many homeowners believe the city building inspectors who signed off on their homes, share some of the blame. Terry Wike is the homeowners' attorney.

"A lot of times the building inspectors may not look at every component, or even every home. It's my understanding that they are required to look at every home, but there have been some conditions in the past where we've said, if they actually looked at this home, how could this get by?"

The answers lie partially with this man, Paul Wilkins, who heads up the city's building inspection department. He scheduled two appointments with us to videotape an inspector at work... then cancelled them for what later turned out to be bogus reasons.

We got this video you're seeing now with a county inspector. What doesn't the city want us to know? Perhaps that they're not doing their job. That's what the News 3 investigators found after obtaining city inspection records for 11 randomly selected homes in Vista Del Oro. The uniform building code requires inspections of:

Structural framework
Foundation
Pre-slab or under floor
Both rough and final electrical, plumbing and mechanical
Lath and/or wallboard
Water, gas and sewer service equipment
Roof

And a building final: City records show the same inspector did almost all the work on each of the 11 addresses. They also show every home did not get every required inspection.

Ten of the 11 had no under slab plumbing inspection, no external lath/stucco inspection, and no roof sheathing inspection. Four homes didn't get sewer line or framing inspections. Seven homes didn't have pre-slab inspections or water, gas, waste inspections. Only four had both required electrical inspections, and only three had both required mechanical inspections.

"Why even have an inspection? Why even do it? Why even talk about it? If they're there... If they're not looking at the work, it doesn't do any good."

We tried to ask the city those questions, but no one would answer, either on or off camera. They sent this written statement saying the problems at Vista Del Oro are "Clearly an issue between the homeowners and the home builder. Since it is quite possible that city staff may be called as witnesses in the lawsuit, it is imprudent for us to talk about this case out of court."

Former construction worker Rod Cook says, that's a cop out... believing builders and inspectors share responsibility.

"It should go back to the inspector. Inspectors aren't getting fined. Home builder's are getting fined for poor workmanship. Well, if you're getting fined for poor workmanship, how come an inspector let it go?

We found something else inspectors let go at Vista Del Pro... code changes during the course of construction provided for copper pipes to be sleeved to protect them from corrosive soils. Though some homes were exempt because they were built before the code change, others were not. Still, the builder didn't use the sleeving, and the city didn't enforce the new code... leading to corroding pipes and leaks at many Vista Del Oro homes.

"These are people's lives. A lot of people buy their homes, they want to retire. I'm retired. If it's not done right, what good does it do me?"

Beazer said they were too busy to grant me an on-camera interview. They did give me a statement, however. They say, "The role city inspectors play in the building process is a very important one that benefits homeowners and home builders alike. Beazer homes relies on city inspectors to conduct reviews and inspections based on applicable codes. Specific to Vista Del Oro, the building codes have undergone changes several times since the community was originally permitted and built."

The public duty doctrine says that a public entity, like the City of Las Vegas, cannot be held liable for negligent performance of obligations on behalf of the public. So that makes it difficult to hold inspectors accountable, but not impossible. The Supreme Court in North Carolina ruled that doctrine does not bar a homeowner from filing a claim against a public entity for construction defects that were negligently overlooked by a government inspector.