Longboat faces high demand for inspections amid staff shortage

The town of Longboat Key only has one full-time inspector currently on payroll, yet it receives an average of 65 inspection requests a day. 

According to Planning, Zoning and Building Director Allen Parsons, the department usually has two full-time inspectors, but had one vacancy at the time of publication. Due to a high demand for building inspections, the department has had to hire private providers to take on some of the work. Generally, these cost about $100 an hour, Parsons said, adding the town is utilizing them “pretty much on a daily basis.”

“We’re using private providers to cover for the person that’s out,” Parsons said. “But then on any given week, too, we use private providers to help deal with the demand that’s beyond the capacity of our two inspectors.” 

The department has been down to one inspector for about a month. Currently, Parsons said the average turnaround time for an inspection is one to two days. 

“Our inspectors are pretty much running at maximum capacity, if not above that,” Parsons said.

The increase in demand began in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the real estate market has continued to take off since then, Parsons said the demand for inspections has been steady and high.

Aside from the shortage in workers and high demand, Parsons said hiring private providers isn’t completely uncommon. All work that is done that requires building permits will require some sort of inspection. This could be done throughout the building process or at the end, depending on what the situation is. Each inspection requires certain certifications, and if one of the town’s inspectors doesn’t have that certification, then the town must outsource that inspection. 

Parsons discussed this shortage in front of town commissioners during the June 20 budget workshop meeting. At that time, he brought up the addition of a new building inspector position in the department starting in fiscal year 2024. 

If the vacant position is filled and the new position is created and filled, then Parsons believes three workers may help meet demand. 

“It will alleviate it I think to a significant amount,” Parsons said. “It may not necessarily get all of it, it might not always cover the kind of license that may be needed for the construction activities … but it should go a long way towards being able to better keep up with the demand we’ve been seeing.”