Why Did My Electrical Inspection Fail?

First: a correction notice is normal

Inspectors are not looking for reasons to fail you. They are checking a list, and if one thing on it is not right, the whole inspection is marked for correction — even if everything else is perfect. Fix the item, call for a re-inspection, get the green tag. The cost of a failed inspection is time, not usually money, unless the correction means opening something back up.

Missing or improper grounding and bonding

This is the single most common category. Grounding electrode conductor not sized or terminated correctly, a missing ground rod or a second rod that was never driven, bonding jumpers missing at water piping or gas piping, neutrals and grounds sharing a bar in a subpanel where they must be separated. None of these will stop your lights from working, and all of them matter enormously the day something faults.

Wrong GFCI or AFCI protection

The list of locations requiring GFCI protection has expanded over successive code cycles — kitchens, bathrooms, garages, outdoors, laundry areas, basements, and receptacles near sinks generally. AFCI requirements have similarly grown for living areas. Inspectors test these. A common write-up is a receptacle that was replaced or added without the protection the current code requires for that location.

Panel labeling and working clearance

Circuit directories must be filled out legibly and accurately — 'lights' on eight different lines does not count. Separately, a panel needs defined clear working space in front of it. Panels that got walled into a closet, blocked by shelving, or ended up behind a new water heater get written up, and that correction can be expensive because the fix is architectural, not electrical.

Box fill, support and unprotected cable

• Too many conductors crammed into an undersized box.
• Cable stapled too far from the box, or not supported at all in an attic run.
• Romex run exposed where it needs physical protection or conduit.
• Missing nail plates where cable passes through a stud within striking distance of drywall screws.
• Open splices outside a junction box, or a junction box buried behind new drywall.

Work that does not match the permit or the plan

If the permit says you are replacing a 100-amp panel and the inspector finds a 200-amp service, that is a correction regardless of the quality of the work. Same for circuits added beyond the described scope, or a service moved to a different location. Changes in the field are fine; changes that were never communicated to the jurisdiction are not.

Access, power and the inspector's time

Inspections also get bounced for reasons that have nothing to do with wiring: nobody on site to open a locked gate, a dog in the yard, the work not actually finished, or no power available to test. Being ready when the inspector arrives is half of passing.

How to avoid a second correction

• Use a licensed contractor who pulls the permit under their own license.
• Ask which jurisdiction has authority — Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, Glendale and the rest each run their own building department with their own local amendments.
• Confirm the scope on the permit matches what is actually being built.
• Have the contractor meet the inspector rather than leaving a homeowner to answer code questions.
• Get the correction notice in writing and read it — the item number tells the electrician exactly what to fix.

If you are staring at a red tag right now

Send us the correction notice. We do code corrections on other people's work routinely, including jobs abandoned partway, and we would rather tell you honestly that it is a twenty-minute fix than sell you a bigger job. Call (480) 828-1181. B and D Electric LLC holds Arizona ROC 361086, is bonded through RLI Surety and carries $1M/$2M general liability through Clear Spring; you can verify any Arizona contractor's license yourself on the ROC website.