Owner-builder guide
What the inspector checks, stop by stop
This is what inspectors commonly look at, in the order they usually see it. Yours may add to it or ask for less. Phone your inspector's office before you start, and ask for the list in writing.
- 01
Step 1: Stop 1. Rough-in, before the walls close
Call for this inspection when the boxes are set and the cable is run, and before any insulation or drywall goes up.
Boxes fixed to the framing, with the front edge where the finished wall will be
Cable through holes drilled near the middle of the stud, with nail plates where it cannot be
Cable fastened near each box and along its run
A ground wire in every box, and the right wire size for each breaker
A note on anything you want the inspector to look at twice
- 02
Step 2: Stop 2. The service and grounding
This is the stop where an off-grid house and a grid house look most alike: a panel, a way to shut it off, and a connection to the earth.
Ground rods or foundation steel, with the wire to the panel clamped and visible
Clear, level space in front of the panel for working
The main disconnect where someone who does not know the house can find it
A directory with every circuit named in your own handwriting
- 03
Step 3: Stop 3. Solar, battery and back-up sources
The part that is new to most owner-builders, and the part an inspector reads most closely.
A label at each disconnect saying which source it controls
Fuses or breakers sized for the source, next to the source
Battery and inverter set with the room their instructions call for
The one-line drawing on the wall or at hand, matching what is installed
- 04
Step 4: Stop 4. The final
When the house can be lived in, and the covers are on.
Outlets and switches tested and covered
GFCI and AFCI protection where the code asks for it
Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms where the code asks for them
Every label printed or written so it can be read from standing height
Working with us
Three ways to split the work
Owner-builders come to us at different points. Whichever you choose, the license-required work is ours.
We do all of it
You frame and finish. We wire it, draw it, pull the permits and meet the inspector.
You frame and dig, we wire
You build the shell and dig the trench where the county allows it. We run the cable, set the panel and do the sources.
You wire, we look it over
Where your county lets an owner do this work, we walk it before the inspector does and tell you what we would flag.
The one-line drawing
How to read the drawing we make
Power comes in from the left and goes out to the right. Each source is a box on the left: panels, the battery, a back-up. Each switch is a gap in the line. Each breaker is a number. Each load is a label on the right.
Beside every line we write the wire size and what it carries. Your inspector can follow one line from the sun to the well pump without opening the panel.
Sources on the left, loads on the right
Every switch and breaker named
Wire sizes beside each run
Before the sources go in
Ground-mount arrays and the frost line
Ground arrays sit on posts and the cable to the house is buried. In western Montana the cable goes below the frost, and the trench is one of the first things we ask about, because rock or a steep slope changes the whole job.
We ask your inspector how deep and what kind of conduit they want, and put it on the drawing.
Questions owner-builders ask
Can I do my own wiring?
That depends on your state and your county. Rules for owners differ, so ask the inspector who will visit your site what an owner permit lets you do. We never advise doing live work on your own.
Are you the inspector?
No. The inspector works for the state or your city or county, and we do not choose them. We make the drawing, do the work and are there on the day.
What if a stop does not go well?
The inspector writes down what to fix. You fix it, or we do, and the inspector comes back. A note from an inspector is information, not a verdict on the house.
Which stops need a permit?
The permit is for the job, and the inspections are the stops on it. Your county tells us which stops it wants. We pull the permit for the work we do.
Can you meet the inspector without me?
Yes, if you say so. Most owner-builders come, because it is the best hour you can spend learning how your own house is wired.
Bring us the plans, or just the lot
Tell us where the land is and what you are building. We will say what the stops will probably be.