Does it make sense to hire City inspectors for this job?

[Ibrahim Hughes]

Hi everyone. I am on the board of a small non-profit and we are about to renovate a newly acquired building for our community center. We're fortunate enough to acquire grant money from the city to get the renovations done.

However, as the treasurer, I am one of the lead team members being tasked with making sure the finances of the renovation project are managed properly. My top priority is to make sure that we don't get ripped off by a contractor doing shoddy work.

Side story: Many years ago when I was new in the business I got ripped off because I thought I was experienced enough to inspect a Contractor's weekly work before giving him payments. Little did I know that by the time 2 months had passed and the city inspectors showed up, most of the work was done incorrectly. I lost thousands of dollars on that project and don't want to go through that again obviously.

On residential rehab projects that my brother and I partner on, he primarily handles the contractors. However this is a completely separate project that he's not a part of. Additionally, this is commercial and these are the funds of a non-profit so I want to go the extra mile and make sure they are protected.

Most of the city inspectors here are also private contractors who hire themselves out to different municipalities and even to tax lien holders looking to get an abandoned property certified as such. Does it make sense for us to hire some of these inspectors to inspect the work after it's supposedly completed yet before payments are made?

Or should I expect them to be able to complete the rough phase of work and pass rough inspection before a payment is made?