Residents will have a chance to comment on the ideas at two public hearings Thursday and March 9. The task force will later submit a final report to the Mecklenburg County commissioners and the county Building Development Commission, an industry panel that monitors construction rules. The county's Engineering and Building Standards Department could inform individual contractors each month about their most frequent construction mistakes. On its Web site, the department would regularly publicize the top 10 mistakes made by the industry as a whole. The county could hit contractors with financial penalties if they fail too many inspections.
Officials have yet to settle on dollar amounts or specifics.
Some inspectors say that's not enough to discourage sloppy workmanship. The task force is searching for ways to reward those who perform well and agree to be trained. Recent stories in The Observer showed how the building boom has strained home builders, swamped building inspectors and left many who buy new homes with costly problems. Charlotte homeowner Christine Todd thinks the quality of workmanship on new houses has steadily slipped in recent years. North Carolina doesn't require licenses of many subcontractors, such as carpenters and roofers.