Boston Inspectional Services Department

They never answer the phone- no one knows who to talk to get results and it's extremely frustrating. I have called so many times and no cares.

I called 311 at 9pm on Sunday night and filed a complaint about my heater not working blowing cold air my apartment was at 56 degrees or lower no inspector was calling me so I kept on calling back and was told they will be calling me my apartment was getting colder I kept on going through this until 3am this Monday morning and when I called at 3am I was told that they would call me in the morning I was told by the dispatcher not one inspector would call me back when I needed them not one of the inspectors had the decency to call me to tell me that they totally ingnored me and not one had the courage to tell me instead they hide behind the dispatcher like a bunch of cowards I have conjenive heart failure and it's not good for my heart to stay up that late and I was unavailable to sleep because my heart was racing and I had chest pains increasing and I checked my blood pressure and it was through the roof I was breaking out in a sweat it took me 3 hours to get everything under control almost had to go to the hospital now today I have to rest all day and take the strain of my heart I'll be no good all day that's what the inspectors did for me they should be really proud of themselves for last night

We’ve had the pleasure of working with Mr. Abel Arguedas with Boston ISD, and I can’t speak highly enough of him. He’s not only highly knowledgeable about building and fire codes, but also incredibly helpful and approachable. He takes time to listen, answer questions, and offer practical guidance. It’s always a positive experience working with him!

****Update**** The plan reviewer sent me a letter on 08/22 for “more information needed” where he was requesting documents that I were already on the portal and wanted a new liability certificate. The uploaded liability certificate was active when it was uploaded almost a year ago, but this process has taken so long we have since renewed the insurance. I re-uploaded all of the documents and emailed him, but never heard back. I had to once again reach out to his colleagues for help and he finally called me back. The phone call pretty much consisted of him blaming me for how long it too and stated “if you simply got me everything I needed, this permit could have been out the door a long time ago”. I explained to him that it still took him over three months to even review it and that everything he requested was already on the portal. He ended up getting frustrated and hung up the phone. It is now day 93 of waiting for the plan reviewer to issue my permit. I submitted the approval letter from the Zoning Board of Appeal on 05/24/24 and still no word. After numerous emails and phone calls, he finally responded to me after I threatened to file a “failure to act” with the state. He simply told me it was on his list of things to do. Per building code he has 30 days to approve or deny a permit. There is zero accountability within ISD. I have called and emailed every single supervisor on the ISD contact list asking for assistance and not a single one has responded. This is the clear difference between the public sector and private sector.

Mr. Tam Nguyen is a true professional. He’s extremely knowledgeable, responsive, and always willing to help. His thoughtful and respectful approach makes working through inspection and code issues much easier.

Overall my experience was positive and better than my expectations. Cheryl Odom was patient with my questions, having never been through this process before. It did take a while because of her work load so I had to be patient. Also the portal to look up my permit number is not easy to use and I often was not able to successfully download documents that I wanted to read which was frustrating.

As a small business owner in Boston, I want to give special thanks to Mr. Tam. He is professional, efficient, and supportive throughout the entire process, he truly cares about supporting small businesse. Starting a business can be overwhelming, but Mr. Tam makes the process clearly and his guidance made the situation much easier to navigate.

Horrible service a lady named Donna Moore came to check my apartment and seen I had no heat since I’ve moved in which was in February 2022 the office also told her the same thing and she still didn’t understand even after the office confirmed with her. The breaker for the heat blew up in the maintenance guys hand a few minutes before she arrived mind you I have a 2 year old and a 9 month old she tells me that the breaker situation is on me. She also said she was in the building I live in earlier before she came to my apartment to inspect someone else’s apartment.