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Framing inspection checklist
A framing inspection for a new house or extension, filled in on a phone before the walls and ceilings are closed in. Work area by area: floor structure, external and internal walls, roof. Each area has ten checks, from member sizes and spacing to connectors, bracing, notches and fire and draft stopping, plus a timber moisture reading against the limit in your specification. Then the window and door openings, roof and weather protection. The form counts what needs fixing before the code inspection.
For builders, framing contractors, site superintendents and owner's representatives checking a timber or light-gauge frame before the building inspector's frame inspection.
Written for any country: page 1 sets the building control regime, and the form shows the US code or England building control note to match.
- Area by area: ten frame checks with a reason and photo for anything not right
- Timber moisture reading set against the limit in your specification
- Openings, trusses and rafters, sheathing and wrap, weather protection
- Changes from the drawings, who approved them, and actions with owners
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What does a framing inspection check?
A framing inspection is useful when it is done area by area against the current drawings, with each fault located precisely enough for the framer to find it: which wall, which joist, which strap. A moisture reading against the specified limit and a note of every change from the drawings, with who approved it, save arguments later.
Last updated . Facts checked by the SiteSurvey team on 27 October 2026 against International Residential Code section R109, types of inspections (as reproduced by Winnebago County, Illinois, building department) and Building Regulations 2010, regulation 16, notices in relation to building work.
How to do a framing inspection
Do it once the roof, framing, bracing, fire stopping and draft stopping are in, and the rough-in work has been checked.
Set up
Enter the job, the drawings and their revisions, the frame type and the building control regime.
Check what comes first
Confirm the roof is on and the rough-in has been inspected, the truss or joist layout is on site, and record any change from the drawings with who approved it.
Go area by area
Add an area for each floor, wall line or roof. Check members, spacing, headers, load paths, connectors, bracing, notches and holes, fire and draft stopping, plumb and level, and the timber condition. Take a moisture reading and enter the limit from the specification.
Openings and weather
Check window and door openings, the roof structure, sheathing and wrap, and how the frame is protected from the weather.
Actions and sign-off
Give each fix a priority, owner and date, choose the decision, book the code inspection and sign with the framing contractor.
What makes a framing inspection useful
The area, the check that needs action and its reason
Second floor joists: joist J14 under the bathroom has a 76 mm hole bored close to its bottom edge for a waste pipe. Marked action needed, with a photo, and an action for the engineer to give a repair detail before the ceiling is boarded.
Fictional example. Record the actual evidence and approved arrangements for your job.
A common recording mistake
Booking the code inspection with hold-downs half nailed or draft stopping missing, and finding out at the inspection rather than the day before.
What happens next
Fix the listed items, re-check them, and book the frame inspection. Then move on to the pre-drywall check.
Try the framing inspection form live
Answer a few questions and watch it adapt. Your answers are not saved, and any photos you add are deleted within the hour.
This is the real form as your team would use it: questions appear as you answer, scores work themselves out and you can add photos and signatures. No sign-up needed. Or open a completed example to see every answer, photo and score filled in.
Want to see one filled in? See a completed framing inspection report (PDF), made by SiteSurvey from a fictional site visit.
Every question in the framing inspection template
A framing inspection before close-in: members, spacing, headers, load paths, connectors, bracing, notches, fire and draft stopping and moisture, area by area with photos, then openings, roof and weather protection, with actions and sign-off. 5 sections and 80 questions. Follow-up questions and guidance appear only when an answer calls for them, so the person on site never sees the ones that do not apply.
Make it your own: every question is editable
This is a starting point, not a fixed form. Once it is in your SiteSurvey account you can reword any question, add or remove questions, sections and answer options, and add your own logo, so it fits the way your team works and the jobs you do.
Details you only enter once
Add this form to a project in SiteSurvey and it fills in what the project already knows, so nobody on site retypes it and every form on the job uses the same names. Anything filled in can still be changed.
- Project: the project name
- Site address: the site address, from the space or the project
- Client or owner: the project's customer
Inspection details
- ProjectShort answer
Filled in from the project in SiteSurvey.
Fills in from the project name - Site addressShort answerFills in from the site address, from the space or the project
- Client or ownerShort answerFills in from the project's customer
- Location (GPS)Short answer
- Plot, unit or buildingShort answer
- Inspection date*Date
- Inspected by*Short answer
- Inspecting asChoose one
- Site manager or superintendent
- Contractor quality check
- Clerk of works or owner's representative
- Engineer or architect
- Third-party inspector
- Other
- Contractor doing the workShort answer
- Building control regimeChoose one
Sets which notes you see. Local amendments and the building control body decide what is inspected and when.
- US: International Residential Code, as adopted locally
- US: other local code
- England: Building Regulations 2010
- Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland
- Other country
- Permit or building control referenceShort answer
- Type of inspectionChoose one
- Before the building control inspection
- With the building control inspector
- Re-inspection after defects were fixed
- Quality audit
- Drawings and revisions inspected againstShort answer
For example S-101 rev C, A-201 rev B.
- Frame typeChoose one
- Timber platform frame
- Timber panels or SIPs
- Light-gauge steel
- Masonry with timber floors and roof
- Other
- Weather on siteAnswer
- CheckThis is a site inspection record for the structural frame. It is not building control approval, an engineer's sign-off or a test certificate. Sizes, spacings, fixings and test values come from the drawings, the specification and the code your building department enforces.
Before the frame inspection
- GuidanceUS. Under the International Residential Code (section R109.1.4, as adopted locally), the frame and masonry inspection is made after the roof, masonry, all framing, fire stopping, draft stopping and bracing are in place, and after the plumbing, mechanical and electrical rough inspections are approved.Shown only when the answers above make it relevant
- GuidanceEngland. Building control can require you to tell them when set stages are reached and can set a period during which the work must not be covered up (Building Regulations 2010, regulation 16(3)). Check the stages in your notice before covering anything.Shown when “Building control regime” is “England: Building Regulations 2010”
- Roof structure and covering in place?Yes or No
- Plumbing, mechanical and electrical rough-in inspected and approved?Yes or No
- CheckUnder the IRC sequence the rough-in inspections are approved before the frame inspection. Use the Rough-in Inspection form first.Shown only when the answers above make it relevant
- Truss or engineered joist layout and design on site?Yes or No
- Any changes from the approved drawings?Yes or No
- Changes, and who approved themNotesShown when “Any changes from the approved drawings?” is Yes
Frame by area
- Areas inspectedRepeat for each area. Each one asks:
- Area*Short answer
For example ground floor walls, first floor joists, roof.
- ElementChoose one
- Floor structure
- External walls
- Internal load-bearing walls
- Internal partitions
- Roof structure
- Stairs
- Other
- Members, sizes and grades to the drawingsChoose one
Grade stamps visible where needed.
- Acceptable
- Action needed
- Not checked
- Not applicable
- What needs doing, or why not checkedNotesShown only when the answers above make it relevant
- Spacing and layout to the drawingsChoose one
- Acceptable
- Action needed
- Not checked
- Not applicable
- What needs doing, or why not checkedNotesShown only when the answers above make it relevant
- Headers, lintels and beams sized and bearing correctlyChoose one
- Acceptable
- Action needed
- Not checked
- Not applicable
- What needs doing, or why not checkedNotesShown only when the answers above make it relevant
- Point loads carried down to the foundationChoose one
- Acceptable
- Action needed
- Not checked
- Not applicable
- What needs doing, or why not checkedNotesShown only when the answers above make it relevant
- Connectors, hangers, straps and hold-downs fitted and fully fixedChoose one
- Acceptable
- Action needed
- Not checked
- Not applicable
- What needs doing, or why not checkedNotesShown only when the answers above make it relevant
- Bracing and sheathing fixed to the specified patternChoose one
- Acceptable
- Action needed
- Not checked
- Not applicable
- What needs doing, or why not checkedNotesShown only when the answers above make it relevant
- Notches and holes within the limits the code or engineer allowsChoose one
- Acceptable
- Action needed
- Not checked
- Not applicable
- What needs doing, or why not checkedNotesShown only when the answers above make it relevant
- Fire stopping and draft stopping in placeChoose one
- Acceptable
- Action needed
- Not checked
- Not applicable
- What needs doing, or why not checkedNotesShown only when the answers above make it relevant
- Plumb, level and squareChoose one
- Acceptable
- Action needed
- Not checked
- Not applicable
- What needs doing, or why not checkedNotesShown only when the answers above make it relevant
- Timber dry and undamaged, no rot or splitsChoose one
- Acceptable
- Action needed
- Not checked
- Not applicable
- What needs doing, or why not checkedNotesShown only when the answers above make it relevant
- Highest timber moisture reading (%)Number
- Specified maximum (%)Number
From the specification or engineer.
- CheckMoisture above the specified maximum: let it dry before closing in.Shown only when the answers above make it relevant
- a_wet_flagWorked out by the form
- a_issuesWorked out by the form
- a_not_checkedWorked out by the form
- Photos of the framing, connectors and any defectsPhotos
- Frame items needing actionWorked out by the form
- Not checkedWorked out by the form
- Areas with something to fixWorked out by the form
Openings, roof and weather
- Window and door openings to size, with headers and trimmersChoose one
- Acceptable
- Action needed
- Not checked
- Not applicable
- What needs doing, or why not checkedNotesShown only when the answers above make it relevant
- Roof trusses or rafters braced, tied down and bearing correctlyChoose one
- Acceptable
- Action needed
- Not checked
- Not applicable
- What needs doing, or why not checkedNotesShown only when the answers above make it relevant
- Wall and roof sheathing or membrane fixed, laps and tapes completeChoose one
- Acceptable
- Action needed
- Not checked
- Not applicable
- What needs doing, or why not checkedNotesShown only when the answers above make it relevant
- Frame protected from the weatherChoose one
- Acceptable
- Action needed
- Not checked
- Not applicable
- What needs doing, or why not checkedNotesShown only when the answers above make it relevant
- Items needing actionWorked out by the form
- Photos of openings and the roofPhotos
Result, actions and sign-off
- Items needing actionWorked out by the form
- ResultWorked out by the form
- WarningDo not cover up or move on to the next stage until the actions marked "Urgent" or "Before cover-up" are done and re-inspected.Shown only when the answers above make it relevant
- ActionsRepeat for each action. Each one asks:
- Action*Notes
- PriorityChoose one
- Urgent: stop work
- Before cover-up
- Before the next stage
- Before handover
- Who will do it*Short answer
- Due byDate
- Status*Choose one
- Open
- In progress
- Done, re-inspected
- Photo when donePhotosShown when “Status” is “Done, re-inspected”
- Actions still openWorked out by the form
- Decision*Choose one
- Ready to proceed
- Proceed once the listed actions are done
- Not ready: re-inspect
- Re-inspection dateDateShown when “Decision” is “Not ready: re-inspect”
- Building control or code inspection booked?Yes or No
- Date booked forDateShown when “Building control or code inspection booked?” is Yes
- Building control or code inspection result, if knownShort answer
- Summary for the clientNotes
- Inspector nameShort answer
- Inspector signature*Signature
- Contractor representativeShort answer
- Contractor signatureSignature
- CheckSigning records what was seen on the day. It does not certify compliance or replace the building control inspection.
See it filled in
A completed framing inspection report, made by SiteSurvey from a fictional site visit: every answer, the photos, the guidance that applied and the sign-off, ready to send as a PDF.
Framing inspection FAQs
When is the framing inspection done?
Under the International Residential Code (section R109.1.4, as adopted locally), the frame and masonry inspection is made after the roof, masonry, all framing, fire stopping, draft stopping and bracing are in place, and after the plumbing, mechanical and electrical rough inspections are approved. Your building department's edition and amendments decide the detail.
Does the rough-in inspection come before the framing inspection?
Under the International Residential Code, yes: the rough inspection of plumbing, mechanical, gas and electrical systems is made before framing inspection, and the frame inspection follows once the rough inspections are approved. The form asks whether the rough-in has passed and shows a reminder if it has not. Use the rough-in inspection checklist for that stage.
Why record the timber moisture content?
Wet timber shrinks and moves as it dries, which can crack finishes and loosen fixings once the walls are closed. The form takes the highest reading in each area and sets it against the maximum in your specification or from your engineer, and counts any area above it as something to fix. The form does not set a limit of its own: that comes from your specification.
How are notches and holes in joists and studs checked?
Against the limits in the code your building department enforces, or the engineer's or manufacturer's details for engineered joists. The form asks whether every notch and hole is within those limits, and asks for a reason and photo for any that is not, so the engineer can say whether to repair or replace the member.
Can building control stop me covering up work in England?
Yes. After you give notice that work is starting, the building control body can require you to tell it when set stages are reached, and can set a period during which that work must not be covered up (Building Regulations 2010, regulation 16(3)). It may only name a stage it intends to inspect. Check the stages in the notice you were given before you cover anything, and keep the dated photos in the form as your record.
Source: Building Regulations 2010, regulation 16, notices in relation to building work.
Does this form replace the building inspector?
No. It is your own record of the frame before close-in: what was checked, what was found, the photos and who fixed what. The building department or building control body still makes its own inspection and decides whether the work passes. Use the form before they come, so the visit is a formality, and record their result on the last page.
Related
Related templates
Templates that go with the framing inspection form
A pre-pour foundation inspection: set-out, excavation safety and bearing ground, then each footing measured against its design with reinforcement, cover, formwork and penetrations checked and photographed, with US (IRC and OSHA) and UK (CDM and building control) notes, actions and sign-off.
A rough-in (first fix) inspection of plumbing, drainage, electrical, HVAC, gas and data before walls and ceilings are closed: positions, supports, falls, protection plates, fire-rated penetrations, room by room photos of every wall, and a test log with readings, with actions and sign-off.
A pre-drywall (pre-plaster) inspection: insulation, vapour control, fire stopping, backing for fixtures, service protection and outlet positions checked room by room, with insulation thickness against the specification and a photo record of every wall and ceiling before it is closed up.
A steelwork inspection record linking member marks, drawing revisions, connection and coating observations, hold points, deviations and review evidence.
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