Travis Hankins slowly circles the perimeter of a construction site on Bend’s west side, scanning for problems in the framework of what will be another medical professional building.

With an eye for detail that comes with more than a decade of experience as an inspector, Hankins points out several minor issues, including improper spacing of nails, to the project foreman.

Hankins signs off on the inspection, but he’ll be back later to make sure the nailing was done properly.

It’s a routine inspection. And in less than 20 minutes Hankins is back behind the wheel of his rolling office, a white Jeep Cherokee emblazoned with the city of Bend logo.

One of a dozen building inspectors employed by the city of Bend, Hankins makes hundreds of stops like this one every month.

As Bend’s construction industry has taken off in the past five years, Hankins and his fellow inspectors have been asked to shoulder an ever-larger work load to keep pace with the demands of the construction industry.

Like other city departments that deal directly with the building industry, they have wrestled with the challenge of unprecedented growth.

It’s not the most high-profile or glamorous job – even by city government standards.

Inspectors spend their days driving from job site to job site, measuring the spacing of fire sprinklers and countless other aspects of a construction project.

But in some ways, they are the first line of defense when it comes to providing for the health and safety of Bend residents and workers. It is their job to make sure that every aspect of a new home, office or business meets the standards set out in the international building code.

”We take our job serious. It’s not just getting a paycheck and running around looking at a bunch of nails and siding,” Hankins said after finishing a fire safety inspection on a ventilation system an elementary school.

Students will probably never know or care that 55-year-old Hankins foisted himself into the rafters to make sure that the safety lids sealed the vents from smoke pollution in an emergency test, but they will be safe just the same.

It’s the same kind of work inspectors do all over the country.

The only difference in Bend is that inspectors are busier than just about anywhere else.

Consider the numbers.

Through July, Bend officials issued 890 permits for single-family homes – more than other city in the state.

Portland, the next busiest city, issued 557 permits, during the same time frame.

Portland has about 120 people in its building department. Bend has just more than 30 people including temporary workers.

”We have to think outside the box, because we’re not populous enough to have that kind of staff of a Portland or Washington County. But, we have to keep up with the same work load,” said Robert Mathias, building division manager.

Mathias took over the struggling department two years ago and has helped turn the building division into one of the more efficient city departments by some measures.

Permit review times, one of the biggest consternations for builders, have shortened considerably – from up to two months to just more than a couple of days.

Recently, the department sought and gained approval from the city council for three new positions to keep pace with the continued demand. It’s an unusual step in the middle of a budget cycle.

Mathias said he came back to the city council for additional staff, which will be paid with the department’s existing revenues, when it became clear that the forecasted slow-down in Bend’s construction market wasn’t happening.

In fact, builders have been busier than ever this year.

Looking at a three-month window between April and June, Bend building officials reported a 25 percent increase in single-family-home permit applications and a nearly 90 percent jump in duplex applications. Commercial activity also picked up considerably, from 16 application in 2003 between April and June to 26 applications in 2004.

At the same time, building officials say they have learned how to do their jobs more efficiently. For example, Mathias built a front counter where customers can talk with building officials at the front end of the application process. Mathias also trained his building technicians to do plan reviews, which meant builders didn’t have to take their plans to the planning department unless they were seeking a special permit.

The average time for a plan review on a single-family home dropped from just over six days to less than four days between 2003 and 2004, the department said in a report to the city council last week.

It hasn’t always been as smooth.

When Mathias arrived last year he found a department buried in unfinished work.

There were 80 sets of commercial plans – some which had been sitting over a month waiting to be examined – waiting to be approved. Another 300 residential plans gathered dust – some sitting for as long as 16 weeks, Mathias said.

Mathias, who came to Bend from Grants Pass, said it has taken a combination of hiring new staff and outsourcing work to reduce waiting times.

Builders, who now meet once a month with Mathias and Community Development Director James Lewis, to discuss issues and concerns, said they have noticed the changes.

”We have seen quite a bit of improvement. Our permit time had been six to eight weeks. Robert got that around to under two weeks,” said Gretchen Palmer, a local builder and past president of the Central Oregon Builders Association.

The improved service has also come at a price – long hours for building officials.

Mathias said he is concerned that his inspectors, some of whom have been asked to work 10-12 hour days consistently, could burn out.

But he is also loath to hire staff that will have to be laid off if building activity slows.

On the front lines, Hankins said he enjoys his work despite the sometimes frantic pace.

He said he also feels the stress of doing more work with relatively less resources.

”It does affect you if you’re just overloaded every day, every day, every day. It takes a toll,” Hankins said.

Eric Flowers can be reached at 541-383-0323 or eflowers@bendbulletin.com.