Tennessee Inspection Clarification
In the past, the rules in Tennessee made selecting an inspector challenging. The company that built your course could not inspect it. The company that maintained the course could not inspect the course. With the limited number of qualified inspecting companies, it could be very difficult to find an inspector who was not in conflict in some way.
On December 6, 2019, the Amusement Device Unit of the Department of Labor and Workforce Development published a memo clarifying the relationship inspectors can have with the owners of courses.
Under the new memo there are two categories for inspections: 1) for new construction or major modification the Certified Inspector must not be affiliated by employment or subsidiary relationship to the manufacturer (i.e. course builder) or the course owner; 2) For an annual inspection the Certified Inspector can not be affiliated by employment or subsidiary relationship to the owner.
As a practical matter, this means that the acceptance inspection will need a 3rd party inspector. When you are planning a new build or significant repair, make sure the 3rd party inspection is part of your build contact.
The memo from the Amusement Device Unit can be found here.