Honestly, that stuff with the concrete reminds me of a place that cheaped out on electrical checks. Tbh, makes you wonder if @lunafox is onto something about the labs looking the other way for a fee.
Man, that reminds me of something from a while back. A friend in construction told me about a site where they signed off on concrete pours without proper testing. The slabs started failing within months, and the company got sued for being careless. It was a huge mess that could've been avoided with just a few extra checks.
Remember that bridge retrofit project? They pushed us to stamp steel inspections we never saw. Years later, we heard about stress cracks in the same joints.