Has anyone gone down this path? I have been presented a city job opportunity as a building inspector. The pay is huge, however I do not know what to expect. I think it will be pretty cool as I love construction, and seeing how buildings are built. I currently have a job that pays well, great benefits etc. However this job is with the city, and the pay is a 60% more than what I am currently getting. Plus it will be a 15 minute commute compared to 1.5 hours which I am doing right now. Current job is secure at the moment. What does everyone thing.
You'll do half the work for twice the pay, no brainer here. But... you might effectively remove yourself from professional practice if you pick-up many of the bad habits of those who work in city planning/review/code departments. I cannot tell you how much grief and extra work we have had to do because of ex-architects who happens to be a city-inspector. Perhaps it's just me, but I've come to realize that those who cannot do do not, as the ol'saying go, teach... they work for the city's building inspection department.
But, could be a decent change of scenery. I had a similar opp a while back but I stopped myself from jumping ship due to my above comments. The pay raise would have been nearly 100% too. I regret nothing.
i would expect it's different everywhere, but my experience is that plans reviewers are different people than inspectors. the inspector actually sees what's going on, and from what i can tell they tend to be a bit more reasonable. that might be because contractors know what they're going to say, so they cover the bad bits up before the inspector arrives.
plans reviewers are often times just kind of morons. not that long ago i had a nice conversation about common path of egress. apparently i didn't draw the line right. i said i wanted to work with them, and if they were concerned someone would not be able to safely exit in case of a fire, it was as much my concern as theirs. the guy said that's not what it was about. so i was like, what's the concern then? you just want to feel like a big shot because the code says AHJ get's to make some decisions and you get to waste my clients money? i didn't actually say that last part out loud. i think they just get bored, so they like to start fights sometimes.
I recall once sitting down with a plan reviewer about a building on the South End of Dreamy Draw in Phoenix. It was a complex building with courtyards, single stories and two stories with mezzanines and just about everything you could toss at a project as far as calculating square footage. We did it on a computer not so common in the day. So we did the old poly-line around the building for calculations and plugged the numbers in as required. The reviewer was nasty about our method didn't want to hear about it. Wondered how could this be done. So the plan review person had her numbers and I had mine. She wanted more evidence. To we ran a print out of the computer program which was about 40 pages and plopped it on her desk and she finally gave in.I think it looked so much like engineering calculations, that it made her fold.
I don't think there is a lot of creativity in being a plan reviewer. If you a building inspector, ya you get to go out in the field see a lot of poorly built and poorly designed buildings and all you will want to do is help them make the design better, but it is not your job so you have to back away. You will also need to learn to write like a doctor, so no one can ever read what your writing. Remember you in the field everyday just like the mail man rain or shine, hot or cold.
all the building departments i've been to (none of them in major cities) look incredibly boring and full of people 2 years away from retirement. that being said, its a government job and a pay increase. if you have a family, its a no-brainer.
The local building department is a cesspool of bureaucracy and stupidity. Inspectors range from knowledgeable and considerate (and in general hanging in until retirement) to incompetent and obnoxious and probably vying for bribes. The head of the building department is an old friend of the most rapacious developer in town.
They once sent me a permit for someone else's project, which I delivered to the proper party. Then they couldn't find my permit and demanded that I resubmit the application for the project in order to release the already approved permit.
Let's just say it was a good thing I wasn't packing ...
Building Inspector Occupation
Has anyone gone down this path? I have been presented a city job opportunity as a building inspector. The pay is huge, however I do not know what to expect. I think it will be pretty cool as I love construction, and seeing how buildings are built. I currently have a job that pays well, great benefits etc. However this job is with the city, and the pay is a 60% more than what I am currently getting. Plus it will be a 15 minute commute compared to 1.5 hours which I am doing right now. Current job is secure at the moment. What does everyone thing.
Take it.
You'll do half the work for twice the pay, no brainer here. But... you might effectively remove yourself from professional practice if you pick-up many of the bad habits of those who work in city planning/review/code departments. I cannot tell you how much grief and extra work we have had to do because of ex-architects who happens to be a city-inspector. Perhaps it's just me, but I've come to realize that those who cannot do do not, as the ol'saying go, teach... they work for the city's building inspection department.
But, could be a decent change of scenery. I had a similar opp a while back but I stopped myself from jumping ship due to my above comments. The pay raise would have been nearly 100% too. I regret nothing.
i would expect it's different everywhere, but my experience is that plans reviewers are different people than inspectors. the inspector actually sees what's going on, and from what i can tell they tend to be a bit more reasonable. that might be because contractors know what they're going to say, so they cover the bad bits up before the inspector arrives.
plans reviewers are often times just kind of morons. not that long ago i had a nice conversation about common path of egress. apparently i didn't draw the line right. i said i wanted to work with them, and if they were concerned someone would not be able to safely exit in case of a fire, it was as much my concern as theirs. the guy said that's not what it was about. so i was like, what's the concern then? you just want to feel like a big shot because the code says AHJ get's to make some decisions and you get to waste my clients money? i didn't actually say that last part out loud. i think they just get bored, so they like to start fights sometimes.
I recall once sitting down with a plan reviewer about a building on the South End of Dreamy Draw in Phoenix. It was a complex building with courtyards, single stories and two stories with mezzanines and just about everything you could toss at a project as far as calculating square footage. We did it on a computer not so common in the day. So we did the old poly-line around the building for calculations and plugged the numbers in as required. The reviewer was nasty about our method didn't want to hear about it. Wondered how could this be done. So the plan review person had her numbers and I had mine. She wanted more evidence. To we ran a print out of the computer program which was about 40 pages and plopped it on her desk and she finally gave in.I think it looked so much like engineering calculations, that it made her fold.
I don't think there is a lot of creativity in being a plan reviewer. If you a building inspector, ya you get to go out in the field see a lot of poorly built and poorly designed buildings and all you will want to do is help them make the design better, but it is not your job so you have to back away. You will also need to learn to write like a doctor, so no one can ever read what your writing. Remember you in the field everyday just like the mail man rain or shine, hot or cold.
all the building departments i've been to (none of them in major cities) look incredibly boring and full of people 2 years away from retirement. that being said, its a government job and a pay increase. if you have a family, its a no-brainer.
The local building department is a cesspool of bureaucracy and stupidity. Inspectors range from knowledgeable and considerate (and in general hanging in until retirement) to incompetent and obnoxious and probably vying for bribes. The head of the building department is an old friend of the most rapacious developer in town.
They once sent me a permit for someone else's project, which I delivered to the proper party. Then they couldn't find my permit and demanded that I resubmit the application for the project in order to release the already approved permit.
Let's just say it was a good thing I wasn't packing ...
Miles, I am sad that you confirm my initial comment.
I'm from the government, and we're here to help you.
-- Ronnie Raygun
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