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Inspector jobs

T

Tkosinski2

REGISTERED
Joined
Jan 11, 2017
Messages
17
Location
San Pedro
Hello all! I'm new to the forum. Names Tad. Just wanted to give some background and get some advice. Worked in hvac for my dads company for over ten years. Been on construction sites since I was like 9. Got my ICC cert for plumbing and started to apply for inspector jobs. Been having a hard time getting anything I'll get the invite to the test and interview andnevermake it past. Being in hvac I never really felt with foundations. I also went to the local community college and have an associates degree in building inspection technology. My question is how do I go about getting training to become an inspector?

Im married and just had my first child. She's six months old. My problem is I currently work in the automotive trade because my fathers company wasn't making me enough money to support my family. I had a friend who got me a job as a technician making a lot more money. I have no contractors license so to try to make the same money in construction isn't easy right now.
 
if you can find a city that has seperate inspectors for all the major trades and get in as hvac inspector

Watch for smaller cities, might help you get in.

If a dept will let you do ride alongs, gets you exposed to the work and gets your name ouT
 
There are some California people on here, might be able to suggest

Also there are third party private companies, might look at those for a job, or step to a city job.

Not sure if the state needs you?? I know they have state fire inspectors
 
Get your mech. cert, it should be a walk in the park for you. Then I always tell people get the building cert. It opens up more inspections and may be of more use to a department. I think of certifications as the beginning of the process, get them and that gives you the opportunity and foundation to learn.
 
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Tkosinski2,

1st, ...Welcome to The Building Codes Forum ! :D

2nd, ...IMO, you should think really, really hard about
[ potentially ] entering this career field.......It is a
very interesting and challenging field.......That said,
much like other careers, if you want to have &
maintain any type of integrity, you will have an uphill
fight from the first job you obtain until you are no
longer in the Codes.......There is no end to the
amount of things that you can learn and apply in the
understanding of the Built Environment.

3rd, ..."IF" you DO decide to enter the Codes career
field, DO NOT give up so easily........Learn to research
and dig in to the Codes and other Standards to find
answers, ...`cause you are going to be told a lot of
different things.......Learn to cite the various Codes
and Standards when asked.

I could ramble on and on and on infinitum, but you
get the point.....

Absolutely DO NOT give up until you find a good paying
job, and keep at it.

4th, ...I STRONGLY recommend that you join this
Forum by becoming a "paid subscription" Member
[ i.e. - a Sawhorse ]......There is a wealth of information
and some VERY helpful people on this Forum. :cool:


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@steveray tgat was my other question. When you get hired as an inspector do they have you shadowing an inspector till your ready? If so I don't get why it's so important to have 30 years experience in the trades.

@cda ive applied to a couple of the third party companies but the only thing I can think of is that they want the building very before any other cert. it was weird cause I went to three interviews for the same company and all of a sudden they just stopped responding to me and didn't tell me if I got the job or not. Very strange for such a big company
 
@north star i had one interview that I only dreamt of and when I didn't get it it devistated me. Started making me question if I was for this career or not. Something inside me wants to keep fighting, the whole "what if" situation. I know I can do the job especially after some training and I love the evolving fields and technologies and learning about them.
 
Well some maybe most more than likely want you to walk in the door, the first day, they give you a list of inspections, and say go do them.

Having to spend time training a person takes away from inspection time.

I would say keep applying, and maybe give yourself a cut off date, that if you do not have a job, move on

Maybe two years??? Plus you can get some more certs by than and make yourself look better

How old are you ???



You might find out where and when building inspector assoc meets, try to join and attend,

That way they put a name to a face, plus you have more contacts for possible jobs
 
It sounds as though you want to do the job with integrity. Thats tough to do. Remember that the AHJ rewards the ordinary and suffers the extraordinary poorly.
 
@cda im 32. @ICE id like to do the job correctly so that I may advance and have a career instead of a job. Is this not what people do as inspectors? I know the joke in the field is that inspectors don't know anything. I don't think that's true but maybe it is. Do most inspectors not know what there doing?
 
Being a code inspector is a great job except it gets to political at times. I was turned down on a few jobs even with 10 years experience and a Master Code Professional cert. Sometimes I think a town already knows who they want to hire but they have to advertise by law.
But you need more certs.
 
Tkosinski2 said:
@cda im 32. @ICE id like to do the job correctly so that I may advance and have a career instead of a job. Is this not what people do as inspectors? I know the joke in the field is that inspectors don't know anything. I don't think that's true but maybe it is. Do most inspectors not know what there doing?
Click to expand...


Well, most do.

With that said some inspectors do not either keep up with codes, or some departments do not send their inspectors to training.

Some inspectors do not know the code, so they may miss stuff.
 
How do I get inspection experience? I feel like it's a catch 22. I need the job for experience but I can't get the job. Abuse I don't have inspection experience
 
I use the icc website for cali jobs. Applied for a bunch of them, nothing yet. If you pass an icc test do you automatically get membership?
 
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