Considering career as an inspector.

P

Pinnie

Senior Member
Location
Ohio
Occupation
Commercial Electrician
I am a 4th year, 26 y/o commercial electrician (Ohio so we don’t have journeyman license. I have nccer level 4 and fire alarm license) and I am considering a next career step as an inspector. I think it would let me learn a ton and be more code confident if I do one day become an EC. I do have some questions if anyone would be so kind to share their insight.

How is the pay compared to journeyman? It seems to only be slightly greater based on my quick research.

Am I under qualified? It seems I can pay and test for icc accreditation or similar. I would love to learn on the job as well.

Is the job market in need of inspectors?

Thank you in advance.
 
Are you thinking about becoming a commercial electrcial inspector? Don't take this the wrong way but IMO with only 4 years experience you're probably unqualified. Personally I would start as an electrical contractor and then consider the inspector route which seems to be more traditional path for most inspectors.

This is not to say that you cannot study hard on your own and learn as much as you can about codes and the trade. The best inspectors I know have many years of experience as an installer first. Some may disagree but that's my 2 cents.
 
infinity said:
Are you thinking about becoming a commercial electrcial inspector? Don't take this the wrong way but IMO with only 4 years experience you're probably unqualified. Personally I would start as an electrical contractor and then consider the inspector route which seems to be more traditional path for most inspectors.

This is not to say that you cannot study hard on your own and learn as much as you can about codes and the trade. The best inspectors I know have many years of experience as an installer first. Some may disagree but that's my 2 cents.
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Thank you I will take that into consideration👍🏻
 
infinity said:
Personally I would start as an electrical contractor and then consider the inspector route which seems to be more traditional path for most inspectors.
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In my mind an contracting will be much harder and more personal risk. Especially commercial.

Cant you work under someone else in an inspection office/firm?
 
I don't know how it is in other areas but although I am not sure I doubt inspectors make much $$. In the larger cities they may have 2 or 3 inspectors, someplace like Boston may have 6 or 8.

Budget cuts have cut them back. Springfield the largest city near me at one time had 5 electrical inspectors at one time they were down to 1. I think they have 2-3 now.

Most of the smaller town have part -timers retired electricians that work 2-3 days a week
 
Pinnie said:
I am a 4th year, 26 y/o commercial electrician (Ohio so we don’t have journeyman license. I have nccer level 4 and fire alarm license) and I am considering a next career step as an inspector. I think it would let me learn a ton and be more code confident if I do one day become an EC. I do have some questions if anyone would be so kind to share their insight.

How is the pay compared to journeyman? It seems to only be slightly greater based on my quick research.

Am I under qualified? It seems I can pay and test for icc accreditation or similar. I would love to learn on the job as well.

Is the job market in need of inspectors?

Thank you in advance.
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I think in Ohio, each county will have different requirements. As some counties commercial work will be dollar generals or convience stores. While other counties will be huge commercial buildings like medical high rise and waste treatment plants,
As far as the pay. Like most goverment workers . They are their for the benifits, esspecially the pension. .
 
Buck Parrish said:
I think in Ohio, each county will have different requirements. As some counties commercial work will be dollar generals or convience stores. While other counties will be huge commercial buildings like medical high rise and waste treatment plants,
As far as the pay. Like most goverment workers . They are their for the benifits, esspecially the pension. .
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That sounds about right. Thank you sir.
 
If Ohio is like NY then electrical inspectors are what is called third party inspectors. Not going to make a living at it especially compared to being an electrical contractor. Most are retired or semi retired former lifetime electricians.
 
Pinnie said:
I am a 4th year, 26 y/o commercial electrician (Ohio so we don’t have journeyman license. I have nccer level 4 and fire alarm license) and I am considering a next career step as an inspector. I think it would let me learn a ton and be more code confident if I do one day become an EC. I do have some questions if anyone would be so kind to share their insight.

How is the pay compared to journeyman? It seems to only be slightly greater based on my quick research.

Am I under qualified? It seems I can pay and test for icc accreditation or similar. I would love to learn on the job as well.

Is the job market in need of inspectors?

Thank you in advance.
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An electrical inspector in xxxxx Ohio, can expect to make an average of $70,612 per year, according to zip recuiters The salary range typically falls between $65,811.20 and $89,024.00 per year,

I left out the city because I didn't know if you wanted others to know where you are from. I went by your IP address and guessed that was where you are from
 
Here in NJ most small towns will have part time inspectors, maybe a few hours a day two days a week for ~$20k. What a lot of these inspectors do is get several part time positions, some may do many different towns so the pay adds up.
 
Dennis Alwon said:
average of $70,612 per year, according to zip recuiters
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To take home $71k contractors may need to gross $200k.

Material, Labor, Insurance, & Equipment cost, wont consider professional services.

Estimating & Engineering for required Permits, Plans, Payroll Services, & Tax Accounting, wont consider collections.

Using change orders to recover a profit from General contractors cherry picking low-ball bids, wont consider the uncertainty of GC payment after forfeit of lien rights, and work stoppages.

Contractors that don’t learn from squirrels to hide their nuts for winter, can’t always rely on their spouses to support the family.
 
Dennis Alwon said:
An electrical inspector in xxxxx Ohio, can expect to make an average of $70,612 per year, according to zip recuiters The salary range typically falls between $65,811.20 and $89,024.00 per year,

I left out the city because I didn't know if you wanted others to know where you are from. I went by your IP address and guessed that was where you are from
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Thank you for your thorough and accurate respond Dennis. That’s what I found as well, but stats are always hit and miss in terms of accuracy. I’m on the fence now leaning toward focusing on EC license per responses on here.
 
My thought was it would be a safe place to learn the code better and see a bunch of installations to prepare me for contracting. But I definitely don’t want a pay cut. I’m at 30/hr with company truck and car card, and raises are in the fall.
 
From my own personal experience and from what I've heard, most inspector jobs are sink or swim. You're not going to get on the job training or come up under an experienced inspector. "You're certified? Great, go to work."

It is a great opportunity to learn, but it's a self-motivated experience. If you take the time to open the book and provide a code citation, you in the minority. It seems like most inspectors get the one or two required certifications and call it good enough. They don't cite the code, they say "this is how I want to see it."
 
One of the complaints I have heard from many inspectors who were full time inspectors is that a lot of electricians don't know the code.

They would get really exasperated because the electricians come in or call and want the inspector to "tell them how to do the job or design it for them". Some inspectors do cover more than one town and sometimes cover for other inspectors who are on vacation.
 
Eddie702 said:
One of the complaints I have heard from many inspectors who were full time inspectors is that a lot of electricians don't know the code.

They would get really exasperated because the electricians come in or call and want the inspector to "tell them how to do the job or design it for them". Some inspectors do cover more than one town and sometimes cover for other inspectors who are on vacation.
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Do you think transition from field to EC or inspector to EC makes more sense.
 
I think it depends on your goal. With 4 years of experience, If you want fairly decent pay with good benefits and are not too concerned about your performance, an inspectors job with a government agency would fit the bill. The better inspectors I have met have far more field experience, but it also takes a good deal of education so, like everything else, it depends on what you put into it
After decades in the trade, I still learn a lot in this Forum.
 
I also know Ryan Jackson went that route and I respect him a ton. I don’t think I want to go the educator route though. At least yet maybe one day.
 
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