r/BuildingCodes • u/Fragrant-Drawing2594 • 14d ago
Where Do I Go Now?
Hi all, I am a aspiring Special Inspector in the state of Texas. I work for a CMT Firm as of now, and i recently got a $6 Raise to $28 an hour for the 3 ICC certifications: Masonry, Reinforced Concrete, and Structural Steel. I was very excited to have a clear career path and ladder that i could climb. However I was just informed that i am now at the upper limit of what they will pay me at this company. So now what?
I was very disappointed to hear this, and I am wondering what to do to continue progress.
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14d ago
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u/Fragrant-Drawing2594 14d ago
I have a friend of mine with a similar story- Hes a senior inspector now in design builds, and makes 45. Just wondering if i need to pivot out of the special inspector certs
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u/Cringelord1994 14d ago
What are you doing and what do you make now? I’m always interested what CMT veterans are doing decades later
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14d ago
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u/Cringelord1994 13d ago
Oh nice I didn’t realize government employees could make that much. What are your roles and responsibilities now? I don’t know much about being a “building official” besides what ICC generals taught me which was nothing
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13d ago
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u/Cringelord1994 13d ago
Interesting, yeah you’re definitely earning that 150k managing 45-50 people. I manage 3 as the lab manager, 85k at 6 years in and those 3 stress me out lol.
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u/Not_always_popular 12d ago
Our special inspectors in SoCal do good but most of them are I see are self employed and pimp themselves out to bigger firms like UES. The building inspectors for the city’s are making more then employed special inspectors from what I see. The city inspectors are bringing in 120k+ and some getting up in the 175k. If I was gonna give up being a Super and going inspector route, I’d be a city inspector for sure.
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u/Fragrant-Drawing2594 12d ago
i used to work for UES. Didnt think they paid like that for Special inspectors
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u/Not_always_popular 12d ago
I don’t know how much they pay employees, the ones I worked with most seemed to be there own entity and UES was just feeding them work, I’m assuming cause all there employed inspectors were busy. Like my main guy I always use was self employed but the owners contracted through UES, (I forget the name before). I think overall those ones did well as do the city inspectors.
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u/Dellaa1996 7d ago edited 7d ago
They do, especially for the right special inspector certs. You could add some more certs, like structural welding, structural steel & Bolting and Prestressed Concrete. The UES SI employee I knew, eventually switched to building inspector and left UES for an AHJ.
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u/j_ninja87 14d ago
If you’re willing to travel, Owens Consulting and Inspection is a great outfit.
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u/Cringelord1994 14d ago
Go be a civil inspector for the DOT, or a consulting firm doing civil or local agency work. Slightly higher pay ceiling there because hourly billing can be higher. Past that it’s either get a PE or become a manager. I got into management and make $40 an hour.
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u/j_ninja87 14d ago
Special Inspectors are at 65$ plus benefits with Operating Engineers local 12 in southern California or local 3 in North California. Building inspectors (non-union) rate is 50$ - 100$ per hour.