Building Inspection

Types of Degrees Building Inspection Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many building/home/construction inspection/inspector graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Basic Certificate	135
Associate Degree	66
Undergraduate Certificate	60

What Building Inspection Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to building/home/construction inspection/inspector were asked what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. They weighted these areas on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Knowledge Areas for Building/Home/Construction Inspection/Inspector Majors

This major prepares you for careers in which these knowledge areas are important:

• Building and Construction - Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
• Mechanical - Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.

Skills for Building/Home/Construction Inspection/Inspector Majors

When studying building/home/construction inspection/inspector, you’ll learn many skills that will help you be successful in a wide range of jobs - even those that do not require a degree in the field. The following is a list of some of the most common skills needed for careers associated with this major:

• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others’ actions.

Abilities for Building/Home/Construction Inspection/Inspector Majors

As you progress with your building/home/construction inspection/inspector degree, there are several abilities you should pick up that will help you in whatever related career you choose. These abilities include:

• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

What Can You Do With a Building Inspection Major?

People with a building/home/construction inspection/inspector degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Construction and Building Inspectors	10.1%	$59,700
First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers	12.6%	$65,230

Who Is Getting an Associate’s Degree in Building Inspection?

This major attracts more men than women. About 83% of the graduates in this field are male.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of building/home/construction inspection/inspector majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	3
Black or African American	3
Hispanic or Latino	25
White	26
International Students	2
Other Races/Ethnicities	7

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in Building/Home/Construction Inspection/Inspector, too. About 3.0% of those with this major are international students.

How Much Do Building Inspection Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Building/Home/Construction Inspection/Inspector majors often go into careers where salaries can range from $63,150 to $70,540 (25th to 75th percentile). This range includes all degree levels, so the salary for a person with just a bachelor’s degree may be a little less and the one for a person with an advanced degree may be a little more.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Building Inspection

Some degrees associated with building/home/construction inspection/inspector may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

Find out what the typical degree level is for building/home/construction inspection/inspector careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	3.9%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	29.2%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	22.7%
Some College Courses	26.8%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	3.6%
Bachelor’s Degree	9.4%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	1.6%
Master’s Degree	1.6%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	1.6%

Online Building Inspection Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	18	1
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	27	1
Bachelor’s Degree	1	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	0	0
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Building Inspection Worth It?

The median salary for a building/home/construction inspection/inspector grad is $63,150 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 58% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $465,000 after 20 years!

Trades Related to Building Inspection

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to building/home/construction inspection/inspector.

Major	Number of Grads
Building/Property Maintenance	1,549
Building Construction Technology	1,448
Building/Construction Site Management/Manager	1,116
Other Building/Construction Finishing, Management, & Inspection	529
Drywall Installation/Drywaller	92
Concrete Finishing/Concrete Finisher	84
Insulator	61
Painting/Painter & Wall Coverer	58
Glazier	33
Carpet, Floor, & Tile Worker	21
Roofer	17
Metal Building Assembly/Assembler	0

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020

More about our data sources and methodologies.