Building/Property Maintenance

Types of Degrees Building/Property Maintenance Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many building/property maintenance graduations there were in 2018-2019 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Basic Certificate	1,105
Undergraduate Certificate	383
Associate’s Degree	211

What Building/Property Maintenance Majors Need to Know

O*NET surveyed people in occupations related to building/property maintenance and asked them what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. The responses were rated on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being most important.

Knowledge Areas for Building/Property Maintenance Majors

According to O*NET survey takers, a major in building/property maintenance should prepare you for careers in which you will need to be knowledgeable in the following areas:

• 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.
• Mechanical - Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
• 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.
• 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.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

Skills for Building/Property Maintenance Majors

A major in building/property maintenance prepares you for careers in which the following skill-sets are crucial:

• Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others’ actions.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• 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.
• Time Management - Managing one’s own time and the time of others.

Abilities for Building/Property Maintenance Majors

Some of the most crucial abilities to master while a building/property maintenance student include the following:

• 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.
• 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.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).

What Can You Do With a Building/Property Maintenance Major?

People with a building/property maintenance degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers	12.6%	$65,230
First-Line Supervisors of Housekeeping and Janitorial Workers	9.9%	$39,940
Maintenance and Repair Workers, General	7.9%	$38,300

Who Is Getting an Associate’s Degree in Building/Property Maintenance?

This major tends to be male dominated. About 88% of recent graduates are men.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of building/property maintenance majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	2
Black or African American	24
Hispanic or Latino	34
White	139
International Students	3
Other Races/Ethnicities	9

Geographic Diversity

Americans aren’t the only ones with an interest in Building/Property Maintenance. About 1.4% of those with this major are international students.

How Much Do Building/Property Maintenance Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Average salaries range from $41,020 to $70,540 (25th to 75th percentile) for careers related to building/property maintenance. 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/Property Maintenance

Some degrees associated with building/property maintenance 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.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to building/property maintenance have obtained the following education levels.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	9.6%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	41.7%
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)	23.9%
Some College Courses	18.6%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	4.0%
Bachelor’s Degree	2.1%
Post-Doctoral Training	0.0%

Online Building/Property Maintenance Programs

In 2018-2019, 125 schools offered a building/property maintenance program of some type. 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)	72	2
Certificate (1-2 years)	71	1
Certificate (2-4 Years)	3	0
Associate’s Degree	42	3
Bachelor’s Degree	0	0
Post-Baccalaureate	72	2
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/Property Maintenance Worth It?

The median salary for a building/property maintenance grad is $43,150 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 8% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $65,000 after 20 years!

Trades Related to Building/Property Maintenance

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to building/property maintenance.

Major	Number of Grads
Building Construction Technology	1,362
Building/Construction Site Management/Manager	752
Other Building/Construction Finishing, Management, & Inspection	609
Building/Home/Construction Inspection/Inspector	301
Glazier	67
Drywall Installation/Drywaller	62
Painting/Painter & Wall Coverer	52
Roofer	30
Carpet, Floor, & Tile Worker	10
Concrete Finishing/Concrete Finisher	6
Metal Building Assembly/Assembler	0
Insulator	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.