Building Inspector
What the work is
Inspects and reports on the structural quality and safety of buildings. May perform tasks related to regulatory building inspection and reporting in support of Building Surveyors.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Undertakes pre-purchase building inspections on behalf of clients and prepares pre-purchase reports
- Identifies non-structural defects, structural issues, and conditions that may contribute to structural issues in buildings, and provides reports on their severity along with recommendations for a course of action to be undertaken within a suggested timeframe
- Advises builders, contractors and property owners on building regulations and requirements
- May carry out inspection of buildings to verify if building work complies with approved permits and legislative and building regulations, and produces reports on their non-compliance at the request of a Building Surveyor
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in building sites, warehouses and workplaces across a fictional region, with an office and a ute to move between them. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A builder thanks you for explaining exactly what needs to change, and does it the same day
- You find a hazard before anyone gets hurt
- A site you flagged last month is now tidy and organised, and the crew are proud of it
Hard days
- A builder who is angry about a failed inspection and a delay to the schedule
- A site where everyone knows the problem and nobody wants to admit it
- A long day of driving, climbing and writing reports in the rain
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 312231, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.