Hey guys, I will try to keep this short, (Or as short as I can). I have for some time now been dabbling in a few different professions. As you can see, I am part of the “peter-pan” generation or better known as the early Gen Y (Born 1984). I graduated with a degree in Public Administration and Urban planning, with the hopes of work in Planning/Zoning/Regulations for a municipality.
Granted I graduated in 2008, which was the worst year by far to have graduated, I could not have acquired a job in my field for a long time. Me being as stubborn to stay the course for 3 years and to look for a job with my qualifications I came up empty handed due to an infinite amount of organizations facing sever budget cuts.
Never the less I ended up in IT, which I had a knack for since I was a child, but I still feel as if I am missing something. I have always had an interest in Architecture, landscape architecture, planning and urban development. I have always loved building designs, even though I am not a designer by nature, I still have a unique understanding in how things are built and sustained.
To wrap up my description and jump to my questions, I have had an interest in the field of inspection and surveying for sometime. I also looked into becoming a property appraiser, but appraisers got hit big time with a butt load of regulatory mandates and forcing them to comply with AMC’s, which have thrown a large people out of the profession. Because of this, I gotta know a few things before I try to dabble into this profession, Inspections. And here are the questions as they follow:
1.) Big question, if I were to pursue a career in inspection, ‘why oh why’ does it look like there are more inspectors in the state of Florida than there is in total of the rest of the country? I mean, I look at your forums, and the majority of threads created are from Florida… this in its self is insane!?!
2.) Is there a need for inspectors in Florida?
3.) I am still trying to figure out how one becomes licensed in the state of Florida. Is there a required amount of apprentice hours that are required to become licensed? And if no, why not?
4.) Working under someone (Not being a partner for a business) what is the average split/ wage? After perusing your forums, I could not get a clear understanding as to how much an employee gets paid for a house being inspected. I know as a business owner the potential in earnings could be “endless”, but once again I am asking for per employee
5.) When working as an employee, would I be contracted (1099) or will be put on a payroll. And if this is the case, would a typical employee setup be provided with a work vehicle? Tools?
6.) Is there a need for apprentices? I have not seen many advertisements on this forums looking for talent. Is it hard to find help? Are you looking for anyone now?
7.) Knowing what you know now, and if you can go back in time, would you still pick this profession?
I have many more questions, but they are very minuet in nature. I really appreciate all your help guys!
-Michael