From Code Official to Training Empire with Reggie Lacina
With Reggie Lacina, www.reggielacina.com
More About the Show
The Build Perspectives podcast shares insider knowledge to build connections and community in the building materials industry. Tim and Carolina are friends, colleagues and former coworkers who love the construction industry and their clients, and want to share their passion and insights to attract future talent to the industry.
Who is Reggie?
Reggie Lacina is a DSA (Division of the State Architect) Class-1 Building Inspector for the state of California, President of WFB Inspection and Consulting Company and Founder & CEO of the “Working with the Building Inspector” Success Training Program.
Reggie’s job as a DSA is to oversee the public construction for schools and community colleges to make sure they’re safe for every man, woman, and child’s use for the next 75-100 years. His training program was recently accredited by the world’s largest building code council, the ICC, for ongoing continued education.
He got into the industry at age 13 when he left home and started sweeping brooms and picking up trash. From there, he worked his way up to become a tradesman and joined the local unions. After that, he got his contractor’s license and then became a general building engineering contractor. He then moved from handyman jobs into public and state works projects.
One day, while working with another inspector on a state project, the inspector suggested that Reggie work to become a DSA inspector. He was already an international code council building inspector. So he worked towards getting his DSA license, pointing out that DSA is one of the most strict building organizations in the world. It’s extremely difficult to become a DSA inspector.
They are, however, short-staffed. Reggie is one of under 800 inspectors employed by the DSA for a state of 55 million people. Ahe he points out that it’s not just the state that’s short-staffed: It’s the inspection industry itself.
Plus, because a lot of inspectors are getting to retirement age, that shortage is only going to grow.
Joining the Inspection Industry
Reggie recommends that people wanting to get out of the trades and into inspection go to the ICC (International Code Council) and pick out a specialty that they would like to be an inspector on.
Specialties include plumbing, mechanical and electrical trades. It’s very rare to find an inspector that inspects everything from start to finish. Instead, you should get a real in-depth background with hands-on experience with public construction in one area.
So, if you are an electrician by trade, go to the ICC and get an electrical inspector’s license, as the ICC is the body who issues the certification and licenses to people who want to become inspectors.
There are a wide variety of inspectors you can be: specialty inspectors, deputy inspectors, combination building inspectors, residential building inspectors, commercial building inspectors and more. The ICC is the foremost leading institute in the world that certifies building inspectors.
Being an Inspector
According to Reggie, there are two paths to take when being an inspector. Do you want to be an independent consultant (the path Reggie chose) or do you want to register at the unions and work through them?
Reggie chose to be an independent consultant, but it meant that he had to get word of mouth to build his company. Plus, he had to know how to get into certain areas that can be difficult to get started in. (His training course teaches you had to do this.)
As an inspector, you have to be able to deal with chaos and disorder. People will argue and blame each other, and the inspector has to deal with all of that and solve the problem so the building is safe for decades.
One of the reasons Reggie built his course is because there’s no school to teach you how to become a DSA Class-1 inspector like him. He wanted to be able to help others that want to get into the inspection industry and show them the ropes. It’s also why he became an inspector: He wanted to teach people how to do things the right way. But, as an inspector, you aren’t really allowed to tell people what to do, so instead, Reggie built a course.
One of the ways you can get started as an inspector is working for a city or state, local jurisdiction. Reggie says a common starting place is as an in-house school inspector since schools are required by law to be inspected by a qualified individual once a year. DSA inspectors start out as class 3 or 4, and this is a great way to get started and gain experience.
Advantages and Disadvantages
And while Reggie is glad he became an inspector (though he was resistant to the idea at first), there are some drawbacks, as well as advantages.
On the plus side, he doesn’t have to deal with employees anymore. He has fewer headaches to deal with and he makes better money.
However, because he’s an independent, he might be off work for six months to a year because of the cycle of projects and the economy. As an employee, you get retirement and benefits and vacation pay, but you don’t get that working for yourself. There’s no one there to take care of you.
Part of his training course is to help people understand both sides, independent vs. employee, so you can pick the route that’s best for you.
You also have to be able to deal with resistance to change, from the builders and companies you are working with.
What’s Important Topic in Construction?
Reggie says the biggest topic not being discussed in construction is training. Education is falling to the side, and the industry needs to start focusing on it again, especially if they want to get younger people into the industry right out of high school.
Join the Conversation
We’d love to hear your thoughts on this week’s episode! Shoot us an email at buildperspectives@gmail.com.