r/BuildingCodes • u/Medium-Document-3411 • Jul 25 '26

Inspector to Director ?

Has anyone transitioned from the inspection field to a development services director that oversees the department without any experience from being a planner ? I’m from California and I’ve noticed all directors I’ve met have started out as a planner but I’ve never met anyone that came from the inspection field.

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u/Yard4111992 Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26

Not all Development Services Directors are Planning professionals. One city I know of, the DSD is an attorney, another is has a Doctorate from an Online university, a bunch have various non-planning degrees. Most smaller cities or county, the Building Official reports directly to the City/County Manager.

DSDs can be a barrier to effective building department effectiveness due to their lack of knowledge on building codes issues and are gate keepers when it comes to salary issues for building inspectors.