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The differences between building engineers and repair technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a building engineer and a repair technician. Additionally, a building engineer has an average salary of $76,446, which is higher than the $41,643 average annual salary of a repair technician.
The top three skills for a building engineer include HVAC, ladders and plumbing. The most important skills for a repair technician are customer service, hand tools, and customer satisfaction.
| Building Engineer | Repair Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $76,446 | $41,643 |
| Hourly rate | $36.75 | $20.02 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 13,440 | 162,051 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 32% | Associate Degree, 38% |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
The job of building engineers is to provide advice on design, installation, and maintenance of energy-efficient and cost-effective systems for all building services, including lighting, water, and air conditioning. These professionals are responsible for the distribution of water supply and electricity and resolving tenants' maintenance problems such as plumbing and electrical systems. Additional duties of the building engineers include conducting tests on systems, ensuring compliance with health and safety requirements, and liaising with construction professionals like surveyors and electricians.
A repair technician's role focuses on assessing the problem or damage of a device and implementing solutions for it to function again. Although the extent of a technician's tasks will depend on the device or industry of employment, most of it revolves around troubleshooting, providing technical support, installing and writing programs, detaching and re-attaching wirings, welding, and even thoroughly discussing problems and solutions to clients. Furthermore, there are instances when a repair technician must work in a team setting that requires coordination and communication.
Building engineers and repair technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Building Engineer | Repair Technician | |
| Average salary | $76,446 | $41,643 |
| Salary range | Between $49,000 And $116,000 | Between $27,000 And $63,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | California | Hawaii |
| Best paying company | Apple | SoCalGas |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a building engineer and a repair technician in terms of educational background:
| Building Engineer | Repair Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 32% | Associate Degree, 38% |
| Most common major | Heating And Air Conditioning | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between building engineers' and repair technicians' demographics:
| Building Engineer | Repair Technician | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 94.6% Female, 5.4% | Male, 88.3% Female, 11.7% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.6% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 20.2% Asian, 4.5% White, 59.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2% | Black or African American, 11.3% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 18.3% Asian, 4.6% White, 60.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 2% | 2% |