Jamie Wilks of Mathews, was recently appointed to serve as the county’s building official.

Wilks has operated his own part-time home inspection business in Mathews for the past eight years, serving both lenders who needed draw inspections and prospective buyers who needed to know the condition of the property they were considering.

He graduated from Montgomery College in Maryland with an associate’s degree in civil engineering technology. He is a Virginia Certified Home Inspector, has taken Virginia Building Code Academy courses, and was trained by the American Home Inspectors Training Institute.

To be a state-certified building official, Wilks still needs to take a class through the Department of Housing and Community Development and pass a certification exam.

He said the job will require ongoing education because codes change frequently.

Before opening his own business, Wilks worked part-time in construction while also working for the Norfolk Fire Department....