Heaven Doherty is the City of Hermiston’s building inspector. She starts her day at 7 a.m. by answering emails and sorting through same-day inspection requests filling up her inbox. By 9 a.m., she is in the field, doing 20 to 50 inspections until about 5 p.m. on projects ranging from single family homes to apartment complexes with hundreds of units and data centers the size of football fields. On one particularly busy day, she said she racked up six miles’ worth of steps while walking through job sites to inspect the plumbing, wiring, load-bearing walls and more.

And now, after just 18 months on the job, Doherty was awarded the Building Inspector of the Year award from the Oregon Building Officials Association. The Hermiston Herald previously reported news of the award which comes amid a construction boom in the city and rising demand for inspection services. Last year, Hermiston generated more than $200 million in building permit fees and 130 new homes were built.

Doherty shares what it’s like to be, as she says, a building inspector “living my best life in Eastern Oregon.”

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News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/09/15/think-out-loud-hermiston-building-inspector/