Skilled trades

[cryptosapien]

Don't sleep on skilled trades if you haven't been to college or don't feel like going. There are a lot of options.

Have you ever called a plumber to your house? Or someone to fix your air conditioner? They make bank.

Welders make a ton. There's a company in Omaha who had to recruit people from out of the country because there weren't enough skilled laborers around here. They got paid 120 bucks an hour plus per diem. Probably got over time too. That's fukking $$$$$$.

Then after awhile when you can weld really good you can start to inspect them, or even decide what kind of welds go where. And they of course get paid more.

And this is how a lot of trades are. It's not all, go to work and shovel shyt all day busting your ass for 8 dollars an hour. That guy you see holding a stop sign on the road while they are pouring concrete is probably making 15, 20 bucks an hour at least.

And in addition you can start your own business in a lot of trades. I work for my friend who just opened his own tile business. We did a McDonalds remodel and every single person working on stuff there worked for a small business.

Electricians, plumbers, hvac, welders, floor installation, window installation, carpet installation, granite counter top installation. People pay people to hang up Christmas lights for Christs sake.

Think of a cool place you look to go. A building or a monument or a park. Someone built that shyt.

You can either go to college and take hands on classes to get a jump start, try to join a union, or start at the very bottom of a company. So you may still have to go to college for it, but you don't sit there and listen to stories about family vacation from the sociology teacher all day.

 

[cryptosapien]

I'm working on this commercial job right now, doing tile flooring. I'll give you a little run down on what I've seen going on there.

Everyone is doing something. There are a bunch of independent contractors but also people in charge of coordinating the action, naturally. I don't know what the leaders make but the guy running this has 4 million dollars riding on a deadline so I assume he gets paid pretty good. They wouldn't want to hire just any a$$hole to be in charge of that.

We put down 120 square feet in 4 hours. At 2$ a square foot that is 240 dollars. Divided by 4 that is 60. 60 dollars an hour for my boss and I to work.

There are the following trades there that I have seen:

concrete
$35,530 per year
$17.08 per hour

welding
$35,450 per year
$17.04 per hour

framers (carpentry $ stats)
$39,530 per year
$19.00 per hour
drywall (carpentry $ stats - may not be accurate)
$39,530 per year
$19.00 per hour

plumbers
$46,660 per year
$22.43 per hour

hvac
$42,530 per year
$20.45 per hour

electrician
$48,250 per year
$23.20 per hour

window installation (glaziers)
$36,640 per year
$17.61 per hour

heavy machinery (construction equipment operators)
$39,460 per year
$18.97 per hour

All stats are median pay from the occupational outlook handbook.

A lot of the guys here are owners of their own company and making more than that, sometimes significantly more. The beauty of trade work is there is a real opportunity for you to start your own business.

Going to college is great but there are plenty of options. If you like working with numbers all day, by all means be an accountant. If you are an extraordinary people person work with people.

And as an added bonus, when people go crazy at work and do rampage killings it is almost every time at an office, warehouse or store.

 

[Reid2Achieve]

Yeah the real way to make good money doing this (any blue collar work really) is if you have plans to run your own business or branching off into other hustles. People shouldn't sleep on it...that college shyt ain't viable for everybody.

 

[Serious]

The best thing to do, is to put yourself into a hybrid situation.

Have a skill / trade + at least a couple years of formal learning under your belt( at least a associates degree).

 

[Dafunkdoc_Unlimited]

This is what I'm doing now (Energy Auditor), but I hit a ceiling and have to get a degree. Couple more years and I can either work directly under the State's umbrella as a Weatherization Program Director in ANY State in the US, or start my own business.​

 

[cryptosapien]

That's true Serious. Especially if you are planning to start your own business, I can't imagine any number of majors or even just the college experience (learning to research stuff, prepare for things, etc) not being helpful. And even just one accounting class would be better than nothing, you probably wouldn't have to major in it to learn some good stuff.

And Dafunkdoc that's really cool. I just googled that. Reminds me, as you already know I'm sure, you also get opportunities to do good things for people (not really in my field but in several). I have an idea of what you do (make things more effecient, right?), but whats an average day like? If you don't mind.

Being able to travel is awesome too Dafunk. I can't really but a lot of trades can it seems. Definitely a bonus in my opinion. Perhaps if we pick up steam in commercial we will travel a little bit.

 

[Dafunkdoc_Unlimited]

And Dafunkdoc that's really cool. I just googled that. Reminds me, as you already know I'm sure, you also get opportunities to do good things for people (not really in my field but in several). I have an idea of what you do (make things more effecient, right?), but whats an average day like? If you don't mind.

Being able to travel is awesome too Dafunk. I can't really but a lot of trades can it seems. Definitely a bonus in my opinion. Perhaps if we pick up steam in commercial we will travel a little bit.

There's no such thing as an 'average' day. I can do an audit on a mobile home Monday, Tuesday be in a 20-room mansion, Wednesday I'll be in a 50-story high-rise, and on Thursday in a car dealership. I'm rarely in the office aside from doing paperwork. I encounter all types of people and have literally saved the lives of over a thousand residents as well as about $30 million in energy costs throughout the state of NJ over 12 years.

I'm basically a detective. People call my organization because their home/building is uncomfortable and/or costing them an exorbitant amount of money to keep heated during the winter and cool during the summer. I go into parts of buildings that the owners/residents don't even know exist. I work closely with contractors (Building, Electric, Plumbing, Heating/AC, Insulation) and have to conform to municipal, State and Federal Codes for installations of measures. Watch this video to get an idea of what it's like in a 'regular' home......



This one takes a look in the attic, but I'd like to point out that heat doesn't just rise. High-pressure (heat) travels to low-pressure (cold). I've seen a LOT of people heating their basements/crawlspaces....

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5596NMi-Uw"]Energy Saving Attic Insulation - YouTube[/ame]

​

 

[cryptosapien]

There's no such thing as an 'average' day. I can do an audit on a mobile home Monday, Tuesday be in a 20-room mansion, Wednesday I'll be in a 50-story high-rise, and on Thursday in a car dealership. I'm rarely in the office aside from doing paperwork. I encounter all types of people and have literally saved the lives of over a thousand residents as well as about $30 million in energy costs throughout the state of NJ over 12 years.

I'm basically a detective. People call my organization because their home/building is uncomfortable and/or costing them an exorbitant amount of money to keep heated during the winter and cool during the summer. I go into parts of buildings that the owners/residents don't even know exist. I work closely with contractors (Building, Electric, Plumbing, Heating/AC, Insulation) and have to conform to municipal, State and Federal Codes for installations of measures. Watch this video to get an idea of what it's like in a 'regular' home......

Home Energy Audits by Dr. Energy Saver - YouTube

This one takes a look in the attic, but I'd like to point out that heat doesn't just rise. High-pressure (heat) travels to low-pressure (cold). I've seen a LOT of people heating their basements/crawlspaces....

Energy Saving Attic Insulation - YouTube

​

awesome

 

[unit321]

Skilled trade jobs are good. Not every is called in life to a deskjob or management or professional athlete or artist.

I worked in construction management, I did low-level accounting so I knew what everyone was making. It was kind of a bummer when I saw some dudes getting paid more than twice what I was making, and I had a college degree. The flipside was the work was not always steady. The employees would try to string construction jobs back to back so there wasn't a gap in income. For me, the income was steady. If there wasn't a job to go to, I would work from the headquarters office on some office tasks until the next job came up.
Also, there's a pay ceiling. No jumps in advancement once you make it to the top. In trades where there is an apprenticeship, you work your way up. But once you make it to the top, that's it, for the rest of your life. It's good to be a master carpenter or welder. The experience counts.

 

[Serious]

Skilled trade jobs are good. Not every is called in life to a deskjob or management or professional athlete or artist.

I worked in construction management, I did low-level accounting so I knew what everyone was making. It was kind of a bummer when I saw some dudes getting paid more than twice what I was making, and I had a college degree. The flipside was the work was not always steady. The employees would try to string construction jobs back to back so there wasn't a gap in income. For me, the income was steady. If there wasn't a job to go to, I would work from the headquarters office on some office tasks until the next job came up.
Also, there's a pay ceiling. No jumps in advancement once you make it to the top. In trades where there is an apprenticeship, you work your way up. But once you make it to the top, that's it, for the rest of your life. It's good to be a master carpenter or welder. The experience counts.

Basically this is what my High school teacher taught.

Meanwhile with a college degree, if used right, sky's the limit as far income is concerned.

 

[cryptosapien]

Skilled trade jobs are good. Not every is called in life to a deskjob or management or professional athlete or artist.

I worked in construction management, I did low-level accounting so I knew what everyone was making. It was kind of a bummer when I saw some dudes getting paid more than twice what I was making, and I had a college degree. The flipside was the work was not always steady. The employees would try to string construction jobs back to back so there wasn't a gap in income. For me, the income was steady. If there wasn't a job to go to, I would work from the headquarters office on some office tasks until the next job came up.
Also, there's a pay ceiling. No jumps in advancement once you make it to the top. In trades where there is an apprenticeship, you work your way up. But once you make it to the top, that's it, for the rest of your life. It's good to be a master carpenter or welder. The experience counts.

Good points. About the ceiling though, what if you go in to business yourself and expand your workforce?

 

[unit321]

Good points. About the ceiling though, what if you go in to business yourself and expand your workforce?

Depends on your trade and stuff.
The crane operators got paid the most per hour. They operated the huge cranes. It was a cake job. They sat around until the cranes were needed. Then, they had to be precise and careful when operating the cranes. They were lifting thousands of pounds of material. A bad move could damage equipment and materials in the tens of thousands of dollars if not more or seriously injure or kill someone. These cranes are very expensive so it would be difficult to go into business for yourself.
Carpenters, yes, you could go into business for yourself but then you need to front expenses like marketing costs.
Welder, like carpentry, you can go into for yourself, but you have to market your business and it's up and down. I had a cop friend who used to be an independent welder. It paid well, but the work was up and down, so the income fluctuations were stressful on the family.
Particular trades, like millwright, don't really have an avenue of going out on their own. Their skills and experience are for heavy industrial construction.
Plumbers, working with a contractor opens the door for commercial plumbing opportunities but going independent is always there and the residential plumbing market is good, but it fluctuates, and you are up against other plumbers, independent and large companies, so you have to charge the market rate. Again, you can control overhead, and you have less overhead than big companies, so you can profit more. Then, the issue becomes, you can work 60 to 80 hours a week to maximize income but then you are worn out and you can't physically do 80 quality hours a week all the time. You're human, not a robot. So your income ceiling fluctuates.
There is no way you are going to get into six figures unless you sacrifice your personal life. You will have no idea about anything going on in the world around you: new TV shows, winners of sporting events like the Super Bowl, national news like a hurricane destroying a city, etc. You go to work, come home and sleep, and then you repeat that 7 times a week for 52 weeks.

Becoming the head of a company that provides plumbing, welding, carpentry services is doable but then you have increased overhead: taxes, insurance, equipment, etc. You basically start small and expand to grow your company. It's doable but not easy. This is a good direction to go if you want to be your own boss. Because you stick in some profit in the hourly rate of your underlings into your contract prices. For example, if your employee makes $10/hour, you charge $15/hour to the client. Part of that goes towards overhead though. It's a business and you want to maximize profits without losing contracts because your bid prices are too high, but you don't want to go too low just to win a contract because your total profit made on a contract will be low. You don't want to do this all the time, like a Walmart of contracting services, because you've basically lowered your own income ceiling.

 

[cryptosapien]

Interesting, thanks for taking the time to post that. I'm gonna read that once or twice more before I respond cause I'm trying to absorb it all.