Where my trade people at?

Where my trade people at?

>What trade do you do?
>How much you making?
>Likes, Dislikes about the job?

Pic related as I lay them tiles.

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did you do that? It's a nice job if you did

People actually pay you for this shit?

It's so easy what the hell

how much do you get paid doe

My step bro is a tiler and gets $100k a year at 23

bretty good job

I'm a chef
I make about 40k a year
I like that I work with food because fuck yeah food is awesome

That was not me, but I could have done it, assuming the carpenter had the wood set up correctly. But really I would not build a tile shower this complicated, too many areas for water to sit, too many opportunties for a leak. I would have just done a rectangle with a single bench.

Eh kinda, sure a person can do it, but a shower like pic related does require some experience to get all the angles right, properly mastic it. You do not wanna fuck around with a shower leak that will fuck a house up bad.

But yeah for floor and backsplashes putting in tile is easy.

I made around $50k last year. Work about 2 or 3 days a week.

thx mate. In a wealthy community guys like me can make a fuckkkload.

Yeah the food parts fun. But I don't like being talked down to. And all that standing.

>What trade do you do?
Painting, hardwood floor finishing/restoration, and power washing.

>How much you making?
It all depends. One month I may GROSS $20K then I may have nothing for 3 months.

>Likes, Dislikes about the job?
+ My own boss. My own hours. My own destiny.
+ I enjoy doing the work (most of the time).
+ Get to travel around the state.
+ Always meet new clients that end up being good friends later on.
- Inconsistent work unless I take a Jewish rate job from a contractor.
- Have to budget differently than people who get the same paycheck every 2 weeks.
- Can be highly stressful when a project goes wrong. Could have accepted a huge job but can't find any reliable help. Could not be paid. Could damage something and have to deal with the insurance nightmare. Etc.

To paint a clearer picture, last year I cleared $127,624 GROSS.

And my NET was just shy of $54K.

Lots of travel and buying supplies at brick and mortar on the fly instead of buying wholesale. My NET of the GROSS my first 2 years was 61% and 58% respectively. But I stayed local and my GROSS was much much lower.

> difficult customers and problematic jobs

This by far, by FAR, is the only thing I dislike about my work.

I had a Jewish couple a few weeks back that were so bad I almost walked off the job midway through. Never before have I seen such insanity. They tried to renegotiate the final price after I had already started working, claiming they were confused by the estimate. Then as I was working they kept coming into the job and saying they were not happy with parts of it. I ended up retiling one shower for free.

In retrospect I really need to learn to say, "sorry but this job is finished, I'll send you a reduced bill for what has been done already, and I'm going to be on my way now". Then pack up my gear and leave.

About to inject biz with more racism, but Jews and Indians are both difficult. Every other race I have had zero issues with. Although the Japanese can be a little picky sometimes as well.

And yeah every once in a while I fucked up someones home and feel bad about it. Only bad one was this lady called me and had a stone patio with a pool in it. Asked if I could fill some of the cracks in her stone patio. I thought it would be simple but outdoor stone and indoor tile are totally different things. Ended up putting some epoxy grout into openings and the mismatch was obvious.

How do you refinish a hardwood floor? Is it a different scenario depending on the type of wood that is down already?

I signed up to go to school for electrical, but am thinking about switching to plumbing. I find both trades interesting but I would prefer to work at heights as little as possible and I don't want to get electrocuted.

Go for HVAC and move down south, preferably to Texas. Will stay busy year round. Know guys that run their own service by themselves and make close to 6 figures. Housing is cheap. No state income tax. Beautiful women. Lots of things to do.

Sand it and re stain it then put a clear coat over it. Not that bad but old flooring with lots of splinters can be a pain in the ass. My floor buffer once ripped up an entire strip of old hardwood floor that couldn't be replaced. The people were absolutely pissed. Took a chunk out of my savings to replace their entire floor with new hardwood.

I don't know why exactly but HVAC has just never really tickled my dick. I've always liked plumbing and electrical, and mainly chose to sign up for electrical because the class was easier to get into.

Residential electrical is inconsistent work. I would consider a community college program in electrical/machine maintenance and work at a factory. Get mid 20s a hour to do next to nothing. It's what my friend does. Sits in the break room the entire shift unless he gets a call on the radio. Takes home a little over $3K a month.

I'm a NEET in his early 20's.

How hard would it be for someone like me to learn this trade? Laying tile seems like the ideal job for me.

Can confirm.

Dad is a master electrician. I am a facilities manager.

He lives in a small town so it gets slow in the winter. He's been there for a long time so he doesn't get laid off, but the rookies do if it slows down enough. He makes about 60k/yr but as I said lives in a small town so cost of living is low.

I manage facilities at a non-profit for 20$/hr but I'm just using it as a resume builder. Job is only part time and I work a shit retail job too. Plus the occasional side job. My job is just doing routine maintenance on the building and machinery. Not overly hard work. I know people who have my title and almost never lift a finger.

Tiling isn't hard, it's a lot of common sense and manual labor. Tiles are heavy, thinset is heavy, and most of your work day is spent on your knees. Every tile setter and mason I've ever met has fucked knees.

This is a hot debate right now. I have friends in both and I think Plumbing is better.

Why plumbing? In my opinion:
> the money is a little better
> you will get valuable experience in tile and carpentry
> there is more need for people that want to do plumbing than electrical

Are there wood floors that cannot be sanded and refinished? What's the difference between real wood and cheap laminate?

How hard is it to correctly run the sanding machine over a hardwood floor?

>replace their entire floor with new hardwood.
holy fucking fuck, i could not handle that kind of loss. I'd be sick.

IIRC, HVAC involves bending over and down on the knees a lot, really fucking those knees up.

Easy, plenty of opportunity and ways in.

Just work for a good company in town, they always need help. Stop by their office with a short resume, look clean, be positive. Tell them you will always show up, work hard, and not drink or do any drugs. You'll get a job.

The money in the 1st year or two is not important, what you are really seeking is the knowledge of how to do the jobs, and the knowledge of how to get a business going.

For mine, I started my little LLC, posted a thing on Facebook and got my first two jobs in my first week I opened. The rest is history.

Agreed, but if you do commercial, or travel with your skills there is always work.

And the big electric companies will often pay for you to stay somewhere while you work.

I think my buddy was wiring an airport in Las Vegas and getting 45/hr and they were paying for his accomodations to stay there.

Dude. Can you direct me to a descent site where i can learn to build this?

Wife wants one and i have done some construction and tike but not this scale. Not even sure where to start but i dont wanna fuck it up.


>heavy equipment operator.
>$18.50 but i just got a raise so maybe 19 even?
>as of a few weeks ago 50 hours a week. $997.5 a week before taxes like clockwork.
>hate steering wheels in equipment that should only ever ne ran with fucking joysticks.
> hate 2 seperate levers to dump a bucket when a fucking joystick would work.
>hate dealing with idiot fucking people.

Other than that good pay and benifits. Can hide ina office or cab. Heat and ac or kick the doors open and shitpost in nice weather.

Comfy/10.

Will get rich and retire rmfrom here or die ina machine

He probably has nicer kneepads than all of /biz combined. Meanwhile doesnt own a pair of boots with the toe still on it.

Kek

Straight up man.

They gonna shit talk u either way.

When i had a dump truck and hauled rock i had a rule.

U can bitch twice about something that is pointless or had nothing to do with me. The 3rd time u are fired as a customer. True on rare cases id fuck up a little. But all 4 times the owner had a tracktor and i knocked some off their bill so they were pretty happy.

Being a small community of shit talkers. I never told faggot customers when they were fired. I would just tell them i am booked for a month and theyed normally call someone else. If not and they called the next month id make up a bullshit dirtworking job out of town that will have me busy for 6 months.

Im not affraid to tell someone to suck my dck but it would have been a bad business move

Youtube has great vids. I redid mine with 0 experience and a rented sander

My bro got caught up in 440 for a minute or two.

Melted his ass.

He has muscle loss in most of his body and hos shit is all fucked up.

They almost cut his arms off...

At best you bump 110 and get shocked to fuck and pissed in a 1/10th of a second.

I'm diy and i called my sister in law and paid her 40 bucks to wire a ceiling fan.

I want nothing to do with that shit

Easy as fuck if you got a pro teaching u. It is work tho.

And unironically you will want a $200 set of kneepads as youll be on them all day.

Lol

More responses like this concerning plumbing vs electrical would be nice. I can be pretty indecisive when down to two options.

>IIRC, HVAC involves bending over and down on the knees a lot, really fucking those knees up.

thats because most older tradesmen are the stereotypical highschool dropout, harley davidson riding, goatee wearing, beer belly shaped retard. They purposely damage their bodies to appear tough.

I do HVAC. Its incredibly easy to do the job comfortably, most "men" are just too proud to wear knee pads. Shit you can do 90% of residential service while sitting down on a bucket.

youtube.com/watch?v=K0krFD58FvI

^This guide is pretty good.

The mistakes people make I think are:

-Not properly running the membrane, it should go at least knee high. If there is a bench the bench should be completed protected, and up to the top of the bench. That membrane is what protects leaks.

- building it too fast. Let that concrete shower pan sit for 2 days before you start tiling it

- get that slope right! the water needs to run down to the drain, or you'll get water pools and other problems.

- properly build the drain, this is a common area for leaks

- Once everything is done use a STRONG caulk (I like epoxy caulk) for ALL the joints, and if that caulk fails after a few years cut it out and replace it

- DO NOT use one of those gimmicky self sealer grout, urethane grout, stain proof grout. They are shit, just use a regular sanded grout.

I wish I could do this, but the tile people we all savagely compete with eachother.

Yeah that shit scares me.

I'd rather deal with the disgusting plumbing world than risk getting electrocuted.

Good to know

True.

I'll give it a shot desu, seems like it shouldn't be so difficult of a trade compared to electrical or plumbing work or something.

>thinking about trades, i.e. tradding
>about to reply
>notice mention about laying tiles like some kind of dirty peasant
>realize op is talking about manual bueno labor and nothing business related

kys mexico

>>What trade do you do?

Usually $DRYS, sometimes $CERU my nigga.

>>How much you making?

I usually lose about $200 a week

>>Likes, Dislikes about the job?

Like the rush
Dislike the selling low

Lmao'd

Union carpenter
1st year apprentice, got my job from the out of work list a week after getting in
worked hard and within 10 months i convinced them to pay me 3rd year apprentice rate, $30/hr (1st year is $20)
Now I take home about $800-$1,000 a week depending on over time
on top of that i get a benefits package of $1.84 / hr into a quarterly "vacation check." $2.78/hr into my annuity, like $7something into a pension, and a bunch of other shit like medical and whatever
all of this doubles after I grauduate the apprenticeship in like 3 years and my pay rate will be at $52 an hour
I can retire after 30 years of work and 55years of age
But I'm no fucking cuck so I'm taking advantage of their free schooling and infinite knowledge from the field and rolling that in to real estate foreclosures/rehabs.
Retiring by 35

I've been looking into trades recently,
Anyone here do any welding?

Why do Africans (real ones) happily pay full rates?
I've never had a more jovial clientele than fresh-off-the-boat Africans.
How?
The worst are Arabs, Turks and Indians (funnily enough Iraqi, Iranians, Sri Lankan and Sikhs are cool).
Seriously though, don't sabotage your job, just find a replacement for yourself and fire the client.

Welding is the shit, but you have to be REALLY good.

Pls be the tilefucker/tilelover guy.
If not, contact him and sell him pictures of the tiles you have laid, if you have some good pics prepare to get rich satisfying one of the most uncanny perversions Veeky Forums has ever known.
i.warosu.org/data/tg/img/0424/09/1441857475556.jpg

Master plumber in Houston here. This August will be my tenth year in the trade.

Pros
1) To me, there are so many more things I can do to improve my home or customers homes by knowing how to work on water, sewer, drain, and natural gas instead of only electrical.
2) Working for residential service companies give a great insight on how to run a business. Seriously, the amount of sales training many companies are willing to spend to get employees to give more of a damn and just ask to check out the rest of the customers house while we are there is staggering.
3) The pay is great if you realize how much value you bring to company. After two year, I was making $20 hour with benefits and extra bonuses if I hit predetermined sales goals. At 5 years experience I was around $25. Currently paid via commission and bonus.
4) If you're smart/mechanically inclined, you can get a Tradesman license in two years, which is just a watered down version of a Journeyman license (Texas only has this iirc).
5) I'm starting my own company later this year a few months after our first child is born. I made $107,000 two years ago and $83,000 last year before taxes. If you're willing to work hard and not drink your money away, you can have great life quality.

Cons
1) The heat fucking sucks. Replacing water heaters or repiping water lines in Houston attics in the summer can give you heat rash within just a few hours.
2) Emergency on call rotations. Service companies want you to go out to their customers at midnight to unclog a sewer line or fix a leak in attic.
3) Working at some companies will result in you being shop monkey only delivering parts or helping with manual labor for majority of "training" period, followed up with maybe a month of riding with plumber for how to price jobs and learn how to diagnose issues. I never went union, but I believe they would offer a completely green person the best knowledge on how to do work the correct way to code.

Where you live?

And yeah if you can work the flip game properly you can make good money. Unforunately thanks to those tv shows everyone thinks they are a flipper and the prices have been driven up.

If you can't make 50k on a flip deal AFTER all the bullshit, then it is not worth it.

I heard those emergency jobs are crazy money.

My friend said he can get a call about a pipe burst in someones house at 2am. He'll ride over there and fix everything and work for a few hours, he said he can make $2k.

Is that true?

>Chef at Wendy's
>$8.25/hr
>paid off trailer in 3 years

Pressure Welder here.

Make $48 CDN PESOS a hour.

Looking for a career change outside the trades but also dont want a office job. Anyone got any ideas?

Residential journeyman electrician in the USA
Made $57k last year
Good:Got a van to take home, good health insurance. Household electrical is pretty safe. Boss is very chill.
Bad: been laid off six weeks collecting unemployment and been dragging my feet finding a new job because it involves moving. Dealing with homeowners is a pain in the ass sometimes. I hate being in peoples houses. Residential work/construction is full of dumb people, druggies and alcoholics. Every other trade on site hates us because our job is physically easier than theirs.

I am looking to get into commercial work and become a journeyman in that specialty. It will take another two years of work, and companies like that are harder to find than residential companies. I also have to move or work nights most likely. I could be making more right now if I were a more ambitious person.

>Starting my electrical apprenticeship soon
All the negativity in this thread is scaring me...

Lmao dude! I do it and think its a good career choice
Where you are from and what area of the trade you go into makes a big difference though

Thanks man, got my hopes up again...Whatever happens, happens

>post production
>40k

its a good job. you can do really well in it. lots of work. lots of sitting in front of a computer. chillen watching movies / youtube. can be stressful. relaxed most times.

its a digital trade for sure

It depends on if you are a sole business owner or if you're an employee. Example being, as an employee with my current company, if I go to customers house and it's a 3/4" galvanized water pipe that's leaked through a ceiling, I would make about $180 after charging the customer an emergency service charge and the cost to repair the leak (just slightly under $500). If it caused enough damage and they decide to use a water restoration company we recommend, that company sends me a bonus between $200-$400 depending on how much work they get out of it.

As an employee, I love working overtime on weekends and at night because I can quickly fix things and the overtime commission system is so great. Most plumbers hate the on call because they're in their 40's and are tired of doing it. Once I start my company up, I'll basically be making overtime wages on every call after paying for business expenses, advertising, etc...

Typically the biggest money I get working overtime is a leaking water heater in attic. Many houses out here have 2 water heaters in attic, so when one goes out, the other goes too. I can make about $400 per each water heater I install, and it takes roughly 2-3 hours per each. They usually run about $1500 and up for being installed on overtime. I haven't really run into many leaks being over $2,000 though like your friends experience. I have had small galvanized pipe leak repairs turn into a full house repipes which can easily turn into jobs between $10,000-$20,000 after sheetrock repairs, paint, new faucets, etc...

The service side of plumbing has so much potential in large areas like Houston it's surreal.

(((plumbers)))

>too many areas for water to sit

I thought the same

>Jewish
>claims to be confused by my offer
>tries to renegotiate

Top kek

Most of the time in plumbing you are either under the house or dicking off installing sinks and talking shop with the other work crews. Elecricions run their ass off on ladders and in fmrafters and shit. Id hands down go plumbing. Then again a bro of mine makes 399k a year doing industrial electric and dint graduate high school so...

Thanks for the tips man.

We are moving in 2 years. I guess i could just put a shutoff on it and if i do fuck uo our spare bathroom it will look nice and just not be used. Fuckit. I hate my shithole. May as well get practice in for a real house

Should bid jobs together.

I turned my bosses biggest competition into one of my best freinds and together with some hired part time labor we could talkle mall jobs and shit. My shiester peice of shit faggot jew boss got rich

Most new plumbing is fucking legit.

I still gag and dry heave working on my 120 year old plumbing but it beats a $200 bill.

factory operator here

2/3's monitoring screens and controlling the proces
1/3's manual labour, small repairs and general maintnance + driving loaders and other large veichles

Can definately recommend this line of work, but only at unionized and specialized factories: I get a really good salary because it takes several years to become skilled where I work

Would not recommend line-work or something of that sorts, did manual labour at such a place for shitty salary and hurting feet when I was a teen

been trying to get into electrical for a long time, recently roofing has caught my interest anybody here know anything about roofing?


And for any carpenters out there, I have 5 months of residential experience and know how to use a chop saw, table saw and circular saw. How valuable am I? Would I get hired over someone who has no experience? Im trying to find *something* anything but am struggling quite a bit.

Any of you plumbers still around? Just how physically demanding is this job? I'm not too worried about it, I'm a big guy and I can start working out more if need be, I would just like to get a bit of an idea. How much would weight would I be lifting unassisted on a regular basis?

Good shit m8. I quit my factory job 3 weeks ago. Packaging machine operator at Frito Lay. $25.76/hr. Infinite overtime if I wanted it....only made $63k after taxes because lazy.
Started my own private security firm now and we already got 2 contracts for cctv & Alarm installation + Night gaurds. Hope I don't fuck up

>not even 22 yet.

Unassisted? In service work, the heaviest thing I lift by myself is a toilet. Sometimes I have to walk down a flight of stairs carrying one. I'd guess the porcelain might be around 45 pounds, but it's just so awkward to carry.

Carrying a water heater out of an attic is much, much worse, but that's more of a southern install location versus in a basement or garage like most of the country.

Sometimes you might have to really force a galvanized pipe out of a connection with pipe wrenches that's been that way for 30 years, but it's not a sustained lifting effort. In service, most of my day is driving to customers, followed by repetitive light motions (disassembling faucets, running cable machine, sometimes replacing sewer or water lines).

Some companies make you dig by yourself or with an apprentice. The companies I've worked at have a dig crew that digs everything for you so you aren't wasting time digging and you can go to more customers instead. I don't believe it's a super physically demanding job, although as an apprentice you would quickly adapt to it.

Thanks for the info.

I'm Canadian and I have never heard of a water heater being installed in an attic.

Don't let my negativity get you down. I'm just angry at myself for not living up to my full potential. Electrical is still a good field and you can take it as far as you want if you work hard and are reliable. If you have a good criminal/driving record and are drug free, you should have no problem finding good work. May have to move to find it, but its there.

Should I apprentice under my grandfather and take over his electrical business in a few years or join the merchant marine?

Can you tell me the bad aspects about being a welder?

I have thought about doing it, but want to hear the bad of it.

>I could be making more right now if I were a more ambitious person

Said literally every tradesman ever

Every fucking time bro!

So sick of customers claiming they are "confused about the estimate" halfway through. Gonna drop the hammer on a customer one day.

Roofing is very profitable.

As for carpentry can you build stuff and repair wood structures in someones home? If so just make up some flyers as a handyman and see what you get.

I'm gonna be taking over my grandpa's appliance repair business and I should be making $110,000 annually after taxes and expenses.

Let's keep this thread alive.

Damn. If I could go back 4 years I would definitely choose a trade over college. Decided to go with the STEM meme and it's fucking me up. I'm actually getting depression from being in college... Only thing keeping me in is family who help me out and being almost done.

But anyways. Anyone here a technician? Can you talk about that? Pay, outlook. day in the life, etc.

I heard Instrumentation techs can make bank if they follow the work. And I might as well use some of my tech knowledge if I decide to go into trades.

>What trade do you do?
Kindergarten teacher
>How much you making?
Too little to be teaching kids not act like fucking sub-humans and have proper manners, because their parents sure as hell don't do it
>Likes
Watching children learn and grow
>Dislikes
My fucking "1 hour effective work day" co-workers. I don't understand how these people are not getting fired. Nice people though, they just have terrible work ethics.

I studied instrumentation and can't find a job, been looking 2 years now

I live in Alberta though and our economy is fucked, nobody willing to hire an apprentice when there are so many experienced people competing for jobs

I'd recommend becoming an electrician first then transition into instrumentation, if you have a dual ticket you're basically set for life

There's lots of work in Alberta for insturmentation techs. I have two friends (I'm in Nova Scotia) who are both apprentices and are on fly in/fly out jobs and have been for a long time.

Where do they work? Did they get hired before or after the oil crash?

Plumber here, made good money but I ditched my job to go to school full time for Business Administration.

Working as a valet now probably parking your nice ass cars

Anyone one from the Midwest region?
Looking to get into trades now that I see that stem isn't worth the debt.
>20 yr old

I do landscaping/hardscaping in the summer, im 21
>10-11k after taxes for 4 months
>likes: it keeps me active, my bosses are total bros, co-workers are awsome, get to work on my tan
>dislikes: not much really,

ones in curl lake, others with syncrude. They've been working full time for the last 2 years

Metal fabricator/Welder/blacksmith here of 10+ years

The bad aspects of welding are numerous. But none of them are so bad that with a little technique and common sense you couldnt avoid them.

Heat.
Welding is hot work. You'll burn yourself so many times it isn't funny. And it's hot under all that protective gear too.

Cuts.
You'll slice yourself open so many times it also loses humor. Metal is almost always sharp somewhere.

Dirty/toxic environment
Even tig welding can be dirty. Metal working involves lots of nasty oil, grease, rust, caustic acids, fine abrasive dusts, paint, toxic metal vapor, explosive gasses, soot, small and large flying bits of metal.

And of course there's the UV light which can destroy your vision.

Loud noises that will ruin your hearing.

Breathing problems from about everything.

Metal is heavy. Back problems are easy to come by if you aren't smart. Not to mention the crushing effect of falling metal...

Assuming none of that bothers you...

I must say. It is one of the most rewarding trades. It's like Legos IRL. You can be every bit as creative and varied or as repetitive and productive as your heart desires.

can I just ask this to anybody in the thread really, why do people give a damn about your dmv? is it specifically because they use it to anticipate your personality and dont want to hire some guy that gets drunk on the weekends and possibly will end up in jail when hes needed? Or is it actually legitimately driving related?


I ask because my record is absolutely fine, but my drivers license is suspended (still nothing on record) and I dont own a car but think to myself, hell everyone that im going to be working with has a goddamn car/truck so transportation cant be THAT much of a problem as far as job site to job site.

if your boss asks it's probably for insurance purposes. You'll be driving a fleet truck or using your own vehicle, but either way you're on our liability insurance. Yes, even if you have your own insurance, they aren't going to want to cover you while you're working for an insured contractor. And yes, if you get in a wreck we will be sued.

if it's a client asking it's probably because that's what they've read online. They'll check your DMV, your credit, your insurance, your bond, your references, your online reputation.
because they don't want to get ripped off and they think those things are good indicators.

In commercial contracting clients tend to check your D&B, your references, and your insurance. If that's in good order that's all they really need to know. Because if you're legit they know they can sue you when you fuck up.

Electrical apprentice here... Can anyone recommend me another skill or certification to make me a more valued journeyman? I was thinking of taking some plumbing classes but don't want this to interfere with my apprenticeship

HVAC apprentice in aus here. Tough work but very rewarding when qualified. Id like to work offshore or in dubai when im done for sick gains and low taxes.

Obviously being an apprentice is shit, tough work for fuck all money but im learning and i will be my own man when im done

Bump for this

Bamp

>moves to Florida
>hates the people in Florida

If you're looking to stay the electrical route then learn PLC and you will be much more valuable.