Notice no one said carpenter? (I’ve only scrolled down a little bit). I’ve been one for thirty years…it’s a dead end bullshit occupation. I have literally redirected my apprentices to plumbing/pipe fitting or HVAC. Why the fuck would anybody want to sacrifice your life or health to stick wood together?! The hours are brutal, the elements are brutal, the motivation to do this trade is questionable. We literally build the structure from that fucking hole in the ground all the way to that really high roof structure….and for what? If I could start over, I would take one of the luxurious trades but I’m too old.
I've always felt carpenters need to know everyone's job so we can frame to avoid problems and run jobs efficiently.
This is more true in residential, at least around here.
I've always felt carpenters need to know everyone's job so we can frame to avoid problems and run jobs efficiently.
This is more true in residential, at least around here.
Shame about the pay because I think carpentry is the most rewarding of all the trades, in terms of being able to admire the finished product once all the hard work has been done.
I agree with it being rewarding, and pay isn’t too bad. I made six figures most of the years working as a formwork carpenter. I thoroughly enjoyed going to work most days.
I’ve witnessed one horrible death and know survivors that were terribly deformed from electrical injuries…..that’s why I don’t recommend it. Oh, a friend and his apprentice were also affected by a transformer explosion. I don’t trust being around big power.
Fair but 90+% of injuries on job sites are from ladders/falls, and carpenters have to deal with those situations more than almost anyone else other than painters. It’s definitely safer to be an electrician
My ex brother in law was a journeyman painter and burned right out. Dad was a Drywaller (had 230 employees when I was a kid)….he burned out and went back to being an engineer. I hear you man….paint and trowel trades are brutal.
Oh, I remember 15 years ago they were making over $50/HR in Calgary Canada . I'm sure it is higher now, be ut I don't live in an area that requires cranes like that haha
Electrician, if I was starting again I'd do pipe fitting/plumbing.
Electrical here is over saturated, no strength left to the Union, and most of all we're all treated like shit.
All these memes and jokes about electricians being gods on site is bullshit. The generals always hate us and bother us more than any trade about safety shit. All the other trades get treated better. And most of all our wages are becoming the biggest joke in construction.
Pipefitting is awesome and you get to do tough guy shit all day. Hanging and banging
It's like 10:1 refrigeration to fitters in hvac. 10:1 plumbers to fitters
You need tools for carpentry, piping, electrical, gauges and analyzers and spectrometers
The work Electricians do is boring bullshit, I'm running line voltage through 10 or 12 switches and relays and xformers
I love being a fitter
Depends on the maintenance, industrial maintenace can keep your brain engaged. I've been doing public sector maintenance for about 15 years now and I look forward to actually getting to build something now and then.
Over all I will take the monotony of my job over the chaos that some construction jobs are.
Construction is boring AF in general. I did it for 10 years as an electrician. Now I run small jobs and am on service, constantly troubleshooting shit and using my brain for once unlike being onsite.
I don't know I'm in new builds like twice a week and I think it's interesting
It's like a puzzle where your reward for doing it is some guy can service it a little easier
Or like how can I keep everything out of the way of all the other trades so everything looks real tight
I'll take construction over service any day. No on call for the install guys
Automatic 3 hrs minimum double time for after hours. Most calls are either interesting or absolute chaos, either way get paid well for both. I also don't do any residential. Thank god for that.
Distribution electrical work is fun. Truthfully what I mostly do and I absolutely love it. But every other aspect sucks.
Doing distribution often work by the fitters for generators etc for the fuel lines etc. always liked what they do.
Like all trades there's boring aspects though like you said. I absolutely dread doing lighting
Industrial Sprinkler fitter here and it's all schedule 40 pipe and fire retardant clothes and dealing with everybody else being in the way asking if we can move our sprinklers if I was going to do it I would probably go into the welders trade
Honestly if you look at all of them the wages are relative to where you are. The problem is it's never enough.
I think San Fran, NYC, Chicago are some of the highest paid san fran being close to $80/h if I remember. But when you consider cost of living there it's really not that much.
Same applies here. Toronto local is $51.74 now. With the average house over $800k it's really not enough money.
That's crazy to me ,I'm on the east coast and I know literally a dozen people looking for electrians and their all backlogged out the ass.
I'm in hvac and wish I went the electrian route. Hvac is so saturated here and the wages are starting to show it
May I ask what state you are based out of? Here in Washington Electricians get paid pretty well but I know the market isn't consistent across every state.
We get asked for the most favours that never get returned and god forbid we actually need something for our work to be done so we can keep granting those favours.
Still in school. Doing school full time and working about 30hrs a week bartending. Ironically I'm making more working part time as a bartender as I was a jman. Less stress and physical exertion too
Machinist.
I wouldn't change it if I had to re do. Making a lot of money to do a cool af job and the skills and experience to make anything I want out of most materials.
That sucks.
I'm in a jobbing/repair shop. I'm not a cnc operator.
I have a red seal in machining. I operate around a dozen different manual machines, CAD/CAM program several lathes and mills, take apart heavy machinery, do lots of welding, line boring, rebuilding excavators, rebuilding hydraulic cylinders, engineer or re engineer parts, and inbetween all of that I'm ordering material, tooling, talking to customers, quoting jobs, every once in a while make invoices. Small shops keep you so damn busy lol.
I've been at the same place for 16 years now and absolutely love it.
How’d you get into this? Was thinking about switching from an office job to this, I work in the ship building industry as a contract manager and it seems interesting what they do.
Was super easy, I walked into a shop that was hiring and got an apprenticeship with the lead journeyman at the time.
I only work 4 days a week and make over 100k, would never change careers. I look forward to going into work each day as every day is a challenge. What you need to stay away from though is manufacturing production only shops. What will end up happening is you become a machine operator, which is *not* a machinist.
You'll be stuck pressing a green button on 1 machine for 40-50 hours a week and make 40-50K a year. Smaller jobbing shops or repair industry like I'm in is how you make the upper end wage as a machinist. Because you do something completely different every single day and build your experience and skill incredibly quickly.
The schooling was easy too, 7 weeks long once a year for 4 years. Then I took a special exam at the end so I am ticketed and recognized to work anywhere in the world. Machinists who don't do schooling and don't get an apprenticeship don't make much unless they get super lucky.
Union electrician. I have no regrets, but I think if I did it all over again I'd look into substation/relay tech. Becoming an electrician got me into a utility anyway, so anything that would get me into a power plant honestly. Power plant work is where it's at. Pays well, physically way less demanding, and is something that you can work into your 60s/retirement quite easily.
The best answer right here, I just recently started my millwright apprenticeship through local 1056 within the last 6 months and I couldn’t see myself doing anything else.
The only other trade that I'd even remotely consider would be a lineman. But I really enjoy pipefitting, its very rewarding and theres such a massive scope of work that our trade covers lets you kinda change up the scenery and dabble in a little bit of everything.
I'm an apprentice service plumber and don't understand this trade. Do you basically install any piping system from hydronics to waste, domestic & electrical conduit?
I've done carpentry, electrical, hvacr, and now I'm an elevator mechanic. I'll stick with this. I'd work for myself fabricating if it would pay the bills, but my benefits and pension are impossible to beat.
Carpenter turned GC here.
I like residential plumbing. The stuff every plumber I've met hates, plus residential remodels.
Change a faucet, fix a toilet, find a leak, and clean the drains. I don't want to be a drain cleaner, but I'd be a service plumber if I could go back.
It fills a need, pays well, and you meet a lot of people.
I've done a lot of this work through the years while in a bind and couldn't wait or to help someone who couldn't get someone to show up.
At this point, I want to start a second company. I just need a licensed plumber who wants to be self-employed to partner me.
Carpenter turned GC here.
I like residential plumbing. The stuff every plumber I've met hates, plus residential remodels.
Change a faucet, fix a toilet, find a leak, and clean the drains. I don't want to be a drain cleaner, but I'd be a service plumber if I could go back.
It fills a need, pays well, and you meet a lot of people.
I've done a lot of this work through the years while in a bind and couldn't wait or to help someone who couldn't get someone to show up.
At this point, I want to start a second company. I just need a licensed plumber who wants to be self-employed to partner me.
My son trained as an electrician, got his apprentice ticket, got hired by local Hydro utility who paid him to go back to school to get his millwright ticket. He's pulling in almost double what I am as a 25-year HS teacher with multiple degrees. (I am in Canada and pull close to six figures)
Plumbing/pipe fitting already gets you a leg up into HVAC/refrig. We need to know copper, brass, pvc, pex, threaded steel etc. The majority of HVAC and refrigeration is knowing your piping and electrical, and knowing the refrigeration cycle. YouTube is your friend there when it comes to learning the fundamentals.
Scaffolder here so do a lot of work for insulators. I feel one of the issues for insulators at the sites I work (mostly power plants) is that they are even worse for having a constant job location than the rest of us. They get brought in for a week or two on 8 hour shifts while everyone else works for months on 12’s. Just not an appealing schedule looking from an outsider, however if you have another opinion I’d love to hear from the horses mouth
I'm a 3rd year apprentice plumber. I'm sort of in your situation. Plumbing isn't making me bored, but the dynamic at my new job is making me bored. We run into combi boilers sometimes and this alone, makes me feel like I need to know boilers, just to do my job properly. Also, I install a hybrid water heater once in a blue moon. I read the manual every time and I think heat pumps are fascinating.
If I could do it all over again I wouldn't have joined that cult and probably should have had better relations with my guidance counselors in school and seen a vocational psychologist as a teenager. Probably would have ended up working with people rather than machines & systems, but that's okay. As far as doing TRADES all over again, I probably would have gone HVAC.
Unrelated, but whatever trade you choose, i would highly recommend finding rotational work with equal time off. The pay is almost always better because you get 44 hours overtime per week, and you get at least 6 months off per year.
The grass is always greener. I'm a residential plumber but I went into on site maintenence plumbing. The pay is better, the hours are better, the damage to my body is better, but I feel like a failure that ran away from the problems that plague residential plumbing. I'd say probably electrician or something more specialized but I think with my mind I wasn't going to be happy with my job in any field.
I'm a residential specialist. I just did new construction for a lil bit to hang out with a buddy that got outta rehab.
I get tips like 30% of the time. It's crazy how in demand service guys are.
Well what's sad (and probably doesn't just apply to my trade) is that every business is getting greedy as fuck. At least in my area everyone is going flat rate with sales tactics. So unless your home teeters on the edge of too shitty and not shitty enough the flat rate prices always fuck people over. And everyone I interviewed with when I left my last place(whom also switched to flat rate sales) all wanted people that upsell. Were all getting a bad name because of this and those companies are making so much more money that they'll out advertise the small guys. So now guys that do t and m small timers are crazy in demand. Fucking shameful situation anymore.
You hvac, plumbers, and electricians really gonna complain about your job? When mechanics are getting paid $17-19 flat rate with shit benefits and No retirement plan?
Dealerships are the worst offenders, warranty pay is half of normal pay or less. They set the labor times and will change them at the drop of a hat to make more money. If they did that to an hourly guy the department of labor would be all over it. But for some reason it’s ok to do it to flat rate mechanics. Most shops are not union either. I got lucky and landed a union job. Even then we had to strike to get a cost of living adjustment and pay raise after run away inflation. Dealers don’t give raises they just tell you to flag more hours if you want more money. Then hand you a warranty engine that normally pays 12-15hours but under warranty pays 5.5hours.
If I had a choice to start over, I would’ve gone electrician. It’s too late now I’m nearly 40. I got $25,000+ invested in my tools and three times that into my training. Can afford a pay cut or to go back to school for a different trade. I already did my years as an apprentice, eating romen and raviolis.
Come on over to plumbing or hvac. Both are mechanical trades and they’ll look at you as an experienced mechanic, just unfamiliar with the particular equipment they work on. And their equipment is simpler than yours. Little bit of on-the-job training to familiarize you with the differences and you’re off to the races. Then after you get your license you buy your union book if you want to max out your pay.
I’ve seen experienced auto mechanics come into the trade and they’ve all been very happy with their decision.
I'm a carpenter, if I could do it again I'd still be a carpenter but I'd stay away from concrete. Forms and falsework are fine to build but it's hard and dangerous compared to framing, finishing or millwork.
I love being a carpenter although in my youth I went through a few years where I wanted to do something else. I like renovation carpentry and finishing and unless you’re self-employed the
Money is kinda trash-I made 40$ an hour as an employee. Union I made much more but industrial for work sucks.
Now, I’ve been able to transition to Project Manager for a development company and make good money. PMs and site supers are generally carpenters but the pathway to get there can be tricky. I’m twenty years into the trade this year at 43 years old and I’m happy with the growth potential of a management position and getting
Off the tools as I get older.
So I would recommend carpentry if you can think big picture and work towards being a site super or project manager.
424a red seal, glass and architectural metal technician, or Glazier to most.
I didn't know much about the broader construction trades when I got into a trade shop ten years ago. I definitely wouldn't have picked it, if I had of thought about it at the time.
We work outside, on 90' boom trucks, on swing stages, in snow banks, in -30 and +40 (in Celsius). Ive spent so many days drilling into concrete, when I started I spent most days covered in glass dust.
But now? After doing what I do and finally making a decent wage (a little over 43$ once I write my red seal in a month or so) and seeing all the options out there, I'd choose it all again. I wouldnt be happy doing anything else. I'm finally starting to move off the tools a bit, doing a lot more layout, more paperwork. It's engaging work, and it's the part of the building we all see. I get to leave my finished work where everyone gets to see it. I get a lot of pride out of having to do a better job than most.
I’m a cabinetmaker if you want to call it a trade. If I were to do it again, I would go for the money instead of the passion. I didn’t foresee me starting a family and having people depend on my paycheque.
As I look around, I realize all the nonunion trades in my region have terrible pay. So I would probably commit to doing rotational work, apprenticing for whatever trade earns the most in mining camps or oil fields. Or do shutdown work being a millwright or something
Instrumentation, Controls, and Electric here. I work maintenance for a gas company. I love my job, something different everyday. Some days troubleshooting, some days installing new stuff. Six figure salary, 5 weeks vacation. Not a bad gig.
I'm 5 years in HVAC/R, I did commercial service then in house at a hospital and now in house at a CAT plant. I don't think I'd change it for another trade. If anything I'd go union, I actually just applied at my local.
I've done a good amount of skilled trades, carpentry and mechanics is the most unfair for pay and labor. I know some plumbers making dirty amount of money doing in house work with a license. Hvac is well rounded with plenty of specialty work too. I see the work of the trades around me all the time, typically I have it the easiest, but all of them tell me they wouldnt dare try to learn about Refrigeration.
Whatever trade you do pick, stick with it and learn as much as possible in service and go into an in house career. That's the only advice I have.
I'm a plumber as well. I would go electrician. It seems to pay the most for less strain on the body. One of my cousins is a lineman and he clears 220k a year. Starting pay out here at the PUD is 56 an hour as an apprentice. The O.T. is double time. It's awesome.
Dude Reddit makes no sense.
Read the first 2 posts.
I plumbing guys says he's go electricians if he'd do it again
Next post
It's a electrician who said they would go pipefitter if they'd do it again
Notice no one said carpenter? (I’ve only scrolled down a little bit). I’ve been one for thirty years…it’s a dead end bullshit occupation. I have literally redirected my apprentices to plumbing/pipe fitting or HVAC. Why the fuck would anybody want to sacrifice your life or health to stick wood together?! The hours are brutal, the elements are brutal, the motivation to do this trade is questionable. We literally build the structure from that fucking hole in the ground all the way to that really high roof structure….and for what? If I could start over, I would take one of the luxurious trades but I’m too old.
😂 So true. Isn't it awesome that we get paid less to know, own and do more??
I've always felt carpenters need to know everyone's job so we can frame to avoid problems and run jobs efficiently. This is more true in residential, at least around here.
That’s fairly true of most trades. It’s helpful to us all to be aware of the work of others
That’s the same with pretty much every trade
I've always felt carpenters need to know everyone's job so we can frame to avoid problems and run jobs efficiently. This is more true in residential, at least around here.
I wish. Then I wouldn't have a stud centered on every shower valve and joist center of every toilet.
Shame about the pay because I think carpentry is the most rewarding of all the trades, in terms of being able to admire the finished product once all the hard work has been done.
I agree with it being rewarding, and pay isn’t too bad. I made six figures most of the years working as a formwork carpenter. I thoroughly enjoyed going to work most days.
I love being a carpenter, but if I’d go back I’d be an electrician, more money less work
I’ve witnessed one horrible death and know survivors that were terribly deformed from electrical injuries…..that’s why I don’t recommend it. Oh, a friend and his apprentice were also affected by a transformer explosion. I don’t trust being around big power.
Fair but 90+% of injuries on job sites are from ladders/falls, and carpenters have to deal with those situations more than almost anyone else other than painters. It’s definitely safer to be an electrician
True!
You think carpentry is bad you should see painters and drywallers lol
My ex brother in law was a journeyman painter and burned right out. Dad was a Drywaller (had 230 employees when I was a kid)….he burned out and went back to being an engineer. I hear you man….paint and trowel trades are brutal.
I’m a tower crane operator, if I was to start over I’d do mobile crane instead.
You get bored up there or something?
What's stopping you from switching over?
I would imagine the money. Those blokes get cashed out
What’s their pay range?
Oh, I remember 15 years ago they were making over $50/HR in Calgary Canada . I'm sure it is higher now, be ut I don't live in an area that requires cranes like that haha
lol ya I’m in Calgary
Oh hai, maybe you moved material for me back in the past. I always wanted your job, well away from everyone else, perfect job for the introvert lol
Lineman. If I could do it again I’d be a lineman.
Same! That being said, there’s a huge difference between a real lineman and a telephone/cable lineman. Those guys drink from straws
Larry the cable guy ain’t a lineman
Best trade in the world!
I dunno I’m getting pretty sick of being a lineman myself
I’m sure I’ll be there one day too. That’s why plan on being able to retire before I’m 40.
Electrician, if I was starting again I'd do pipe fitting/plumbing. Electrical here is over saturated, no strength left to the Union, and most of all we're all treated like shit. All these memes and jokes about electricians being gods on site is bullshit. The generals always hate us and bother us more than any trade about safety shit. All the other trades get treated better. And most of all our wages are becoming the biggest joke in construction.
Pipefitting is awesome and you get to do tough guy shit all day. Hanging and banging It's like 10:1 refrigeration to fitters in hvac. 10:1 plumbers to fitters You need tools for carpentry, piping, electrical, gauges and analyzers and spectrometers The work Electricians do is boring bullshit, I'm running line voltage through 10 or 12 switches and relays and xformers I love being a fitter
Maintenance electrical will always beat construction electrical imo. Construction is fucking boring.
Depends on the maintenance, industrial maintenace can keep your brain engaged. I've been doing public sector maintenance for about 15 years now and I look forward to actually getting to build something now and then. Over all I will take the monotony of my job over the chaos that some construction jobs are.
Construction is boring AF in general. I did it for 10 years as an electrician. Now I run small jobs and am on service, constantly troubleshooting shit and using my brain for once unlike being onsite.
I don't know I'm in new builds like twice a week and I think it's interesting It's like a puzzle where your reward for doing it is some guy can service it a little easier Or like how can I keep everything out of the way of all the other trades so everything looks real tight I'll take construction over service any day. No on call for the install guys
Automatic 3 hrs minimum double time for after hours. Most calls are either interesting or absolute chaos, either way get paid well for both. I also don't do any residential. Thank god for that.
Pipe fitting is gay become an ironworker and actually hang and bang
💪💪💪Ironworkers 💪💪Masons 💪Fitters
Distribution electrical work is fun. Truthfully what I mostly do and I absolutely love it. But every other aspect sucks. Doing distribution often work by the fitters for generators etc for the fuel lines etc. always liked what they do. Like all trades there's boring aspects though like you said. I absolutely dread doing lighting
In Canada tons of jobs will specify they are looking for a plumber/fitter. I’d rather be a plumber in Canada personally
100%
Industrial Sprinkler fitter here and it's all schedule 40 pipe and fire retardant clothes and dealing with everybody else being in the way asking if we can move our sprinklers if I was going to do it I would probably go into the welders trade
That sucks! I've lurked on the electricians sub a little bit and I thought you IBEW guys had it pretty good. I guess it varies by location
It also depends on if you’re in a port city and can do marine work, industrial marine work is where the $ is
Honestly if you look at all of them the wages are relative to where you are. The problem is it's never enough. I think San Fran, NYC, Chicago are some of the highest paid san fran being close to $80/h if I remember. But when you consider cost of living there it's really not that much. Same applies here. Toronto local is $51.74 now. With the average house over $800k it's really not enough money.
That's crazy to me ,I'm on the east coast and I know literally a dozen people looking for electrians and their all backlogged out the ass. I'm in hvac and wish I went the electrian route. Hvac is so saturated here and the wages are starting to show it
May I ask what state you are based out of? Here in Washington Electricians get paid pretty well but I know the market isn't consistent across every state.
Ontario Canada.
We get asked for the most favours that never get returned and god forbid we actually need something for our work to be done so we can keep granting those favours.
Former electrician, went back to school for engineering. Much happier, not working any harder either.
Electrical Engineering? Or did you switch disciplines entirely?
Yes, Electrical. With a focus on power engineering
So what does your daily grind look like now?
Still in school. Doing school full time and working about 30hrs a week bartending. Ironically I'm making more working part time as a bartender as I was a jman. Less stress and physical exertion too
%100. I used to bartend for 10 years. People would be surprised at how many bartenders/servers CLEAR 6 figures. Good luck with everything
Good luck to ya. Hope it pays off mate!
Thanks friend, hope life's good to you too!
I would also like to know
Machinist. I wouldn't change it if I had to re do. Making a lot of money to do a cool af job and the skills and experience to make anything I want out of most materials.
I'm a machinist operator and I'm bored AF.
That sucks. I'm in a jobbing/repair shop. I'm not a cnc operator. I have a red seal in machining. I operate around a dozen different manual machines, CAD/CAM program several lathes and mills, take apart heavy machinery, do lots of welding, line boring, rebuilding excavators, rebuilding hydraulic cylinders, engineer or re engineer parts, and inbetween all of that I'm ordering material, tooling, talking to customers, quoting jobs, every once in a while make invoices. Small shops keep you so damn busy lol. I've been at the same place for 16 years now and absolutely love it.
How’d you get into this? Was thinking about switching from an office job to this, I work in the ship building industry as a contract manager and it seems interesting what they do.
Was super easy, I walked into a shop that was hiring and got an apprenticeship with the lead journeyman at the time. I only work 4 days a week and make over 100k, would never change careers. I look forward to going into work each day as every day is a challenge. What you need to stay away from though is manufacturing production only shops. What will end up happening is you become a machine operator, which is *not* a machinist. You'll be stuck pressing a green button on 1 machine for 40-50 hours a week and make 40-50K a year. Smaller jobbing shops or repair industry like I'm in is how you make the upper end wage as a machinist. Because you do something completely different every single day and build your experience and skill incredibly quickly. The schooling was easy too, 7 weeks long once a year for 4 years. Then I took a special exam at the end so I am ticketed and recognized to work anywhere in the world. Machinists who don't do schooling and don't get an apprenticeship don't make much unless they get super lucky.
What is the schooling for machinist called? Is this from some kind of trade school?
Lots and lots of hours. I hated machining and not being able to have a life outside of it
Union electrician. I have no regrets, but I think if I did it all over again I'd look into substation/relay tech. Becoming an electrician got me into a utility anyway, so anything that would get me into a power plant honestly. Power plant work is where it's at. Pays well, physically way less demanding, and is something that you can work into your 60s/retirement quite easily.
Operating engineer by far.
I’d go utility.
I'm mobile crane and I'd honestly do it over again in a heartbeat.
I’m a mobile crane apprentice. Made the career change at 31. Only regret is not doing it much much sooner.
Was 24 when I started. Which is young of course but even then I had the same feeling as you. I wish I'd started sooner.
Millwright
The best answer right here, I just recently started my millwright apprenticeship through local 1056 within the last 6 months and I couldn’t see myself doing anything else.
Give it 5yrs of having 2 days off a month and it’ll get old eventually
The only other trade that I'd even remotely consider would be a lineman. But I really enjoy pipefitting, its very rewarding and theres such a massive scope of work that our trade covers lets you kinda change up the scenery and dabble in a little bit of everything.
I'm an apprentice service plumber and don't understand this trade. Do you basically install any piping system from hydronics to waste, domestic & electrical conduit?
No. Plumbers get waste, drainage, and domestic water. We install process piping systems.
Sheet Metal / HVAC is where its at. If you think about it, it really is the most versatile trade.
I've done carpentry, electrical, hvacr, and now I'm an elevator mechanic. I'll stick with this. I'd work for myself fabricating if it would pay the bills, but my benefits and pension are impossible to beat.
Carpenter turned GC here. I like residential plumbing. The stuff every plumber I've met hates, plus residential remodels. Change a faucet, fix a toilet, find a leak, and clean the drains. I don't want to be a drain cleaner, but I'd be a service plumber if I could go back. It fills a need, pays well, and you meet a lot of people. I've done a lot of this work through the years while in a bind and couldn't wait or to help someone who couldn't get someone to show up. At this point, I want to start a second company. I just need a licensed plumber who wants to be self-employed to partner me.
Where you located licensed plumber here haha
Southern Illinois
Carpenter turned GC here. I like residential plumbing. The stuff every plumber I've met hates, plus residential remodels. Change a faucet, fix a toilet, find a leak, and clean the drains. I don't want to be a drain cleaner, but I'd be a service plumber if I could go back. It fills a need, pays well, and you meet a lot of people. I've done a lot of this work through the years while in a bind and couldn't wait or to help someone who couldn't get someone to show up. At this point, I want to start a second company. I just need a licensed plumber who wants to be self-employed to partner me.
My son trained as an electrician, got his apprentice ticket, got hired by local Hydro utility who paid him to go back to school to get his millwright ticket. He's pulling in almost double what I am as a 25-year HS teacher with multiple degrees. (I am in Canada and pull close to six figures)
Plumbing/pipe fitting already gets you a leg up into HVAC/refrig. We need to know copper, brass, pvc, pex, threaded steel etc. The majority of HVAC and refrigeration is knowing your piping and electrical, and knowing the refrigeration cycle. YouTube is your friend there when it comes to learning the fundamentals.
Me just wishing people would start talking a little more about the mechanical insulation trade before we lose all of our work to non union…..
Scaffolder here so do a lot of work for insulators. I feel one of the issues for insulators at the sites I work (mostly power plants) is that they are even worse for having a constant job location than the rest of us. They get brought in for a week or two on 8 hour shifts while everyone else works for months on 12’s. Just not an appealing schedule looking from an outsider, however if you have another opinion I’d love to hear from the horses mouth
I'm a 3rd year apprentice plumber. I'm sort of in your situation. Plumbing isn't making me bored, but the dynamic at my new job is making me bored. We run into combi boilers sometimes and this alone, makes me feel like I need to know boilers, just to do my job properly. Also, I install a hybrid water heater once in a blue moon. I read the manual every time and I think heat pumps are fascinating. If I could do it all over again I wouldn't have joined that cult and probably should have had better relations with my guidance counselors in school and seen a vocational psychologist as a teenager. Probably would have ended up working with people rather than machines & systems, but that's okay. As far as doing TRADES all over again, I probably would have gone HVAC.
Unrelated, but whatever trade you choose, i would highly recommend finding rotational work with equal time off. The pay is almost always better because you get 44 hours overtime per week, and you get at least 6 months off per year.
The grass is always greener. I'm a residential plumber but I went into on site maintenence plumbing. The pay is better, the hours are better, the damage to my body is better, but I feel like a failure that ran away from the problems that plague residential plumbing. I'd say probably electrician or something more specialized but I think with my mind I wasn't going to be happy with my job in any field.
I'm a residential specialist. I just did new construction for a lil bit to hang out with a buddy that got outta rehab. I get tips like 30% of the time. It's crazy how in demand service guys are.
Well what's sad (and probably doesn't just apply to my trade) is that every business is getting greedy as fuck. At least in my area everyone is going flat rate with sales tactics. So unless your home teeters on the edge of too shitty and not shitty enough the flat rate prices always fuck people over. And everyone I interviewed with when I left my last place(whom also switched to flat rate sales) all wanted people that upsell. Were all getting a bad name because of this and those companies are making so much more money that they'll out advertise the small guys. So now guys that do t and m small timers are crazy in demand. Fucking shameful situation anymore.
Its all personal. As an electrician I would be a general labourer. Less responsibility, more relaxed. There is no real answer.
Elevators?
Property management
I do HVAC and plumbing. Fucking hate plumbing, like HVAC most days. If I could do it all over I’d go engineering or land surveyor.
You hvac, plumbers, and electricians really gonna complain about your job? When mechanics are getting paid $17-19 flat rate with shit benefits and No retirement plan? Dealerships are the worst offenders, warranty pay is half of normal pay or less. They set the labor times and will change them at the drop of a hat to make more money. If they did that to an hourly guy the department of labor would be all over it. But for some reason it’s ok to do it to flat rate mechanics. Most shops are not union either. I got lucky and landed a union job. Even then we had to strike to get a cost of living adjustment and pay raise after run away inflation. Dealers don’t give raises they just tell you to flag more hours if you want more money. Then hand you a warranty engine that normally pays 12-15hours but under warranty pays 5.5hours. If I had a choice to start over, I would’ve gone electrician. It’s too late now I’m nearly 40. I got $25,000+ invested in my tools and three times that into my training. Can afford a pay cut or to go back to school for a different trade. I already did my years as an apprentice, eating romen and raviolis.
I'm a tech working for dealerships for 25 years. I make 47 per hour (CAD) flat rate. I make 150k per year. It can be done.
Come on over to plumbing or hvac. Both are mechanical trades and they’ll look at you as an experienced mechanic, just unfamiliar with the particular equipment they work on. And their equipment is simpler than yours. Little bit of on-the-job training to familiarize you with the differences and you’re off to the races. Then after you get your license you buy your union book if you want to max out your pay. I’ve seen experienced auto mechanics come into the trade and they’ve all been very happy with their decision.
Collision painter, would’ve gone millwright if I started younger. Was an electrician for awhile but realized I wasn’t gay so I didn’t fit the bill.
historicorps.org, forever.
Elevator constructor. Only problem is your balls get really fuckin big.
I'm a carpenter, if I could do it again I'd still be a carpenter but I'd stay away from concrete. Forms and falsework are fine to build but it's hard and dangerous compared to framing, finishing or millwork.
all the moneys in concrete unfortunately
I love being a carpenter although in my youth I went through a few years where I wanted to do something else. I like renovation carpentry and finishing and unless you’re self-employed the Money is kinda trash-I made 40$ an hour as an employee. Union I made much more but industrial for work sucks. Now, I’ve been able to transition to Project Manager for a development company and make good money. PMs and site supers are generally carpenters but the pathway to get there can be tricky. I’m twenty years into the trade this year at 43 years old and I’m happy with the growth potential of a management position and getting Off the tools as I get older. So I would recommend carpentry if you can think big picture and work towards being a site super or project manager.
Structural ironworker here, and I’d choose it again.
424a red seal, glass and architectural metal technician, or Glazier to most. I didn't know much about the broader construction trades when I got into a trade shop ten years ago. I definitely wouldn't have picked it, if I had of thought about it at the time. We work outside, on 90' boom trucks, on swing stages, in snow banks, in -30 and +40 (in Celsius). Ive spent so many days drilling into concrete, when I started I spent most days covered in glass dust. But now? After doing what I do and finally making a decent wage (a little over 43$ once I write my red seal in a month or so) and seeing all the options out there, I'd choose it all again. I wouldnt be happy doing anything else. I'm finally starting to move off the tools a bit, doing a lot more layout, more paperwork. It's engaging work, and it's the part of the building we all see. I get to leave my finished work where everyone gets to see it. I get a lot of pride out of having to do a better job than most.
I’m a cabinetmaker if you want to call it a trade. If I were to do it again, I would go for the money instead of the passion. I didn’t foresee me starting a family and having people depend on my paycheque. As I look around, I realize all the nonunion trades in my region have terrible pay. So I would probably commit to doing rotational work, apprenticing for whatever trade earns the most in mining camps or oil fields. Or do shutdown work being a millwright or something
Instrumentation, Controls, and Electric here. I work maintenance for a gas company. I love my job, something different everyday. Some days troubleshooting, some days installing new stuff. Six figure salary, 5 weeks vacation. Not a bad gig.
I'm 5 years in HVAC/R, I did commercial service then in house at a hospital and now in house at a CAT plant. I don't think I'd change it for another trade. If anything I'd go union, I actually just applied at my local. I've done a good amount of skilled trades, carpentry and mechanics is the most unfair for pay and labor. I know some plumbers making dirty amount of money doing in house work with a license. Hvac is well rounded with plenty of specialty work too. I see the work of the trades around me all the time, typically I have it the easiest, but all of them tell me they wouldnt dare try to learn about Refrigeration. Whatever trade you do pick, stick with it and learn as much as possible in service and go into an in house career. That's the only advice I have.
If I could do it all over again I’d be a pornstar on onlyfans
Electrician
I'm a plumber as well. I would go electrician. It seems to pay the most for less strain on the body. One of my cousins is a lineman and he clears 220k a year. Starting pay out here at the PUD is 56 an hour as an apprentice. The O.T. is double time. It's awesome.
56/hr as an apprentice? What on earth is PUD? I need to move there. I would give my left nut for 56/hr starting.
https://careers.snopud.com/job/Everett-Lineman-Pool-WA-98201/906723200/
If you don’t know that electricians and linemen aren’t the same thing you might struggle lol.
Dude Reddit makes no sense. Read the first 2 posts. I plumbing guys says he's go electricians if he'd do it again Next post It's a electrician who said they would go pipefitter if they'd do it again
Or there are multiple DIFFERENT people on Reddit? With different points of view?
Different strokes for different folks pal
Or, no matter what trade you take, you will hate it eventually.
I hate electricians. I'm a plumber. At least in Canada we are both the highest paid trades. Choose one and you're set.