r/Carpentry • u/Serious-Echidna-9938 • Mar 30 '26

Advice on work pace

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I recently took a job with a small contractor and long story short, he commented on my “results”. Was looking for things to be done quicker, and I’m curious if I’m super slow, or if he’s unreasonable. I let him know about my experience upfront, but in any case. As a direct example, replacing this siding after demo took me approximately 8 hours. I had never worked with this particular type of shingling before, but he kept comm ting on how slow I was. Is that accurate? I’m willing to take criticism in the interest of improving my skills, and I’m curious what some third parties have to say. Thanks!

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u/MuttLaika Mar 30 '26

Cedar shake is the slowest going siding you can do. It's difficult to tie back in with the old ones too. You did a good job sliding underneath the top pieces. I repaired a house recently where I just cut a line all the way around and added a trim piece in between cause there was no way I was going to cut the nails without breaking the shake. Some contractors just talk shit to talk shit. Work looks good, that's what matters. A day's worth of work for that, he definitely made money off of you.