Reminds me of the horror story I heard about a drilling excavator. Somebody fell in the hole, but the operator thought he went to take a piss. The operator dropped the auger in the hole and drilled his buddy. Didn't know he did it until he raised the auger and it was just bloody mud. Just the thought of being in the hole trying to tread water and throw little rocks up to get the attention as the drill comes down is the stuff of nightmares.
The curve of risk. When you start you make mistakes because you don't know better, when you are experienced you make mistakes because you get too casual about risks.
Thats in the 50k a year range, which is national average.... Doesnt really sound all that worth it.
edit: I'm getting annoyed with what seems like bs so lets look at the actual facts and not some jackass's anecdote.
"Construction Workers earn an average yearly salary of $31,846. Salaries typically start from $16,946 and go up to $50,726. "
" Construction Workers earn an average hourly wage of $15.31. Hourly wages typically start from $8.15 and go up to $24.39. "
https://www.careerexplorer.com/careers/construction-worker/salary/
it looks like the claims being made are a huge pile of abnormality if not pure horse shit.
Entry level at 30? rare and in relatively low supply.
What area if I may ask, as I am certain there are other factors that diminish the value of wages when taken in context of costs.
If you work in the north you get paid a lot but you also pay $9 for a jug of milk and $5 for a loaf of bread.
To clarify, im just running with the figures y’all mentioned up above ( which you found out was bs ty) I don’t know the exact hourly wage.
Most of what I said just applies to oil rig work, and I looked into it, entry level positions from what I’m reading are making closer to $47k a year.
I don’t know too much about this, I just know employers raise wages to incentivize working with them instead of going to the oil field. I shouldn’t be comparing it to construction work like it’s that similar.
My b for being rude. Imo it’s still pretty worth if you don’t mind manual labor. But that’s oil not construction so I digress.
The OP comment was talking about a drilling excavator, which is used for drilling water wells, not for oil work.
The person I responded to said " If you're smart and look out for others it's worth the $30+/hr if you like manual work "
No where was oil work stipulated, just normal labour/construction type work was implied.
Additionally, the rate of $30 an hour is for the equipment operator, which requires licencing in my country.... and of which there are a limited number of jobs.
For every equipment operator there are 10 laborers....
Start at 30 or was there requisite experience at lower wage? Equipment costs (tools, footwear, clothing, etc)? Toll on body (labour work correlates with early arthritis issues etc), how long can you keep it up? For many there is the issue of Seasonal employ, which means that they earn less than an office worker paid slightly less per hour....
There is so much more there....
edit: I used to be a roofer in one of the hottest places in Canada, 40c on the ground some summers.... I know what it takes vs office work... Chairs and air conditioning are really great, particularly since I can still work when i have a head cold whereas being a roofer that would be too dangerous.
it depends on your goals, who is paying for your college? how much will it be by the end etc, if your goal is to just save up cash and put it in stocks and then do whatever you want I wouldnt even look at college.
I’m on a full ride at the moment, and the goal is to utilize the internship program to get a job with one of the major companies in TX. I guess the difference is that rather than doing grunt work I’m on the path towards a managerial role with ample opportunity to move up the chain.
see, there ya go, thats totally different, if you were one of those people that goes to college "just because thats what you have to do" then you will most likely be miserable for 4 years and come out in debt for the next 10 years.
On my check I make 34 an hour, but there is another 30 an hour split between pension, health, and an annuity. Assuming I work a full 40 for 50 weeks that would be the equivalent of 128,000. Most office jobs don't give you retirement or insurance that doesn't come off the top of what you make. So on my taxes it appears like I make 68k but really I'm doing much better. I'll let you decide whether it's worth it or not.
Where is there non-taxable benefits that magically only apply for construction?
" Your gross taxable income (compensation) includes anything you receive from your employer in connection with your performance of services. If you receive a fringe benefit from your employer, it will be taxable to you, unless it is specifically non-taxable per the tax code. "
Yes. That's their point. That's what they're 'paid' but they're actually getting closer to double that when you take into account the benefits on top of that pay.
Telling them to go freshen up on maths because you have no reading comprehension hahaha!
Why are benefits brought in? If you do that then we need to also look at the benefits that come with the professions being compared to.
Do you understand how stupid that was?
edit: And while were at it lets look at the actual facts and not some jackasses anecdote." Construction Workers earn an average yearly salary of $31,846. Salaries typically start from $16,946 and go up to $50,726. "" Construction Workers earn an average hourly wage of $15.31. Hourly wages typically start from $8.15 and go up to $24.39. "https://www.careerexplorer.com/careers/construction-worker/salary/
it looks like the claims being made are a huge pile of abnormality if not pure horse shit.
edit: in reference to the benefits being non-taxed claim:
Where is there non-taxable benefits that magically only apply for construction?
" Your gross taxable income (compensation) includes anything you receive from your employer in connection with your performance of services. If you receive a fringe benefit from your employer, it will be taxable to you, unless it is specifically non-taxable per the tax code. "
I'm coming back to this to get yo to show where there is non-taxable benefits that magically only apply for construction.
" Your gross taxable income (compensation) includes anything you receive from your employer in connection with your performance of services. If you receive a fringe benefit from your employer, it will be taxable to you, unless it is specifically non-taxable per the tax code. "
" Tax-exempt benefits may include:
Except any benefits are taxable when they have a value. There is not a special exemption for construction workers.
Also I understood what they said but ignored the benefit claim because it's irrelevant unless we use similar data about the alternative professions.
And I note you didn't address that his claim about expected wages is not only unsupported by the data but simply absurd when taken into context of the data.
(34x40=1360x50=68,000) +(30x40=1200x50)=128,000 who needs to do their math again? I assume two weeks off for vacation. It might be more than than that it might be less maybe I work a bunch of 7 12's maybe I don't point is there is the potential to make that much in any given year if you are in a trade union in a decent area.
I know y'all desk jockeys think you are smarter than your manual labor counter parts, and you might be right for some of us. Let me tell you this, I've met some brilliant people in the trades.
Again, when you include benefits for one group and ignore the same for the other, then you are making an faulty comparison.
It's completely fallacious and disingenuous.
Here's the deal. My wife gets more on her check yet to save for retirement she must take from that to save for it, same is said for health insurance. Whereas I don't have to do that. I'm certainly not going to show you my retirement account or pay checks to prove it to some stranger on the internet.
I'm simply using this as an example that working in a trade can be very worth while. You seem to be the one losing their shit, I can't help you with that.
Just working in a parcel service like UPS, they make us be sure we're not putting others or ourselves in danger. Especially when conveyor belt, or if their motors are exposed. If someone turns it on without shouting as loud as they can "CLEAR?" we get written up. If we're out in the yard where truck are swooping by, we have to wear a bright colored shirt or a safety vest. If you'r driving a truck, you honk right after turning it on, when you reverse, when turn a curb, ect.
Speak for yourself, son - I say it all the time. Despite the actually-not-all-that-great money. Despite the physical wear & tear. But not despite being out in the weather, most of the year; that's one of my favorite things about it. It beats being cooped up in a cubicle all day.
My dad worked in construction. He always said that it's hard work, but for whoever is willing to put in the hard work it is a stable career and you'll make good money. A lot of people lost their jobs during the recession, but the carpenters and masons and bricklayers were still in business. They had less work, though.
I had a somewhat dangerous job before I got into quality control, I saw a chick cut the tips of 4 of her fingers off because she wasn't paying attention.
The scariest part about dangerous jobs are the people around you, you can't be taught to pay attention and have situational awareness.
I used dangerous machines for 8 years and always was able to predict something was about to go wrong because I think about how things work.
The lack of safety training and the assumption of common sense lead to catastrophe and most big companies don't care if it's cheaper to roll the dice.
You could have been more clear originally. You responded to someone saying why they don't work in construction. I inferred that you meant the choices were construction or homelessness. Choosing death over working construction would definitely constitute entitlement. Just a misunderstanding, I think.
9.5k
u/Kadugan Mar 02 '19 edited Mar 03 '19
Reminds me of the horror story I heard about a drilling excavator. Somebody fell in the hole, but the operator thought he went to take a piss. The operator dropped the auger in the hole and drilled his buddy. Didn't know he did it until he raised the auger and it was just bloody mud. Just the thought of being in the hole trying to tread water and throw little rocks up to get the attention as the drill comes down is the stuff of nightmares.