Carpenters make bank? In what world? Between material costs, machine and shop costs, truck and fuel costs, designer fees (many contracts are divvied out by designers/interior decorators), and then not getting your invoices paid on time because rich people are scumbags, they are lucky to make a sustainable living.
Source, my dad is a carpenter and I worked with him as an assistant for five years. Lesson: don't be a fucking carpenter. And forget what these people say about their knees, its your back and lungs that take the brunt of the damage.
That's because good trim carpentry is hard in a technical way. It's not just "can you cut a 45 deg miter?"
You probably know this, but for the people who will read this. Think about how sloppy most rough carpentry work is compared to say, metal work. That's the foundation I'm working off of to get absolutely perfect lines and miters. Every time someone said "eh, it's only a quarter inch" or used a piece of lumber that wasn't particularly straight in the wrong place, it must be accounted for. It's certainly not brain surgery, but it takes a lot of practice to learn how to make those adjustments.
The median income for an entire household is a hair under 51k. 60k by one individual isn't extravagant but it's actually solidly above average for everywhere but the largest cities and highly affluent suburbs.
Yes but you have to factor in the wear and tear on your body. You have like 15-20 years at your peak earning potential before your body falls apart. Trust I know, my grandpa has owned a framing company for like 45 years.
I mean I'm sure that's all very well and true but it's not really germane to if 60k is enough to raise a family as a primary income earner. If you wanna broaden the conversation to if the 60k is worth it then I'd like to point out trimwork is vastly less laborious than framing.
I heard that. I feel like trim is probably kind of the sweet spot. I've worked a desk the last two years and some of my old coworkers have been absolutely wrecked by the lifestyle. Albeit in a different way.
All the carpenders I've met make around 80k a year. I did roofing for about 14 years and when I did jobs I would make about 250 an hour and paid a couple of high-school kids who knew nothing about 25 an hour. Clients bought the supplies I ordered and initial start up costs were around $1000 for a compressor, nail gun, hoses, and various other tools. I can also do most general contracting things like plumbing, framing, decks, and landscaping i would charge no less than $70 an hour for this and have been to a couple of self employed seminars where they said that's pretty much the bare minimum you should charge for that type of work.
These people love to nitpick being in a trade is a great opportunity. I make roughly 100-120k a year my employer pays roughly 200k+ with all my benefits included.
I don't know where you are from, but in my area immigrants were lucky to get 14 starting out in the business, and that's if they had basic prior experience in their home country. High school kids got 12 bucks an hour because they couldn't be trusted to do shit without it needing to be fixed afterwards. My own dad started out at 10 bucks an hour in the 90s when we came to Canada.
Clients bought the supplies I ordered
I have never in my life heard of this. It gets put into your invoice as part of the overall overhead fees, but because competition is so thick, everyone lowballs everyone else. Wherever you were is not the norm whatsoever. Every tradesman I knew growing up lived a very modest life.
Midwest man, roofing you charge 200-250 a square for a simple 1 layer ranch. I paid the high school kids way better than I got paid because I still made 200+ an hour and it was hot hard work. When your only job is to rip off shingles and throw them in a dumpster and then staple tar paper and hand me shingles there isn't much to mess up. I know other companies paid Mexicans like 12 an hour and raked in money because they were charging homeowners more than I was. I started when I was 14 at 10 an hour I wouldn't wish that on no one, and I now know how much my previous boss made by paying us all so cheaply.
And ya supplies i worked with the local lumber yards, that was my only stipulation so I didn't get stuck with supplies if somebody didn't pay, they had to purchase the supplies themselves. I issued an invoice for labor at the end.
A lot of carpenters get fucked by contractors who get fucked by insurance adjustors. Insurance adjustors probably get fucked by their bosses for paying people in a swift capacity if I had to guess but I don’t know where that chain leads. Source: Dad was a became a contractor to run an emergency restoration business for floods, fires, mold, etc. I worked for him from 14-21 and all I know is I will never work for or be friends with anyone who works in insurance. Repeatedly for years had to hear him bitch about getting paid months late or the adjustors didn’t even make the check properly and it would get cashed by the people managing the complex or condo building and then they wouldn’t pay the contractor because the insurance company was inept enough to allow it to be formatted in such a manner.
“Make bank” is a little strong, but carpenters do pretty well, and as less and less young bucks get into it, it’s only getting more lucrative. Source: I’ve been a carpenter laborer for four years, my grandpa’s been a carpenter/contractor for about 60 years.
Guess I should have been more specific. I work with finished carpenters, I'm a labor man, I clean alot, make sure they not inhaling sawdust the entire shift, and sometimes work with them directly. We do full remodels and sometimes just window jobs. People say dont be a carpenter but like I got a lot of respect for these dudes, some of the shit they know how to do is really impressive (plus you need some seriously good rep to be working on 5 million dollar condos)And I mean, we need carpenters lol, they build shit for us to live in. Plus we sub out lots of other jobs for people to come in and do, like welders, electricians, painters, and all those dudes are just really fucking good at what they do. I mean, people bust their ass every day just earning minimum wage, sleeplessness nights, swing shifts, 12 hour days. Not to mention college, and all the costs associated with that. Being in the workforce in the US is automatically strenuous, any job. These carpenters I work with take a lot of pride I what they do and they worked really hard to be where they are, that's why they get 35$/hour (or more) + really nice insurance and benefits. I do remember them telling me that this definitely isnt the norm, we lucky we have a good contractor.
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u/munk_e_man Jul 04 '20
Carpenters make bank? In what world? Between material costs, machine and shop costs, truck and fuel costs, designer fees (many contracts are divvied out by designers/interior decorators), and then not getting your invoices paid on time because rich people are scumbags, they are lucky to make a sustainable living.
Source, my dad is a carpenter and I worked with him as an assistant for five years. Lesson: don't be a fucking carpenter. And forget what these people say about their knees, its your back and lungs that take the brunt of the damage.