Working in the commercial trades.

Just curious to see if anyone else here works in the trades including but not limited to plumbing, HVAC, electrical, framing, drywall , glaziers ect ect.

I myself am a drywall mechanic as well as door tech, acoustic ceiling installer, frp installer, metal stud framer and some finish carpentry. In the south we dont really have union work so many of us have become a sort of jack of trades such as myself. Im also taking classes on construction management and intend to be a superintendent or general contractor in the next few years raking in the big bucks without breaking my back in the process.

The trade(s) im in now has a ever encroaching ceiling pay wise im concerned with, since ive made mechanic (equivilent of journeyman in most other trades) my pay is pretty nice ($18 usd hourly with occasional bonuses and overtime). However you just dont see people my age being foremans and whatnot, so Im kinda stuck at my payrate or close to it indefinitely. I have the oppurtunity to take a HVAC apprenticeship which has a higher pay rate at the journeyman level but would take be 3 ish years to get up to the pay im at now. The apprentices only make 10-12 usd for a long while. I simply could not live on that anymore but im feeling pretty frustrated with being near or at the top of my current field.

Any advice? Thoughts? Experiences?

 

Not really in the same boat as I'm from the UK but I do commercial boiler installs & repairs, been fully qualified for 2 years & my apprenticeship was 3 years, so in total I've been here for 5 straight from school (16). My wage was awful first & second year as most apprenticeships are, I'm now on around £15-20 an hour depending on what the job is, this is without bonuses or overtime, overtime for me changes as it's double in the winter & time and a quarter in the summer time. It's hard work I will admit but i quite enjoy it for the time being. Also as you quite clearly said with my age & my limited experience I wouldn't even attempt at a promotion anytime soon.
Any questions feel free to ask.

 

I like the hard work aspect of it. I go home at the end of the day proud when i put in a hard days work and that to me in and of itself is valuable.

You are making a great wage! You have some sort of union backing you though seeing as your taken care of through the winter, i live in Texas of all places. Its cutthroat out here due to immigrants working for chump change. I work all year for the same wage, rain, snow (who am i kidding this is tx) or shine. My boss is pretty generous if we really blow through a job quickly though. Finished 2 restruants 3 weeks ahead of schedule and got $600 usd tax free bonus. Which is comparable to what i actually bring home for a weeks pay after the tax man gets his hands out of my pocket.

As far as raises go.. dont let age or time in hold you back. Im making more than a lot of people older than me even working within he same company. I was mainly able to do so because I have a more diverse skill set than most. I found out what people at my payrate were capable of and showed my boss i could do all of that and more and outright said id leave if not paid more. He was hesitant at first but he cant trust hanging $1200 usd doors with just any of his guys and he can me.

Another point to make is if you are working unsupervised and others aren't you deserve more money on the sole point that they arent paying a foreman to babysit you!!

The glass ceiling i was referring to was the fact im at the top of my field without being a foreman, im capable of running a crew of guys (and my boss acknowledges this) but with most people in the trade being 15-25 years older than myself id have a hard time getting them to respect me. I am already resented for my pay rate and see a $2 raise in my near future i dont know of anyone who isnt foreman or working for themselves making more than $20 usd hrly. So THAT may be the real ceiling. Once i get certified in construction management ill be leaving anyways, they may not respect the youth but they have to respect that piece of paper.