I’ve been in construction my whole life. Fourth generation builder. Build custom homes mainly. No one wants to work like we do. It’s either hot or cold. Rain and windy. No 401k’s. No benefits. No paid vacation. No guarantee weekly or even monthly paycheck. And most people you work for don’t wanna pay. Or you have to chase them down. Then they want to sue because they can’t pay for it. Work is hard and heavy. Back breaking. No medical or insurance. So don’t get hurt. So you can go work at McDonald’s or Walmart, or maybe make another $2 more and try not to fall off the house when it’s 20 degrees outside with a 20mph wind blowing. Thrilling! Also make sure to do a perfect job. One wrong hit or crack, be ready to work for free. Who wouldn’t want to do this!? 🙄
I feel your pain brother. Quit doing GC work in 2012 when we were spending 10-20 hours a week chasing payments. People would pay the first 2 out of 3 advances and gush over the work then not want to pay. Never will I forget my last complete house rebuild after a fire. Was accused of messing up final paint touch up and it came out in court the kids took markers to the walls since we had completion pics of every room. That was the last straw for me $57,000 payment owed and $36,000 in lawyer and court costs. At least she lost her job in government security since if you’re in business as long as I was you get to “know people”.
See my reply above. It should be paying about 4x what it currently pays to keep pace with wages in 1980. They slowly filtered in the illegal immigrants and slowly reduced the value of the labor until it became exactly as you say. It's tough work and will definitely make a man out of you. I've been framing for almost 48 years (strictly management since I turned 60) but I still do a lot of labor work to keep my guys productive
It makes you hard, but broken. See guys my age doing things my body is already giving up on. Knees and wrists. Joints/hip and my back got screwed up about 14 years ago. Sciatic nerve pain almost daily. Sucks. It’s probably how we build. We don’t use skyhooks or the like. Cost is to high for the use. Got my right shoulder for beams and heavy lifting. Yea, “look” wise I look fit and built. But reality is, quite the opposite. It’s just like song from Toby Keith. “Not as good as I once was, but I’m as good once, as I ever was”.
Oh, and all my shirts are wore clean through on my right shoulder too. Just 1 sheet of plywood at a time, no more 2 or 3 sheets. My friends used to call me the human crane
My joints have suffered but they are definitely getting better the past few years. Lift lighter weights as you get older. It's hard to discipline yourself when you still have the strength to lift heavy things. Slow your pace but keep busy. It does hit harder but when you notice men the same age that don't have half your capacity and you notice how many prescriptions they take, it starts to hit you that you're in better shape than you realize. Slow the pace, lift lighter things (I mess this up too often and will hurt for days), and take some breaks throughout the day.
Good advice. Yeah it’s that time of life when your brain knows you can lift it, but the body starts to fail. Easy to get hurt in those years. We definitely work smarter nowadays. Lots of pulley’s and lever tactics. Of course it only takes one dumb decision and, done. That’s what happened to my grandad. He tried to save someone rolling down the roof. He stopped the man, but got thrown off, through some scaffolding boards and to the ground. Broke his hip terribly. Never was the same after that. Sometimes working around lesser experienced people is very dangerous. Their incompetence gets other people hurt. I prefer just working around my brother. We know each other. Been working together forever. So we know each others moves and capabilities.
You don't make it sound great, but hopefully it pays all the bills your family incurs. Good luck to you and your family. It does sound very rewarding when things go right, the money comes in, and people who contract with you actually pay you what was negotiated.
I’ve been in construction my whole life. Fourth generation builder. Build custom homes mainly. No one wants to work like we do. It’s either hot or cold. Rain and windy. No 401k’s. No benefits. No paid vacation. No guarantee weekly or even monthly paycheck. And most people you work for don’t wanna pay. Or you have to chase them down. Then they want to sue because they can’t pay for it. Work is hard and heavy. Back breaking. No medical or insurance. So don’t get hurt. So you can go work at McDonald’s or Walmart, or maybe make another $2 more and try not to fall off the house when it’s 20 degrees outside with a 20mph wind blowing. Thrilling! Also make sure to do a perfect job. One wrong hit or crack, be ready to work for free. Who wouldn’t want to do this!? 🙄
I feel your pain brother. Quit doing GC work in 2012 when we were spending 10-20 hours a week chasing payments. People would pay the first 2 out of 3 advances and gush over the work then not want to pay. Never will I forget my last complete house rebuild after a fire. Was accused of messing up final paint touch up and it came out in court the kids took markers to the walls since we had completion pics of every room. That was the last straw for me $57,000 payment owed and $36,000 in lawyer and court costs. At least she lost her job in government security since if you’re in business as long as I was you get to “know people”.
It's funny how the people who actually have the money to pay love the work and the people who don't have money look for any reason to not pay.
See my reply above. It should be paying about 4x what it currently pays to keep pace with wages in 1980. They slowly filtered in the illegal immigrants and slowly reduced the value of the labor until it became exactly as you say. It's tough work and will definitely make a man out of you. I've been framing for almost 48 years (strictly management since I turned 60) but I still do a lot of labor work to keep my guys productive
It makes you hard, but broken. See guys my age doing things my body is already giving up on. Knees and wrists. Joints/hip and my back got screwed up about 14 years ago. Sciatic nerve pain almost daily. Sucks. It’s probably how we build. We don’t use skyhooks or the like. Cost is to high for the use. Got my right shoulder for beams and heavy lifting. Yea, “look” wise I look fit and built. But reality is, quite the opposite. It’s just like song from Toby Keith. “Not as good as I once was, but I’m as good once, as I ever was”.
Oh, and all my shirts are wore clean through on my right shoulder too. Just 1 sheet of plywood at a time, no more 2 or 3 sheets. My friends used to call me the human crane
I used to have slight aches and pains I attributed to the tolls the physical labor jobs took on my body.
However, after I quit eating the Standard American Diet full of seed oils and processed carbs, and went carnivore, the aches and pains went away.
My joints have suffered but they are definitely getting better the past few years. Lift lighter weights as you get older. It's hard to discipline yourself when you still have the strength to lift heavy things. Slow your pace but keep busy. It does hit harder but when you notice men the same age that don't have half your capacity and you notice how many prescriptions they take, it starts to hit you that you're in better shape than you realize. Slow the pace, lift lighter things (I mess this up too often and will hurt for days), and take some breaks throughout the day.
Good advice. Yeah it’s that time of life when your brain knows you can lift it, but the body starts to fail. Easy to get hurt in those years. We definitely work smarter nowadays. Lots of pulley’s and lever tactics. Of course it only takes one dumb decision and, done. That’s what happened to my grandad. He tried to save someone rolling down the roof. He stopped the man, but got thrown off, through some scaffolding boards and to the ground. Broke his hip terribly. Never was the same after that. Sometimes working around lesser experienced people is very dangerous. Their incompetence gets other people hurt. I prefer just working around my brother. We know each other. Been working together forever. So we know each others moves and capabilities.
You don't make it sound great, but hopefully it pays all the bills your family incurs. Good luck to you and your family. It does sound very rewarding when things go right, the money comes in, and people who contract with you actually pay you what was negotiated.
It's tough work but I'm one bad ass grandpa. It has been good for my health (except when I fell off a second floor roof. That hurt
I am almost certain that hurt quite a bit. Glad you got through it well enough to continue working.