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!? 🙄
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.
And hopefully it is not because Americans won't do the work.
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!? 🙄
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.