The recent post on “Carpentry As A Career” got me to thinkin` about how I ended up in construction. Thought some annecdotes on the topic might be interesting.
Without the boring details of why I ended up here, I`ll just highlight my first week. I spoke with a local contractor who was looking for an extra set of hands early in the summer after graduating high school. He was finishing up a couple small projects but would gimme a call as soon as he was ready to start the next one. I spent the entire summer working at a local deli during the week and partying out on the Jersey shore through the weekends. I still hadnt heard from him late August, so as Labor Day weekend aproached I planned a massive summer blowout. I skipped outta town Thurs. morning and headed for the shore.I partied hard for five days and nights with my buddies on the beach. I stumbled home Monday(Labor Day) evening at around ten at night. My mother welcomed me home with the news that the contractor had called and wanted me on the job 7:30 the next morning, ugh. None-the-less I showed up not so bright eyed and bushy tailed, right on time. I had never done any type of truly physical labor. That week was a killer…95 degrees with 100% humidity everyday. I humped every stitch of lumber required to build that house from spot to spot, dizzy and sweating the alcohol from my system. When friday arrived it was clear as crystal clear that this was NOT for me. I was as close to tears without crying as one can be. I decided right then and there come Monday next I would be as far from a construction site as is humanly possible.
I`ts amazing what a weekends worth of sleep and a cold hard look at the realities of ones options can do to get you to the jobsite early Monday morning.
Thank God I stuck it out…I love what I do and wouldnt change a thing if given the opportunity.
Theres mine….lets hear some of yours!!!
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
“DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE”
Replies
I took so many lefts,I was begging for a right.
I had a circular saw and a friend of mine that knew it asked me to help him build his head shop. Record store down the street asked me if I would partner up with one of their guys and expand the business into the next building. Wolfgang and I hit it off and continued working together, tearing down old barns, salvaging the wood and using it or selling it to others. We continued into general repairs, remodeling and even set up a shop during the slow time. The hours we spent in the Sawdust Arena were very enjoyable. Wolf and I worked well together and he is one damn good carpenter and woodworker. Over time, we went off in different directions, he to residential and me to commercial, but we still remain friends and enjoy the rare time we work together on a project. So, I guess I just happened into this direction. Four years of college and I never took a shop course. It sure would have come in useful. 30 years later and I still don't know why I chose this profession. Ah well.
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Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
working in a meat store the guy said "you want to do this as a career?, you should think about getting your own knives, good set will cost you about 200 bucks".
TWO HUNDRED BUCKS? THe Hell with that, I thought, friend of mine in construction only had to buy an apron, hammer, 50 bucks max, I'm going to do that.
that was ten thousand dollars ago.
listening for the secret.......searching for the sound...
This one seems to be different but not interresting ;
Im home grown . I never had a choice . By the time initial training was done , I was making too good of money to do something else.
Luckily I have enjoyed it .
Tim Mooney