I’m ready to make a career change after 19 years in a frustrating government job. I spent summers in college working on a framing crew. Now I want to be a trim carpenter. How do I get started?
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
Fine Homebuilding's editorial director has some fun news to share.
Featured Video
Highlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
I think you might be fixing to make your problems worse . You better refiggure what you have and figgure the money and the benifits on what you are talking about doing. Subs hang by their butts and it isnt pleasant.
Tim Mooney
hate to discourage you but i have to agree with tim, prepare yourself for a significant paycut, no benefits, working weekends. Maybe we can trade, I'm going to start the interior trim on a house I just finished framing. The problem in this business is there is always somebody who will do it cheaper than you, and most people don't want good they want cheap.
"hate to discourage you but i have to agree with tim, prepare yourself for a significant paycut, no benefits, working weekends."..."The problem in this business is there is always somebody who will do it cheaper than you, and most people don't want good they want cheap."
I hate to agree too . But most people really don't know the difference, and even if you point it out, they aren't willing to pay for real quality. That much said, if the poster hates his job that much that he is willing to take a pay and benie cut, work longer hrs. and thinks he's got the talent, then at the least hook up with a quality employer from the start. Did I mention he should not quit his day job?
Jon
Valid points, I had a lousy week. Wondering why I ever got in this stupid business in the first place. Should have listened to my Mom and stayed in college.
I did listen to my mom, I am still in college.
I can not wait to get out.
Dont feel bad you left.
Though from what I have been told, the real world ain't all its cracked up to be, but I can't see how working can be much more stressfull then
working+school+homework+studying = little sleepView ImageGo Jayhawks..............Next Year and daaa. Blues View Image
More stress? Try working+school+homework+studying+taking care of twin babies (DW worked at hospital.) That was almost 17 years and a BS in Nuke engineering technology ago. And I'm still not getting much sleep.
It will get better, though, give it a little more time.
I never met a tool I didn't like!
Nuke E hunh? Cool, my best friends started last year at Norfolk VA working on carriers.
You made a very good point, I am very glad I do not have a family to support right now..View ImageGo Jayhawks..............Next Year and daaa. Blues View Image
CAG,
"I did listen to my mom, I am still in college.
I can not wait to get out."
Except for the lack of cash flow, college is great, enjoy it while you can, and remember almost everyone you go to school with is in the same boat with you. Being poor wasn't looked down upon from what I remember.
"the real world ain't all its cracked up to be, but I can't see how working can be much more stressfull then
working+school+homework+studying = little sleep"
From what I remember of my college days, If you woke up and didn't feel like going to class, not much lost (especially if you had friends who took good notes) in the real world, you do that one to many times and you loose your job.
Jon
I thought about your post yesterday at work, really digested it. What I came up with is this. If people don't care about quality even if you point it out to them. what is the point of doing a good job? why bother trying to get better when it doesn't matter anyways. I might be able to get on with a commercial outfit , if that door opens a crack, I'm in.
"If people don't care about quality even if you point it out to them. what is the point of doing a good job? why bother trying to get better when it doesn't matter anyways."
Good point. But...If you're good and can do a much better job than all the other hacks out there, you should be working for people who appreciate it. Of course you have to learn in the first place. A lot easier said than done obviously. But it should pay better and be less stressful than hack it out as fast as you can type work. I'm lucky to be in a situation where quality is a top priority. Anybody can compete on price any day of the week. When you rise above the pack AND work for people that appreciate it, it's win win for both.
Jon
Ange63: All I can say is .....SPECIALIZE....When I was a trim carpenter, I soon learned that very few wanted to take the time and effort to figure out building stairways. Then I soon realized that a trim carpenter that specialized in stairways could almost find a job anywhere and with the major builders.
It helps to be a risk taker...controlled ones...and not be afraid of a failure once in a while.
Years ago I then took it a "step" further and started building curved stairways. Something that most straight stairbuilders shy away from. The market was wide open for me and I see no end in sight. I am not any better than any other trim carpenter..I just feel fortunate I realized that specialization will make things happen. Good luck to you should you decide to make the move. The most important thing to do is to love your work..then you will realize that doing a job that you have a passion for is far more important than making more money at a job you hate.
There is the other side to it as well.....I have several business type people come to my shop and comment that I should have half a dozen employees, and be turning out a kazillion stairways, and be making oodles of money. Well..they are correct, but I personally would be miserable making that extra money with all the headaches that would come with it. I stay small so that I maintain my passion for my work. When and if I should lose this passion..I will move on to something else. I honestly doubt that will happen as long as I listen to my gut feelings.
I`m in agreement with Stan here....but I caution against rushing into a "specialty". It`s going to take some time just to build some sort of client base. Its only after you`ve got steady, regular work that you will be able to start specializing in a limited feild.
I also agree that it can be overdone. I much prefer to keep my business small and take the jobs that I want....once you start to need them, you may find your job no more enjoyable than the work you`re doing now.
Take your time, hook up with some true pros, learn as much as possible.
Best of luck to ya!J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
"DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE"
Try a red convertable, a Harley, or a redhead who was born when you started working.
They are more typical remedies for what ails you in this mid-life crisis.
Outlandish solutions include :
Spending time online
building your own trusses
going back to framing
starting your own website
LOL
Excellence is its own reward!
Piffin,
"Try a red convertable, a Harley, or"..."remedies for what ails you in this mid-life crisis..."
You forgot going back to school so you can hit on the all the younger chicks 'cause your now such a catch. not.
Jon
You get pension after 20? Gut it out, then you don't have to sweat the lack of income. If you want to learn, the stable way is start with someone who's already got the game figured out. If your bullheaded and stubborn (entirely possible, you tolerated government employment this long) hang your shingle out and start the trial by fire. If you're the rare breed that figures it out in time to still survive, what a gratifying tale you'll have. Though, having read the other posts, I gotta say I like the redhead idea.
"The child is grown / The dream is gone / And I have become / Comfortably numb " lyrics by Roger Waters
RW makes a good point.
"You get pension after 20? Gut it out, then you don't have to sweat the lack of income."
Back in my high school days, the shop teacher was a retired fireman. (collecting a good pension, mortgage paid off etc....) grandfatherly type who liked kids. Was able to do it cause' he liked it, and felt no guilt from (non existent) financial obligations. Amazing what not having any stress can do for ones temperament and happiness.
Jon
Biggie is if wife works at a stedy pay job.. LOL
Your framing experience, 20 years ago, is a great start.
I got a lot of help from the kind folks on this site when I first started, posted an old thread so you can see that you'll never be alone.
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=30080.1
Ask for a leave of absence. use that time to make sure this is really what you want to do..
Trim carpenters have to be able to work fast and look good enough to close (sell the house) They don't need to earn a good living or have much job security..
Once you take the cost of your tools away, your truck, and insurance suddenly the government paycheck starts to look pretty good..
All depends on the trim carp job in question.
New const..you are 100% on the money....
remodeling trim sub....it's 50-50...depends who ya sub for.
Some are new const oriented......some are remodeling oriented...where attention to detail is rated one small notch higher than speed....then again.....you ain't making the guy money by being slow....
Subbing trim seems to be one of the harder "specialities" to find that nook in....as most quality guys have their own guys do it...or have a dedicated sub.
Lotsa companies will have ya run miles of casing and yell because you shop-vac first wasting time!
Good line of work once ya get inside.....tough to find the right opening.
Then...add in all the expenses you and others have mentioned.....
JeffBuck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Fine Carpentery.....While U Waite
ange63: I too am a government employee (14 years) and like you feel dead ended at times. When in high school (about 25 years ago) I started working contruction during the summers and have at times since then worked contruction full time. For the past 10 years I have (in addition to my regular job) not been unemployed working construction 10 to 20 hours (sometimes more) per week much of the time. Started out doing a remodel of my neightbors basement and word of mouth took over from there. I have had many, many small jobs but that has allowed my skill level to increase in new areas. I really haven't specialized but do get alot of calls for finishing drywall and running trim.
I had planned to quit my gov. job about a year ago and go in with a friend on a construction business partnership but got I married and my wife went back to school. She'll be done in a year so the plans are on hold. She wants me to do it because I am a much happier camper coming home after a day of good, hard physical work.
Research, talk to other people in the field, know your bottom line financially speaking, listen to what everyone else has posted, and . For me, right now, with my wife not working full time it won't work. When she gets out of school and goes full with benefits it will be a go. Good luck and don't lose too much sleep over this.
Or, instead of an immediate career change, you could make your life more fulfilling. Volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. See if you still like the trades (memory is often better than reality). You'll be doing good for yourself and for somebody else. If after a good long spell of volunteering you still need to leave your job, you will have fresher experience, some contacts with contractors who care about their community, and a good handle on where to start.
I'm hiring right now. My main workmate got a job guiding rock climbers. Dang it. Got a couple miles of shoe to run for a lockout. Next job you can hump a houseful of solid core doors, then it's time to be a base bitch<G> sorry gurls...did I mention my man is 21?
Someone much more observant than I noticed that specilization is a specialty of insects. No offense to Stan, Stan you are a superb exception to that. A real good trim carpenter has many talents, he just doesn't get paid real good for them<G>
EliphIno!
Edited 4/25/2003 6:14:18 PM ET by bucksnort billy
Be a plumber $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Namaste
andy
In his first interview since the stroke, Ram Dass, 66, spoke with great difficulty about how his brush with death has changed his ideas about aging, and how the recent loss of two old friends, Timothy Leary and Allen Ginsberg, has convinced him that now, more than ever, is the time to ``Be Here Now.''
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM