Construction Workers - Your thoughts?

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Just curious what the general perception of construction workers is where you're from.

Sure, there are still stereotypes of general labourers and some trades being.. a bit rough around the edges. (Some jobs attract the least employable people.. hardcore alcoholics who aren't exactly highly intelligent.) However, in general, skilled trades people here are quite respected as construction trades are some of the highest paying jobs in our economy. This is, in large part, because we don't have high paying professional jobs here. Even most tech workers are paid less - Vancouver even bragged about it in their bid for Amazon HQ2 that instead of $100k USD tech workers in Vancouver make ~$60k CDN. Despite everything being Very expensive, we're the 50th highest income city on the continent with average household incomes of $72k. Meanwhile, a Journeyman Plumber earns approx $80k + benefits. This is what happens when the largest corporate head office here is 1-800-GotJunk (Junk removal company), the largest employer is the University of BC (we're an overgrown college town), and the largest private employer is the phone company. Few $$$ white collar jobs unless you're a doctor/lawyer/engineer. And since we're one of the money laundering capitals of the world, there's sky high demand for building Chinese piggy banks. So, we build.. and I work on sites with other guys with (academic) post secondary educations - people have bills to pay, so they pick up tools and get to work.

In a nutshell: They're reasonable jobs here with what's considered good pay by local standards, so skilled tradesmen are decently respected just as someone else might be from another city that works in a good paying job there - ie maybe if you work for Boeing or Microsoft in Seattle. Not quite apples to apples, but in general it's like "Oh, you do ___," and the assumption is that you make decent money and have a relatively good quality of life and disposable income.

Meanwhile, I once worked with a very talented, highly trained, young carpenter from the South of France, and he told me that there carpenters are highly disrespected, it's a low paying job, and the assumption is that you must have done some jail time or something to have ended up in that occupation. It's not really respected at all - but he still studied it and does it because he likes it regardless of the pay scale or perception back home.

How about you? What's your general perception of construction workers? These thoughts will obviously be shaped by the economy where you live & the people/friends/family you've been around and influenced by. I'm just curious what the responses are like in different cities/regions where you all are from.

I've always thought of it as one of those jobs in which you get paid a lot during good economic times, and get laid off when the economy sours. Which is OK if you are really good at what you do, but sucks for the average worker.

I think they're cool, most of the time.

In the US, in order to get paid decently, a construction worker has to be a member of a union.

It's a very dangerous job sometimes.

Occasionally, you have some who are as*holes, and who wolf-whistle women and all that. Most of the time, the INTENT is "assholery."

I feel like it's a very honorable and useful profession.

Incentive to get good at something, IMO. Get skilled and you'll always have work to do.

We really need a good recession to purge all the workers who either don't care about, or are incapable of, constructing things with fine craftsmanship.

But that won't likely happen. This place is so unaffordable for working class people that it's difficult to get anyone to move here to do any jobs, so it seems there will always be jobs for those who stay, even if there is a bit of a downturn.

Layoffs did happen last Winter, but that's only because so many big projects wrapped up at once and the next ones weren't at the stage where our Union members go to work - and also because we work on commercial/gov't projects, not residential. There was still an abundance of work for any guy who wanted to go work residential instead of waiting for work to pick up.

There aren't too many industries that are truly recession proof.. construction can be a little more boom/bust, but there hasn't really been any long spells without much construction work around here since maybe the late 1980's.

It's better to be in health care.

No layoffs in health care, usually.

People are always getting sick.

Yep, most of the time.. but there was that one time I ended up defending myself at the BC Human Rights Tribunal over the course of a year because of some extreme homophobe who tried to get me fired because he couldn't stand working on the same site as me once he knew I was gay. I don't mention that at work anymore.. but just yesterday when a young guy from our company was making some homo/transphobic remarks I made sure to tactfully correct him. If there's a next time I'll let him know that no one wants to hear that s**t and that it could land him, and the company, in very serious (and expensive!) hot water.

In general, though, people are good. Even those in trades that are known for being very rough around the edges - ie Ironworkers, Demolition etc. They do hard dirty work and might have a past & look a little rough, but in general they're very good people, good to work with, good to eat/drink and laugh with. Most people would be surprised at just how good of people those types really are. In some senses, it's a bit like here.. a bunch of misfits who get along well together.

Before I finished earning a pile (well, three) of degrees (including a couple in engineering), I worked in the unionized trades for quite a few years. I think you are right in your characterization of the work. The pay was spectacular--overtime paid double, and my income was enormous compared with most "professional" jobs.

And it was a damned good thing I found a job in that niche, because after an initial failure (socially generated and of an autistic nature) in college, I would have ended up in low wage purgatory had it not been for an alignment of my "special interest" and that trades occupation.

I don't think people are aware enough of the opportunities. It's probably good that the weirdness of the workers scares people away, since that can do nothing but enhance the economics of the situation. Look at it this way: Everyone would do the work of a skilled person in the entertainment industry, for free. Therefore, even the most gifted artist or producer most likely will earn next to nothing doing that work. On the other hand, an ironworker who is willing to pile up steel to make a radio tower or a building structure in a dangerous occupation will be doing a hard to fill job. In the latter case, anyone who can reliably show up for work, not on substances and skilled and dependable, can earn double what someone with a pile of high priced paper can earn.

backbone of society alongside postmen and forklift operators

If I had an aptitude for it that's what I would be doing. Pays better than everything else in the universe except for medical doctors.

Besides that I don't have any thoughts or feelings about construction workers (skilled or unskilled).

A lot of folks are big fans of a certain Jewish construction worker, who came to a bad end (not on the job, but for stuff he said on his off hours), many years ago.

My dad works in construction. He makes OK money but he's self employed so he only gets paid when he works & he has to buy all his tools(he has a whole shed full, truck full, & some inside the house) & he has to pay the full cost of Social Security tax. He hasn't asked or gotten a raise in years because the construction industry isn't doing super well where he lives. He works for a contractor a lot but most of the houses he works on are for rich people like doctors & lawyers. They're the main people building houses & there's only so many rich people around. I worked with him one summer when I was in high-skewl. I know enough to know I could never handle doing that type of job. Some of the people he worked with & knew were/are a$$holes but others are OK.

True.

My current job site is pretty close.. we're renovating two floors at BC Children's Hospital. My current job is driving around in a scissor lift and sealing all the tops of the new walls' joints, but also around every pipe/conduit/duct and to the concrete columns & ceiling. Pretty standard stuff for fire taping/smoke sealing - but for this place, it's also for infectious disease control, sealing every room off from one another & hallways all the way to the concrete - and I take it FAR more seriously in this building than in any standard office. Some people get lazy and just do a quick job, leaving holes and gaps here and there which is typically no big deal.. but in the Children's Hospital? No Way! I'm making sure it's as perfect as I can. That's my contribution to healthcare for the time being.

Yep, this. So much this. Starting wages aren't so hot.. I took a big pay cut to start my apprenticeship last year & had to work ~7 days a week all Summer to keep my car on the road & pay for groceries.. but I've qualified for my first raise now, so it's a bit of relief, and then it should only be a matter of ~5 months until I have enough hours logged for my next one etc.

But there's a chance my cousin might be able to hook me up with a contract job building film sets in the Spring. If that happens I'd work 7 days a week, they pay for accommodations and food, and the wages are much better.. so I'd take home nearly 4x as much money as I do right now. If that can happen, I'd be a fool not to do it. Then I could just sign back into the Union and go back to my apprenticeship again.

People here with skills well beyond mine (I'm developing them) can charge Good Money for their work - like $50-80+/hr, because there's no shortage of rich people around here. Doctors and lawyers are definitely still upper working class professionals here, but they're not the rich people.. most doctors and lawyers don't earn enough money to buy a house in this city anymore - almost no one who's dependant on employment income does. But w/e, my point is that Here where I live there are so many multi-Millionaires and Billionaires & they just keep coming.. our new gov't is putting measures in place to close a bunch of real estate and finance loopholes that have made this place a Wild Wild West of money laundering, so things are slowing, but if the gov't changes again in 4 years then there will be a new wave of big $ pouring in. But there are already so many super wealthy people here buying their kids McLarens for high school graduation gifts that there's tooooonnnnnnes of construction work for skilled people to build & renovate their mega mansion piggy bank vacation homes.

It's a bittersweet thing.. they screw things up so we can't afford to live here, but, they also generate jobs so at least we have work to do.. *shrug* is what it is; can't change it, may as well make the most of it!

I was a postman and I also worked as a warehouseman operating a forklift. It was a lot of fun. I enjoy working with my hands. That is how I learn things. Being a construction worker is a good occupation. This can be a good fit for an Aspie if they have an aptitude for learning trades.