How To Start In The Skilled Trades | Who Makes The Most Money | THE HANDYMAN |

how did i get into the skilled trades when i had no skill welcome back to the handyman business youtube channel today we're discussing the fourth most asked question and that is how do i get into the skilled trades when i have no skill i don't know anything i'm 17 i'm 18 i'm 19 years old that's the age group of the guys who are asking this question i put quite a bit of time into this video got a dry erase board up here filled with notes i got my laptop open with all sorts of statistics from the department of labor and the bureau of labor statistics i'm going to put these links in the description so you can further your own research into what trade you should focus your attention on i'm going to rely on my experience as well as the real data to give you an idea of what it's like out there in the real world in construction i do have to set some parameters for my knowledge base it's mostly residential construction in a larger metropolitan area another thing that needs to be stated up front residential construction pays the least you can work in commercial construction highway construction industrial construction there's all sorts of construction residential construction that labor pays the least it's what i do it's what i've been in my entire life except for a short stint after i graduated college i went into construction project management for commercial construction there are skilled trades that most everybody knows about and it's usually residential trade work that these young guys are familiar with link will be in the description i'm going to run through the list real quick and the first half is going to be all trades that have very low wages and i don't recommend it i'm going to be referring to the statistical data to give you reasons why those are the lowest paid i also gave you a map first bit of trade work pays the least and i don't suggest you go into it if you are in it don't take offense this is just the numbers it's just the numbers earth work on a residential lot doesn't pay well you'd think it would but it does foundation and masonry work doesn't pay well framing roofing doesn't pay well ciders doesn't pay well insulation doesn't pay well lowest paying jobs is drywall can you believe that yeah drywall we'll get into why in a minute painting trim work flooring countertop installation all low paying jobs we're going to move into jobs in a minute that you can be self-employed and make a good wage and have a good quality career you won't hate your job it won't be horrible the next set of trades i'm going to tell you pay more and there's a reason they pay more so it's going to be an electrician a plumber an hvac technician high-end woodworking high-end trim work higher end tile installation that's different than just flooring tile flooring like if someone wants to put tile floor in a house that's different than some custom tile work in a higher end home you don't have a skill set and maybe you think you do but it's not documented you don't have hours towards a certificate from a credited trade school or community college so when you go out calling up electricians plumbers say hey i'd like to be an electrician or a plumber they're going to say okay what type of experience do you have and you're going to say none i know nothing i want you to teach me and they are required by law to pay you a certain minimum wage and a lot of them won't do that anymore they will not take someone who has no experience and pay them their required dollar figure because you're not worth it you won't earn that money until you at least have one year experience that's why a lot of these guys are finding it very hard to get a job without at least one year experience with one year experience you would at least come in at like a break-even point and that employer knows that you are committed to that trade you've done it for a year and you want to further your career by being employed by them i started out with zero documented experience i had been paid under the table in high school to do some general construction labor some minor electrical work in high school but it's not documented and i didn't have logged hours to prove to people that i was worth something i'm going to get to how i created some value for myself to sell myself to an employer to actually get hired like that at the end of this video but first we we do have to break down why i said that dry wallers make the least amount of money the guy who owns the drywall company is not who i'm referring to as i stated earlier the us department of labor and the bureau of labor statistics logs all this stuff and they put it into graphs they put into pie charts they put it into maps a lot of articles are written based off of these statistics put it into words that most people can understand they got their pie chart this one here is is interesting this chart here again this will be linked in the description this basically it lists out construction occupations the total number of people employed in those construction occupations and now this is where things get a little touchy there are foreign-born laborers and there are native-born laborers this is where where people are going to get really offended but it's real words used by the federal government to categorize all this so foreign-born labor in construction works for 32 percent less than a native-born construction laborer across the board whether it's a dry waller or a framer foreign borns work for less 32 percent left there's another factor in what you will get paid in your specific trade and that is did you graduate high school so what percentage of that labor pool is a high school graduate so you can quickly scroll through here i want to point out one important one here electricians jumps right out at you as you're scrolling through here only sixteen percent of electricians are foreign born only nine percent of electricians did not graduate high school that is going to increase the wages for that pool of labor another one that that jumps out at you real quick is drywall installers and tapers 49 of the people who do that work are born overseas 44 of that labor pool did not graduate high school the larger the group of guys that didn't graduate high school and the larger the group that were born overseas the lower the wages are in that trade so what you want to do is skip all that get to the trades where you can make the most money and if you graduated high school you should not be focusing on the lowest trade here's another interesting statistic building inspectors only 10 percent are foreign born and only 3 percent don't have a high school diploma these are real numbers that a lot of people get offended by now there's a map a good map so there's a lot of native drywallers and they're very proud of their drywallers and their natives this map right here color-coded will tell you where they do not live they don't live in texas they live in california they don't live in florida they don't live in new york where they could live and make some decent money maine vermont connecticut montana why am i kind of focusing on this native versus foreign born it's because of what they're paid it's the wages that that labor pool gets paid 32 it's a big number this has been around and logged for over a century all the way back into the mid-1800s there was a battle literally battles in the streets native-born construction labor force versus foreign borns irish and englishmen were the foreign-borns back in the mid-1800s once you get your skill set and some years you want to get out of production production is monotonous it's repetitive and it pays lower wages your next step is to move into the service industry staying with residential servicing plumbing electrical hvac are the three main service providers in the skilled trades now there's some more specialty residential services that i like i've always thought about getting into and that is surface repairs it's more of like uh it's kind of like doing bodywork on a car so someone says i've got a chip tub and i want it repaired or better yet i want the entire tub resurface there is a huge demand for having tubs bathtubs resurfaced and refinished another major surface repair industry is the countertops solid surface countertops are always getting messed up granite quartz corian they all they always need repaired and that is kind of an artistry but it's not back breaking work it's something new every day and it is in that service industry and best of all it's great for self-employment you don't need to have a huge crew you charge a hundred dollars an hour that's not my numbers i'm not in the business but i know people who are in the surface repair business and it is a hundred dollars an hour my story how did i get into the skilled trades when i had no skill i couldn't find a job i responded to a lot of help wanted ads for electricians a lot of them wanted experience i applied anyways didn't get any jobs so what i had to do is create some value to sell myself to these potential employers i took two courses at a local community college an accredited community college that's recognized in the state as being the largest community college they were courses in electrical they focus mostly on commercial electrical work as an electrician and i took both of them at the same time like section one and section two simultaneously so within one semester i had two certificates attached to my name and now when i applied for a job i could say hey i'm i've got these certificates from this accredited community college what that showed the employers was that i was committed i had put up my own money towards this trade towards this career and that i had some understanding of how to do things and that i was less of a risk to just sign on for two or three weeks a month and and leave because i wasn't committed to it or i didn't know what i was getting into that is a good way to get into the trades is go to trade school and get something on your resume now another way is you gotta know somebody ask your family ask your family friends do you know anybody that works construction i want to get into the skilled trades you will start by pushing a broom you will start by unloading and loading the truck the trailer or the van you'll be hauling around materials and the longer you stay doing that the more the the company that you're working for will train you you'll be picking up knowledge just by watching it and and working with the materials and the tools and they'll start having you do more and more and more as time goes on that's how it works you don't just have zero experience jump into the tools the first day of the job it just doesn't work that way this has been my experience obviously i'm gonna source all my information and statistics in the description so that you can read first hand about these wages construction wages but i also want the guys who watch this channel that have experience that have gotten into the skilled trades who have a successful career or who are also self-employed and making good money please leave your recommendations in the comments below for these young guys who want to get into the construction industry and they have zero skills zero experience they don't even have tools when i started i didn't have tools is it in here no my my first electrician's belt i still have i was required to buy only made in america tools they did loan me tools for the first two to three months and then i was required to start buying my own tools that's another commitment to the trade and to the company you were willing to go out and purchase 200 in tools to do the work goodbye

Channel: The Handyman Business

Views: 181,800

Rating: 4.9211011 out of 5

Keywords: trade jobs, construction jobs, skilled trades, trade school, construction wages, how much does an electrician make, electrician wages, drywall wages, remodeling business, self employed, self employment, plumber, hvac technician, construction woker, residential construction wages, residential construction work, handyman, handyman business

Id: 1dcdYlkzqOE

Length: 12min 20sec (740 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 20 2020