Arrrgh - woes in a strong economy

[sv2007]

Pretty much everybody who wants a job has a job in this economy. Sure many traditional manufacture jobs are gone (which is sad), but there's so much work that my contractor can't even schedule me in until November.

I miss the 2009-2010 years where 2 of my contractors actually called me to ask if there are any work. Now I can't even get them to come over for a 2-day job of installing some recessed lighting. I'll have to remind them that I did provide work when they can't find work.

There's a definite shortage of workers in construction right now. Maybe I should wait a year when things cool down or many newly trained workers come online... and even get cheaper and better results.

We get happy when the economy is doing good, but really, life is very inconvenient since there's so much more competition.

Not jsut home remodel; everything leisure is costing more these days. Just compare your vacations/travels now vs 2008 down turn period. Things are 2-4x more expensive for the same (well, actually for worse because there's a lot more people).

I think the best is when the economy is lie in 2011. Not bad off at all but not this great. A nice balance for everybody.

[DaveInPgh]

Dude, just take your truck down to Home Depot and ask a couple of guys to hop in.

[DaveInPgh]

Pretty much everybody who wants a job has a job in this economy.

As for this quoted statement

[GoodSteward]

I know it's annoying to need work but can't find help, however, what I'm seeing here is 1st world issues. lol

I couldn't stomach the cost of paying someone to finish our building, so I bought some tools and did it myself. I was miserable, constantly getting mad cause I didn't know what i was doing, took two months instead of a couple weeks (after work and weekends), but I wasn't going to pay double just to have someone else do what i know I could figure out. Now it's done, and all I have is about 400$ in electrical(I wanted that done right) and that was it. Rest is just material. My retired union electrician friend put it right. He said "people are trying to charge enough on one job to retire." That's what it feels like.

[sv2007]

Dude, just take your truck down to Home Depot and ask a couple of guys to hop in.

Haha, I do hire day labors. And you don't have to "ask" them to hop in; they just hop in. You have to ask some to get out : )

But actually, they are good people and work hard; I have some contacts that I call up when I need them. They are extremely good at landscaping, painting, walls and flooring work. Not good at lighting/electrical that I need done right now.

[Fishindude77]

I run a construction company and you hit the nail on the head. The shortage of skilled trades isn't likely to improve much in the next few years either. If we could get them, we would add 10-12 new employees tomorrow, and our average wage is around $20 / hour year round, plus a full benefit package including retirement plan, paid vacations, etc. Supervisors can make $80-100K.

Have probably covered this in another thread but skilled trades and any form of working with your hands has pretty much been demonized by our educational system for the last several decades. They are still preaching to kids that you are some sort of second class citizen if you don't attend college. It's high time they started getting serious about promoting vocational education in our schools. Everybody isn't college material, it's darned expensive, and many could actually make a lot better money in a trade.

Another sad thing is some of the applicants that do come in looking for work. Many are HS graduates and nearly illiterate and can't do fundamental 7th grade math. Drug testing weeds a bunch out, and just the general appearance; covered in tatoos, smelling like an ash tray, piercings, nasty hair, etc. takes others out of the pool. I guess this is something else that needs to be covered in school since the parents aren't doing it?

We turned down a $700,000 contract this morning because we can't get started and get it done on the schedule they want.

[sv2007]

I know it's annoying to need work but can't find help, however, what I'm seeing here is 1st world issues. lol

I couldn't stomach the cost of paying someone to finish our building, so I bought some tools and did it myself. I was miserable, constantly getting mad cause I didn't know what i was doing, took two months instead of a couple weeks (after work and weekends), but I wasn't going to pay double just to have someone else do what i know I could figure out. Now it's done, and all I have is about 400$ in electrical(I wanted that done right) and that was it. Rest is just material. My retired union electrician friend put it right. He said "people are trying to charge enough on one job to retire." That's what it feels like.

Last time I checked, USA isn't a third world country.

I used to do repairs myself, until we started to own multiple houses. Once you have established contacts and know how the trade work, repairs are very cheap. For example, to remodel a kitchen, you don't buy granite from home deopt, you buy it from granite/kitchen counter stores (nobody's pays granite countertops by the foot, that's just crazy talk). Once you've hired enough contractors, you know which ones work well and you learn the pricing and time frames.

For this project, I want recessed lighting in kitchen, dining room, bath, and my office. I also want it in the living room but wife is not on board. This is about 18 lights set up for different zones in some rooms, and I think it'll cost $2.5k and 2 days for everything.

The thing is, $2k is a small job today, so nobody wants it (and they know I want them done quickly). Turn the clock back a few years, they'll be working at my house already for cheaper too.

[creditcardfree]

I run a construction company and you hit the nail on the head. The shortage of skilled trades isn't likely to improve much in the next few years either. If we could get them, we would add 10-12 new employees tomorrow, and our average wage is around $20 / hour year round, plus a full benefit package including retirement plan, paid vacations, etc. Supervisors can make $80-100K.

Have probably covered this in another thread but skilled trades and any form of working with your hands has pretty much been demonized by our educational system for the last several decades. They are still preaching to kids that you are some sort of second class citizen if you don't attend college. It's high time they started getting serious about promoting vocational education in our schools. Everybody isn't college material, it's darned expensive, and many could actually make a lot better money in a trade.

The high school my daughter attended had a class that involved students helping build a house every year. It was well publicized in the community. I thought this particular school did a good job of having many kids taking dual credit classes through the community college. These are jobs you can have two years out of high school.

[DaveInPgh]

Put your project on Thumbtack and the Contractors looking for work will respond. Of course you are not going to get the companies with the most experience (who don't have to pay to obtain customers), but that doesn't mean you can't find someone qualified for the job.

https://www.thumbtack.com/

[Fishindude77]

The high school my daughter attended had a class that involved students helping build a house every year. It was well publicized in the community.

Our local school does this too and it is a mistake. They are teaching the wrong things. Residential construction for the most part stinks. You can't make a livable wage, get health insurance or any kind of benefits framing walls, nailing down shingles and hanging drywall on homes. Drive by a big residential development and take a look at the riff raff doing most of this work. There is no safety either.

They need to be training industrial and commercial trades; math, print reading, safety, heavy equipment, concrete, masonry, ironwork & welding, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, IT & communications, etc. Commercial trades people make considerably more money and have good benefit packages and retirement plans.

[GoodSteward]

Last time I checked, USA isn't a third world country.

I believe you missed the joke. Saying something sounds like a 1st world problem means what we are calling a "problem" is usually a sign of privilege compared to third world countries and isn't really a problem. It's just us showing how spoiled we are as Americans. We all do it!

[sv2007]

Put your project on Thumbtack and the Contractors looking for work will respond. Of course you are not going to get the companies with the most experience (who don't have to pay to obtain customers), but that doesn't mean you can't find someone qualified for the job.


https://www.thumbtack.com/

Although the work isn't hard, but I've got 2 contractors that I work with for years. I don't like to use new people when old people works fine unless I have to. I can wait until Nov.

[GoodSteward]

Although the work isn't hard, but I've got 2 contractors that I work with for years. I don't like to use new people when old people works fine unless I have to. I can wait until Nov.

I feel the same way. Once you find someone you can trust you want to keep using them. That business is a risky business, and some people just don't care about the job they do. Finding a high quality, fairly priced person is very valuable. I recently found an AC guy that does commercial work, but does home based work on the side. He saved me a grand by testing and letting me know i didn't have a problem the local people claimed I had. So far, no issues and it's been 6 months. The local people even said they ran a die test, but this other guy came behind and said there was no sign of that anywhere there should have been.

[DaveInPgh]

Although the work isn't hard, but I've got 2 contractors that I work with for years. I don't like to use new people when old people works fine unless I have to. I can wait until Nov.

You could always pick up a couple of these cheap to help with your lighting situation until your go to guys have the time for you