- 757
- 678
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2009
Got my OSHA license at the end of June. The instructor passed on my info to a recruiter who was looking for a framing apprentice for a project that was less than 4 miles from my crib, and I literally started the next day. Least time consuming certification you can get I think, I did 2 five hour classes and that was it.
So I arrive at the property, and all that's there is stacks of lumber, and a concrete basement surrounded by freshly excavated dirt. It's me and 3 other guys, two are laborers just like me and the foreman. He looks at the blueprint, whips out his measuring tape and we begin snapping chalk lines and carrying lumber to the designated spots.
The next day we begin shooting walls...a wall generally consists of two 16 foot plates, ten 8 foot studs and is pretty much common sense...the only tricky part is when they have a Window or Door in the middle, no 2 rooms are alike and call for different configurations, and boards have to be cut with a saw to specific measurements. After we set up the wall pieces, it's shot with a nail gun,then we stand it up vertically, nail it into the ground. Then the fireman climbs up on a ladder checks the level and if it's not 100% balanced we nail a cross brace to correct it.
So that went on for a week and then we started sheathing, which is a layer of plywood nailed into the studs. These boards were heavy as hell to carry, and with a combination of the sun everybody was dripping wet by lunch break, the next day I definitely brought an extra pair of jeans and multiple t shirts. And a couple days I was the only person who showed up...in the construction industry no call no shows are considered normal and you don't necessarily get in trouble, it's expected that you won't wake up some days....
Getting the first floor sheathed took an entire week, next week we started building the 2nd floor which was pretty much the same, process except we had to climb latter's and slide all the lumber up which added more difficulty. Things got "real" and I contemplated quitting when we began setting up the roof foundation trusses, to do those you have to walk on top the walls. Normally a house is built with 2x6s but due to rising lumber costs we had to use mostly 2x4 which is like walking on a tight rope high wire. I wasn't about to go out like Shane McMahon at 2001 Summerslam so instead of standing I sat down straddled the wall with my legs and "wormed" my way around. I got clowned to death, but that was better than falling to death...one day the temp reached 89 degrees and I started feeling dizzy.
After the roof was done we wrapped the whole house with Tyvek, a water proof paper that is stapled to the sheath layer. One guy measured and cut, two guys on ladders stapling, and then we all went around taping together the overlapping seams.
All in all it was a semi-lucrative experience. The first week they told us to go out and buy basic tools (measuring tape, carpenter pencil, square, hammer) and I was the only one who did. So that got me bumped up an extra $2 an hour. Then the 2nd week they recommended getting certain power tools like saws, I did and they bumped me up another $3. It was pretty expensive but after doing the math I guess it paid itself by the end of the project. The foreman, a 26 y/o who started fresh out of HS said
as soon as he was competent enough to work without supervision he was getting 1200 a week. I didn't ask him how much he makes, but I would assume at least 10-15 bands per month...he's at the point where his phone is blowing up and he actually has to turn down work.
But with all the potential for advancement there are a lot of annoying drawbacks...either you do your laundry every other day or buy stuff from the thrift store and throw it out when you go home.my first week I left a sweat soaked tee in the trunk and forgot about it,
Itarted out wearing a throwaway pair of wheat Timbs...they literally aged 5 years in one day cause of all the mud. The foreman had on cowboy boots that went halfway up his legs...to combat the gravel that inevitably finds it way into normal size boots. I generally have to take em off every other hour and shake em...
My phone got soaked in the rain once and all I could hear was treble...I had to download an App that vibrated all the water out of the speaker. Then my charging port got caked up with saw dust particles...I managed to get it out, and now as a precaution put a piece of scotch tape over the port when I'm working.
So after my first month in the game I'm kinda torn in between continuing or go back into a lower paying, less problematic industry?
Any NTers been in the construction field long term?
So I arrive at the property, and all that's there is stacks of lumber, and a concrete basement surrounded by freshly excavated dirt. It's me and 3 other guys, two are laborers just like me and the foreman. He looks at the blueprint, whips out his measuring tape and we begin snapping chalk lines and carrying lumber to the designated spots.
The next day we begin shooting walls...a wall generally consists of two 16 foot plates, ten 8 foot studs and is pretty much common sense...the only tricky part is when they have a Window or Door in the middle, no 2 rooms are alike and call for different configurations, and boards have to be cut with a saw to specific measurements. After we set up the wall pieces, it's shot with a nail gun,then we stand it up vertically, nail it into the ground. Then the fireman climbs up on a ladder checks the level and if it's not 100% balanced we nail a cross brace to correct it.
So that went on for a week and then we started sheathing, which is a layer of plywood nailed into the studs. These boards were heavy as hell to carry, and with a combination of the sun everybody was dripping wet by lunch break, the next day I definitely brought an extra pair of jeans and multiple t shirts. And a couple days I was the only person who showed up...in the construction industry no call no shows are considered normal and you don't necessarily get in trouble, it's expected that you won't wake up some days....
Getting the first floor sheathed took an entire week, next week we started building the 2nd floor which was pretty much the same, process except we had to climb latter's and slide all the lumber up which added more difficulty. Things got "real" and I contemplated quitting when we began setting up the roof foundation trusses, to do those you have to walk on top the walls. Normally a house is built with 2x6s but due to rising lumber costs we had to use mostly 2x4 which is like walking on a tight rope high wire. I wasn't about to go out like Shane McMahon at 2001 Summerslam so instead of standing I sat down straddled the wall with my legs and "wormed" my way around. I got clowned to death, but that was better than falling to death...one day the temp reached 89 degrees and I started feeling dizzy.
After the roof was done we wrapped the whole house with Tyvek, a water proof paper that is stapled to the sheath layer. One guy measured and cut, two guys on ladders stapling, and then we all went around taping together the overlapping seams.
All in all it was a semi-lucrative experience. The first week they told us to go out and buy basic tools (measuring tape, carpenter pencil, square, hammer) and I was the only one who did. So that got me bumped up an extra $2 an hour. Then the 2nd week they recommended getting certain power tools like saws, I did and they bumped me up another $3. It was pretty expensive but after doing the math I guess it paid itself by the end of the project. The foreman, a 26 y/o who started fresh out of HS said
as soon as he was competent enough to work without supervision he was getting 1200 a week. I didn't ask him how much he makes, but I would assume at least 10-15 bands per month...he's at the point where his phone is blowing up and he actually has to turn down work.
But with all the potential for advancement there are a lot of annoying drawbacks...either you do your laundry every other day or buy stuff from the thrift store and throw it out when you go home.my first week I left a sweat soaked tee in the trunk and forgot about it,
Itarted out wearing a throwaway pair of wheat Timbs...they literally aged 5 years in one day cause of all the mud. The foreman had on cowboy boots that went halfway up his legs...to combat the gravel that inevitably finds it way into normal size boots. I generally have to take em off every other hour and shake em...My phone got soaked in the rain once and all I could hear was treble...I had to download an App that vibrated all the water out of the speaker. Then my charging port got caked up with saw dust particles...I managed to get it out, and now as a precaution put a piece of scotch tape over the port when I'm working.
So after my first month in the game I'm kinda torn in between continuing or go back into a lower paying, less problematic industry?
Any NTers been in the construction field long term?
im readin this like, ****** is really givin it they all at work , then dyin in they sleep 
