04-11-2014, 08:21 PM
Spent a fair amount of my childhood summer holidays and breaks from uni working on dads building sites, seen it all from refurbishing a bathroom to knocking down a bungalow and putting up 4 houses on the land along with refurbishing a clock tower with a cherry picker(personal favourite)
Was always the bitch given the skill less jobs i.e hauling bricks/concrete, cutting up insulation to fit inbetween rafters, painting(so much painting), sweeping, picking up rubble etc etc but that makes sense obviously as me working cheaply doing the odd jobs meant the more expensive folks could get on with what they were paid to do , also dabbled a bit in wiring up sockets and switches.
Most have been at it for years and years so have a wealth of hands on experience that already puts you at a major disadvantage and the general run around people tend to be younger/cheaper/mentally damaged.
Would probably say your best bet now if you wanted to get into it would be to specialise in a area i.e a plumber, brickie, electrician or carpenter rather than a jack of all trades. One site had a sub contracted carpenter with a young apprentice learning the ropes although would probably be quicker to do a course
That isn't to say you can't learn it all without taking a course, my dad and his brothers started their building careers about the time I was born and are all pretty much self taught and they seem to do alright
Was always the bitch given the skill less jobs i.e hauling bricks/concrete, cutting up insulation to fit inbetween rafters, painting(so much painting), sweeping, picking up rubble etc etc but that makes sense obviously as me working cheaply doing the odd jobs meant the more expensive folks could get on with what they were paid to do , also dabbled a bit in wiring up sockets and switches.
Most have been at it for years and years so have a wealth of hands on experience that already puts you at a major disadvantage and the general run around people tend to be younger/cheaper/mentally damaged.
Would probably say your best bet now if you wanted to get into it would be to specialise in a area i.e a plumber, brickie, electrician or carpenter rather than a jack of all trades. One site had a sub contracted carpenter with a young apprentice learning the ropes although would probably be quicker to do a course
That isn't to say you can't learn it all without taking a course, my dad and his brothers started their building careers about the time I was born and are all pretty much self taught and they seem to do alright
![[Image: mcetg0.png]](http://i57.tinypic.com/mcetg0.png)