4 ms·

My uncles a roofer and did it into his 40s but eventually started his own company when he wanted to stop carrying slate around on roofs in the miserable British

by eddsh1994 4y ago

My uncles a roofer and did it into his 40s but eventually started his own company when he wanted to stop carrying slate around on roofs in the miserable British winters. I think that's the usual progression - you're not literally laying tiles till you're 67.

Ancalagon 4y ago
Is starting a roofing company a viable career path for _every_ young roofer that wants to make roofing their career? If not I think that still hits the "knees give out by 55" issue.
- eddsh1994 4y ago
  No, but supervising/managing is pretty viable. Also these aren’t FTSE100 companies, these are small groups of like 3/4 people who spin off and have a few commercial clients.
mrcrumb1 4y ago
Relying on entrepreneurship for your livelihood and retirement as you age sounds like it'll only work for a select few
- Ekaros 4y ago
  Unless there is massive population growth. Single older person can employ only so many juniors. Or other older people have to exit the market.
  - SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
    It's like a MLM spread across generations of workers. You recruit two workers and they recruit two workers each and then they recruit two workers each.... You even get to be your own {Personal Pronoun}Boss!
    - notch656c 4y ago
      If you spend 2/3 of your career as one of the 2 underlings it's not MLM. Body is dunzo by say 50 for trades, which means you get 30 years as a tradesman and 15 years employing two tradesman. Retire at 65.
  - eddsh1994 4y ago
    Or there's an increase in new buildings, or the number of buildings needing repairs increase over time, etc... With trades the number of self-employed or owners is quite high - you can either do Job A by yourself for $X for company Foo, or be self-employed and do Job A by yourself for $X++. Same number of jobs exist, just less monopolized by larger companies. I don't know why, but this is what I found in the south-west of England when I lived there. I think the experienced people tend to start those orgs to charge more then get older and need to hire apprentices to do the work for them, and so the cycle continues.
AngryData 4y ago
But not everyone in that business can build their own company unless every single one is an individual contractor. What about the other 80% of those trade workers who are laying tiles until retirement or their body fails them?

Ancalagon 4y ago

Is starting a roofing company a viable career path for _every_ young roofer that wants to make roofing their career? If not I think that still hits the "knees give out by 55" issue.

eddsh1994 4y ago
No, but supervising/managing is pretty viable. Also these aren’t FTSE100 companies, these are small groups of like 3/4 people who spin off and have a few commercial clients.

mrcrumb1 4y ago

Relying on entrepreneurship for your livelihood and retirement as you age sounds like it'll only work for a select few

Ekaros 4y ago
Unless there is massive population growth. Single older person can employ only so many juniors. Or other older people have to exit the market.
- SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
  It's like a MLM spread across generations of workers. You recruit two workers and they recruit two workers each and then they recruit two workers each.... You even get to be your own {Personal Pronoun}Boss!
  - notch656c 4y ago
    If you spend 2/3 of your career as one of the 2 underlings it's not MLM. Body is dunzo by say 50 for trades, which means you get 30 years as a tradesman and 15 years employing two tradesman. Retire at 65.
- eddsh1994 4y ago
  Or there's an increase in new buildings, or the number of buildings needing repairs increase over time, etc... With trades the number of self-employed or owners is quite high - you can either do Job A by yourself for $X for company Foo, or be self-employed and do Job A by yourself for $X++. Same number of jobs exist, just less monopolized by larger companies. I don't know why, but this is what I found in the south-west of England when I lived there. I think the experienced people tend to start those orgs to charge more then get older and need to hire apprentices to do the work for them, and so the cycle continues.

AngryData 4y ago

But not everyone in that business can build their own company unless every single one is an individual contractor. What about the other 80% of those trade workers who are laying tiles until retirement or their body fails them?