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> But, it's also because the trades are quite hard on the body. Most of my friends are blue collar, and aged 20 years in the last decade. One can't hear as we

> But, it's also because the trades are quite hard on the body. Most of my friends are blue collar, and aged 20 years in the last decade. One can't hear as well as he used to from impact guns hammering away, back problems, knees, and more. You can deal with it at 25, but time comes at you fast.

sockp0pp3t 1y ago
Totally depends on the trade. Concrete foundations, roofing, anything that uses a wheelbarrow, etc. will eventually break you. Maybe an electrician, plumber, carpenter can weigh in, but digging post holes or hauling shingles up a ladder is not the same beating as hanging cabinets, or wiring circuit breakers. Just saying there are different kinds of hard.
- libraryatnight 1y ago
  The plumbers that just fixed my slab leak were getting IT certifications because their knees and lower backs are shot. Labor fucks you up.
- alistairSH 1y ago
  It's all degrees of hard on your body. Roofing might be relatively worse than electrical, but both are definitely harder than sitting an air-conditioned desk.
  - 5bolts 1y ago
    but there's something to be said about doing something with your hands and going to bed physically tired... your other option is mentally drained, potentially depressed, probably anxious - especially if/when something breaks on you i went with the desk job, yearn for something else.. would rather have become a machinist or welder looking back. do both as hobbies now to clear the head from the desk job
    - alistairSH 1y ago
      That’s the thing though… a desk job often affords you the time and income to pursue those other things as hobbies. The reverse is less often true.
- noahjk 1y ago
  For this reason, maybe a handyman / jack-of-all-trades will have less wear and tear on their body? Diversity in tasks could mean a week of concrete followed by a week of cabinets, then a day or two of building a staircase, three hours of adding a new receptacle, and then two days of painting? Although in some ways, a handyman's job might be harder - they should be a quick learner, have good support / contacts in specific trades, and it might require better/more marketing to get customers.
  - Balgair 1y ago
    Those are vanishingly small jobs these days in the US at least. Most companies and guys will specialize in electrical or drywall or something as they become faster at it and time is money in the trades. These skilled jobs typically require more than a single truck's worth of equipment to do quickly. Like, tying rebar is really hard to do by hand, but they make a gun that will do it for you in seconds: https://amsalesinc.com/products/rebar-tying-gun-makita-xrt01tk https://amsalesinc.com/products/rebar-tying-gun-makita-xrt01... . You can do a whole pad of concrete in an hour that would take you days otherwise. But that gun is thousands of dollars (supply and demand baby). So having a truck of these time saving gadgets for a bunch of job types isn't feasible. Hence the specialization.
    - ty6853 1y ago
      Unless you live in a remarkably remote area, rental yards carry pretty much everything you can need. I've even rented $100,000 excavators I needed for a day quite easily, and it eats into the value of your labor maybe 20-30% at worst.
      - Balgair 1y ago
        I mean, not a lot of handymen are able to eat 20%; that a pretty big cost.
    - pasttense01 1y ago
      Apparently you are not a homeowner--as they have large numbers of these small jobs.
- Suppafly 1y ago
  >Maybe an electrician, plumber, carpenter can weigh in Those trades mostly pay their dues when they are younger and then the next batch of journeymen and apprentices take over that part of the job as they move up into the less physically demanding parts of the job. Even fairly physical jobs like bricklaying, they'll have the older dude doing nothing but slapping the bricks in place, they get carried over to him by one guy, one guy is mixing up the mortar, one guy is unloading the truck, another is touching up the joints, etc. It's one of those things that explains why union jobs have so many extra people too. It's not one dude doing everything, it's 3 guys doing different parts of the job and learning how to do the next part.
Balgair 1y ago
Oh yeah, I nearly forgot, my hearing is shot too. My spouse is always having to say things louder and slower to me. Not a lot of fun for them to do. I also can't smell certain smells; I suppose this is due to the aforementioned brake cleaners (spray acetone really), but am not very sure.

sockp0pp3t 1y ago

Totally depends on the trade. Concrete foundations, roofing, anything that uses a wheelbarrow, etc. will eventually break you. Maybe an electrician, plumber, carpenter can weigh in, but digging post holes or hauling shingles up a ladder is not the same beating as hanging cabinets, or wiring circuit breakers. Just saying there are different kinds of hard.

libraryatnight 1y ago
The plumbers that just fixed my slab leak were getting IT certifications because their knees and lower backs are shot. Labor fucks you up.
alistairSH 1y ago
It's all degrees of hard on your body. Roofing might be relatively worse than electrical, but both are definitely harder than sitting an air-conditioned desk.
- 5bolts 1y ago
  but there's something to be said about doing something with your hands and going to bed physically tired... your other option is mentally drained, potentially depressed, probably anxious - especially if/when something breaks on you i went with the desk job, yearn for something else.. would rather have become a machinist or welder looking back. do both as hobbies now to clear the head from the desk job
  - alistairSH 1y ago
    That’s the thing though… a desk job often affords you the time and income to pursue those other things as hobbies. The reverse is less often true.
noahjk 1y ago
For this reason, maybe a handyman / jack-of-all-trades will have less wear and tear on their body? Diversity in tasks could mean a week of concrete followed by a week of cabinets, then a day or two of building a staircase, three hours of adding a new receptacle, and then two days of painting? Although in some ways, a handyman's job might be harder - they should be a quick learner, have good support / contacts in specific trades, and it might require better/more marketing to get customers.
- Balgair 1y ago
  Those are vanishingly small jobs these days in the US at least. Most companies and guys will specialize in electrical or drywall or something as they become faster at it and time is money in the trades. These skilled jobs typically require more than a single truck's worth of equipment to do quickly. Like, tying rebar is really hard to do by hand, but they make a gun that will do it for you in seconds: https://amsalesinc.com/products/rebar-tying-gun-makita-xrt01tk https://amsalesinc.com/products/rebar-tying-gun-makita-xrt01... . You can do a whole pad of concrete in an hour that would take you days otherwise. But that gun is thousands of dollars (supply and demand baby). So having a truck of these time saving gadgets for a bunch of job types isn't feasible. Hence the specialization.
  - ty6853 1y ago
    Unless you live in a remarkably remote area, rental yards carry pretty much everything you can need. I've even rented $100,000 excavators I needed for a day quite easily, and it eats into the value of your labor maybe 20-30% at worst.
    - Balgair 1y ago
      I mean, not a lot of handymen are able to eat 20%; that a pretty big cost.
  - pasttense01 1y ago
    Apparently you are not a homeowner--as they have large numbers of these small jobs.
Suppafly 1y ago
>Maybe an electrician, plumber, carpenter can weigh in Those trades mostly pay their dues when they are younger and then the next batch of journeymen and apprentices take over that part of the job as they move up into the less physically demanding parts of the job. Even fairly physical jobs like bricklaying, they'll have the older dude doing nothing but slapping the bricks in place, they get carried over to him by one guy, one guy is mixing up the mortar, one guy is unloading the truck, another is touching up the joints, etc. It's one of those things that explains why union jobs have so many extra people too. It's not one dude doing everything, it's 3 guys doing different parts of the job and learning how to do the next part.

Balgair 1y ago

Oh yeah, I nearly forgot, my hearing is shot too. My spouse is always having to say things louder and slower to me. Not a lot of fun for them to do. I also can't smell certain smells; I suppose this is due to the aforementioned brake cleaners (spray acetone really), but am not very sure.