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Not surprised at all re: construction workers. That they can make hundreds of thousands of dollars per year is sort of a semi-open secret. The catch is that con
by jonnathanson 12y ago
Not surprised at all re: construction workers. That they can make hundreds of thousands of dollars per year is sort of a semi-open secret. The catch is that construction is a feast or famine occupation. During building booms, contractors and workers can make a small fortune. During busts, they can go bust. New York is a great place to be a construction worker, as there always seems to be a steady supply of new projects underway. San Francisco, right now, is making a lot of construction workers quite wealthy. But this boom will go bust eventually, and when it does, the demand drop will shock supply, and the jobs will dry up virtually overnight. Nobody has any great idea when that will happen, but the workers I've talked to [1] are an odd mix of giddy and pessimistic. There is sort of a "get it while the getting's still good" mentality afoot right now.
As you might imagine, any jobs tied to real estate development very closely track the real estate market, be it residential or commercial. That market can be exciting, but it's also inherently unstable.
[1] I don't work in construction, but I have invested in a few buildings, and I talk to contractors and workers pretty regularly.
- toyg 12y ago> The catch is that construction is a feast or famine occupation. [...] There is sort of a "get it while the getting's still good" mentality afoot right now. Indeed, and that's not good from the point of view of construction standards. When the going is good, contractors go pedal to the metal and will do everything they can as fast as they can, inevitably lowering their average work standards (both in terms of output quality and safety measures). Plus, construction booms typically lead to more widespread economic bubbles. I wish we could find a way of stabilizing that particular market.
- skj 12y ago> Plus, construction booms typically lead to more widespread economic bubbles. If there is actually a causal relationship there, I would have thought it was the other way around.
- toyg 12y agoI think it's more of a symbiotic relationship: construction is the first sector to accelerate when things start looking good and the first to crash when things start going sour, because it relies on debt more than others. Because of this position, it plays a very important role in exacerbating trends.
- JoeAltmaier 12y agoLikewise mining, but to a larger degree. A supervisor or crew boss can make good money, when they have a job at all. Also its dangerous. My relative got a back injury in a mining accident. All the therapy in the world wouldn't remove all the pain. It changed him forever. Was it worth the money?
- kerkeslager 12y agoWhat does it take to get into construction? I wouldn't mind doing physical labor for a change of pace. I would love to learn construction skills and I could always go back to programming when the construction market busts.
- tormeh 12y agoWhen the construction market busts a lot of stuff busts with it, usually. It's not a good time to hunt for a new job. Not saying that your idea is not going to work out well, but be prepared for some bumps in the road.