How many years in the trade?
- Thread starter Floorist
- Start date
Help Support Flooring Forum - DIY & Professional:
i think its been about 20 years but im not really sure--i could look it up if i needed to i guess---not really sure what year it is now---im not really hooked on the glue---but i might be stuck on it
Nick
In Remembrance
I would look it up Rug , rummer has it there is going to be a test . 
Nick
In Remembrance
I would look it up Rug , rumor has it there is going to be a test .
TNT
Well-Known Member
VillageCarpet
Member
Father started in the mid 60's
born in 76'
brought up in the industry
worked full time since 95ish
born in 76'
brought up in the industry
worked full time since 95ish
Good to see ya here VC.
Seems like everyone here has been in the trade for quite a while.
How come the new guys in the trade don't search out information from flooring forums like the one that are easily available to everyone?
Are they to busy with 'important stuff' like texting or hangin out with friends on Facebook?
I find it amazing with the many tens of thousands of flooring installers throughout the world........... only dozens even come to the forums to learn or teach. Kind of a sad thought.
McBrides
Well-Known Member
DAVISNDAVIS
New Member
6 yrs.. been doin it fulltime since i was 14, im twenty now if you math skills aint up to par.. currently i have moved more in the direction full interior remodeling, due to lack of job opportunities i had to expand my horizons a bit
My friend's dad owned the big retail/commercial flooring shop with a partner. There were four brother's all close in age to me and we grew up together. When I was old enough (13-14....1974) we were allowed to go do demolition work for not only the flooring store but a GC who was also one of our buddy's dad. We would/lift move cash registers, gondolas, help bust out trenches and haul off the concrete, go fetch store fixtures and such on those weekend/night/summer hours when kids would otherwise be hanging out with nothing to do.
It paid $2.00 an hour with no taxes taken out---straight up!
We would do that kind of stuff all through the teen years. Most of what we did was demo floors, VCT and rubber back carpet with the old red stipper machines and when we got a little older we'd go to the warehouse and do deliveries, humping VCT, Portland cement, sand and such upstairs. I liked to drive the dump truck to the yard to haul sand out to the ceramic guys.
I graduated on a Friday in 1978 and started full time work at that shop Monday morning.
How many years in the trade? I did "quit" after 2.5 years to go back to college and spent 2.5 years there. After that I came back to the trade and that's the only work I've done since '82-83. Some years I worked 2500-2800 hours. Some years maybe half that. Mostly union but not all of it by any stretch.
Years? Pick a number.
It paid $2.00 an hour with no taxes taken out---straight up!
We would do that kind of stuff all through the teen years. Most of what we did was demo floors, VCT and rubber back carpet with the old red stipper machines and when we got a little older we'd go to the warehouse and do deliveries, humping VCT, Portland cement, sand and such upstairs. I liked to drive the dump truck to the yard to haul sand out to the ceramic guys.
I graduated on a Friday in 1978 and started full time work at that shop Monday morning.
How many years in the trade? I did "quit" after 2.5 years to go back to college and spent 2.5 years there. After that I came back to the trade and that's the only work I've done since '82-83. Some years I worked 2500-2800 hours. Some years maybe half that. Mostly union but not all of it by any stretch.
Years? Pick a number.
More installers than you can count are going a wee bit outside their 'normal' occupation. I did some yard work recently for a long time client of mine. She knew times were hard and offered me some work. All I could fairly do is charge her the nickel wages that work pays around here. Right now in this economy, work is work. Did electrical work for another well established client. Am I licensed for that?
...............hey, I gotta keep the phone and lights on and noodles on the shelf, it's that bad. Ya do what ya gotta do.
(I have my limits tho ......I won't do anything in the medical field)
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Nick
In Remembrance
I don't do Windows.
TNT
Well-Known Member
My biggest concern is when these other awesome guys retire, we aren't gonna have any younger ones who have learned enough to step into their shoes! I see most of them looking at this as just a job, not a career.
Incidentally, DAVISNDAVIS, my math skills are up to par enough to understand 14 + 6= 20. I can even do some other stuff!
Incognito - Tommy started laying floors at 15. His mom and stepdad opened a store, and he got hired to wash windows and take out trash. Pretty quick he went on as an apprentice to this guy who was all over him about doing it right. His name was WL Roller. For real, those are not initials, his real name is WL. Anyway, my husband is one of the smartest people I've ever known for going into (at that time) a very lucrative business and not even finishing the 8th grade! He can figure all the carpet calculations in his head, lol!
Tia
Incidentally, DAVISNDAVIS, my math skills are up to par enough to understand 14 + 6= 20. I can even do some other stuff!
Incognito - Tommy started laying floors at 15. His mom and stepdad opened a store, and he got hired to wash windows and take out trash. Pretty quick he went on as an apprentice to this guy who was all over him about doing it right. His name was WL Roller. For real, those are not initials, his real name is WL. Anyway, my husband is one of the smartest people I've ever known for going into (at that time) a very lucrative business and not even finishing the 8th grade! He can figure all the carpet calculations in his head, lol!
Tia
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In September I start my 46th year. It has always kept food on the table and paid the bill most of the time. I'm susposed to be retired but keep taking on jobs. Booked up till August 2nd-thats when my next job is. Wrong, I got a custom rug to make I forgot about.
Loved the trade and still enjoy it even with its ups and downs.
I want to hit the 50 year mark before I hang up my tools for good.
Daris
Loved the trade and still enjoy it even with its ups and downs.
I want to hit the 50 year mark before I hang up my tools for good.
Daris
Nick
In Remembrance
Post those custom ones you recently made Daris . some of the members here haven't seen the great work you do .
PS: Gas went up again.
PS: Gas went up again.
PS: Gas went up again.
In the last week, gas has gone from $3.38 to $3.59 here.
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I met a guy installing ceramic tile who according to his co-workers was 80 years old. He was Korean and didn't speak any English whatsoever. He didn't look a day over 79.
Anyway, If that guy really was 80 I sure hope I'm in anywhere's near as good of shape as he was in if I should be so lucky as to live that long.
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The dad of those 4 brothers who were my connection to the trade dropped out of school in the 7th grade to work on ceramic tile jobs. I believe he had to do this to support himself and his mom. He was an amazing character and got pretty involved in politics on the local level. His partner was the cigar chewing, screaming boss that cracked the whip on all the men and would go out to job site and bust nuts if the contractors weren't giving us a fair shake. It was basically "Good Cop, Bad Cop," all a game really, as an insider to some extent I would see the behind the scenes winks and smirks.
They were playing the men like a grand piano. There's no such a school where you can learn that kind of stuff.
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