Any trades workers here? | Page 2 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Any trades workers here?

Robbo said:
Back in my younger days, I was working on my Cutlass Supreme and my dad was putting in his 2 cents. I always learned a lot from him but this time I was being stubborn and spoke up…

“Dad, there’s my way, and there’s the right way. Let me find my way.”

From that point on, we had a mutual respect.

Cherish every moment with your dad MP. I’m sure he means well.


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Thanks. I know he means well and we’re not as close as I wish.

But the kids love him. And when he comes up with a stupid reason to go to the cottage. I’ll go 9 times out of 10. 10 out of 10 if I can get out of other plans (as he likes to give me very short notice).
 
Spent the last 40 years as a union commercial/ industrial electrician.I’ve never woken up and not had a job to go in that time. Once you’ve mastered that you can wire houses in your sleep. The downside is that everyone you come into contact with thereafter will be asking you to come to their home/ cottage for a beer and install a couple dozen pot lights.Whenever anyone asks if I know a good electrician I always say “ Yeah, but I can’t even afford him”. I avoid residential work at all costs but it’s always there if you need extra money.
 
Bobo said:
Spent the last 40 years as a union commercial/ industrial electrician.I’ve never woken up and not had a job to go in that time. Once you’ve mastered that you can wire houses in your sleep. The downside is that everyone you come into contact with thereafter will be asking you to come to their home/ cottage for a beer and install a couple dozen pot lights.Whenever anyone asks if I know a good electrician I always say “ Yeah, but I can’t even afford him”. I avoid residential work at all costs but it’s always there if you need extra money.
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Hahaha yup.

A good worker will ALWAYS find a job. I'm a firm believer in that. Especially once you have yourself set up after a few years, make some contacts, and prove you're not an idiot...you're golden.
 
I've done a desk job since forever. I've actually been toying with the idea of a completely new career, so this is interesting.

Once upon a time, I did work at a residential construction company to get me through university so I met a lot of trades. I don't have any specific advice on a trade, but what ever you select, make sure it's not hard on the body - a lot of the older trades were suffering from physical ailments. If I remember correctly, the drywallers had it the worst.
 
Chaos said:
I've done a desk job since forever. I've actually been toying with the idea of a completely new career, so this is interesting.

Once upon a time, I did work at a residential construction company to get me through university so I met a lot of trades. I don't have any specific advice on a trade, but what ever you select, make sure it's not hard on the body - a lot of the older trades were suffering from physical ailments. If I remember correctly, the drywallers had it the worst.
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This is what I'd like to do. Even burning some time with the kids in order to pull a few weekends with trades or on a construction site for more experience (and money)...

Learning how to work with your hands will NEVER be a bad thing. You lose some time with the family for sure, but the learning is lifelong and would help me to do more around the house myself.
 
SVeezy said:
I’ve heard the boilermakers union is great to be a member of


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Boiler union and Pipefitters union are both Great. But may ask you to go where the work is. Fort mc for example. I prefer non union. I've worked in Mississippi, LA, we built the Molson plant in BC. I had a 96 hour week and a 94 hour week in the last year I worked. Good pay if your family is ok with the time away. Did a job on a high rise condo beside CN tower. Started at 3pm friday afternoon finished at 7am Monday. Already had 43 hours in that week before the weekend job. RRSPs are important to not lose it all in tax.
 
one of my buddies was a pipe line welder , did underwater gas lines for western lake Erie and worked on the trans canada . Made absolutely rediculous money , and it cost him his marriage.
However yrs later he makes rediculous money doing custom stairs and railings , specializing in beams for old houses they want to be open concept.
He did his time doing "pay my bills" welding , now does specialty work which is very clean and fairly safe.
 
gsxr guy said:
Boiler union and Pipefitters union are both Great. But may ask you to go where the work is. Fort mc for example. I prefer non union. I've worked in Mississippi, LA, we built the Molson plant in BC. I had a 96 hour week and a 94 hour week in the last year I worked. Good pay if your family is ok with the time away. Did a job on a high rise condo beside CN tower. Started at 3pm friday afternoon finished at 7am Monday. Already had 43 hours in that week before the weekend job. RRSPs are important to not lose it all in tax.
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I'm assuming weekend job was not for your M-F employer? If someone plans on making a lot of money on weekends, it may be worth spinning up a company. The company gets paid for the work but you can decide when to draw it as income. You could draw it now that you have retired and tax situation is different. Or MP could hire his wife to do marketing in a calendar year she has mat leave (but not at the same time as mat leave) to extract some money with minimal tax.
 
I don't want to muddy the waters here but...

@GreyGhost would this have to be a corporation? Sole Proprietor doesn't allow for that type of withdrawals.

Is it even possible to work toward apprenticeship on a part time basis? I've got my HVAC guys here right now so may ask them if he needs to some help as HVAC intrigues me. I know Humber had an online for the Stage 1 toward the license that can be done online...but anything further requires actual work experience and such.
 
mimico_polak said:
I don't want to muddy the waters here but...

@GreyGhost would this have to be a corporation? Sole Proprietor doesn't allow for that type of withdrawals.

Is it even possible to work toward apprenticeship on a part time basis? I've got my HVAC guys here right now so may ask them if he needs to some help as HVAC intrigues me. I know Humber had an online for the Stage 1 toward the license that can be done online...but anything further requires actual work experience and such.
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Talk to an accountant. I suspect it has to be a corporation to spread the income over time. As a sole-proprietor, you could keep a separate account to isolate the money but government wants some tax this year and I don't know how to do that as a sole proprietor. If you went the sole proprietor route, I would probably be quite poor at running the business and have a lot of expenses for vehicle, phone, internet, gas, etc so the business might not be that profitable.
 
GreyGhost said:
Talk to an accountant. I suspect it has to be a corporation to spread the income over time. As a sole-proprietor, you could keep a separate account to isolate the money but government wants some tax this year and I don't know how to do that as a sole proprietor. If you went the sole proprietor route, I would probably be quite poor at running the business and have a lot of expenses for vehicle, phone, internet, gas, etc so the business might not be that profitable.
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My buddy out in BC does this. Set up a corp (or 2) and takes his 300k/year income as a contractor to sprinkle the funds annually.

He also has a 'moving business' where he hires a couple of guys from a local men's shelter and helps guys make some money like that...while making a killing when he's not FIFO.

F$@k I wish I had that hustle bone.
 
mimico_polak said:
I don't want to muddy the waters here but...

@GreyGhost
Is it even possible to work toward apprenticeship on a part time basis? I've got my HVAC guys here right now so may ask them if he needs to some help as HVAC intrigues me. I know Humber had an online for the Stage 1 toward the license that can be done online...but anything further requires actual work experience and such.
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It should be possible, but iirc you need hours. So it would extend your apprenticeship.
 
GreyGhost said:
I'm assuming weekend job was not for your M-F employer? If someone plans on making a lot of money on weekends, it may be worth spinning up a company. The company gets paid for the work but you can decide when to draw it as income. You could draw it now that you have retired and tax situation is different. Or MP could hire his wife to do marketing in a calendar year she has mat leave (but not at the same time as mat leave) to extract some money with minimal tax.
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It was the same employer, was supposed to be done sat. morning but as always that dosen't happen. Replaced 3 boilers at cadet cleaners, they run 24/7. Cadet shut down for the weekend. Monday morning there was hundreds of people waiting to start work, we were not done yet. lol
 
Boiler maker question , those antique steam tractor at steam power festivals . Do those guys get an annual inspection or is it like a giant bomb? I understand most get fired up three or four times a yr and are all 100+ yrs old .


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The antique's run low pressure, so its only a small bomb. A full size high pressure boiler can take out a city block. The last woman I trained, took the underwater course in thunder bay, after my training. She had employers fighting for her. She is 26 and can afford to buy a house any where in Canada. Lol
 
It's all well and good to say you need apprentices...but you need to make the apprenticeships available and doable.

Plenty of guys I've met over the years left the trades because they couldn't get anyone to sign their apprenticeship timesheets. The old dogs are worried they'll train their guys, and they'll leave once they get their tickets. Of course they will if you don't treat them fairly. Same as everywhere else.

There was a LinkedIn 'poster' I saw once that applies to this mindset...

- What happens if we train our people and they leave?
- What happens if we don't train them and they stay?

I've also met guys that did their apprenticeship hours and then the guy sponsoring them refused to sign off on the final documentation...guess how that must've felt.
 
Welding wasn't even a trade in Ontario until we fixed that in 2003. It took 2 years of working with the TSSA and ABSA and CWB etc. The steel plants are in Ont and companies didn't want tradesman wages.
Still don't need to be a red seal to weld in Ont. but without it you won't be making big $$$ welding piping.IMG_20191120_1437284~2.jpgIMG_20190814_1810276~2.jpg
 
That's awesome @gsxr guy. I've seen some great welders on our job site and good guys. Most of them have been top notch professionals. A few shady mofos, but that's in every industry.

I've never understood why welders have the stigma of being 'prima donnas' on a job site. I see that with crane operators, but I've never seen it with welders. I've heard them complain about conditions, but that's because the companies really do not make it easier to work outdoors.
 
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