Hard to find people to work these days.

[winchester85]

I am a framing contractor in western colorado, been here since 1987. I have 2 houses to do this summer at the same time, both are about 3500 sqft, and side by side. I have two ads on craigslist looking for guys but the responses i get are disappointing. Framing is not an old guy sport, it is physically demanding and that most times means that guys in their 20' and 30's are what I look for. I have only had 3 younger guys respond to the ad in the last couple weeks, one had virtually no experience but wanted $20 an hour. The other two sound like they will work out, if they are still looking for a job when these houses start in mid June.
Most of the guys that are calling me are late 30's to 50's, all want $30 an hour or more, some have lots of experience, but have not framed in years. Some are not framers at all, but rather handymen or interior trim guys. While we all work with wood, most interior guys are NOT good framers. Some can do it, but I have never seen an interior guy hustle like a framer needs to. I have no problem with late 30's and even into mid 40's. Last year I hired a guy who was 58 and he swore up and down that he was a hard worker and really got stuff done. Early on the first day he actually asked me to go fetch him some nails because he did not want to climb out of the basement to get them himself, I was doing layout on a steel beam 12' off the basement floor, obviously busy. He just wanted to stand at a cut table and wait for stuff to cut. I paid him at the end of the day and said no thanks, he wanted $28 an hour.

The bids I have on these houses are the same numbers that i was getting back in 2000 and 2001. But the workers want the same money they were making in 2007 when things were going bananas!

I just talked to a friend who runs a home building business in Illinois and he said he has exactly the same problem, no younger people wanted to learn the trade, and anybody that does want a job wants top dollar.
Is this problem nationwide, or is it just in a few places?

Anyone got a nephew, son, grandson, or know any healthy person that WANTS to work hard and be proud of what they do everyday?

[C. Latch]

I tried to hire someone a few months ago for a 3-month gig.

First question from the first applicant: 'Does this job come with insurance?'.

Next applicant: 'I only need a job for a week'.

I consider myself very fortunate to have found the third applicant. 26 years old and works his tail off every day.

[Magana559]

What are you paying per day/hour?

[DHurtig]

Maybe you should put an ad in my local newspaper. Employers around here squeal like a pig if they have to pay $12 an hour. Most jobs here start at $8 or $9 an hour.

[9w1911]

I am having a very hard time finding work

[onceabull]

Almost all the framers working here during the boom went back to Mexico..Those that didn't were recent parolees... Onceabull

[plmitch]

There is a shortage of good framers around here( silicon valley) too mostly because there is so much new construction going on. I'm having to pay most of my framers and roofers top dollar to keep them from jumping ship.

[plmitch]

Maybe you should put an ad in my local newspaper. Employers around here squeal like a pig if they have to pay $12 an hour. Most jobs here start at $8 or $9 an hour.

I can't find unskilled laborers for those wages ......

[DrtRacr09]

I do dirt work and run into the same problem finding equipment operators. Hard to find anybody that will work five days a week anymore, just want there forty and done. Only problem with that is, it's never four consecutive days. It seems most want to work just long enough so they can get back on unemployment.
Once in awhile there is a few diamonds in the rough, young ambitious fellows willing to learn, good work ethics, and then comes hunting season, haha.

[dkf]

Younger people have been having the "must go to college" thing pounded into them throughout school. The people doing the pounding often look down on the trades and the people whom do them for a living. I have been through it myself. Graduating class in the college I went to for machining was 9 people. Computer related was over 30. All 9 of us left with jobs in the field, 2 of the computer guys had jobs in their field when they left.

[leeggen]

Try going to the high school/vocational schools and talk to the instructer that teached the construction classes. They may have some excellent students that would fit in.
CD

[bayjoe]

You tried putting an ad on the board down on the reservation? A lot of those young Indian men might want to work for a few months.

[chsparkman]

Younger people have been having the "must go to college" thing pounded into them throughout school. The people doing the pounding often look down on the trades and the people whom do them for a living. I have been through it myself. Graduating class in the college I went to for machining was 9 people. Computer related was over 30. All 9 of us left with jobs in the field, 2 of the computer guys had jobs in their field when they left.

This is exactly right. I teach math at a high school. Everyone thinks they're going to college and most have never done anything with their hands and they don't want to.

[00buck]

I'm 56 and I'll frame circles around you and those younger guys

yeah.. I know how to frame a curved wall

ok.. I feel better now

[clownbear69]

OP if I was closer to CO (and not have to be a stay at home dad) I'd work for ya. Cheap enough to because I don't know how to frame.

ETA: I'm 25

[freebullet]

Same story here. The only people willing to work hard physically are illegals or so slow they aren't worth what they want. The unskilled laborers want technician pay and want you to listen to them cry about their problems and how hard the job is while they work at a snails pace.

When we do water damage restoration projects its usually an emergency. I struggle to find decent labor at 20+$ per hr in cash. I've seen elderly women work harder then most young guys will today. I reward the good ones well when I find one. Lazy cry babies is the new normal, sad but true.

[labradigger1]

I disagree that trim carpenters are NOT good framers, i am 41, have been a carpenter for 24 years. I prefer trim because i excell at it but i am a darn good framer as well. As far as hustle i have a pace that is faster than most peoples. I am not looking for work as i have a full time job and a home i am working on to flip on the weekends. You are correct that most younger people are lazy. Imho most are lazy, stupid and want it handed to them. Sad to say but these are the same people thatthat will be running this country one day. Lord help us all.
Lab

[winchester85]

i offer a guy with minimal experience a starting wage of $15 an hour. if they work hard, don't argue with me about how i want it done, show up everyday and dont try to rip me off i give them more. then at the end of the job i give a bonus to those that actually worked hard and had a good attitude.
my ad says that i need a couple of guys to assemble walls, floors, roof, etc... i just got a message from a guy that has 30 years experience, in his message he says that he can run my job from the ground up. if i dont need that, that he can read drawings and order material. except the ad specifically says that i do NOT need someone to run my job, and i am not interested in piecing it out. so apparently he did not bother to read the ad. oh, and he said he would need AT LEAST $35 to $37 and hour. i guess he will have to go on unemployment when his current job ends.

i am sure there are exceptions to the rule, but every time i give one of these guys a shot, they prove what i believe. they dont have the hustle, they don't know as much as they think. i tell them that i am not looking for someone to run the job, that i do that. that i only need guys to actually put stuff together. they tell me how fast they are, how hard they work, and how they have every tool needed. i explain that the job pays $18 to $20 an hour for good hard workers that know what they are doing, they say they understand and just want to work. but then after a one day of banging nails or running ply, they try to stand around or "run" the job.

i already tried the local high school's class where they teach kids trades. the teacher himself said he was looking for something this summer, but when i offered for him to come work for me, he told me he was out of town all summer. and that anyone in his class that was any good had already got something set up.



part of the problem is that some of these people work for friends or family and get paid way more than they are worth, then when they go out to look for a job they expect the same high wage and no accountability.

[plmitch]

Hammer slingers are a dying breed ...........

[Love Life]

Sheeoot. I've shoveled horse dookie all day for less pay than that.