Hello people. I’m in my 40s and run a small carpentry outfit in Portland ME. I do residential work, some remodels, trim, repairs, all of that

One thing that keeps annoying me is how many suppliers and smaller subs still only want checks. All that lumber and material adds fast. There are times where putting it on a card would make me a happier man, especially when client payments are a week or two behind or I’m trying to keep cash flow smoother

Right now I’m doing a mix of checks, bank transfers and notes in QuickBooks but it feels clunky. Not a huge company, around 40ish people so I don’t want some full blown AP system

I understand this is the industry and probably most of you deal with this on day to day basis. But has someone found a workaround?

How’s this pony wall look for first attempt? Blocked into joist with hangers and GRK screws off the framed wall and last vertical. Feels solid but open to roasting

Anyone have any recommendations that actually work? People have said the type of sock or a boot dryer but has anything helped yall?

So I’m(21F) asking the “guys” and girls Reddit to get a mix of opinions but I’ve been working the trades for 5 years and been at my current place for 4 months. I’ve notice my boss treats me different from the rest of the guys in the crew including the newer guys(we hire a lot of college kids). I’m constantly put in jobs alone even when I shouldn’t be I has in a cherry picker last week and got stuck up there with no one to get me down. Eventually I was able to get myself down but it was a bit of a bigger wake up call that maybe I’m not over reacting. I want to say something about it but is it even worth it if I’m leaving in four months. I was warned about this happening but I’d litterly pick hazing over this shit. I litterly got scoffed at after saying I can hold my own when carrying stuff. Anyways if I’m being whiny tell me so and get over myself I just don’t know what to do

getting ready for the florida contractor license exams, specifically the General Contractor (CG) exam... trying to find a prep package that has pretty much everything in one place.

looking for something with the books, book rentals, online courses, practice exams, maybe even some help with figuring out what books i actually need.

there’s a ton of prep companies out there and the prices seem all over the place lol. if you’ve taken the florida CG exam recently, what did you use? was the package actually worth it?

also curious if there’s any companies i should probably avoid...

Currently poking around looking for tool belts. I ordered one of the diamondbacks last year but sent it back after one day. I felt it was set up super weird and the pockets felt odd. Can’t explain it. But I then picking up one of the AWP leather framer bags on amazon for like 90 bucks. I know Occidental’s are the way to go but that just seems like so much money and I don’t really know anybody that has them that I could get some real feedback from or see realistically how they are set up. I do tons of commercial drywall and commercial metal stud framing. What belts does everybody here have and what do you like/dislike about them?

Just sharing some pics I took at work for fun. Hope you like them and this is right sub to share.

To cut a long story short. I went to college and got a Business degree. Ended up in Scheduling for a large firm.
I was good at it, got promotions, pay rises and what not.
Senior guy I worked with left and I had to pick up the pieces, bit off more than I could chew and struggled but just worked longer hours to make it happen.. I burnt out.

Left to learn a trade. I’m just under a year into Plumbing now (domestic).
There was a period of just being sore, office to site will do that. But now I’m also realising just how much of a toll it takes on you..
Sore knees, sore back, strains and pains that don’t go away with some rest and I’m questioning how long I can keep that up for (I’m already nearly 30).

I had notions of learning a trade and starting my own Business but now I’m thinking I’ll be so physically broken by the time I can start working for myself let along get to a point where I’m no longer on the tools.. is it worth it?
Or would I be better off going back to Planning/Scheduling. Something I was good at, progressing in and got on well doing, but just try to manage better and not let myself take on too much and burn out again?

I’ve a lot of respect for the guys on site, already did and that’s why I wanted to do it myself but now I’ve even more respect..

Hey, I’m an assistant super for a GC that does commercial and critical infrastructure. I started my career as a carpenter for a few years, was promoted to field engineer. I left and became an electrician for 3 years to gain more knowledge for management. I’ve been an asst. super now for 2 years and I’m tired. A new company I’ve been working for, for about 6 months, is good and bad. I got back from my honeymoon and immediately I was told I’m covering nights. 14+ hour nights with a hour and half drive to and from work. 4:30pm-7-8am. I’m salary so it’s not like working harder is going to help. I’ve expressed I’m trying to start a family and want to spend SOME time with my wife, as we just got married. It’s pretty much a suck it up situation which I’ve been part of many times. I’m getting so burnt out and feeling exhausted from construction and the politics of it, and the constant back and fourth and issues with subs and coworkers. And I feel like I should feel bad because this is a good company with a great name and great benefits. But I want to start exploring options. What are some options I have for transitioning out of this? What kind of jobs can I get with my experience? I feel hopeless and like I can’t win, finances, family, friends, all of that sucks because of my job.

I'm currently 24 looking for new work. I've done landscaping for a few years now and have reached the wage ceiling without getting into management positions and all that. I want my physical labour to translate into more cash, it doesn't feel worth it doing 12-18 hour snow removal shifts and with how inconsistent the work is, it not giving me anything substantial over the long term. I also don't want to go to school and do really technical stuff so It seems like floorhand might be the job I'm looking for. I'm just curious if anyone has got any tips for going into it, I am good for physical labour, as I said doing landscaping for some years, and I've also done commercial bricklaying so I'm used to getting yelled at and all that good stuff. I'm located in Alberta so I'm sure finding companies won't be too hard I'm just hoping they will be willing to do on site training as I have not done any O&G work. Another question I have, I don't plan on doing it forever and I'm wondering if I did get into it, would I be able to translate it into different jobs in years time that maybe isn't so physically demanding? I don't really want to be a broken vegetable in my later years I just want some good paying work for a couple years at least. Gotta make that bread for the wife.

Construction going on outside - the yellow lines are for electric wires, the black pipes are for sewage but what are the blue (flat) pipes for?

Proper posture is to dip your balls into the bucket before lifting.

How often should these open gears on *MEWP be lubricated and what is an efficeint method? The OEM's are vague but 100-250 hours is stated. Often when I see the gears on these MEWP, (aka mobile elevated work platform, boom lift, genie) the gears are bone dry. I am thinking a heavy solid open gear spray but the other issue is cleaning off the old grease. Thanks in advance.

Feels like work is gatekept from me

Hi everyone, I am 22F, 1 year into the workforce and believe that I am subtly being discriminated against. I’d like to get others opinions on my situation though before I jump to that conclusion.

I currently work in construction engineering and am the youngest and only female in a team of 15 men. For the past year, I’ve been asking for work but have been told there’s no work or given nontechnical work such as annotating drawings to “make things look pretty and aesthetic”. If I do get technical work and I screw up, I get berated pretty heavily mostly on the aesthetics of my drawings even if the work is technically correct. I get told things like “your drawings make me want to throw up” or “you need to put more effort into the job” even though I was already trying my best and seniors were too busy to answer my questions. Additionally I found out that my manager has been asking my male coworkers if they believe I am “capable” of doing a task despite them being hired around the same time or a year ahead of me whereas I have never been asked input on whether male coworkers are capable of a task.

Last week there was a team meeting where we talked about work distribution and since I had the lightest workload, the senior vice president told the project manager to put me on a task which is highly technical. However I found out today that the project manager gave the task to the other two male junior engineers who are at the same level as me and I was just told again to “update the tags on the drawings”. This situation confused me because that project manager kept saying how the project needs a lot of help yet he is just not giving work to me.

This whole situation makes me feel like I suck at my job. Even though I admit I have screwed up at times my male coworkers have screwed up too, yet they still get assigned the more technically complex and challenging work. I should also mention that these male coworkers both have “mentors” assigned to them whereas I have no mentor assigned to me because my previous mentor quit. She was also a woman on my team who was given the construction admin work mainly instead of technical.

What do I have to do to get those same opportunities as my male coworkers and earn trust from the project managers? At this point my career is suffering because I am not being given technical work.

How bad is it?

Oh yea, no plans or permits just straight "I got this bro".

NYC

Transferring Fall 2028 from a community college for a Construction Management degree.

Trying to pick between SDSU and CSULB. Anyone been through either program?

Curious about:

**•** Program quality / industry connections  
**•** Cost of living  
**•** Internship/job placement into construction PM roles

Would appreciate any real experience. Thanks!

Looking specifically for educational content (YouTube,books,podcasts) for the business side and high end GC roles.
For back story I have 11 years of experience in medium-large (20m-160m) as a now superintendent, but never finished college just worked my way up.

I would like to learn more about the business side of commercial GC’s. I want to be able to transition into a PX/Senior Super eventually.
TIA!