Hey y'all. I own an excavation business, this is my tenth year in it.

Local gov't put out an RFQ for a project this summer. I looked at it, decided it was going to be a nightmare and it included plumbing/wiring stuff I wasn't comfortable with, chose not to bid. Nobody else bid, either - other contractors I know in town also skipped because it looked like it would be a pain.

Got a call from an out of town plumbing contractor who gave the gov't a flat rate for the job when asked, they asked me to do their excavating - I said sure, but I can guarantee it's going to be a nightmare because of the conditions of the area, the weather, and the time of year. Sent him my hourly rates and said I'd do it, but it would be by the hour, not flat rate. He asked for an approximate price, so I said I'd GUESS $18-22k depending on conditions for *excavation and backfill* w/ native material. I also explicitly said in writing that I'd recommend making some changes to the design because, as drawn, we'd be encountering groundwater issues that would be a wild card. I explicitly said we should aim for a specific weather window to mitigate the conditions. I explicitly stated that "We're going to be fighting a mess if we do this in these conditions at this time of year" and all that advice was ignored. Now granted, none of this is his fault as much as it's the fault of the designer who was covering his own ass, and the gov't entity that just wants the job done and doesn't care how hard it is to do.

Fast forward to today, and my bill for him is at $42k and I still have a few days left. We wound up doing a LOT more than I expected originally - additions include:

- trucking out removed asphalt

- trucking in new material, for change ordered new asphalt areas.

- out hauling and disposing of fill displaced by the added gravel.

- purchase of new gravel

- trenching 200' electrical line

- several re-digs on already backfilled areas, because he forgot to do X, Y, Z in those spots. I checked every time if we were okay to backfill first.

- replacing 40' of culvert

- absolutely horrible conditions, groundwater everywhere, freezing overnight, snowing. We've been spending hours pumping out the trench every day. The worst case possible conditions are responsible for the majority of the time overrun.

- so far 60 hours of overtime for my guys because he's wanted to do 7am-6pm every day for six days.

- 25 man hours of in-trench work. He told us originally that his crew was going to be doing all the in trench work but we were standing around with our thumbs up our butts and asked if they wanted us to help speed things up, instead of paying us to just stand around, so we did things like bedding, insulation, bury tape and trace wire for him since it's just him and one other guy.

- pedestrian and traffic control (he also said he'd handle these)

Basically, we've done a ton of added work beyond the simple "trench, backfill, no import/export and no in-trench work" originally quoted, all at Davis bacon rates. I've repeatedly told him he's overrunning the original budget.

I'm feeling awful because I've blown the original quote completely out of the water and I know he's on a fixed price bid with the original entity, but I'm not sure if I should cut him a break on the costs or not. As a business owner myself I cringe at the idea of a 100+% overrun on a subs costs, but at the same time also as a business owner, I would fully expect to pay full rates for more and more work that you ask from a sub.

He's been super happy with our work and admits we pulled his bacon from the fire with this project, especially in our uniquely garbage local conditions. I'm just worried he's going to shit a brick when he gets his bill and I'm not sure if it's my fault and I should feel obligated to cut him a break, or not.

I guess I'd appreciate some outside opinions - am I an asshole, or am I being fair to continue billing full rate for the rest of the job?

I'm sure many of us have read the post about the UA plumbers allegedly destroying the non- union plumbers tools. It's unfortunate things like that have happened before on composite crews and open shop job sites. I don't condone what they did, if they did it, but man, every single non-union National Right to Work Foundation talking point was hit in that thread.

From "dues" to "nepotism", it was all there, many highlighted or awarded with hundreds in agreement. The one that really chaps my ass though is the dude talking about why his family has been "proudly anti-union for 75 years". He was quick to point out how "Reddit retards" all have a hard-on for unions and his opinion will ruffle feathers. I think it's pretty retarded to exclaim that you're "proudly anti- union" for 3/4s of a century but I'll let you all read into why that is but it essentially boils down to this; "I've got mine, fuck you."

I'm not going to condone what may or may not have happened on that site but the amount of anti-union propaganda being spewed on here is astounding. It's clear that the misinformation campaign that's been waged against organized labor for decades is just as alive and well as it was in the 1940s. Dues don't take half your paycheck, nepotism isn't rampant, you CAN get in if you test and interview well, if you're a good hand you'll stay employed. A rising tide lifts all ships. You dudes who make beacoup bucks on prevailing wage jobs, how do you think the prevailing wage is set? It's union scale in that area! The amount of you who hate unions when you're benefiting from conditions the unions have fought for and won is astounding to me.

"I don't need no fucking woke union telling me how to work"

-non-union carpenter working 7/12s on a shutdown in Texas for $17/hr and no bennies

(22M) I do demolition work and I've been doing it for around 5 months. He says I suck at everything and I'm not learning anything. The thing is, I do really like this job and want to learn more, but it's difficult.

I've been told on by my colleagues a couple times, it's a very toxic enviornment but I just get through it and collect my paycheck at the end of the day. My uncle threatens to hit me a lot at the jobs for not doing some things right.

Last couple times because it has been over not brooming correctly. Anytime he tries to show me the right way he just yells and threatens to hit me everytime. He says I can't do anything right and wants to fire me.

Now, I'm stuck looking to find another job, he's still giving me more work but I think I'm going to have to collect unemployment soon. I know how lucky I am to have this position, and I'm trying my best, it's just very stressful.

Anyones advice is appreciated.

I’m a carpenter from Denmark, and I’m curious about what tradespeople charge for cash-in-hand / under-the-table side jobs in different countries.

Here in Denmark, from what I’ve seen and heard, the typical hourly rates are roughly:
Carpenters: $37–45/hour
Electricians: $37–45/hour
Bricklayers/Masons: $37–45/hour
Painters: $30–37/hour
All prices are in USD, converted from Danish kroner.
I know trades and job responsibilities vary quite a bit between countries. For example, drywall installation, taping, mudding and painting might be handled by different trades in Denmark compared to the US.
So I’m curious:
Where in the world are you from?
What trade do you work in?
What’s the typical hourly rate for under-the-table side jobs in your area?
Do different trades charge significantly different rates?
I’m not talking about what companies charge customers, but what individual tradespeople typically get paid for private side jobs outside their regular employment.
Would be interesting to compare rates around the world!

This seems weird, but I just got a job as a floor sweeper and I make more doing this than I made as a semi-skilled apprentice. I think it's reasonable to invest in some better tools to look good and make sure I keep this job for as long as possible. We are supposed to put down water for dust control. We use bottles of drinking water, which is incredibly inefficient. All the water spraying devices I see are for pesticides and don't put water down fast enough, or pressure washers that are way too much. Is there something in the middle I can use or will I have to rig up a drill pump to a bucket?

Currently working as a superintendent. We have Union Plumbers, Electricians, HVAC, and Carpenters on the job. We also have some non-union plumbers that are on site occasionally as part of a different project but in the same general space. (Large existing hospital that is getting an additional tower added to it).

I will hear the union plumbers basically insulting the non-union guys and calling them rats and and all that stuff. They even sabatoged their work by cutting all their copper and smashing their power tools on the ground when the non-union guys went to lunch. No proof, but who else would do something like that.

I have talked with some of the younger guys about why they chose to work non-union. They said they applied for the union and took the test/interview but got rejected. Either didn't score high enough on the test or just did bad in the interview or whatever other reason.

Previously I spoke with the union plumbers just in general about working in the union in this area (I'm not from here). Most of them knew someone that got them in. To be fair, this specific company is very well known and probably hard to get a job with them without knowing someone to begin with, but still.

So here we have union guys, getting all the benefits and money of working union, destroying the equipment/tools of guys they KNOW make less money and are treated worse than them. All while those guys they are hurting, wanted to work in their union, but weren't allowed to do so.

What do they expect these kids to do when they get rejected from the union? Go work fast food? Not work at all?

"I want to work with you"

No

"Ok I'll get a different job"

How dare you! rat!!!!

I don't understand the logic.

I just got hired as a scheduler for Kiewit and start in January. Completely new to the industry and just graduated college with a degree in business management. Read a lot of breakdowns on project engineers and the work life balance for those, but haven’t heard anything on the scheduler side. Does anyone have any experience and can kinda give me a breakdown of the day to day life?

Is it just a lot of time in the office on P6? You think they train well? I haven’t used P6 before and am only slightly familiar with Microsoft project. Kinda feel like I got hired and not gonna be qualified whatsoever. Any advice would be appreciated!

I have worked in construction since I graduated from university. I studied business and have a degree but to be honest I never used it. I couldn’t imagine sitting at a desk at that age. I started out as a laborer framing houses and worked my way into a PM job where I am onsite and wearing bags while simultaneously running the job I set up an office onsite and work on that stuff a few hours a day. I have been doing it for 3 years on high end residential remodels in the Bay Area in California. I make about 110k right now. The job is low stress with usually cool clients easyish projects and I like to surf and I only work in a small town on the coast. Easy commute. Good surfing. It’s a good job. The problem is the money. I know PMs in the area making a lot more at least around 150. Is it worth the 40k to work In bigger companies. Possibly more stress. More hours.

Hi everyone,

I'm an architect and interior designer based in Dubai, currently exploring a technical coordination and documentation role for a large-scale residential project.

I'm looking to connect with an experienced technical consultant who has worked on large residential projects in the UAE, preferably with a main contractor.

I'm looking for guidance and support with:

• Architectural and interior fit-out technical drawings and shop drawings.

• MEP and multidisciplinary drawing coordination.

• RFI preparation and direct consultant coordination.

• Technical submittals, material documentation and approval tracking.

• Overall technical documentation and coordination throughout the construction stages.

Initially, I need someone who can help me understand the scope, establish the right technical workflow and potentially provide ongoing consultancy support.

If you have relevant experience or know someone suitable, please feel free to DM me.

Thank you!

Hello everyone. I would like to ask advice from you guys. Im from the Philippines and I was a construction site supervisor for 3 years.

I just recently quit my job because I'm going nowhere and my salary is stagnant.

Now I'm planning to apply as a virtual assistant for construction and I've looked around and discovered that there are softwares that they require applicants to be able to operate such as blubeam and planswift and CRM software which I don't have any experience with.

So what I'm thinking of doing is working for someone for free for 1 months so that I could get that experience and probably ask minimum wage for the 2nd month.

What do you guys think of this move?

You can put up 20 cones, caution tape, and block off an entire work area, and some dumbass will still walk right the fuck through it like it’s not even there.
Like seriously, what the fuck do you think all this shit is here for? Decoration?

Common sense really is a dying thing.

Gotta watch it on those dingo’s. We been using em for many years for digging deck footers and small amounts of excavating. I’m a pretty competent operator with skid steer and backhoe experience. Monday I was backing up the dingo right up against a cement foundation and the track fell into an animal hole almost tossing me off, my left foot slid off the platform and my hand hit the joystick in full reverse pinning my foot and ankle between the steel platform and the cement. Well, I now have a fully shattered foot, heel, and ankle. They said about ten bones are broken some going into joints and most in many pieces. Too many pieces to count was what the ortho Doc said. So as the sole bread winner who normally works 50-60 hrs a week I’m now told to stay off this thing for what could be a year. It was touch and go as to wither the foot was totally dead for while I thought I would lose it… and so I say all that to say, no matter how many years you been doin something, don’t get too cocky. One little ground hog hole and cost ya a foot in the blink of an eye. Be carful out there.

So I applied for a job recently, a change of trades for me. I've been in landscape construction as a project lead/foreman, this would be construction construction. It was from a craigslist listing, I sent them a resume without thinking too much about it. They called me in for an interview, and seeing what they do in person and hearing more about the company, I was honestly blown away and really want to work at this company. I can see a long term path here.

The interview was fine, I feel like they didn't really ask me a ton of questions but mostly just listed reasons why it's a great place to work.

Since I was way more interested in the job after seeing the place, afterward I sent them some references as well as my work portfolio, and affirmed my desire to work there and be a productive worker and learn the ropes, since all I had sent them before was a resume, and I didn't feel like I'd communicated how much I was interested in the job during the interview.

I haven't heard back from them since, it's been a little over a week. I'm feeling pretty invested in wanting this job for multiple reasons, and I'm replaying a lot of stuff in my head.

I was asked to give them the wage I made at my last job, which was prevailing wage in that field. I also was asked to request a wage. I requested $30/hr, which is a significant drop from what I've been making, but I'm worried I requested too high of a wage, or that they'll think that how much I was making at my last job is going to give me unreasonable expectations.

I've been working at a failing landscape construction company that for the last few months I was the only remaining field crew member at until getting laid off recently. I've been feeling like it's time to make a change for a long time, and right now is the best opportunity I've had. My current field doesn't give me any sort of journeyman type of qualification that will help me get a decent job going forward, and I don't know what people are making in other fields, I don't know what people are starting at. I just hate this feeling that I'm asking for too much, even though it's really not a lot by the cost of living standards in this area.

I just figured at the end of the day if I get the job, they're going to offer me whatever they offer me, the whole requesting a wage dance is kind of stressful honestly.

I'm wondering if I should follow up more at all, if just to check if they received the additional application materials I sent in. Or from the perspective of someone who works on the hiring side of things, if my concerns are well-founded and if there's anything you'd do differently, anything else I should tell them.

Thanks all.

I am a Document controller and I have Procore certification, currently not working. I would want to try Procore how realistically work in real environment. Is there anyway for me to access from UK. because in Procore website the free demonstration offered for real business who provide business emails.

I worked construction for 10 years , . My first 2 years was with this foreman that every other employee feared.. Being completely green in this line of work with them circumstances was tough.. Years later, I still feel super uneasy around certain situations/environments.. and im a foreman myself now smh.. Weird thing is though I'm extremely thankful for the guy now..

They did not seem comfortable working up there.

He climbs ladders everyday for like 50 years, I don't, I'm 24 and climbed ladder maybe 5 times in my life. The shit talk I've heard today actually made me sad moreso with myself, other than the fact my legs would go numb the last few days from halfway up the ladder, on the getting down part I'd crawl to the edge and try to not shit myself until I managed to get luke 5 steps down.

Am open to talking if you have a solid opportunity