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Finish Carpenter

mrfixitusa | Posted in General Discussion on September 23, 2005 03:42am

I’m in a large city in the midwest and I watch the newspaper help wanted ads and I’ve noticed several new home builders seem to have a lot of job openings for “Trim Carpenters” or “Finish Carpenters”.  Why is this?

Regarding job duties, I would assume a trim carpenter install the interior doors, door trim, window trim, and baseboard trim.  Are there other duties as well?

The ads offer a salary of $15 to $20 per hour which is pretty good wages.  Are there other ways of bidding for a job of this type (i.e. so much per door, or so much per linear ft, etc).

Finally, I’ve always thought finish carpentry would be a pleasant & rewarding type of job that would enable a guy to work indoors and out of the snow, etc.  Why do they have problems finding personnel to do this type of work?

Comments?

Thanks and have a good day!

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  1. dustinf | Sep 23, 2005 03:51pm | #1

    Crown moulding, door hardware, closet organizers, finish stairs, and handrails.

    Builders are always looking for trim carpenters for many reasons.  The problem is everyone thinks they can be a productive trim carpenter.  It's hard to find people that can balance speed, and quality.  Most carpenters that work quickly enough, end up making more work for builders.

    Figure out how much you want to make, figure out how long it's going to take, divide, and that is how much you should charge per hour.  Piece work is a double edge sword.  If you calculate your price correctly you can make money, but if you don't(like most people) you end up working for nothing.

  2. RW | Sep 23, 2005 08:21pm | #2

    Making a buck trimming. Possible, yes. Not easy. It's the old fight of people wanting the best work for the lowest dollar. They take low dollar and still demand top notch work out of a guy that frankly doesn't know how to do it.

    I think it puts everyone in a position of having to communicate well about what they bring to the job. And I don't mean just tools. You can get a decent trim job for small dollar. It won't be fancy, they won't problem solve little issues, the builder will have to, but it will be inexpensive, and it will look passable to your average first time homebuyer.

    Or you can go up from there. On the higher end, the trim guy(s) show and it's their joint. They need more materials, they call the yard. They find issues, they fix it. Discussing options with the client, it's theirs. When the dumpster gets full, they call the roll off company. The trim is installed, smooth, gap free, sanded. Thoughtful details are just part of the package. The only surprises is how well it turned out. Builder only gets a phone call if theres something way out of whack. And there, they set their own price. They're bringing more to the table than others, it takes more time, the detail is self evident . . . and not everyone else can pull it off.

    Which is not to say that even the "A-list" isn't a competitive place. It is. It's just competitive over different issues. Where at one of the spectrum people are weighing bids that are on a cost per sf basis, on the other, they're looking at specific skill sets and what is right for that house . . and the desire to get the most bang for the buck is still there. It's just a smaller playing field.

    Now back to your particulars, I know a few builders who retain their own trim guys. When they aren't trimming, they're doing everything else. Framing, or helping move materials, or soaking backfill . . . it's not illustrious work. But it's also not a bad place to try your hand at it. You get paid, you stay busy, and if you figure out during the course of things that you really can make it trimming, you can go out solo, and you got paid for the chance to find out if it was a good call or not.

    "If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." - Mark Twain

  3. paule38 | Sep 23, 2005 08:25pm | #3

    I'm in the OKC metro area, and there was an ad in the classifieds the other day looking for a "finish carpenter, some experience preferred" along with a phone number...how do you get to be a finish carpenter without experience to begin with??? Some experience preferred?? Does that mean I can get hired if I don't have any experience??

    If you aren't one of the one's I'm talking about,you shouldn't have any complaints....

    1. marv | Sep 23, 2005 09:00pm | #4

      how do you get to be a finish carpenter without experience to begin with???

      Habitat for Humanity.

      This year I hung doors, installed kitchen cabinets and trimmed out 4 houses.You get out of life what you put into it......minus taxes.

      Marv

  4. frenchy | Sep 23, 2005 11:42pm | #5

    mrfixitusa,

        Here is an area where the great make great wages while the aveage works in fits and starts..

        Ask yourself, can you fit crown molding on a curved base where the curve isn't smooth and perfect and have the whole thing come out perfect? 

     Do you know how to correct most problems with incorrectly installed cabinets?

      Does the idea of working with wood that can cost a years wages bother you? 

      Are you a cabinet maker at heart only you are tired of the shop?   High end trim carps around my community can make up to  6 figures a year and some even get benefits and a company truck.. To be worth that much it's 12+ hour days to finish a project on time  if that's what's called for and it's dealing with all of the above  and having the end results something the homeowner shows off to friends..

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