A question from someone who knows basically squat about anything related to building homes (fine or otherwise):
How did you learn what you know now? Books? School? Just jump right into it on a personal project? Work/apprenticeship?
scott
A question from someone who knows basically squat about anything related to building homes (fine or otherwise):
How did you learn what you know now? Books? School? Just jump right into it on a personal project? Work/apprenticeship?
scott
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Replies
All the above.
Hellava fine school right here.
Edited 5/21/2003 3:42:46 AM ET by IMERC
What you doin up this time of morning?
Tried to reply right off to you this morning but every reply disappeared when I hit post. Maybe things will fly now.
I'm on a learning curve.
Trying to learn how to read the client's mind and whims. Translate a mystic thought process into 3 dimensional reality. These are good people and I've known and done for them for a number of years but their comprehension of the mechanics of a screw totally escapes them. Add a screw driver to the picture and that really complicates things. CO's on top of CO's and we haven't made it to design or engineering yet. The main doors have gone from 4/0-7/0 w/ lites to 6/0-12/0's w/ side lites. (4 changes) This has upset the rendering artist. She needs to learn how to relax.
Glazing has become a nightmare. Trapezoidal and arched (a given). Which open and which don't. Placement and how many has become an issue. Need to learn beast control on that one.
Last Monday took on a mid 1700's hotel restoration working from period pictures. Rain and snow and snow and rain with teen temps. The place has to be dried in before much can get under way. Learning how to work against mom nature and the odds.
Gotta relearn wood grading. Ordered 2800 BF of New Zealand D pine and most of looked like crate lumber culls. The lumber yard rejected all of it and reordered. Learned that they could be relied on a long time ago. The reception desk / counter is to be black cherry. Lots of brass and iron work. This morning I was learning more about brass / iron working and forging.
Ordered a CAD operated profile grinder, it's late of course. Guess I gotta learn how to tell time and the difference between the 3rd week of April and the 1st week of June. Gotta learn how to play with the new toy too.
Something came up early last week that knocked one of the wheels off of the apple cart and turned the horse loose. Learning to get around that nonsense.
Try to learn how to take say maybe 36/12 and compress it into 24/7.
Other than using R&R time for work..... Not much other than being over tired and cantankerous.
All of the above.
Learned from my Dad and various Uncles as I grew up.
Summer jobs.
Trying things on my own and getting in over my head. (Hasn't everybody done that at least once?)
Listening to customers.
Asking questions about how and why whenever I had a chance.
Breaktime.
The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them.
P.L. I started out as a material handler on a 15 man framing crew, stayed on after everyone else left and tried to figure out what was done that day and then went to the books . After a couple of weeks the ''big " boss came by and thought I was stealing material until he saw my notebook and I let him read it . He said "you really are serious " , the next day the lead man gave me a canvas nail apron and told me to buy a straight claw hammer and tape measure when payday came. The key question here is are you "serious"? The other day I picked up an 18ft 2x12 ,and somehow I don't remember them being quite so heavy but 25yrs plus brought back memories of my first day and how much I wanted to learn. I still drive by those first buildings and still remember some of the measuments and I still get a strange feeling when I put my hand on the truck door at the end of the day and turn around and see what was accomplished . Go for it , do it anyway you can , be serious and help will come.
I did it backwards .......... School of Hard Knocks and then returned to school after many years. Now I know just enough to get myself in trouble. <g> Along the way I was fortunate enough to work for a friend who cared enough (and still does) about doing good work. It opened my eyes. If I had it to do over again, school first and then work. As my friend says, school taught him how to do it right. School gives you a good base to start from. Many technical/community colleges have excellent courses and programs. The business aspect is covered as well, something I wished I'd had when I first picked up a hammer. It certainly isn't the only way to go about it; there are many successful people who haven't gone near a school but in my case I think it would have made the journey a lot easier.
No apprenticeship or school related to construction. College, yes. But at that point I had no real idea what I eventually wanted to do. Not all that uncommon, I think.
When I finally realized where my interests were, there were books, more books, and more books combined with a lot of study and a lot of hands-on doing. That includes books on virtually every facet of home construction.
In my early twenties, when so many people headed down to the bar after work, I went home to hit the books or stayed working on projects, frequently enough until 10:30…….sometimes midnight and beyond. That may not sound like much fun, but I grew up on a farm where long hours and hard work were the rule, not the exception. A diverse array of knowledge and skills were also necessary to keep things running efficiently and profitably.
I came at home construction in sort of a backasswards fashion, I guess. My brother and I ran a custom furniture and cabinet shop for eight years before I sold out my half, moved and set my own business. By then, I was getting a bit bored with doing just cabinets, furniture and architectural millwork and so decided I might like to try my hand at building the structures that house these things, as well.
No matter the route that any successful person has personally taken to get where they are today, I think you'll find the same common attributes in these individuals: desire, discipline, good attitude, and fortitude.
If you're interested in suggestions for study materials, you'll have to tell us and suggestions will be forthcoming, I'm sure.
Knowledge is power, but only if applied in a timely fashion.
Edited 5/21/2003 12:04:46 PM ET by GOLDHILLER
I got most of the technical knowledge from reading books as a kid. Then when I got a bit older, I bought a few good hand tools and started building projects and fixing stuff around the house. Now I've been framing professionally for over a year, and the practical knowledge is even more immense than the book education; i.e., there's always a situation that the book has no coverage of. However, knowing several ways to do the same thing (and the right way to do it) is very helpful. I've also been a memer of this forum for about a year now, and it's been instrumental in increasing my knowledge of framing and other building related topics.
Quality before Quantity
Pop, grand-dad, both pretty good with tools. Worked part time at a cabinet shop when I was 15, started going out with the lead guy to job sites. I got to be the one who always went looking for the board stretcher in the truck box. (It's right next to the sky hook, might have to move the bucket of ballast out of the way to see it though). Facility maintenance all through the university experience. Learned a lot more at work than in class, had a great boss, still friends. Spent time in the AF, needed stress relief, started making furniture for myself. Pretty soon I spent most of my off duty time making furniture for others. Somewhere along the way I left and decided the time was right to hang the sign out. I'll always learn more. Stick to what I know, expand slowly.
"The child is grown / The dream is gone / And I have become / Comfortably numb " lyrics by Roger Waters
Wow! that's a big open ended question!
For me, it has a little to do with the way I'm wired.
When they put me together at the builder factory, they put in an experimental silicon chip. It kind of works together with my processor and my RAM in such a way that whenever a question is posed and left unanswered, it spins up to create a vacumn vortex that sucks in knowledge. When enough information is gathered to formulate an understanding of how or why, that theory folder is packed away into the hard drive until I have a chance to test it or talk aboput it to compare experiences with other similar builder robots.
LOL
Actually, I really do love to learn but I could never sit still in school because my hands had to be busy. I probably learned more in my earliest years of construction by watching the guys who seemed to do good work and knew what they were doing while I did my assigned grunt work. If nobody could answer my questions, I would read a book.
One of the lessons my Dad taught me when I was very young was that everything worth knowing has been written down someplace. He said that if I would learn how to read and study, I would be able to learn anything in the world.
Associating yourself with others who know more and who are willing to share that knowledge is a way to pick things up by osmosis. Show yourself willing to learn. If you come across as already knowing it all, nobody will waste the effort to teach you anything.
Excellence is its own reward!
several years ago i was director of a counseling program for teenage fathers. we had to do some remodeling in the clinic to grow so i was put in charge of the project. during the various phases of the project i found myself strangely drawn to the day to day , visible progress and the comradere and satisfaction of the crew on site and was envious of their skills. soon being on call, board meetings, public appearances and coalition building with groups and agencies i didn't really want to engage with had lost all appeal. at the same time, on the eve of his death bed, my father says to me,"and never forget how to use your hands". the next day he died. and shortly after that i left a comfortable $40,000.00 a year job and went to work as a grunt laborer on a construction site making $8.00 an hour. let me tell you it was quite the change and wasn't easy on many levels. but i've never looked back. gradually i started buying tools, books, and i found videos to be most helpful to my learning style. and of course if you are really hard up to learn there is always the do it yourself classes at the Depot. but take THAT with a big grain of salt. most importantly have fun creating beautiful things.
I was like you once. Until about 10 yrs ago I couldn't tell you what R19 meant on Insulation or what a 2x was for (get it,what's a 2x for?). Had not the slightest interest in construction, never ever was around it to even be influenced. I started making crafts for my wife out of wood. Next thing you know this consuming passion came over me to learn everything about construction remodeling. Then the house I was renting was bought by a remodeler and he sealed my fate.
I have another job, as a software engineer, but it's not my thing any more. I'd rather be doing construction/remodeling any day. As to how learned....no school. Basically I had friends who knew the stuff and they started asking me onto jobs (they're software people also, but work on the side in evenings). I read as many books as I can. Don't feel stupid reading those cheap generic DIY books, they educate you very well on the essential basics to any type of construction you want to learn. Also subscribe to Fine Homebuilding. DON'T SETTLE FOR DOING THINGS HALF-ASSED. Thereis a right way, cheap way, and wrong way of doing things. NEVER chooose the latter two if you want to keep good customers. Fine Homebuilding is great because most of us who value the magazine are of the variety who actually gives a damn to do the job right, with skill, confidence and a guarantee worth banking on. If you're seriouis about this business of learning, learn howto do it right. There are tons of yahoos out there you'll benefit from by doing the good job they refuse to do. If you want to break into your own business...go for it. I'm in the process of that now.
AS to more advice.....do little projects. for example rewire a room you're remodeling, call up the local electrical inspector, show him you want to learn it right, he'll help you...they're a great resource of learning as opposed to reading the NEC for things you should only read when you have insomnia. Keep calling him for minor electrical projects, build that repoire. Do the same with your building inspector. Another great repoire is to be built there with him. Ask questions, get the stupidity outof the way and they'll love you for it. :)
finally the best advice is to just do it and make mistakes. When you can do things yourself you can afford to make mistakes. Puta wall up wrong, tear it down and do it again. Buy yourself a bag of copper fittings, a cheap torch, practice soldering. You'll learn tips and tricks when you do, especially when it doesn't work like the book says...they're cheap mistakes that will make you as good as a pro when you're done. DON'T be intimidated. I am one who is intimidated easily. I'd used to run at the thought of installing a main electric service. Now, about 30 main service installations later, it was foolish to be afraid, it just took learning patience, hands on with someone who knew how to do it and cared enough to show you. The best experience is OJT stuff. I can't tell you how many weird bizarre crap I've seen out there in other homes. You will constantly run into "non textbook" problems. A lot of such problems are intimidating, but apply common sense and the solution can be quite easy. From blatant violations to total carelessness, you'll be amazed at all the jerry-rigging out there. That's good for you if you plan to make money at this. Do a good job, guarantee your work, and word of mouth will be your friend and keep you hopping. At the end of every day the reward you'll feel is overwhelming to know you fixed someones leak, or that you knew enough to donate your labor to someone in need who couldn't afford to pay you. Good deeds can also be your friend (or curse so be wise).
Finally again, for inspiration, go to one of the big boxes and look at those pallets of 2x4s and wonder what those 2x's could be used for. Dream that they can make a home for someones family, perhaps yours. Dream that you can take copper pipe and or ducting and install heat for someones home. Dream that you can tile a floor and know that every day it is walked on providing comfort and luxury over plain linoleum. NEVER EVER think you can't do a particular project. No way!!!! You CAN do anything, I've proven it. Today I have absolutely NO intimidation about any type of project no matter what it is. Knowing the basics,a nd being good at them will get you through just about anything. The pay is it's own reward, but in this business there is WAY too many more rewards. it's a matter of perspective and how you choose to view it. You can become a lowdown yahoo that are a dime a dozen or you can do things right, collect decent pay, and build not only for others, but a name for yourself others will seek.
good luck!!!