gooner_47
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Registered: 20th Jul 04
Location: Bexhill/Croydon
User status: Offline
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Like it? On good money?
My old man's a joiner, has been all his life. I've been in IT for the past five years, pretty fed up of it now tbh, fancy a shake up and wouldn't mind taking after him. He seems to like it and he's on a good wage but he's been doing it long enough...
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Mad Moe
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Registered: 14th Jun 01
Location: Northumberland
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Industry has been on it's arse with the past few years but we've seen signs of improvement recently. Wage wise you're looking at anywhere between £10-£15 depending on ability and types of work.
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Jules S
Premium Member
Registered: 24th Dec 03
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Rates seem shite at the mo.
I don't know a decent chippie under the age of 50 either.
All I see is young decent carpenters with an ounce of intelligence using the trade as a stepping stone to site management.
It does seem to be a bit of a dying trade tbh. Everything being done in the 'shop not on site 
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andys sxi
Premium Member
Registered: 19th Jan 06
Location: Chester Drives:Scirocco tdi bluemotion
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Im a joiner but we also suspended ceilings and partition Walls aswell, how old are you? You might find it had to find an apprentiship now as not many people want to take them on with how the building trade is , it seems to be getting a but better but never how it was a few years ago,
Plus an apprentice doesn't really have a minium wage you could get paid £3.00-3.50 an hour what ever your age
April 08 feature car
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gooner_47
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Registered: 20th Jul 04
Location: Bexhill/Croydon
User status: Offline
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I'm 26. How long (ish) would it take to get to an acceptable standard?
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Mad Moe
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Registered: 14th Jun 01
Location: Northumberland
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by andys sxi
Plus an apprentice doesn't really have a minium wage you could get paid £3.00-3.50 an hour what ever your age
BATJIC suggests a starting rate of £6.82/hour for apprentices over 19 years old but very few companies pay any attention to the working rule agreement these days.
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andys sxi
Premium Member
Registered: 19th Jan 06
Location: Chester Drives:Scirocco tdi bluemotion
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Depends how good you are and if your quick at learning,
I went to college 1 day a week for 2 years but I could have stayed on and done another year in roofing but our company doesn't do them and I would have struggled to get the evendience for college of me doing one so I didn't do it
April 08 feature car
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andys sxi
Premium Member
Registered: 19th Jan 06
Location: Chester Drives:Scirocco tdi bluemotion
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Mad Moe
quote:
Originally posted by andys sxi
Plus an apprentice doesn't really have a minium wage you could get paid £3.00-3.50 an hour what ever your age
BATJIC suggests a starting rate of £6.82/hour for apprentices over 19 years old but very few companies pay any attention to the working rule agreement these days.
Must have changed then when I was at college less then 2 years ago there were lads only getting paid £120 a week
April 08 feature car
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Mad Moe
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Registered: 14th Jun 01
Location: Northumberland
User status: Offline
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Apprenticeship is usually 3 years and if you stick in there's no reason you couldn't be of an acceptable standard by the end given that you work with a contractor who if willing to give you experience of various project
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Mad Moe
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Registered: 14th Jun 01
Location: Northumberland
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by andys sxi
quote:
Originally posted by Mad Moe
quote:
Originally posted by andys sxi
Plus an apprentice doesn't really have a minium wage you could get paid £3.00-3.50 an hour what ever your age
BATJIC suggests a starting rate of £6.82/hour for apprentices over 19 years old but very few companies pay any attention to the working rule agreement these days.
Must have changed then when I was at college less then 2 years ago there were lads only getting paid £120 a week
My first year apprentices make around the £120/week mark however I understand that once they reach 19 they are entitled to minimum wage even as an apprentice.
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Jules S
Premium Member
Registered: 24th Dec 03
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by andys sxi
Im a joiner but we also suspended ceilings and partition Walls
With the greatest respect...from that you don't appear to be a joiner.
Excuse me if my terminology is incorrect (i'm pretty sure it isn't)
A joiner is a craftsman/cabinetmaker/somebody who could craft a bespoke staircase...do anything with wood
A Carpenter is somebody who is an all rounder, could basically adapt to pretty much anything needed in a house.
Very few of the above do drywall/suspended ceilings IME. It seems to me the suspended ceiling guys have worked out drywall is pretty similar work to MF so they take on space fitting, and the MC love it because of the co-ordination management is bumped so a single SC.
I've got a crew of carpenters working for me who are spot on...but they moan like billy o about the rates...I'd love to say we need a new breed of woodworkers to follow on but I cant see the need 
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smcGSI16V
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Registered: 26th May 03
Location: Farnborough Drives: Thurlby 888 CDTi No.98
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Depends how good a carpenter/joiner you want to be.
For some people its very natural.
Not blowing my own trumpet, been doing it since I was 14 so 16 years and tbh I'm pretty good. Although I have moved away from it but still dabble.
I spent 4 years at college doing NVQ level 3, dont know what it is now.
Also having done new build stuff which is piss easy repair and mainteance bench joinery I've been around a bit.
Health issues forced me out of it otherwise I would still be doing it now.
The construction industry is very stagnant at the moment with regards to general stuff. Top end/bespoke/high quality stuff is still doing quite well.
Expect to be paid shit for years until you are any good/qualified. Also expect ruff hands, calusisis, hard skin on your hands, dry skin, achy and stiff joints in your fingers, dodgy elbow from to much hammering, bad knees and a fucked back.
Its not an old unfit mans game.
And also having some common sense and and problem solving skills goes a long way as there are too many young people in the game who havn't got a clue.
[Edited on 24-10-2011 by smcGSI16V]
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Jules S
Premium Member
Registered: 24th Dec 03
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by smcGSI16V
Its not an old unfit mans game.
[Edited on 24-10-2011 by smcGSI16V]
For the record....I didn't say or try to infer that.
What I did say is that the only decent chippies I know are 50+ and all of the rest of them have moved on to be finishing foremen/site managers.
On the job im doing at the mo, the only thing the site workers do is mitre architraves and scarf skirtings...literally.
Door sets/linings pre hung in the workshop, windows are ally, everything else seems to have been morphed into ceilings/walls by others (as above)
So what is left for your work a day chippie? Mitring some MDF and some grip fill?
I cant see the future in it TBH, unless you seriously get specialised ie top end joinery
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Dave
Member
Registered: 26th Feb 01
Location: Lancs
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Jules S
Rates seem shite at the mo.
I don't know a decent chippie under the age of 50 either.
All I see is young decent carpenters with an ounce of intelligence using the trade as a stepping stone to site management.
It does seem to be a bit of a dying trade tbh. Everything being done in the 'shop not on site
You don't know me then!
Also, the usual terminology is a joiner makes things and a carpenter fixes. "Joiners do windows and doors, carpenters roofs and floors"
I've been doing it just over 13 years know, I did my 3 year apprenticeship at a very good small local joinery firm where I was lucky enough to get a very good training. After 4 years there I moved to another firm who did mainly site based subcontarcting but also had a workshop too. Unfortunatley they got taken over by one of the firms we sub contracted too who went bust last year. Since then I've been self employed doing mainly sub contracting again.
It's a very difficult time to get into the trade, speaking only from my local area the firm I did my time at are no longer running and the other well established ones are not taking apprentices on at the moment. Do not be tempted to do a college only course, you will learn next to nothing and employers will not take them seriously, you need a work based apprenticeship with day release at college.
Rates have fallen back over the last few years but you can still make a decent enough living, you can usually bump your wage up with price work too and there are always people wanting foreigners doing to supplement your income.
This is a Facebook page I set up showing some of my work, it's a little old because of been subbing for the last 12 months but still some nice stuff on there.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/DCW-Carpentry-Joinery/106898399362086
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