Construction career questions

CianIRL

Few qs on construction.working on a construction site to me seems like a good atmosphere to work in and seems to be a nice career choice. Has anyone on these forums worked in construction before and if so what was there exorierence with it, what are the working hours like, holidays, what jobs do you actually do, stressfull. Etc. sound

randylonghorn

Moved from Leaving Cert C&JD - not really getting any traction over there!

CianIRL

randylonghorn wrote: »

Moved from Leaving Cert C&JD - not really getting any traction over there!

Anywhere you could recommend I repost this? Was hoping I could get some answers, thanks!

randylonghorn

CianIRL wrote: »

Anywhere you could recommend I repost this? Was hoping I could get some answers, thanks!

Well, I moved it to Work and Jobs as my best guess ... unless anyone here has better suggestions?

HoggyRS

CianIRL wrote: »

Few qs on construction.working on a construction site to me seems like a good atmosphere to work in and seems to be a nice career choice. Has anyone on these forums worked in construction before and if so what was there exorierence with it, what are the working hours like, holidays, what jobs do you actually do, stressfull. Etc. sound

What role in construction are you interested in?

Atmosphere is good alrite and you can have good craic and the work can be interesting. However the great majority of work (from a trade perspective) is physically demanding and can be tough on the body.

Most sites work a standard: 8am to half 4 mon to thurs and a half 3 friday but it can vary from site to site but thats fairly standard. Sometimes you'll be expected to work overtime, weekends etc.

Major downside: unreliability of work. The industry is all ups and downs, famine and feasts of work. You might spend weeks working all the hours overtime and weekends and one week your told theres nothing for you goodbye and good luck! You'll also need to travel as work isnt always gonna be on ur doorstep.

CianIRL

randylonghorn wrote: »

Well, I moved it to Work and Jobs as my best guess ... unless anyone here has better suggestions?

Sounds good thanks

CianIRL

HoggyRS wrote: »

What role in construction are you interested in?

Atmosphere is good alrite and you can have good craic and the work can be interesting. However the great majority of work (from a trade perspective) is physically demanding and can be tough on the body.

Most sites work a standard: 8am to half 4 mon to thurs and a half 3 friday but it can vary from site to site but thats fairly standard. Sometimes you'll be expected to work overtime, weekends etc.

Major downside: unreliability of work. The industry is all ups and downs, famine and feasts of work. You might spend weeks working all the hours overtime and weekends and one week your told theres nothing for you goodbye and good luck! You'll also need to travel as work isnt always gonna be on ur doorstep.

Thanks for the reply. honestly not sure what particular role. Are construction sites and building sites the same thing(houses being built currently beside my house and there's a good amount of workers doing various tasks on the site). Is everyone on a site usually skilled in a particular area rather than someone who caries out multiple tasks on the site? Cheers appreciate the help

Tails142

Construction is a young man's game, it's ok for young lads but what happens when you get to 50, will you even have a pension built up to retire at 70, which will be the retirement age for state pension in all likelihood

To answer one of your questions, yes generally everyone is specialised. You have roofers, brickies, carpenter's, electricians etc. Might be a few guys doing general labouring digging holes or working on foundations or footpaths.

Maybe look at picking up a trade by getting an apprenticeship, electrician could be a nice one. Try think of one that you won't be breaking your back at and still trying to work in 30 or 40 years time. Machine or excavator driver could be a nice one.

Aim even higher and go to college to become an engineer would be my advice if construction is your interest. Then again, plenty of engineers would tell you they wish they had bought a machine at 18 and got working on it, many a millionaire started out like that.

HoggyRS

CianIRL wrote: »

Thanks for the reply. honestly not sure what particular role. Are construction sites and building sites the same thing(houses being built currently beside my house and there's a good amount of workers doing various tasks on the site). Is everyone on a site usually skilled in a particular area rather than someone who caries out multiple tasks on the site? Cheers appreciate the help

http://fas.ie/en/Training/Apprenticeships/Apprenticeship+Listings/default.htm

Thats a list of all the current trade apprenticeships that solas teach, might be worth a look and see what interests you.

Yeah construction and building sites just interchangeable terms for the same thing!

Most people on site have a trade or are serving an apprenticeship in a trade. Theres still people without trades who do courses to drive diggers and other plants. Theres still general labourers but theyre rarer these days.

Working in a maintenance trade is usually an easier life than in construction. Manufacturing plants employ and train electricians, instrumentation technicians, fitters.

CianIRL

Thats a list of all the current trade apprenticeships that solas teach, might be worth a look and see what interests you.

Yeah construction and building sites just interchangeable terms for the same thing!

Most people on site have a trade or are serving an apprenticeship in a trade. Theres still people without trades who do courses to drive diggers and other plants. Theres still general labourers but theyre rarer these days.

Working in a maintenance trade is usually an easier life than in construction. Manufacturing plants employ and train electricians, instrumentation technicians, fitters.[/QUOTE]
Cheers for the link I'll have a good look. Are builders employed as construction workers or are they generally employed to perform a specific task on the construction site. What's maintenance trade exactly? Yeah general labourer seems interesting , is that sort of like a jack of all trades that do various tasks on the site? Sorry for all the questions!

Ging Ging

CianIRL wrote:

Working in a maintenance trade is usually an easier life than in construction. Manufacturing plants employ and train electricians, instrumentation technicians, fitters.

Cheers for the link I'll have a good look. Are builders employed as construction workers or are they generally employed to perform a specific task on the construction site. What's maintenance trade exactly? Yeah general labourer seems interesting , is that sort of like a jack of all trades that do various tasks on the site? Sorry for all the questions![/quote]




General labourers are employed by main building contractor to fill in between the specialised trades, labourers usually have a mixed bag of skills built up over the years. It might be ok as a start and pay is much better than a lad starting an apprenticeship but you would be the least skilled person on site And get delegated the worst jobs. Construction work is very physical and very dirty, not to mention cold in autumn/winter/spring. I did it for 10 years then got out. Generally it's a good working atmosphere though. Seriously though if you plan on doing manual construction work (ie. not an engineer or surveyor) then get yourself an apprenticeship -easier said than done I'm sure. Also look for a technical one that requires training and knowledge not one that any unqualified jack of all trades but master of none with a ladder and a van can undercut you on.

Goat Paddock

If its a management type role like project manager or quantity surveyor you find yourself working a lot of hours to keep up with the pressure.

It might depend on the company and whether its a boom or bust but generally 10hr days are the standard workday and you might need to work 12hrs and/or to keep on top of things unless your really organised and productive.

Not worth it unless the pay is very good.

CianIRL

Sounds good.yeah for some reason the labourer jack of trades role appeals to me.really looks like an appealing job especially during the warmer days

CianIRL

Goat Paddock wrote: »

If its a management type role like project manager or quantity surveyor you find yourself working a lot of hours to keep up with the pressure.

It might depend on the company and whether its a boom or bust but generally 10hr days are the standard workday and you might need to work 12hrs and/or to keep on top of things unless your really organised and productive.

Not worth it unless the pay is very good.

Seems like you have exorierence on the job? Did you persoanaly find it an enjoyable career?

CianIRL

Ging Ging wrote: »

Cheers for the link I'll have a good look. Are builders employed as construction workers or are they generally employed to perform a specific task on the construction site. What's maintenance trade exactly? Yeah general labourer seems interesting , is that sort of like a jack of all trades that do various tasks on the site? Sorry for all the questions!

General labourers are employed by main building contractor to fill in between the specialised trades, labourers usually have a mixed bag of skills built up over the years. It might be ok as a start and pay is much better than a lad starting an apprenticeship but you would be the least skilled person on site And get delegated the worst jobs. Construction work is very physical and very dirty, not to mention cold in autumn/winter/spring. I did it for 10 years then got out. Generally it's a good working atmosphere though. Seriously though if you plan on doing manual construction work (ie. not an engineer or surveyor) then get yourself an apprenticeship -easier said than done I'm sure. Also look for a technical one that requires training and knowledge not one that any unqualified jack of all trades but master of none with a ladder and a van can undercut you on.[/QUOTE]

Sounds good.yeah for some reason the labourer jack of trades role appeals to me.really looks like an appealing job especially during the warmer days

callaway92

CianIRL wrote: »

Sounds good.yeah for some reason the labourer jack of trades role appeals to me.really looks like an appealing job especially during the warmer days

These are the worst days. I was on a site in London last summer and the hottest days were at some stages excruciating with the heat.

Cooler weather is nicer because you'll be warm with the work you are doing anyway and if it rains, nobody will do anything unless under a roof.

CianIRL

callaway92 wrote: »

These are the worst days. I was on a site in London last summer and the hottest days were at some stages excruciating with the heat.

Cooler weather is nicer because you'll be warm with the work you are doing anyway and if it rains, nobody will do anything unless under a roof.

Oh really ?how did u personally find working in construction as a career? Got to be more enjoyable than office work!

callaway92

CianIRL wrote: »

Oh really ?how did u personally find working in construction as a career? Got to be more enjoyable than office work!

haha, funny enough I'm in an office role now and it's grand but I'm only getting started in it.

The Labouring was the 4 months last summer. It's a catch 22 really. I really enjoyed it and it genuinely is good fun on site but I still have muscle pains which I'm sure are from it. You will make good friends too and the money is great (in my experience). Depending on how big a site you are working on is, you could be carrying very heavy object across a long distance, and whether you believe you are "strong" or not, it does take it's toll.

There are days, sometimes weeks though where the work is handy also (assisting machine drivers on breaking piles etc.)


If you are seriously thinking of labouring for a career I would recommend constantly up-skilling yourself to even being qualified to mark lines out etc to take a bit of the stress off yourself. There will be info for this on your site.

The worst jobs by a mile on site are the steel fixers so I certainly wouldn't recommend that, though I did have the best craic with them.