You think you make good money?

In reply to bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) :

You didn't happen to get his contact info? Every time I hear about one of the big money contracts, when I look into it, I get offered $20 an hr.

This last one wa supposed to be six  weeks of 6/12's, at $40/hr... short hrs for 2 weeks, getting ramped up - change in scope, and laid off. 
Hard to pay bills like this...

It's a good time to be a tradesman. There's so much good paying work out there right now ...  just as I'm getting ready to retire. My apprentice, who only just started his second year schooling, and is taking two months off for it, will clear $100k. I wish I had the energy for one of those  oil or mine camp jobs. That's where the money is. 

In reply to Peabody :

Help me find some of that! I'm basically making the same thing as I'd did in the 90's

Due to "how great the economy is growing" (sadly I still know folks that believe that) my expenses are just A BIT higher...

I've looked into some of those supposed big money jobs, like when N Dakota was booming. The hourly rate was about the same as elsewhere (or less) but they worked 100+ hours a week, for the big checks. 
Uh, no. 
Im used to 6/12's (try to avoid 7, but work em sometimes)

but low to average pay, for 100hr weeks; that's not really a healthy plan

Come to Ontario. I just looked on indeed. 600 millwright jobs in my area and even the food/bakeries are paying in the $40's/hr

In reply to Peabody :

I didn't realize Canada. It's a Canadian company the just hung me up, and the folks I know that have tried working in canada, it has not gone well.

We have a ton of ads, here in S. E. as well, but they ain't paying that kinda wages. 
There are also companies I know that are getting stipends to place ads despite not hiring (presumably to make it look like the economy is booming)

There are more contracts in the far west of the us, and decent pay, but I keep getting carrots dangled here in the S. E. , so I keep trying. I would go out to the pipeline in the OP, for the big bucks, if I had a contact for it, but hoping to be allowed to stay in S. E. near ish to my wife, who can no longer travel with me.  

Here's a good local example:

https://www.roadtechs.com/const/wwwboard/getpost.php?rec_nbr=808012

for those that don't click, $26/hr, hotel + $25 / day for lifting expense

my dad went out of town for his company in 1966. They paid for his travel, the hotel, and $35.00 /day for food. I wonder If food has gone up since 1966?
 

I have looked at a lot of indeed ads. Actually got one job that way. $25/hr. Got a 1% raise the second year. 

My old audio engineer boss (who was pretty darn intelligent) had a "genius" on retainer to rebuild analog audio components from scratch. 

Guy worked on the Hubble telescope and seemed like he was on a different plane of existence entirely. Anyway, our corporation had a blank check policy with this guy, I'm sure he was making silly money, but he DD a very beat up 90's civic hatch that was absolutely packed to the brim with old crap.

In reply to calteg :

My dad used to tell a story on an old German engineer. Would get called in to solve stuff nobody else wanted. 
He'd always just bill them at at end of job. 
one year, a new bean counter was not satisfied with his bill for $10,000. Wanted it itemized. 
So the engineer itemized:

Drilling 1/8" hole : $100.00

Knowing where to drill 1/8" hole : $9,900.00. 
And that was the end of that!

bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) said:

Went to the pub tonight with my wife and another couple. Some random stranger bought drinks for the entire bar. I ended up chatting with him and he was working on the new pipeline. (Kinder Morgan) He told me how much he was paid and I didn't believe it until he showed me his pay stub.   He works 3 weeks on and on off so he gets a check for two weeks and one week a month. He had made a little over $22,000 after taxes and deductions for the two week period. He said he felt like he had won the lottery and I guess he was right. I did not know you could make money like that working by the hour. Anyone else ever make money like that? I sure have not.

Guys like that often end up with nothing in the end, they fritter it all away doing things like buying a round for the entire bar.

calteg said:

I'm sure he was making silly money, but he DD a very beat up 90's civic hatch that was absolutely packed to the brim with old crap.

Lots of people like that....

My ex's second husband was making something like a half million a year when they got together as VP of software development for a large printer company.

He helped orchestrate the sale of said company to a Chinese conglomerate and when they came in they promptly laid him off.   Now he does programming for some healthcare group from home.

The best earner I know is my former step-cousin.   He evaluates companies for a hedge fund in NY.  Last I heard (maybe 10 years ago he was knocking down around 100,000,000 a year.  That's around $48k an hour 

Steve_Jones said:

Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) :

Is he responsible for his own travel and expenses? Insurance? If so, that could eat into that pay a fair bit.

Buddies do pipeline welding.  They typically get a daily per diem stipend ~$150 or so.  They often being their own trailers and crash there.  They are responsible for literally all their own heavy duty gear.  My buddie has a wicked custom f350 with all his gear custom fitted for the welders (plural) gases, air compressors etc.

He makes bank but does it 24/7 when on for weeks/months at a stretch far from home.  
 

The next job is many states or even countries away.

They earn it and have hard lives to do so.

stuart in mn said:

bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) said:

Went to the pub tonight with my wife and another couple. Some random stranger bought drinks for the entire bar. I ended up chatting with him and he was working on the new pipeline. (Kinder Morgan) He told me how much he was paid and I didn't believe it until he showed me his pay stub.   He works 3 weeks on and on off so he gets a check for two weeks and one week a month. He had made a little over $22,000 after taxes and deductions for the two week period. He said he felt like he had won the lottery and I guess he was right. I did not know you could make money like that working by the hour. Anyone else ever make money like that? I sure have not.

Guys like that often end up with nothing in the end, they fritter it all away doing things like buying a round for the entire bar.

It's not what you make, it's what you keep.

In reply to bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) :

If I could get a contact for some of that pipeline work, I imagine I could manage to keep a bit of it. 
gotta be worth travelin' that far for...

I'm always amazed at the high quality of welds they do while down in an 18 foot deep ditch.   They earn it.

I had a cousin that did that work all over North America. He would work about 5 month out of the year and fish the other 6. When he ran out of money he would go back to work. He was an interesting guy. Died in a nursing home in 2020 from dementia and COVID at 82. 

I made the choice after vet school not to go back into performance horse work. I had known and worked with the world's number one performance horse veterinarian. During college I took a summer off and worked as his personal veterinary assistant. 
 

The income potential for that level of veterinary practice was excellent, but I didn't want to spend six months away from home every year, and have to be on call 24 hours a day.  
 

We live a modest life, I'm 67 and don't think I'll be able to retire for at least five more years, and I'm still paying student loans, but I'm home at night, every night. No regrets.

03Panther said:

In reply to bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) :

If I could get a contact for some of that pipeline work, I imagine I could manage to keep a bit of it. 
gotta be worth travelin' that far for...

Are you Canadian? I think you need to know people. My two nephews bought a dump truck hoping to put it to work on the pipeline and they apparently do not know the right people because it has been sitting.

In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :

Want to move to central KY?  My sister needs more vets in her practice.

In reply to bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) :

Sadly, I'm not related to anyone, and I don't play golf. I also do not pay contract company recruiters under the table. All I have going for me is decent skills, and a willingness to work. It is seldom enough. 

KyAllroad said:

In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :

Want to move to central KY?  My sister needs more vets in her practice.

 

 

Thanks for the offer. 
 

I've been in my current position for 9 1/2 years. When I started it was a failing single doctor location. Now it's four full timers and a part timer. I mentored the other three full-time docs right out of vet school, and now they have been there for five years.

 I'm not starting over. 

I have no illusions about the caliber of my income, definitely a 9mm to stick with the bit. Better than many but not at all flashy. 3 income house is the only reason I have any disposable income and I'm decently north of average for the white collar bull that I do.  I generally stay below 50hrs a week, though that's likely to balloon even if I can convince my boss to bring someone in under me. Shoot, the way things are going they'll bring in another old buddy to edge me closer to the door. Not the first time they've done it this year. 

Anywho.... I burn out in spectacular fashion and would not be a good fit in the 100hr/wk indefinite thing, I'm self-aware enough to know that. I also don't drive next years Porch (or this years, or even last years) to go hang out at the country club. Or the Top Golf. I can't sustain the high hours and I haven't sleazed my way into the schmoozing circles to get paid for fluff so I have to be content with where I am. And it could be a helluva lot worse, my memory isn't so short that I've forgotten that. 

GameboyRMH said:

[snip]

This was in the thick of the pandemic when my work day consisted of at least 8 hours of nonstop fast-paced panic that left me with a level of chronic mental exhaustion I'm still not sure I've recovered from

/snip

I sure do know this feeling. 

No, but I don't think having more money would make me appreciably happier. More like equally happy with slightly fancier versions of the stuff I already have.

Time > Money

I want a new job that earns me more money, but mostly I want to relocate to be near my brother, and he lives someplace with a higher cost of living.