Questions about flooring as a career.

[JH Floors]

Hopefully I can word this right .

I been doing Floor covering since I was kid, working on my own since the age of 17 . I have worked for many store and contractors . I notice in this line of work its either feast or famine . I have gone months on end working 70+ hours and only making enough to say I live average . I have always felt that I work way to hard for the money I make and wondering is there something better I could do without slaving myself .

Im getting to the age of 27 and I'm wondering if I should continue doing flooring or run while I still can. I recently had a chance to do a 9 to 5 and realize it was easy compare to all the work and stress of Installing flooring . So my questions are as fallow .

Is it possible to make 80k+ a year ?

Can it be done without working 60+ ?

If you guys could do it all over again, would you still do flooring ?

Does if get easier once you get license ?

Should I stick with flooring or get a good career ?

Sorry for so many question, but I wanted to get some advice from people that been doing this a while. Its not that I'm tired of doing flooring, just tired of the long hours and and getting by financially . So I need to know if things are going to get better once I'm license or this is the way it is in this line of work .

Thanks in advance everyone

[rusty baker]

Been in it 36 years. Always been feast or famine for me. But I'm independent and a perfectionist, so retailers never liked me. Good trade if you can find your niche. I couldn't imagine doing anything else.

[cproader]

Originally Posted by rusty baker I couldn't imagine doing anything else.

..........ditto.............

[barrycarlton]

Originally Posted by JH Floors Hopefully I can word this right . I been doing Floor covering since I was kid, working on my own since the age of 17 . I have worked for many store and contractors . I notice in this line of work its either feast or famine . I have gone months on end working 70+ hours and only making enough to say I live average . I have always felt that I work way to hard for the money I make and wondering is there something better I could do without slaving myself . Im getting to the age of 27 and I'm wondering if I should continue doing flooring or run while I still can. I recently had a chance to do a 9 to 5 and realize it was easy compare to all the work and stress of Installing flooring . So my questions are as fallow . Is it possible to make 80k+ a year ?

By all means. Many installers make 6 figures.

Can it be done without working 60+ ?

Again. Yes, it is done by many.

If you guys could do it all over again, would you still do flooring ?

I would!!! Most definitely!!!!!

Does if get easier once you get license ?

That depends on you, your marketability, work ethic, business sense, and several other variables.

Should I stick with flooring or get a good career ?

This sounds like you have already made up your mind. I think floorcovering is a good career!!!!!!!

Sorry for so many question, but I wanted to get some advice from people that been doing this a while. Its not that I'm tired of doing flooring, just tired of the long hours and and getting by financially . So I need to know if things are going to get better once I'm license or this is the way it is in this line of work . Thanks in advance everyone

I think any job is what you make it. If you don't like installing floors or think it is too hard, that feeling/attitude will carry over into the work you do and will hinder you from making any real advancement in the quality and efficiency of your job. This applies to any job a person chooses.

If you are asking if getting a license is going to be a panacea for you, the answer is no. Success starts from within, with a positive attitude, and grows from there. Yes, there are 'breaks', but don't count on them. Be positive, focused, and work toward achievable goals. There will be tough times, be sure of that. But, those will pale as time passes and you continue to enjoy what you choose to do for a living.

b

[Roland Thompson]

JH some very good questions you have there, also very hard for us to answer. I started right out of high school and have been at it 37 years. I have 5 children and it has done me good but yes for years I had to put in those 60 hr weeks and more to make ends meet. I now have gotten to were it is paying me back.
Would I do it again? As much as I love this trade and can not think of what else I would be doing, for the sake of my children and the lost time I had with my older ones I most likely would at least look.

Making 80 G'S after evrything will take time unless you can sell also.

Best of luck.

Roland

[Daris Mulkin]

I have never made the 80 g's or anywhere near it in 43 years. But I have worked in different work enviroments and saw how the next guy put in his day and I wouldn't like it. You have to have a love of working with your hands and seeing the final out come at the end. One thing about this trade, I never went hungry or didn't have a roof over my head. The only other thing I can think of I wanted to do is be a teacher, but now I have the oportunity to do that only in the carpet trade. Besides that I would probably be in prison for strangling some little sh-t if it was a school teacher.

Daris

[stullis]

Run Forest Run.

Every year you stay in this business is that much less you will earn. Rates are going downhill and it's not likely to change especially for the new kids.

You want to make money in this, hire people like yourself and pay them like you are getting paid.

UNLESS you can find a niche and fill it.

[Nick Arrera]

Although i love the trade i have to agree with Scott .

This trade is a body beater . you may not feel it now ,but you will.

this was once a very honorable trade , but throughout the years the gene pool has been polluted with hacks that work for free , dealers who will scam you any way they can , and mills that have been pushing out crap . salesmen that can't measure or know anything about the product they sell . Customers who are paying through the nose for low end products
and are now pissed that the floor is not performing the way the salesmen said it would .


If i were to stay in i would be on the selling end only .

[rgfloor]

For me it has been about the flexibility, if I needed time for other things in my life I could schedule it. If I neded to make more money I could work a little harder or longer.
Would I do it again? Maybe, but I would work for a different type of people. I think that I would qualify people before I would work for them, by that I mean, do they pay? Well and on time, is their work run in a proper manner, measured right and scheduled in an efficient manner.

Thinking back over my 40 years I have worked for some scum and some who were princes! You meet all kinds in this trade. I have enjoyed the ride!!

[BrianM]

With ten years on the floor you should be able to make something close to $80K in a routine week in this trade ON AVERAGE. DLSR - General prevailing wage determinations: 2009-1 journeyman determinations

Things are going to be tough for a while especially the residential market and especially in Riverside. Now that work is slow you can step back and look at the larger picture. What kind of work are you doing? It all pays the same? Hell no.

Here's some general observations on today's market;
Commercial work pays better ON AVERAGE than residential work.
Global/regional corporate accounts pay better than small local jobs. (you have to travel)
High end materials always command a premium installation price.
Contractors with employees make WAY more than individuals or employees.
Ceramic and wood pay better than resilient hard surface.
Resilient hard surface pays better than carpet.

From the above list you can fairly quickly see where you stand in the hierarchy of our industry and perhaps better understand where the real money is being made. It's kind of a pyramid based on both the power of your skill and experience in the trade AND your ability to negotiate and manage a business.
***
Looking back on how this trade has treated me I'd say it was a huge mistake for me not to stay in college and go in to another profession. Even within the construction industry this is far and away one of the worst trades for pay and conditions. So if you're going to stick it out for crying out loud pay close attention to where you need to be situated to avoid the worst of the exploitation and harder end of it.

Whatever you decide I wish you luck.

[rusty baker]

No one makes $80,000 in a small market area. Not even the retailer.

[cproader]

Originally Posted by rusty baker No one makes $80,000 in a small market area. Not even the retailer.

........uh, at the risk of soundin my horn......I make 50 per cent more than that in a small market...........and I have been at that level for the last 10 yrs...........

[rusty baker]

Yes, but you are CP. You must be in a high-dollar small market area. You can still buy an older home here for $30,000. Most people here make around $8.00 an hour. And there are many areas like this.

[BrianM]

Originally Posted by rusty baker Yes, but you are CP. You must be in a high-dollar small market area. You can still buy an older home here for $30,000. Most people here make around $8.00 an hour. And there are many areas like this.

You're failing to adjust to regional differences in the cost of living. There's no shop in Southern California that's going to stay in business making less that $80K. You might as well go work at the Post Office.

[Demonseed]

This all kind of ties in together, if you know how to or can learn to run your business or any business properly you will succeed at it. I personally made a trade off, I have been installing hourly for the last 3 years and do my own work on weekends or evenings. This way I have a guaranteed check every week, benefits, vacation, etc.

I would prefer to sub contract, but I am getting to an age where I prefer the benefits, especially Health Insurance. This is a good trade, but you really need to learn how to work smarter and use your tools properly, there will always be rough days but if you use your brain, you can save your body.

I have been in sales, I have managed a couple pizza places, been in retail, etc. Actually, am a semester from my Bachelors degree, and I would still do floors. I like tools, I like installing, I like doing the job. I will admit this, I get a smug feeling when I walk onto a job and someone says I don't know how we are going to do this, fix this, or whatever and i can say I have a tool for that, I can fix that, I can do that.

You are relatively still young, so ask yourself this question (forget about money) Will you be happy installing floors?

If you are coming home miserable every day and making 80k, you won't be a happy person.