BLOG FOR FRIDAY - FINDING TOMORROWS CRAFTSMEN

I wrote this question a while ago although I can’t remember where I posted it: Finding trained, qualified labor is a problem but roofing is hard work. How do you suggest we attract young people to learn the roofing trade?

Face it we are all going to die someday. Who is going to replace us? Not just in our business but in the industry. We have a pool of people that know how to run a business to draw from but there is no real school that teaches the nuances of installing a great roof, (I suppose there are a few schools out there but just for the basics). How do you learn to make a handmade copper flashing or how to remove and replace a piece of slate or how to install a skylight the right way? We have to find an apprentice to pass it on to. So…

How do we attract people to pick roofing as a way of life? It’s not glamorous and it’s really hard work. Sometimes we discourage our offspring from following in our steps to protect them from a life of sunburns and sore backs. This is almost a separate blog, but is it OK for your kids to not get a degree and do manual labor for a living? Frankly, being a responsible person and a hard worker should make any parent as proud as having a diploma. It’s those same qualities that you are proud of your graduate for only without the dirt. Both are smart, one is book smart the other has to have common sense.

Should we go to the high schools at graduation time with a brochure? Showing roofers living the dream? Like “The Few, The Proud, The Marines”, we should have a slogan to recruit roofers. “Work Really Hard, Protect our Homes, Be a Roofing Craftsmen”. After the thought I had to put into writing this blog I think I have answered my own question. I don’t know if there is really anything we can do. I think being a roofer comes from within. That person has to want to create something out of building materials, enjoy the weather elements and need a feeling of accomplishment. That person has to be really tough and work hard. I don’t think you can train for that. You need to be born a roofer.

See the blog here if you want to! http://www.rooferscoffeeshop.com/soapbox/

Tico; Well put sir...Most are either too timid or naive to say it...But you did!

Wywoody; I agree...Pay has little, if nothing to do with craftsmanship.....That's been proven, time & again.

Tinner....Man-o-man, do we think alike!....Years ago I had put stickers on all the truck dash's...."Fail to Prepare = Prepare to Fail".....

OMGosh! It just came to me - and I am serious about this.

Who works hard to the point of suffering and tolerates unimaginable heat. Makes practically no money. Is disciplined and has common sense (although I think you are born with it).

Our Veterans! How do we reach out to them?

wywoody Said: When I had a warehouse, there was a nearby 7/11 and I became a regular for a morning donut. The thing that always amazed me is the guys that go in there in the morning and get their coffee, sausage tube thingy, bag of chips, bottled water, a couple energy drinks and a soggy sandwich. They dont have their morning 7-11 bill covered until late morning.

To be honest, I won't even bother hiring somebody that pulls into a driveway or onto a site. It shows a lack of ability to think ahead to the fact that they have to leave later and an inability to plan for that. It shows that they won't even be able to back up to a house and set a ladder without having to carry it down a driveway in a non professional manner. Roofing, and any construction requires the abilty to think ahead just like playing checkers or chess. Every single action will have a reaction of some sort and the ability to think ahead are imperatives.

Life does imitate art. The person that can't think one step ahead, much less 3 or more will most likely cut a valley short, set a step flashing wrong, or make some other unthinking mistake.

twill59 Said: 7/11 sells coffee?

Maybe. I dunno. Haven't been in one for 15 years or so. Let's say Dunkin instead. :)

As for teaching the roofing trade, I can't even teach them how to 'fetch'! :woohoo:

How hard is it to teach somebody to go get coffee???? :woohoo: VERY HARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The idiots continue to go into the 7-11 and grab cups, pour the coffee, then go looking for buns, sweetener, tops, cream, then go stand in a checkout line! :woohoo: WTH???????

How hard can it be to go to the 7-11, back into a parking space, ( Why would anybody EVER pull into any parking space anywhere, anyway????????), go into the 7-11, get the cups, put them in trays, pick up every thing else needed, go through the checkout, pay for everything, carry anything but coffee out to the truck, then come back and pour the coffee while snapping the lids on, load them into the truck and fly to the jobsite? :woohoo: I cannot for the life of me teach them how to fetch coffee for the crew! :woohoo: :angry:

Current project started as a simple valley repair. It grew to 2 chimneys, reflashing and residing 3 dormers. Re-repairing all previous shoddy repairs, and a copper flat roof. Blew all previous schedules out of the water. Got word this weekend that the job just grew again into 200' of 16" built-in gutter now. That'll add another month to the backlog. And 2 more contracts were agreed to this weekend also.

Tom, I only sub out some EPDM and Shingle work I can't fit into my schedule. Working alone, I can't seem to ever catch up with demand. Entirely too many of my clients are higher end, and as such, I get some complicated job and when I 'prove myself', the client piles 4-20 more jobs on top of me. I'd clone myself if I could! :lol:

Where roofing is the prime contract, we don't play the "sub-game". Period. If the project is general construction, then, we do legitimately, sub-out some of the trades, to applicable specialty trade contractors.

Back on topic.....In our area, there appears to be very little, if any authentice qualified craftmen, (roofing. I believe one has to train your own.

So, where do we find the "trainees"?..... We have the illegal workforce, that really has no allegiance to the U.S. & is only concerned about the immediate monetary gain they can muster...and then we have the desperate drug/alcoholic white trash, (looking for that immediate $)...All orchestrated through the shoe salemen.....So it's a perfect fit for our current majority walmart-mentality, consumer base! What's the problem? LOL

By the way, it's easy work in harsh conditions. Heat and humidity are killers. I feel the crew should knock off by 12 or 2 at the latest. The hours after 10am are just wasteful time killers in those conditions. When the weather is nice, 8-12 hour days are fine. BUt 8 should be plenty.

I'm embarrassed to say I pay subs up to $100.a square then. I'll take them to a job and tell them how I want it done. i have them tell me what to do it MY way. I get arguements about how to do it cheaper. I'm not interested in cheaper! I want it to stand out from the so-called lowball competition. I'm willing to pay enough for a sub crew to put in a 6-8 hour day and make good money. Installing 6-12 square a day would be fine and quality is what I'm after, not speed. To make the same as the idiots working 12 hours a day, to be exact. I want people that will take the time to figure out the best method for any application. Caulk free! I want to teach them how to roof! And you know what, I'm told over and over how this or that new caulk holds like a monster and the I&W make things bullet-proof! I haven't found the right individual yet, but I keep my eyes open. To be honest, if a person isn't showing a proclivity to excel, I doubt I can teach him/her.

OS....Illegal workforce is the culprit for low wages....The demand for qualified help is more than ever, today...Far more so, than 20 years ago....

One would think wages would be high, due to the dismal labor pool....(Taking the supply vs. demand approach).

Thanks egg...(that's a big "duhhhh?", for me)

Very valid points...However, I never had the QC problems that so many refer to w/pc wk....Actually; Quite the contrary. Our pc wkrs generally knew the concept of quality installs are primary to effeciency...(i.e., no call-backs)

"proverbial" (as in: proverb)

Piecework is a tough nut. I had guys stealing each other's bundle straps in the wood days. Not cleaning up properly. Sloppy nailing that leads to splitting, cupping, curling, flapping in the breeze down the road ten years. Beating step shingles around a corner when they couldn't find a half-saddle. Comp, tile, wood, arguing about who jumped the cream. Who's there for the trim, how much for trim. Fine for a speedster on his own or two guys who get along with each other. Lousy for crews with mixed ability and disparate attitudes. This was all before any talk of dragging ropes all day. If all I had to do was shingle I could make that two square an hour with ease, even at 64, even hand-nailing, and get up and leave a job that sparkled with loving kindness, but not tugging a rope and not with ignorant juveniles in tow. The state of the art has risen but the so-called industry standard is pitiful. Most people should be forbidden to use a nail gun. Organic, English-measure three-tabs were easier than any laminates. Thin, floppy, stickinthebundle glass metric 3-tabs are slower, I'll grant that.