America's new millionaire class: Plumbers and HVAC entrepreneurs

It is true that trades work has picked up quite a bit. High school kids and their career counselors say the reasons are:

- Well-defined career path.

- High pay as you keep going ahead.

- Union pay and benefits. Incredible stability. Incredible healthcare.

- No outsourcing.

- Lots of paid leave. None of that unlimited PTO scam.

- Lot of camaraderie. None of the corporate nonsense where execs take it all at the expense of people.

- Opportunity to start your own business at a certain point.

- No large student loan to get started.

While not all kids articulate all these points well, but they can tell how their seniors in college are grinding too much for little return - while trades people are working hard, taking vacations, raising families - and buying homes.

The average tradesperson in a HCOL is a millionaire by age 40 simply because they could buy a house earlier in their lives. And they are able to start families and live a very stable life. Kids are picking up on this.

You failed to mention any of the downsides:

- competition from non-Union labor

- broken body by 50

- fewer jobs than programming (there are multiple times as many programming jobs than plumbing, for instance)

- working conditions (no office work, expect hot/cold environments potentially far away from family)

"The average tradesperson in a HCOL is a millionaire by age 40 ...."

This is a pretty bold claim that I'd like to dig into. Do you have a reference or source for this? What HCOL are you referring to?

I'm quite interested in this whole topic of earnings and wealth in the trades. I am quite skeptical that any non-business-owner trades person is going to have a significant net worth (or earnings) above the general average locally, but maybe you can point me at a specific HCOL where the trades are more heavily unionized or something that would tell a more interesting story.

Here is BLS data: https://www.bls.gov/oes/2023/may/oes471011.htm

Remember that BLS data leans on the lower side. BLS data for software also leans lower.

The reason they are millionaires by age 40 is because of the value of their houses. They bought early in life.

> competition from non-Union labor

Very little. Because non-union workers join the union as soon as they see the benefits.

> broken body by 50

As opposed to broken minds by 50 for toxic corporate jobs.

> fewer jobs than programming (there are multiple times as many programming jobs than plumbing, for instance)

This is true. But that's because software development is considered one large blob while trades is broken into HVAC, plumbing, electrical etc.

> working conditions (no office work, expect hot/cold environments potentially far away from family)

And yet, they can pick and choose their work for the most part. No badging in for 5 day RTO BS.

This is for "First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers." Does this represent the "average tradesperson" at age 40?

If we dig into the BLS numbers for the people doing the work in what HN tends to talk about as trade workers:

  Plumber - median $61,550 per year [1]
  HVAC tech - median $57,300 per year [2]
  Electrician - median $61,590 per year [3]
  Framer(Carpenter) - median $56,350 per year [4]
  Bricklayer(Mason) - median $53,010 per year[5]
  Software engineer - median $130,160 per year [6]

Of course, these are national numbers. We could pick and choose geographical areas to bump up the averages.

It isn't immediately obvious to me what data source could give us a good answer to net worth by age for any of these careers. That is why I asked if you had a reference for it. It's even murkier when looking for data on when someone in the trades buys a house on average.

My intuition (and I definitely don't mind being proved wrong) is that high earning, high-ish net worth trade workers is a story we want very much want to be true. But I just don't think it is, especially if we are talking about the average case.

  [1] https://www.bls.gov/ooh/construction-and-extraction/plumbers-pipefitters-and-steamfitters.htm
  [2] https://www.bls.gov/ooh/installation-maintenance-and-repair/heating-air-conditioning-and-refrigeration-mechanics-and-installers.htm
  [3] https://www.bls.gov/ooh/construction-and-extraction/electricians.htm
  [4] https://www.bls.gov/ooh/construction-and-extraction/carpenters.htm
  [5] https://www.bls.gov/ooh/construction-and-extraction/brickmasons-blockmasons-and-stonemasons.htm
  [6] https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/software-developers.htm

> fewer jobs than programming (there are multiple times as many programming jobs than plumbing, for instance)

Every blue collar worker I know would counter that with "AI". i.e, "at least my industry doesn't shoot itself in the foot"

>Very little. Because non-union workers join the union as soon as they see the benefits.

This isn't true and sounds like union propaganda. It's very easy to find non-union trade workers in big cities, even very liberal ones that are supportive of unions.

>As opposed to broken minds by 50 for toxic corporate jobs.

People don't have broken minds from corporate jobs. Physical damage from labor is real and extremely common. Every tradesman 40+ will tell you this. People retiring from corporate jobs do not consistently warn people that your mind will be broken.

>And yet, they can pick and choose their work for the most part. No badging in for 5 day RTO BS.

Are you joking? RTO isn't a thing because the trades were never allowed to work from home in the first place.

FWIW - the median is probably not helpful for some of these trades when framed as they are here because it's not a simple salary gradient like you might find with say, l1-l8 software engineer.

For example - master electrician vs journeyman electrician are very different - journeyman require supervision (ie are not allowed to work without it), master's don't.

(I actually wonder if "first line supervisors ..." above includes master electricians, since they are required to supervise journeyman).

The pay tabs at the links have 90th percentile pay. For example, for HVAC techs, it is $84,250. For software it is $208,620.

The miniscule fraction of people in the software industry who are building AI are not the people in the software industry who are at risk of being replaced by AI.

I worked as a software engineer for 29 years and quit earlier this year. The stress and my blood pressure were significantly affecting my health and quality of life. I had started a part-time handyman business last year and took it full time after quitting my corporate job. My blood pressure and stress level have gone down a lot, but so has my paycheck and my benefits. I'm still glad that I made the switch because my last corporate job was going to kill me for the sake of corporate profits and executive bonuses.

I would say that there's good/bad from both sides of the coin. It's a personal choice and not everyone is the same.

Glad you were able to get your BP under control, it’s a silent killer. Any tips?

Anyone working remote is just talking nonsense on this subject.

I am related to a journeyman electrician and journeyman welder.

They would give it up to work remote in a second.

In my case, I tracked it regularly and when it was high I would try to go out for a nice walk outside or anything that might be calming. I limited my salt intake. The real solution for me was quitting my job.

Sounds like you took the handyman job as employtainment. Being a handyman is incredibly stressful if you’re trying to raise a family on that income and are having trouble making ends meet.

Do agree with that, at least in the short term (not the long term). But most industries tend to band together, form unions, associations, licenses, etc that would unify and put the workers in the same boat one way or the other especially blue collar which is what this article is about. The point still stands - other industries are "smarter" and wouldn't do this to themselves and have controls against this sort of thing.

> People don't have broken minds from corporate jobs

I would just like to say I wholeheartedly disagree.

A LOT of the much older people I know are struggling really, really bad. I'm talking conspiracies, abject misery, downright delusion. The trouble with "broken minds" is that you can't see it. If you could, your mind wouldn't be broken!