in 2005 I was Shanghied to do the interior of the surfing industries most hated man, the wages were 1000 bucks a week, well the weeks were sun up to sun down 7 days a week, with a righthand point break 5/8 a mile away, I could see it from the upper bedroom while I built and installed the 14 foot circular hand rail. I got in the water 2 times in several trips for a half hour, “time to get back to work” !
The 22’ circular stair well hand rail, laminated and glued inside of the already painted house with out F-ing up the paint, 12 feet of base cabinets in the kitchen that all ran out of plumb and not straight along the floor, every stair tread and riser in circular case were of different heights.
After 5 days of no sleep on the last trip, the owner gave me a Lunesta, I slept from 9 PM to 6AM, he went to Cabo to the Homedepot, I started working…then spun into the deepest depression you can imagine, I am NOT bi-polar, manic depresive.
I wanted to throw an extention cord over the open beam ceiling and step off into space with the other end around my neck, I made him fly me home that day
Last spring, i would have taken you up on that.my trades are carpentry, drywall & tile. I’ve been swamped up here in Cayucos for the last six months & have remodels starting next month at a hospital & a church. I could sure use some time off (need to set-up my garage for building boards) so I can start my next three boards.
Seven days a week and let’s say a 10 hour day @ $1000/wk equals about $14/hr. Entry level laborers make $15/hr where I live. Low end for a skilled carpenter is around 30 with the top guys getting 45-50/hr.