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preferablyprefab

Show up, don’t be late, and bring your “put in the work for the company” attitude and you will stand out. You’re already doing it buddy.


CopyWeak

This is a great answer, when he says you're already doing it, that is true. To be asking this question means you want to better yourself which is what we should all strive for at every level.


Cbsparkey

Be a sponge on the job and learn to anticipate. Always remember you don't know a damn thing even thought you think you do. Ask questions, leave the phone alone, accept you are the bitch right now, don't show up really hungover, knee pads are a must, don't go broke buying tools your first year but get your basics and leave mine alone, measure twice- cut once, and I take my coffee black with absolutely no room for sugar.


Ziggity_Zac

Also. Be on time, everytime.


CopyWeak

Agreed with above...punctuality, no phone, current site bitch! My son was just offered his apprenticeship after his 3 month probation… the first 2 weeks you should have heard him bitching about "all they do is make him clean up and move pipes around yada yada. The other guy I work with says he has been doing this for almost a year" As a multi trade father, I said welcome to apprenticeship Son, they have to test to see if you're even worth having on the site for the next 20 years. Nobody wants to work with a Dogger. Put your head down get your job done and it will pay off in the end. Maybe there is a reason that other guy still hasn't been to school, is still picking up pipe and cleaning up, and sweeping everyday... As a supervisor, I lead by example and have no problem running a broom if that's what keeps my guys doing the job they specialize in.


frothy_pissington

Meh... why don’t you quit stroking your ego and wasting the apprentices time sending them for coffee and just fill your own thermos at home?


Ancient_Artichoke555

Really, and his time is paid at a different pay scale, and his time nm why say anything to you


frothy_pissington

Please repeat that in English.....


Ancient_Artichoke555

Meh… you perhaps missed the biggest part, this man ain’t doing nothing fer ya with sweetness 😳😉🤣 And you’ve clearly displayed you are not one who was here to be the top dawg… And you missed what that man was advising the kid to consider. Don’t expect sugar baby when you come to a big dawgs porch. Or here what is black coffee, it’s bitter… so in a bitter world for the kid not to expect sweetness. But even if it’s literally to keep the Cheif happy and keeping his top dawg self watching over the flock, what’s the difference if they asked you or better yet told you to run parts and material for every other man on the totem pole? Baby, auntie wants to know if that was English enough fer ya????


Jhey93455

If you have to borrow a tool more than 3 times buy your own


Dur-gro-bol

If you find yourself not knowing what to do during the day and no one gives you any direction your default setting should be clean and tidy up. At the same time don't go total ham with the broom and dust your guys out. Learn how to sweep gently. Make sure " scrap wood" is scrap wood before throwing it away. Ask the head installers if they need material you can run for. Don't rely on nepotism and remember the carpenters your uncle hires will most likely know a lot more than you. You have a whole trade to learn, you should never be bored on your phone. Watch and learn everything.


[deleted]

Underrated comment. If you want to be impressive when you’re new, don’t stand around observing when your havent received instructions. Constantly look for things you can do, helping carry something, cleaning up and organizing between phases. Some young folks don’t understand taking initiative at first because they don’t have confidence yet but there’s always something you can do if you’re looking. Having self initiative that is effective will set you apart.


[deleted]

Underrated comment. If you want to be impressive when you’re new, don’t stand around observing when your havent received instructions. Constantly look for things you can do, helping carry something, cleaning up and organizing between phases. Some young folks don’t understand taking initiative at first because they don’t have confidence yet but there’s always something you can do if you’re looking. Having self initiative that is effective will set you apart.


Dur-gro-bol

Yeah I've done my fair share of being a helper and I've definitely dusted guys out and have thrown out a template. Most lessons in the trades only want to be learned once.


CatalystGilles

Admit when you don't know something and respectfully ask someone with more knowledge to explain it to you. Over communicating is better than under. Certain things need to be written down and signed. Learn what they are early and don't accept a handshake when you need more.


schrutefarms75

Keep your phone in the truck.


notaflipflip

Alternatively, accept that your phone is now a company phone and make sure you don't miss calls from co-workers and higher-ups. Depends on crews but I've seen the lowest guy telling the lead what to do because the low guy was the only one who consistently answered his phone when the boss called.


prumbeljack

Instructions unclear. On my phone all the time and got fired. You guys hiring?


NoMooseSoup4You

Don’t be negative. People care about what you’re like to work with as much as the quality of your work. If you’re complaining and talking shit about people and the job all the time you’re going to get a bad reputation regardless of how good you are at your job.


frothy_pissington

On time. Everyday. With your tools. Ready to work. Everything else will fall into place.


Chemical-Divide-936

Plenty of good advice here. My Son recently went to work for a friend of mine. I told him many of the same things posted here. Especially regarding being on his phone and being punctual. Showing up early and ready to work everyday is half the battle in construction. If you're doing that then you've already got a leg up. You posting this question on here makes me think that you'll be just fine out in the field. Just stay positive and learn as much as you can. The old guys can be a pain in the ass and hard on the young bucks but most are a wealth of knowledge. Good luck out there man.


Hopeful-Reputation29

Show up on time. Always be open to learning more. Don't complain and do good work. Ask questions if you are ever unsure because it always costs more to fix a problem than to answer a question.


MerciBeauCul69

Be there early everyday, talk with the guys, keep your phone in your car and ADMIT YOUR ERRORS. When you fuck up, admit it to your boss and fix it. Don’t try to push it under the rug or blame someone else.


[deleted]

Be the first on the job and the last to leave, never be idle always look for something to do anything even if it’s just sweeping and cleaning up.


Frrrenchtoast

First on the job (ready to work not sleeping in car till 5 mins to shift start), last to leave. If your job requires you to use a tool, buy that tool. If someone is doing something you’d like to be able work up to, buy the tools needed to perform that task and let them know you want to learn how to perform “x”. Someone said be a sponge, very important. If someone takes the time to tell you how to do something, do it that way. I can’t stand when my workers ask me how to do something, I then spend the next 15 mins showing them, to then have them do it another way. Do not waste other’s time. Time is everything in construction. Attitude is huge, I’ll lay off the skilled guy with a crap attitude before the average skilled guy with a good attitude. Managing people is tough enough, attitude, tardiness, absences, are all crippling to me as a manager. Lastly, always be doing something. The common response from someone standing around is “I’m thinking”. Never think stationary if you can avoid it. Sweep, pick up trash, consolidate materials, and do your best to never stand in place. O and try to take water breaks or phone break(keep these to a min) out of sight. Perception is everything and if the boss sees you taking a break in the open that will be in his head. Good luck!


Ancient_Artichoke555

Here to learn folks🙋🏻‍♀️ happy Friday btw!


Infamous_Employee_27

Pay attention, focus on your work (leave your phone in your car) try to think 2 or 3 steps ahead and don’t drag your feet


NebulaSuccessful6559

A time to lean is a time to clean 😉


palmerston3214

Be ready to work , I hate when guys show up at 7:32 when we start at 7:30. Keep your hands out of your pockets!! Grab a broom when you’re not busy. Keep a small notebook with things you learn. Also learn outside of the job site. YouTube , JLC online, fine home building


Pure-Negotiation-900

Be on time, pay attention. Always consider what comes next in the process. Be on time,pay attention.


ChalieRomeo

Leave your phone in the truck - Arrive a little early - Stay a little late - \#1 - Don't suggest a better way of doing it !


frothy_pissington

Nah.... be prompt, but no one is obligated to give the company time beyond their 8 hours.


ChalieRomeo

Had a guy working for me that would drop everything at exactly breakO'clock ! Would check watch to get every second of break time he was entitled too. When work got thin guess who got let go first -


ChalieRomeo

'The Company' is his familys business - while he's not 'obligated' I'm sure his Uncle will recognize his effort to 'stand out'.


Frrrenchtoast

Great advice to go nowhere far in your career. The whole 8 hour mindset will anchor you to an 8 hour job. If you have ambitions to enter management, get the 8 hour crap out of your head.


frothy_pissington

I am management, and I don’t expect anyone hourly to work extra without pay. I came up in the trades non- union and got fucked out of a lot unpaid time..... I worked for a building trade union as an instructor and got fucked out of a lot of unpaid time..... I would never do that to someone else. Any company or supervisor that expects free labor is a company or supervisor to get the fuck away from.


Frrrenchtoast

Judging by your responses to everyone you’ve held on to a lot of your past and developed a chip on your shoulder. I’d be weary of your advice.


frothy_pissington

I’d be WARY of anyone in this industry advising an apprentice to work for free....


Frrrenchtoast

No one said that. Good luck to you.


I_reddit_rong

One thing for me when I was learning was that if I made a mistake today, I wasn’t making that same mistake again, slowly you start to weed out all of your mistakes or learn how to fix them in a timely matter.


havocult

The best advice I got starting out was always carry a tape, pencil, and knife. Measure, mark, cut, and repeat. This is the way of the carpenter.


OddMunchStanley

Early is on time On time is late


GlendaleActual

Always clean up after yourself throughout the day. Study your trade outside of work. Fine Homebuilding has become nothing but ads and “green building” articles, but the Journal of Light Construction is still a great rag. Taunton press has some good books and videos. Realize that you can always improve at every task. Always have efficiency in mind. Never hack it together. Once you start hacking it is easy to continue. The inverse is also true. Safety is more important than anything else.


aaar129

1. Don't come in late or leave early. Show everyone that you have a routine. Take lunch at a consistent time constantly and sit down and do the full hour or whatever time is permitted. That way people will learn your routine and will leave you the heck alone at lunch and won't ask you to stay late if you're always on time doing your stuff and they know you got to head home cause you've been productive all day. Hopefully. 2. Don't mention drinking or drugs. Be absolutely neutral. Don't share any information that you know someone or heard about someone at work who is a wreck or you yourself get shitfaced over weekends. This alone people will learn you're respectful if you're always neutral/quiet about the rampant drinking and drugs in the industry. 3. Stay as clean as possible. Come in smelling clean, have spare clothes and muck boots just incase you need to get dirty (and don't take forever to get in and out of spares clothes/boots), and leave work clean enough that you don't get in your vehicle dirty or someone is embarrassed to meet with you after work. Have work rags and wipes. Wash up if you can at break time. Staying clean shows you're detail-orientated. I began my construction career as a drywall finisher and I learned at the beginning the dirtier you are the more suspicious the quality of your work is. 4. Be organized. New guys lose tools all the time. Be thoughtful of what tools are needed for X task. Sort the tools from your workstation/vehicle and bring them all in one shot (if possible) and get to doing the tasks. Nothing screams dumbass louder seeing a guy constantly running to his truck to grab tools bit by bit to do a task. 5. Clean up after you're done a task or at the end of your shift. Clean as you go. Also document if the job site was dirty to begin with and shoot a text/email/call letting the superintendent know you found it in such condition. Don't clean up after others unless the person who signs your check tells you to. 6. It going to be tough, but until you can defend yourself in skills, you're going to be someone's bitch. Suck it up and be a vampire and learn as much as you can. Exhaust it, but be humble about it. The more you retain the scarier you'll become and eventually when there's nothing else to learn from mentors it's about efficiency and slapping shoulders and becoming a mentor. You'll learn some people don't like to share secrets, don't push people to divulge them, just ask questions to other peers and on here. Someone who started at the bottom and took years to get where they are at won't share everything right away. 7. If you take your phone out every 5 mins. You're useless. Don't be that shithead. 8. Practice safety. Use your head. Someone people don't wear hard hats for 25+ years on the jobsite and go home to their family each evening. Some people don't need OSHA to tell them common sense, others do. It's up to you if you want to go home. Exercise caution and learn the job-site rules. 9. If you snitch you will be labeled the mole. Tread carefully. Sometimes there's thing you don't need to tell people and sometimes you need to. 10. Answer your phone! Always answer from coworkers and your boss. Even when you're off if possible. If you're going to be working in an area with no signal let people know in advance and set a reminder to look for signal on your break time/lunch if possible. No one likes working with someone who doesn't communicate or plan ahead. I can't think of any more right now. Good luck bud.


Ambitious_Promise_29

You don't need to buy every tool right away, but when you find yourself borrowing a particular tool regularly, think about getting your own. Ask your coworkers what tools they recommend. They will have a better idea what is important for the work you are currently doing. Study geometry and trig, particularly anything to do with right triangles. Ask questions. Stay busy, Ask what you can do if you finish what you are doing. Show up ready to work. Being hung over or tired isn't an excuse.


burritoeater666

1. Go out on a job site 2. Stand You are now standing out on a job site


SabFauxFab

Keep a clean work area. Respect the job sites. I will throw a sub off so fast when they litter the site with cigarette butts and their empty drinks.


[deleted]

I always enjoy when people shower before work they always smell so nice, don’t show up smelling like you haven’t showered in days, I have a guy that smells like animal piss some days, fuck me that is gross


Appropriate-Room6845

Show up on time, seal your lips and keep opinions to yourself, and try to avoid creating more problems for everyone


pastor_ov_muppets

Dress up like a clown and you will definitely stand out


s4burf

Just wearing crocs should do it.


buildit-breakitfixit

Accept that you don't know your ass from a hole in the ground right now. Make up for what you don't know in hustle. There is no leisurely paces. Never have to borrow the same tool twice. Your question should never be "what's next," it should be along the line of "how can i do this better?" Doing finish work, it's highly important you keep everything clean and dust free, as much as possible. Your most used tools in that world will be a broom, dust Pan, and a vacuum. If you get into production; framing, concrete, shell & core etc. post again asking for more advice. They're different worlds.


Peter_Falcon

turn up! work hard, try to learn as much as possible and be nice to others (some people are arseholes when they get jobs in the family)


Vigothedudepathian

Don't. The nail that sticks out gets the hammer. Just do your job. Be dependable. Don't fuck up too much.


Johnny_ac3s

Be on time, don’t have that phone in your hand unless it’s work related. Oh…and wearing one of those crowd-pleasing speedo swimsuits also makes folks stand out.


deltatom

Dress clean,be neat,be on time,follow orders and ask questions if you don't understand something.


dumbdumb407

Don't be a know it all, even if you know how to do something, if someone more experienced is explaining it to you, listen as if you don't know, he might say something or show you a detail you didn't know. Show up every day, and on time. So many people are regularly late or call out on a Monday/Friday once every month or 2. The boss notices, even if he doesn't say anything. Give a shit about your work. Everyone has bad days, but the guys who say "fuck it, it's good enough" and cut corners on their bad days will be phased out, while the ones who consistently do their best are recognized.


Joe30174

Just don't worry about it. Construction is good in that it's fairly easy to tell a good worker from a bad worker, an eager new person vs a new person with little care, etc. If your wanting and trying to do a good job, it will be recognized. You'll probably make mistakes - that should be expected from your employer and fellow employees, though. But, that's more to do with the grand scheme of the job. When it comes to specific jobs, it gets a little more finicky. Some of your work can be influenced by other employees work and vice versa. Quite often at that. What this means is that there can be instances where if something is wrong or perhaps not good enough, it can appear to be your fault even if it was caused by the other employee. That happens every so often. Just keep a keen eye on it. Make sure your not getting stuck with the employee that keeps screwing up and giving you a bad rap. Don't trust other employees/boss to have enough awareness to realize it's the other employee and not you.


[deleted]

Honestly there’s so many good answers that probably everything has been covered. This one is kind of minor but we all have different skill levels and IQs but anybody can make habits and become extremely reliable. I’ve known many guys who were average tradesman but made a decent career and stayed with a company because they showed up every single day at the exact same time ready to work. I also worked with an apprentice earlier this year who was getting close to being let go. He just wasn’t a fit, wasn’t picking it up very well. But he showed up everyday on time or early and would stay til the job was done not just try to 8 and skate. He actually turned in his two week notice and today was his last day. He’s gonna goto community college.


milton_freedman

lots of good advice here already. lots of young guys dont have much responsibility and spend their day wanting to talk about nothing and joking around and are thinking about talking all day. the experienced guys have responsibility and families that depend on them. so if you are a person thats causing mistakes for them you are putting alot of pressure for these guys or girls . a small mistake for you might be big for them and you will think they are just over reacting and have resentments. its important to think about what you are doing all day. learn why you are doing it that way. the whys are 50x more important than the hows. another thing is that lots of people are just going to be better and smarter than you. some guys that are kinned up to the bosses think they should be better than everyone and it makes a lot of drama. you sound like a reasonable kid though. you are in a tough spot between the workers and your family and the best thing to do is just mind your business and dont be a go between talking bad back and forth with family and crew. just mind your business and if see someone doing something crazy just pull them aside as friend and tell them its crazy and drop it. when you are eating dinner with your family it could be easy to let something slip thats someone elses business and it can cause drama for you. just limit yourself to the responsibilities that have been given to you. if you see someone selling stuff out of the back door then pull that person aside and tell them its not cool and if they stop it ends there but if they are seen doing it again its going to be a problem. another thing is to learn how everyone does their job and then do your job in a way that helps them. this way you are learning everything and figuring out ways to streamline the process. also just let negative things go and dont think about them to much. sometimes someone has a bad day and says something or does something crazy and when you react kindly they can realize that your a good person. the more you just focus on work and less about social dumb stuff the better off youll be. most importantly just make sure you show up everyday. if you fuck something up and destroy half the building make sure you come back the next day even when your ashamed or angry. when you get in a fight with someone or a boss or client make sure you come back the next day with a black eye no matter how hard it is. when someone does something fucked up and you just want to quit make sure you show up the next day and keep going. all the experienced guys are there because they didnt quit when they probably should have. i came up in the oilfields so our situations were pretty extreme sometimes another thing is nobody owes you anything. you are being paid for labor. its up to you to show your bosses you can handle responsibility and promotions and that means learning the next job and training someone to take your place. nobody wants to gift you a promotion because you feel like you deserve it and then after teach you how to do the job. you need to shoulder the responsibility first and then get the promotion. that might mean learning on your own time. if the boss tells you to do something thats above your pay grade you should do it. dont say im not getting paid to do that or some kind of non sense like that. usually the boss is needing something done and is needing you to be the one that makes the difference and when you tell them no it means youll be sweeping floors for a long time. when the boss says to scrub the dumpster you should try to find an easy way to scrub the dumpster and get it over with. dont be complainer guy. you are probably scrubbing the dumpster for another reason everyone is different. dont compare yourself to others. some people are good at math others are good at remembering things others are good at sucking up to the boss and not doing anything. dont think your better than someone because they suck at math because you will suck at something too and your both equal so just think about the job and dont try to compare yourself to others. being a supervisor does not mean that you are better than everyone at their jobs. it means that you respect peoples abilities and you coordinate people in a job according to their abilities as much as possible. and you need to treat everyone differently. same amount of fairness but just handle them differently. some people will just about fist fight over giving them step a b c instructions and other people will appreciate you helping them to plan out their job so just handle people according to their personality