You poor cluless bastard. I'm also a pipe fitter. If your buddy says its not labour intense he's running small pipe. There's a reason 90% of pipe fitters are big dudes All siding is light compared to steel pipe start lifting 20 foot lengths of 2/4/6" steel and tell me how labour intensive vinyl and Hardie is. That said you will make more money than siding.
2"? Heavy? You're a tad funny. 4" depending on sched and 6"? Yeah okay, maybe that's "heavy".... Sched 10 - 4" is easily a 1 man job, sched 10 - 6" is heavy, but is easily handled once on a lift/in the hangers.
Ex sprinkler fitter talking, we didn't have half the aids to bring pipe In that the fitters had.
When you're talking labour intensive you mean having to carry your pipe wrench up the ladders or pull the chain on your chain fall? Never seen any fitters holding or carrying anything over sched 40 - 2"... Unless of course it was under 5'.
When you have to boom 125 feet up, with an 8x10 ACM panel, no wind on the ground but a soon as you get up above 80 feet you're holding on for dear life, because that panel is a god damn wind sail.
We could have trades wars all day, bud. Coming from a guy who has a form of pipe fitting experience,a 4x8 hardie panel is a bigger pain in the ass. You can't prop it on your shoulder and slam it through a hanger and be good.
The hardest work my buddy has done has Been remember how everyone takes coffee, and surprise, 8" is the smallest they're dealing with.
The only one making any sort of "trade war" was you. I'd like to emphasize the fact that I was not trying to say that pipe fitting is MORE labour intensive than siding, just simply stating the fact that pipe fitting IS quite labour intesive, and you should be prepared for a hard days work and not expect it to be a cake walk. The site you are on will also dictate what sort of material you are working with, and I can tell you that sch. 10 pipe is not the norm on most jobs. Even when you are working with a crane on a large spool you still often need to bust your ass to push and pry and all that jazz. Sure, you can use a come along but you still gotta stretch out and hold that 40 pound mother at the end of your reach while you or someone gets a sling set up and the slack out of the chain. Some of the roughest pipe to handle can be 2 inch, especially when 6 or 900 pound flanges are involved. You can easily get into small short spools that weigh over 100 pounds that need to be hand bombed into place with a combination of two and three inch pipe.
Siding might even be more physically demanding, I have no idea nor did I ever say I do. I only wish to get the point across that a pipe fitting job is not something a fat lazy guy is going to succeed at. No personal attack intended.
The only one making any sort of "trade war" was you. I'd like to emphasize the fact that I was not trying to say that pipe fitting is MORE labour intensive than siding, just simply stating the fact that pipe fitting IS quite labour intesive, and you should be prepared for a hard days work and not expect it to be a cake walk. The site you are on will also dictate what sort of material you are working with, and I can tell you that sch. 10 pipe is not the norm on most jobs. Even when you are working with a crane on a large spool you still often need to bust your ass to push and pry and all that jazz. Sure, you can use a come along but you still gotta stretch out and hold that 40 pound mother at the end of your reach while you or someone gets a sling set up and the slack out of the chain. Some of the roughest pipe to handle can be 2 inch, especially when 6 or 900 pound flanges are involved. You can easily get into small short spools that weigh over 100 pounds that need to be hand bombed into place with a combination of two and three inch pipe.
Siding might even be more physically demanding, I have no idea nor did I ever say I do. I only wish to get the point across that a pipe fitting job is not something a fat lazy guy is going to succeed at. No personal attack intended.
I was mainly just digging. But more speaking towards the "clueless bastard" comment.
Ii know flanges and valve rooms/stations are beyond worst to deal with. I'm quite a strong guy so dealing with a rope system to pull material was something I kind of enjoyed, 10-12 hour workouts? Sure! Lol.
We installed a 900lbs 8" backflow, big Os&Y. Was obscenely large for the building size, but, we had to chain fall the f*cker up there and that wasn't really easy. I'm sure it helps with one in better shape but it still sucks.
Comparing the two, siding you are always, always working at a pace that is way too fast. Hardie and vinyl especially but ACM panels are a dog f*ckers paradise. Easy and simple, level being your best friend. I found sprinklers it was get 5 drops in, wait for the ground man to get the next 5 (if he sucked, if he was good you had a minute long wait while he brought your drops to you) and then back up. The hardest part of pipes I found was knowing the code.....
I'd say they have their definite differences but cladding and siding is more labour intensive due to the constant rushing pace.
The pace also depends on the job. Sometimes we go balls to the wall for days on end, but other times you are correct, waiting on all kinds of stupid hold ups.
Either way its good coin if you can handle working outside in all the weather that alberta can throw at you, certainly keeps you on your toes and doing something new fairly often.
How do you like it? I HATED siding with a passion. I did it for 7 years. Got into it right after high school. Had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. Working outside in the cold and rain soaking wet. Silica dust from hardie. Wearing a harness and tool belt all day. It's hard on the body. I am now a heavy equipment operator. I spend my days sipping coffee in a nice warm heated/air conditioned cab listening to satellite radio all day. It's great. I'm also making more money as an entry level excavator/rock truck operator than I ever did as a siding foreman.
lol, you gotta learn to run the junk first! At least thats the lie I was always told. If I can offer some advice, dont learn to run finish blade. It's not as cool as it may look and thats all I get to do anymore.
Boilermaker/welder......been close to 20 years now....i hate it
Currently building Caterpillar AD30 AD45 AD60 - R1700 R2900 and R3000 underground mining vehicles and parts for them.....until they send most of it of to Thailand......
What are you making for a rate over there? I was building skid packages for oil and gas at a shop in alberta last year for 32 an hour as a journeyman welder. Journeyman pipe fitter on the job I am at now is just over 40 and a b pressure welder with rig is 105 or something like that.
just under $30hr as a full time employee the state i live in is the lowest paid in Australia.....but its the highest pay for a workshop job.
guys out on the Gas pipeline jobs with DLI(pipe welding ticket) will be on something above $200000 a year...12hr a day...three weeks on....
i am hoping to soon become a welding inspector CSWIP 3.1 there about's
Rates are hard to compare really without taking into account the whole of the country your in....the Yanks seem to get paid bugger all but it seems that life is cheaper there than here