The Expert Podcast

I had a really great comment from a viewer this week that talked about opportunities within the building industry. In this case, the question was, "Is there a way to capitalize on the labor shortage by getting certified in trades?" This person talked about the fact that they had built an ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit) with permits on their own property, and they learned from YouTube and their own motivation. Now, I'd like to know what it entails to formally get a certification, maybe a general contractor's license or code requirements. They also mentioned that they'd like to do everything except for electrical.

Here's the thing: in most states, the types of work that this person is looking for, such as carpentry and framing, don't require any kind of certification or license. You can work as an employee for a licensed general contractor. In addition, if you wanted to begin your own business, you could get a general contractor's license by going through the education, training, and exam process.

Now, the only problem is it might be difficult to actually get insurance for certain types of larger jobs if you don't have prior experience. The insurance company might not give you an insurance policy to build a house if you don't have experience in home building. However, what you could do, and this gets to the core of the question, is if you wanted to become a contractor and then subcontract your work to a larger general contractor or some other entity, you may be able to do that. Worst-case scenario, you could certainly become an employee.

We had another comment a while back where somebody made a reference to the fact that contractors and builders are trying to hire a bunch of people cheaply and not paying proper salaries. Here's the thing: cheap employees are easy to find. We can get dozens of people for $30, $40, even $50 an hour for some jobs all day long. That's easy to find. The problem is those people either don't show up after a few days or they do substandard work. Even if we pay them above-market rates, what's hard to find are people that are worth paying $100 an hour to.

If we could find high-quality staff who could properly do framing, construction, maybe project management, $100 an hour is a no-brainer. We can pay that easily. In fact, many of the people that we start out at $30, $40, or $50, depending on their perceived skill set and what they claim to be good at, we tell them, "Look, if you're good at what you do, within a month or two, you could be making $100 an hour running a job site." The opportunities are there.

The person who put the other comment (not this one that you're seeing on the screen) said, "Well, what's the matter? You can't find any more monkeys to pay cheap wages to?" Finding monkeys is easy—there are plenty of entry-level staff we can pay $30, $40 an hour. The problem is, even at that rate, they don't show up, they're not reliable, and after a few days, they get a paycheck and leave. We pay the rate they want, and we don't negotiate over the rate. Whatever the customer or the worker says they're worth, we either pay it or we don't have the job for that person. But normally, most people want $30, $40 an hour. We pay it if they claim to be good at their job. If they're good, they can work there forever.

The problem is we want to elevate people. We need more $80, $90, $100 an hour people. And to the question or comment in this box right here, if this person started out and learned the ropes, and spent a few months becoming what they called "motivated extreme motivation," they could be making $80, $90, $100 an hour easily. Several thousand dollars a week, no problem, if they're dedicated, determined, and they can keep a level head. So anybody out there who is conscientious, dedicated, ambitious, hard-working, and smart—there's plenty of money out there. Even now, with the builders coming back, there are still plenty of rehab, remodel, and addition projects to be done.

Even besides that, you can be on your own as a handyman/handy person and do things like fences and decks. These are not as extreme and still, you can easily make $70, $80, or $90 an hour on your own. Now, it's a little harder to get a lot of work because you have to find the jobs too, and bidding jobs sometimes takes more time than doing them. Some handyman-type people end up bidding on six or seven jobs to get one. Those bids require you to go out to the job site, meet the person, spend an hour looking at it, and then send a bid in. That might be an entire day of one week just dedicated to doing bids, so you waste a day of your time.

The short answer is, yes, there are many opportunities. This person says, "What do you think about a single DIY mom capitalizing on the labor shortage?" Go for it! The opportunities are out there. Just make sure that you have good insurance, you're working for somebody legitimate, and you check out their history. Do they pay properly? Do they have insurance? Do they have workers' comp? All those things—are they legitimate? Also, check and run a criminal background check. We find that many contractors, more than other industries, have people working in it who have criminal backgrounds. So make sure you check that out and you're comfortable with who you're dealing with.

Wish you the best of luck, and let us know how you make out!