Sans Disappointment

There's a shortage of skilled labor... and I spent a lot of time thinking about that as these pens came together. Not only the full resin one is today's pen, but its all part of the same mindset. 

Its mostly our fault, there arnt any you g guys doing carpentry anymore... we have a ton of diy guys or 2x4 wizards.  But theres a lack of skilled master carpenters. 

I had a conversation today with a guy making a deck. I've seen him before and even worked with him once. He's a cool guy always called me chief. And he's getting up there in years. 

Mostly he works alone, and today he was looking rough... really rough. His knees are about shot and his hip is going the same way. He's not in the best of sorts. I said he needs a young appentitice to do the heavy work. 

His response there ain't no young guys doing this work chief, not any that know how to do it right. 

I knew he meant the new diy contractors, and the I saw this on YouTube once guys. But he's right... carpentry is a dying art. In many ways its a failed art. We don't value it like we do other skilled trades. An hvac guy charges 100 am hour and no one bats an eye, a plumber charges 70 am hour and no one bats an eye...carpeters ask for 30 an hour and boom... thats too much my weekend warrior neighbor will do it for 10. 

I'm not saying your neighbor can't do quality work, maybe he just doesn't value his time or skills and it's just a hobby. 

But when you call a contractor to do a job... you get what you pay for. I live and die by that philosophy.  

If you want to cut my profit to crumbs then expect that quality of work. I take pride in every last detail, and I admit some things slip through. It happens to us all. But that doesn't mean quality isn't my top priority. Quality comes at a price though...

We've all made this mistake though, assuming carpentry and carpenters are cheap. If I charge 75 an hour for work it's because I know I'm worth it. And if that's too much thats okay too I charge 150 to fix others mistakes.