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It takes dedication and focus to succeed in the skilled trades. The trades are hard work! And it’s there in the name: skills.

Take plumbers, for example. You’re going to need a wide range of skills to succeed as a plumber. From knowing how to solder to making fittings, you have to know how each material reacts to its environment. And finally, you have to be precise. It takes a lot of math to do it right. It’s not a job you’re going to learn in a day, and certainly not one you’re going to learn if you’re not passionate about it.

You’re committing to long hours and very physical work. And it’s complicated. Sometimes on job sites we’re dealing with multiple trades at once. We need to know how their work affects ours — how does the plumber’s work affect what I need to do as a contractor? This is where skills like communication and patience come in to play. When you’re managing a job site, sometimes you need to think 10 steps ahead to make sure a project can run smoothly. See why it drives me nuts when people think this is a fallback?

It’s never too late!

If you think you’re too old to pick up a second (or third) career, you’re not. I hear from people all the time who have come to the trades later in life and love it. Last year we brought two new apprentices onto our job sites: a young woman in her early 20s and another in her 40s who’d gone back to school to learn a trade. Each one brought her own skills and passion to the job site, and it showed in the work we did together.

Now, I don’t love to hear that we’ve got a shortage of tradespeople out there — but that means the demand for those of us who still are in the industry is just getting bigger and bigger. If you’ve thought about the trades for the last few years you’ve still got time to pick up a hammer, a wrench or a mixer. And if you’re good at what you do and you love the work, you’ve got a spot on my crew anytime.

To find out more about Mike Holmes, visit makeitright.ca