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How much can plumbers earn? (vanity)
October 16, 2008 | me

Posted on 10/16/2008 8:53:21 AM PDT by reaganaut1

How much can a good, hard-working plumber earn in a year? I have no idea. Maybe some Freepers do.

What are some other unglamorous jobs, that don't require a college degree, that pay well?


TOPICS: Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: allisvanity; anotheruselessvanity; ausefulvanity; job; vanity; yetanothervanity
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To: diefree
Promotions to the ranks of Sergeant, Lieutenant and Captain are through competitive Civil Service Examination.

That ensures that there are no affirmative action promotees; if they got it, they EARNED it. That's a good thing.

141 posted on 10/16/2008 1:37:52 PM PDT by JimRed ("Hey, hey, Teddy K., how many girls did you drown today?" TERM LIMITS, NOW AND FOREVER!)
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To: JimRed

I’m not terribly sensitive to race but I am very sensitive to facial jewelry, tattoos on the face, baggy pants and bad attitudes.

I built a house a few years ago, I had contractors of multiple races and the one group I kept an eye on the entire time they were on site was a white crew with prison tatoos. I still think one of them broke into a trailer on the property.


142 posted on 10/16/2008 2:00:29 PM PDT by dangerdoc (dangerdoc (not actually dangerous any more))
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To: JimRed

No, I don’t think so. Suffolk County makes sure it takes care of its own friends. It’s a scandalous police department in many ways.


143 posted on 10/16/2008 3:13:02 PM PDT by diefree
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To: JimRed

Ignore what I just said, I didn’t see your top line and I thought you were talking about the lie detector test.


144 posted on 10/16/2008 3:14:16 PM PDT by diefree
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To: JimRed

New York City PD manipulates the civil service tests by taking 1 out of 3. If 20, say, are being promoted, that means number 60 might get the promotion. That may be how Eric Adams of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement rode to a Captain’s position.


145 posted on 10/16/2008 3:19:00 PM PDT by diefree
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To: lolhelp
How did you get the old sink out and the new one in, that alone usually takes two people, you must be an amazon.

2 car jacks can work wonders. When you are a woman working alone, you have to become very creative.

146 posted on 10/16/2008 3:44:07 PM PDT by ottbmare
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To: reaganaut1

My husband and I own a plumbing company. We make $250 - 300K per year. After paying taxes, suppliers and employee payroll, I have to work a second job to make ends meet. Times are very slow right now so that’s why the second job.

Times are tough for us right now and I hope we can survive it.


147 posted on 10/16/2008 3:58:03 PM PDT by CarolAnn (If we aren't supposed to shoot animals, then why did God make them out of meat?)
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To: Tammy8
Cleaning pays well. I know ladies that make more than $100 a day to clean houses. . .

A hundred dollars a day is good pay? Um, I don't think so. Figure it out: that's $500 a week, or $25000 a year if you take a couple of weeks off for vacation. I'd love to know how your friend the cleaning lady could come up with private school tuition on $25K a year, because most private schools charge more for tuition than her entire annual income.

148 posted on 10/16/2008 7:13:10 PM PDT by ottbmare
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To: ansel12
Part of the prejudice here is that many on this thread cannot separate a workman from a successful business owner that may have started as a blue collar worker.

What prejudice? I don't see any sign of an anti-plumber prejudice on this thread. How would it even be possible to be prejudiced against plumbers?

149 posted on 10/16/2008 7:16:07 PM PDT by ottbmare
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To: SC DOC
His response was, "I know how you feel. I used to be a doctor."

I knew a Gynecologist who decided to change careers and became an Automotive Repairman.

He questioned his instructor when he earned an unprecedented 200% on the final exam. The instructor explained he received 50% for disassembling the carburetor, 50% for reassembling it, and another 100% for doing both through the tail pipe.

150 posted on 10/16/2008 7:21:08 PM PDT by Grizzled Bear ("Does not play well with others.")
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To: ottbmare

I have read post after post about how a plumber can make good money, especially after he has 6 or 8 other plumbers working for him etc. that isn’t a plumber any longer.

Post after post on this thread talks about the plumber making $80.00 an hour etc., the company charges that price, not the workman at your house.

To me this is like confusing the Restaurant owner and the cook, they are two different things, even as is common, when the Restaurant owner started as a cook.

One is a business owner, and entrepreneur, etc. the other is a plumber (or a cook etc).

I am simply surprised that when a businessman builds a successful plumbing business that he is still confused with the help, and oddly, vice versa.


151 posted on 10/16/2008 7:29:25 PM PDT by ansel12 (America's favorite baby boomer, Sarah Barracuda. Hell, she's a natural-born world-shaker.)
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To: familyop
Since when is aol linking freerepublic as a source? I was reading a Joe article on aol and clicked a link in this paragraph:

"Consensus on this thread is that a $250k plumbing business is pretty standard for 3-4 employees. The kind that Joe might work toward owning in a country that rewards, not punishes success."

http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2008/10/16/better-watch-your-back-joe/?icid=100214839x1211609643x1200681649

152 posted on 10/16/2008 7:41:18 PM PDT by lil'bit
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To: ansel12

Perhaps so, but that’s not prejudice. Prejudice is a negative. No one is casting aspersions on plumbers or the people who own plumbing businesses.

BTW, what makes you say that a man who owns a plumbing business is no longer a plumber? Most of the people I know who own a business in the building trades continue to do the work themselves even after they’ve started to hire others.


153 posted on 10/16/2008 8:17:38 PM PDT by ottbmare
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To: ottbmare

The prejudice is that I rarely see this kind of terminology outside of plumbing, here the plumber and the owner of a multi million dollar plumbing business are indistinguishable.

Once a guy gets his third truck on the road it gets pretty hard to stay in the field unless you have some very good office help, such as a really ace dispatcher and call taker.
I have seen it, but not very often and if you are going for the big time, you aren’t going to get there by turning a wrench at someones house while other people run your business.

A service company is pretty complex.


154 posted on 10/16/2008 8:28:11 PM PDT by ansel12 (America's favorite baby boomer, Sarah Barracuda. Hell, she's a natural-born world-shaker.)
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To: ansel12

I honestly think you are being too sensitive. No one is saying anything negative about plumbers. It would be prejudice if Freepers were posting, “Oh I hate plumbers, they all have hairy backs and that means they cheat at cards. Every one of them.” Prejudice does not mean that people are a bit misinformed about the nature of the business. Please relax, no one dislikes plumbers as a group.


155 posted on 10/16/2008 8:44:41 PM PDT by ottbmare
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To: ottbmare

I do not mean the type of prejudice that you seem hung up on.

It is impossible to discuss the average wage of a trade job when we keep moving from workman to business owner as if they are the same thing.

We would never confuse the income of chefs (or ex-chefs) that have their own restaurant, or two, or three, with the wages of working chefs that are employees.


156 posted on 10/16/2008 8:52:55 PM PDT by ansel12 (America's favorite baby boomer, Sarah Barracuda. Hell, she's a natural-born world-shaker.)
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To: ottbmare

$100 a day cleaning each house- how much they make in total depends on how ambitious they are. To make real money in cleaning houses you not only have to be ambiitious enough to clean a lot of houses- you have to be savvy enough to build the business. Many people only get their home cleaned once a week so you would need to get enough clients and keep them happy. People who want their houses cleaned daily will want to hire someone full time for low wages so that is not the way to go. Some who have been both ambitious and business smart have made it into a business and hired people to do the work.

I didn’t say all cleaning ladies could send their kids to private school- I knew one that did though. She worked from early morning to late at night 6 days a week and built up enough wealthy clients through word of mouth to be well paid. She earned every penny.


157 posted on 10/16/2008 11:40:05 PM PDT by Tammy8 (Please Support and pray for our Troops, as they serve us every day.)
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To: ottbmare

I went back and read my original post- sorry I did say $100 per day- I did mean per house. Long day.

I do know the cleaning business though- right now I average 15 hours a week- yes that’s a week and I make $30,000 a year just doing it part time. You do have to know all the cleaning tricks and have to work hard and not be afraid to clean anything. You also have to be fast because homeowners and businesses want you in and out as soon as possible. Anyone with ambition can learn how to do it though and it doesn’t take a college degree.


158 posted on 10/16/2008 11:57:48 PM PDT by Tammy8 (Please Support and pray for our Troops, as they serve us every day.)
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