The “$#!T Directors” as Plumbers are known in the trades makes the best money when it comes to new Commercial and Residential construction, followed by Electricians.
I’ve known two Electricians that have died doing the “480v shuffle” as all it takes is one moment of carelessness, one night of poor sleep, a faulty voltage tester/multimeter, or some type of distraction.
Most Electricians working on commercial jobs with 240v/480v will often carry two voltage test tools in case one is faulty.
I’ve seen plenty of Electricians works on 120v while it was live, as it won’t kill you but it will give you a wake-up if you touch the hot (black) wire.
The Illegal’s are now taking over the building trades here in California, mainly roofing, but now Framing, Carpentry and more and more into the more skilled trades like Electrical.
And the IBEW will always send some thugs to a non-union job and talk to the General (General Contractor) and demand to be hired, and if not, they will make veiled threats about “how it would be too bad if something were to happen to the electrical wiring that’s already been pulled.”
A friend of mine is an Electrician and I worked with him one Summer when I was out of work doing the basics, like pulling Romex on Residential jobs and other basics on a Commercial job and some of these IBEW thugs showed up at a Commercial job that was financed by a very wealthy man, but you wouldn’t know it looking at him.
He drove an older pickup truck and made it a point to know the name of every worker on this particular job, from the laborers to the highest-paid workers and there were at least 50-100 different people on this job, depending on what phase of construction we were in.
Anyways, these IBEW thugs showed up and threatened him and when he refused to capitulate to them, the IBEW thugs told him “I hope you have a good attorney” to which he replied “I have 27 attorneys on retainer. Take your pick.”
Within 4 hours, a court injunction was issued against the IBEW preventing them from picketing within 2,000’ of the job site.
This guy had some major dollars and clout, but you would never know it looking at him or talking to him, as he was down to earth and dressed like his worker’s and drove an older economy pickup-truck.
Most people didn’t even know he was the big boss.
Seeing the look on the IBEW’s thugs faces when he told them he had 27 attorneys on retainer was priceless, and the union thugs threateningly said “we’ll be back” but before they had a chance to do so, they were slapped with the above described court injunction.
Hey Rod; we also make the best money in repair. Until I retired in 2010, I always loved Thanksgiving and Christmas for the early afternoon emergency repair calls. Big bucks to be made there. When the kitchen or toilet won’t drain, or the water won’t shut off they have to call now.
“I’ve seen plenty of Electricians works on 120v while it was live, as it won’t kill you but it will give you a wake-up if you touch the hot (black) wire.”
black only if it came out of panel box that way .. have had the (white) get me before bacause of DIY just not understanding uniformity