2nd Generation Contractors

[sparkydave]

Any of you guys 2nd or 3rd generation contractors or tradesmen? Thought about whether you are any happier or stressed as a result of changing technology, power tools over hand tools? Do modern methods allow more quality time with your kids than your dad had when you were growing up?

Dave

[Winchester]

My dad always had power tools. I remember when I was very young he sprained his wrist real bad drilling some concrete :D

[Bodger]

I started helping my dad with carpentry projects right around 1961. He was an excavation contractor (mechanized ditchdigger, basically) but did all of the construction type projects around our house and my grandfather's farm property.

I recall an electric drill, and whatever version of the circular saw was avaialble back then. Other than that, we used hand tools, some of which had been my grandfather's and were as old as dirt.

My dad has been gone for a long time, and occasionally I do stop and wonder what he would think of some of the tools we have now. Like laser levels for instance.

Neither of my sons has much interest in working with their hands. Computers seem to have taken over on that score. Which is partly the result of so many schools fazing out their wood shop classes and replacing them with hi-tech stuff instead.

My daughter likes to shoot and can drive a tack at 50 yards with a Henry rifle in .45 Long Colt. At least I got one of my kids away from the computer screen.

[fez-head]

My Dad was a contractor as well as a farmer that worked daylight to dark without a thought to what his time was worth. He refused to use framing nail guns because the nails were to damn expensive :mad: and cordless tools where silly gimmicks. He never thought twice about how much time they saved....... hard work was all he knew and free time had ZERO value in his eyes.

Now he is that stereo typical contractor/farmer that worked his body into the ground 7-days a week and at 63 years of age he can barely get out of the chair. Doctors say he simply wore out his joints, back, legs, hearing....everything and he's screwed and pretty much waiting to die.... His mind is still good but his body is completely shot

Now in my mid 30's watching him and finally figured out that I better do things differently. Like spending a lot of time enjoying my family and taking vacations. Unlike my Dad I choose to work smarter not harder and no longer base my "self worth" on "how hard I can work and how tough I can be while working"

Sorry for the long post. this is one of my sore subjects

[TulsaRemodeler]

My Dad was a contractor as well as a farmer that worked daylight to dark without a thought to what his time was worth. He refused to use framing nail guns because the nails were to damn expensive :mad: and cordless tools where silly gimmicks. He never thought twice about how much time they saved....... hard work was all he knew and free time had ZERO value in his eyes.

Now he is that stereo typical contractor/farmer that worked his body into the ground 7-days a week and at 63 years of age he can barely get out of the chair. Doctors say he simply wore out his joints, back, legs, hearing....everything and he's screwed and pretty much waiting to die.... His mind is still good but his body is completely shot

Now in my mid 30's watching him and finally figured out that I better do things differently. Like spending a lot of time enjoying my family and taking vacations. Unlike my Dad I choose to work smarter not harder and no longer base my "self worth" on "how hard I can work and how tough I can be while working"

Sorry for the long post. this is one of my sore subjects
I'm sorta in between you and your dad, I'm gonna be pretty f##ked up by 63 but I agree with the working smarter thing. Most kids these days have no danger of anything resembling wore completely out by 60, my sore spot. Sounds like you dad had pride at least, mine didnt. Just a lazy weak person.

[SLS-Construction]

Third generation & a lot of it was like fez's & I also learned how not to do things. There is no such thing as getting rich quick (trust me he tried every thing out there - we had a huge bookcase filled with books, videos & cassettes), if someone screws you over - don't think they will change their tune later, etc...

I don't think the modern methods, tools, etc... equate to quality time with ones family, spending time with them is more of a personal choice. Just my .02

[sparkydave]

All good responses, important for ave joes and those mommies who want us to take on little billy as an apprentice cuz he doesn't do so well in school. They need to know the reality of a life in the trades.

Fez, an electrician I apprenticed with was just like your dad, waited way too late- age 78 and still trying to work- to realize he'd worked his life away. I'm glad to hear you guys spending time with kids. Customers still remember him coming out for some little problem that could have waited, but his son never had a dad who just did stuff. The son has a standing joke about "the fletcher family vacation" which was 10hrs of shovelling on a sat morning on an island, after riding in an old, way overloaded 14'boat across to the island.

Customer important? Absolutely! More than family, treating wife and kids right? Never.

Dave

[TulsaRemodeler]

Customer important? Absolutely! More than family, treating wife and kids right? Never.

Dave
Sorry that happened to you. That stings a little though. I let everybody down when I was younger trying to not be like my dad (or stepfather). Yeah customer was king. I didnt know any better, I just had to rise, thats all I knew. Married the wrong woman at 19, etc. Two of my 3 grown kids dont understand, never will. Life can be really screwed up. I'm not capable of being the "good father".

[Mike(VA)]

Hey, isn't that supposed to be "SENIOR MOMENT?" :D

[sparkydave]

Actually I'm not the son, my story was different; dad was pastor of the world's smallest church, smallest town, plus trying to run the w/smallest retail lumber yard and contracting business.. no time. I guess I didn't do a lot better. I've actually asked and got my son's forgiveness. not really due to overwork, though.

Dave

Dad's great; still at it, at 86 yrs of age, I'm over it, a proud son.

[KitchenSync]

I'm a second-generation designer, although technically my grandfather built homes. Wasn't much code in those days...

[Winchester]

My dad always had power tools. I remember when I was very young he sprained his wrist real bad drilling some concrete :D
Now that I'm a contractor, I often think back to my childhood trying to remember the time I spent with my Father working on his jobsites. It wasn't all that often since my parents were divorced when I was in grade 2. In the summers I spent a lot of time with him and went with him sometimes to "help" build decks and other random things. One thing he never had was an air-nailer. Everything was with a hammer. Anyways, he moved to the US when I was a teenager.

At that age I used to help out my uncle. He'd pay me to work with him in the summers. And any weekend I was willing to work. He would buy homes and gut them, and make the upstairs and downstairs separate suites for renting. He wasn't licensed for anything but was good at what he did. Did all of the wiring and plumbing himself as well. Had electricians come to install the panels and subpanels and that was pretty much it. I'd call someone like that a hack today, but he owned all the properties so that's his perogative :laugh3:

Anyway, that's where I get most of my experience from while a child, so I wouldn't really call myself "2nd generation" even though my father was a contractor.

[sparkydave]

I like those kinds of stories.

I grew up idolizing working men; when I was 14 and could fit into work boots, wear green work pants, start buying carpenters hand tools and a full set of Prototool sockets that I still have, i thought I was something.

My big mistake which I've never recovered from, was not to balance being self-sufficient and self taught with some structured learning, since I don't beleive there will ever be such as thing as fair credit for informal forms of learning. Even the trades are full of tech school prima donnas.

[DavidC]

My son is a partner in the business he grew up in. I started taking him around with me when he was 7. When mom found out I had him up on a roof at 9 years, I almost got killed.

It was normal for me to come home late for dinner and maybe even go back out, and that seems to be what he remembers most. I did work many Saturdays but in nearly 30 years I have only worked 2 Sundays. I always felt my family deserved at least 1 day a week.

One thing I admire about my son these days is his desire to be home for dinner (on time) and weekends are for his wife and 3 kids. He's a great dad first, a decent contractor second. I can learn from him. To late to be as great a dad as him so I work on the grandpa part.

Good Luck
Dave