Hi all. I'm new to this board and have a few questions. I've taken and passed the exam to qualify for apprenticeship with the union in my area, Operating Engineers 3. This makes me a "qualified applicant," which means that I am free to apply to any signatory firm in the area.
Immediately after I and 14 others found out we passed, we were given an orientation by the Survey Coordinator (SC). Several of us asked about the work schedule, and we were told that winters are typically slow, with summer and fall the most busy periods. My questions are:
- How busy are most apprentice surveyors at the beginning of their careers? Same question for journeymen. Is the average something like 2 days per week? 3? 4?
- Would it be unreasonable to expect to work 1500 hours out of the year, given the shape of the construction industry? What's a slow year? A heavy year?
Thanks for any advice!
Surveying is local. Looks like you are in California as well as union. Are you willing to travel?
Definitely a local issue. Our workload is nearly constant. On days we really shouldn't be trying to do things that involve fighting with Mother Nature with PMS we head for a courthouse or two to do research on new jobs. But, we avoid construction jobs and focus on boundary work.
Local 3 is a huge geographic area, huge. As previously said, it is a local thing.
most union firms do construction staking only, nothing else.
some areas have seasonal weather issues and simply shut down, others much less.
there are very specific apprentice/journeyman ratios that employers must adhere to.
some, but few, firms used to keep people on during winter working on non-union projects (boundary/topo)
but my union time was in the 70s and things change.
It will be interesting to see what you come up with, good luck
I'm pretty negative about unions, but know nothing about union surveying, and never met a union surveyor. I don't imagine there's a lot of opportunity outside of government projects, and only in a few states. But maybe it's a normal thing in CA.
There's 1800 union surveyors in my local.
VERY few are "sitting" in the Hall.
Thanks for the replies. I live near a busy metro, but most (80%) of the firms are in an area 75 mi away. The SC said El Nino will decide how much work there will be this coming winter, but that things pick up in summer and fall.
Is it the norm for a firm to hotel you near the job site during the duration of the project? This is really the deciding factor - 150 mi round trip per day is a half day of traffic here. Also, what other kinds of work do new surveyors do if they're dispatched 2-3x/wk and are on down time?
jsm2016, post: 348287, member: 10835 wrote: Hi all. I'm new to this board and have a few questions. I've taken and passed the exam to qualify for apprenticeship with the union in my area, Operating Engineers 3. This makes me a "qualified applicant," which means that I am free to apply to any signatory firm in the area.
Immediately after I and 14 others found out we passed, we were given an orientation by the Survey Coordinator (SC). Several of us asked about the work schedule, and we were told that winters are typically slow, with summer and fall the most busy periods. My questions are:
- How busy are most apprentice surveyors at the beginning of their careers? Same question for journeymen. Is the average something like 2 days per week? 3? 4?
- Would it be unreasonable to expect to work 1500 hours out of the year, given the shape of the construction industry? What's a slow year? A heavy year?
Thanks for any advice!
I was a member of local 12 and was never out of work in 20 years. We had slow times of 20 hour weeks but I was never laid off, and worked 60 hour weeks for months at a time. I think it is all in your attitude, work ethic, ability to learn, and good judgment. You won't know jack for a while so just try to pick it up as quick as possible and be a good helper and try to anticipate the next move. Work with the chief not against him. Make hay when the sun shines, you will have plenty of rainy days. Jp
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