After the weather this past week and high demand for plumbers, I am ready to quit my land surveying career and become a plumber. I am sure it takes years to become a licensed plumber but I like to work with my hands and am damn good at learning. I care about my work and take pride in a job well done.

I know the job can be rough and dirty at times. Pulling out toilets and unclogging drains full of peoples crap is not the most appealing but if I can make $400 an hour I'll jump in a sewer and work all day long. Ok maybe $400 an hour is a bit much but based on what I am seeing recently, they are making bank.

Heck, I have spent hours recently watching videos on how to solder and learned some about Pex A and Pex B Pex pipe. Pex A seems to be the better of the two options if I were to install it as a homeowner. Once supplies is restored, I am going to replace around 30-40 feet of copper pipe in my house and plan to practice soldering a lot outside before hand. Heck, I may go with Pex A and upsize the pipe to make sure flow is not restricted.

One question I do have is does the copper or pex pipe need to be anchored down at all? It seems all the copper pipe is anchored down in my house and I would wager it would have to do with water hammering?

Anyways, until I get a plumbing hat on, let me know if you need a land survey! -Don

My friend worked for a large plumbing company and eventually left the plumbing field but where he made a lot of money was just friends worth of mouth references on small side jobs. A water heater install here and there for cash. Just stuff like that the big companies don't want to waste time on with their crews. Or that people get a quote for a $1500 water heater install and he would have the customer buy their own and charge a flat install fee. We are also not in a large city where you are gonna get hosed on a permit for stuff like that so there is that.

This was 30 years ago but my dad after retiring from the air force went to trade school and became a plumber and started his own business.

Dunno if that's how you do it now. I'd definitely look into that. He made some good connections and taught classes there for a few years too.

found this on google:
https://plumbertrainingcenter.com/become-licensed-plumber-texas/

Don't bite your fingernails.

Seriously look at community college for the basic training then you will need to pass an exam and do apprentice work for a couple of years before you can earn a journeyman's license. Google texas journeyman's license plumbing and start from the beginning.

Look guys... said:

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This was 30 years ago but my dad after retiring from the air force went to trade school and became a plumber and started his own business.

Dunno if that's how you do it now. I'd definitely look into that. He made some good connections and taught classes there for a few years too.

found this on google:
https://plumbertrainingcenter.com/become-licensed-plumber-texas/

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.is your dad my dad?

You have to have to register as an apprentice and then accrue what equates to about four years worth of hours to become a licensed journeyman plumber in the state of Texas. During that time you have to work under the license of a master plumber and have him sign off on your hours. (Also takes the same amount of time/process to become a licensed journeyman electrician)

Always remember IT runs down hill.

I've thought about this career jump from engineering to HVAC with hopes of owning my own business in a few years. I've done a lot of googling but I think I'm just too chicken IT to take the jump

jaggiemaggie said:

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I've thought about this career jump from engineering to HVAC with hopes of owning my own business in a few years. I've done a lot of googling but I think I'm just too chicken IT to take the jump

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Just do it, man! Make sure you have some safety cash built up, then get rolling.

NoahAg said:

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If either of my kids say they don't want to go to college I would 100% support them going into plumbing/HVAC/electrical/welding. The way colleges are going I may push them that way.

I assume 529 funds can be used for trades like that?

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Yeah, most of the time they're in community colleges.

I'm the say way with my son.

My daughter is just too smart not to go to college.

My brother got on with a smaller company as a plumber's assistant. After a couple of years he took the exam and earned his journeyman's license. You could always call local companies if you're looking for a quick start. Good luck!

I would check your local union hall. They are always looking for qualified guys. You may start off doing the dirty work but there are lots of guys who don't ever deal with the dirty side of the business once they get established. Trust me there is a huge shortage of qualified PM's and superintendents to run plumbing work.

Where are you in your surveying career that you're ready to bail out?

Do it OP. I'm not a plumber but have been in the industry for a long time.

There will be a shortage of trades in 15 years as younger kids don't want to do this type of work and all the older plumbers retire!

If a plumber is honest, shows up on time, clean, respectful, does NOT ARGUE, then you could easily make $100 per hour.

There's about 35k licensed plumbers in Texas. There are only ~2k licensed surveyors.