Watch everyone.
Measure nothing.
Scribe by eye.
Start with a Bobcat and work your way up to a D8.
Figure out at least three reasons why some people wear their hard hats
backwards.
Buy Helly Hanson. There are only two kinds of construction workers in
the rain, those who spent the money for Helly Hanson, and those who are
wet.
Demonstrate the easiest way to move a sling of 5/8 ply to the roof.
Side saddles, not aprons.
Drive everything, from a half-ton with an automatic up to a 15 yard KW
with a pup and a five over four.
When you walk on a job site, look around. If you see tennis shoes and
wired-back skillsaws, leave.
Learn to be a mason. Start by carrying hod, then learn unit masonry,
and be sure to include tile.
To lead, you first have to know how to follow, so learn how to follow,
regardless of who¹s leading.
Undo your shoulder straps BEFORE you lift the lid.
Learn something about electricity, and don¹t work on hot circuits.
Learn to read blueprints.
Learn at least 4 ways to frame stair stringers, and two other ways to
build stairs.
Get up to 3 pre-hung doors an hour.
Don¹t use a calculator for at least five years.
Finger eights and below, milk anything bigger.
Don¹t try to stick and sink for the first year.
Learn what to include in fixed cost, and what a resource duration is.
Learn to do cutoff work with no line. Include 45¹s. There¹s an easy way.
Never buy sawhorses.
Don¹t buy racks that can¹t be loaded with forklifts.
Learn how to finish concrete.
Lay out the lines for a tile floor, and explain why they¹re not
parallel to any of the walls.
Practice until you can draw a line a half inch, three quarters of an
inch, one inch, one and a half inch, and three and a half inches long
without measuring.
Learn how to reduce level runs manually.
Learn how to load dump trucks without breaking sideboards.
Calc the length of commons two different ways, and then explain why
there are differences.
Learn all the dimensions built into a carpenter¹s pencil. Explain why
they¹re that way.
Explain the difference between pit run and bank run.
Learn to operate a vibrating screed.
Figure out why sixteen inches, why an inch and a half, why two inches,
why twenty four inches, and learn to use the tool that incorporates all
of them.
Learn how to calculate elevations by station.
Track projects with Gantt charts, and draw and maintain them by hand.
Take the belt clip off your tape.
Draw everything by hand until 2004.
Explain why topos and plot plans are drawn in tenths of a foot.
Learn what stadia hairs are, and how to use them.
Learn how to use a bucket of oil with a plumb bob.
Learn how to cut feather wedges.
Figure out why the height of the rafter tail on a valley rafter should
be either scribed or measured. Explain the reason that¹s so.
Learn why you don¹t nail a jamb into a header.
Calculate a 2500 p.s.i. load for 47 degrees F., in the rain. Explain
all your additives. Explain what would change above 50 yards.
Learn how to rig cranes, and why there¹s never more than one rigger.
Learn how to lay out corners with three men and two tapes.
What are the black diamonds on your tape for?
Explain what a task is.
Show the difference between an architect¹s ruler and an engineering
ruler.
Start as a chain man, and work your way up to party chief.
Train your eye until you can tell when your level is lying to you.
Learn how to calculate board feet in your head.
Demonstrate why the magic number for hip rafters is seventeen. Show the
mathematical proof for it. Explain why it¹s not exactly right.
Explain why one starts base cabinets from the high point, and not the
low point.
Explain why one would EVER use a 12 foot sheet of drywall.
Figure out why ³load measure² is always different from ³bank measure.²
Explain why everybody doesn¹t front load schedules.
Wool keeps you warm, even when it¹s wet.
Split angles with a compass.
Learn to calc sideshots.
Explain the one instance when you read the blade on the high side, and
the tongue on the low side.
Explain why the Superintendent gets paid last. Explain what¹s wrong
with Superintendents who get paid first.
Learn to spray points with two different brands of total stations.
The twelfth scale is so you can scale down anything, and draw it small
enough to calculate on. Explain why you¹d want to do that.
Pick a knife, and sharpen it until you can shave hairs off your arm
with it. Then do the same with all your edged tools.
Define the following words, and explain where they came from, and why:
Apprentice, Journeyman, Master, Masterpiece, Guild, and Union.
Write a mathematical proof proving the 3-4-5 method.
When you hear someone say that they don¹t build houses the way they
used to, explain at least a dozen reasons why that¹s good.
Buy one hand tool every payday.
Why sixteen inches? Does it work for both sides?
Learn how to read PERT charts, and explain what¹s wrong with them.
Explain what slump is, and why it has to be judged for each truck.
Learn about the infamous four-inch sphere, and explain the one
circumstance under which it doesn¹t apply.
Demonstrate the one move that can save your life in a cave-in.
Learn how to lead.
Learn how to multiply and divide feet and inches with a framing square
and a pencil.
Explain how to double up angles, and why you¹d want to do so.
Best of luck, and welcome to the trades.
