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I started as a programmer and now consult but also have a small engineering shop, and operate a small construction company, which has led me to get hands on experience on pretty much every part of construction A joke I keep making is, it doesn't surprise me so many people I meet in the trades are anti-science / conspiracy theorist adjacent, if you spend all day doing manual, physically intensive tasks using methods and materials that are functionally identical to how they did it 50+ years ago, it's easy to think scientists are full of shit. From what I see most progress and 'efficiency' happens on the manufacturing side. Materials get cheaper to produce, overall better (stronger, nicer finish, etc), but usually not easier to install or work with. A bit of a tangent but in the past you could just throw more people at the trades, so it didn't need to be any more efficient, but here in Aus the mining industry and commercial construction has eaten up most of the skills, and where I am it can take 12 months to break ground on a residential project right now. We're doing a commercial job for a builder that literally has "Homes" in their company name, and is just doing commercial work now. In October I was trying to organize an residential electrician in a smaller town (<50,000 people), and no one in town could come within 8 weeks. One company told me their entire staff was 5000km away from town for a commercial job, probably wouldn't be back available until next year, the money was just too good. |