[00:00:00] Eric Goranson: It's around the house when it comes to remodeling and renovating your home, there is a lot to know. We've got you covered. This is around the house. Welcome to the round the house show. The next generation of home improvement. Thanks for joining me. I'm Eric G. This is our weekday update. This is that episode that happens in the middle of the week where we fill in the blanks between the last episode Weekend show.

[00:00:41] Eric Goranson: And of course this weekend show happy Juneteenth out there today. I wanted to talk a little bit about the trades and the opportunities that I'm seeing out there for people that are really trying to maybe make a career change. We see a lot of these gen Z ers now that are starting to work with their hands and [00:01:00] are going, I'm not paying a hundred thousand dollars.

[00:01:02] Eric Goranson: To go to college, I'm going to go learn a trade and I'm going to make more money and keep more of my take home pay and gain control of my career. And I really like to see that. I think that we're starting to see some bounce back on the horizon with this, which is going to be good for building and everyone else out there as well.

[00:01:20] Eric Goranson: Because even though we have these amazingly high labor costs right now, which is good for the people in the trades, it does affect affordable housing because we're having to pay people. Almost twice as much as they were a handful of years ago, because they're just hard to find good trades people. And I wanted to highlight today.

[00:01:37] Eric Goranson: One of the people that I know out there in my area, that is a great rebuilder, mostly large residential remodels. These guys do kitchens, baths and things. And, and in full disclosure, I was their designer independently working for him for years with REF construction here in Portland. And I wanted to just highlight some of the jobs that are available for people out there and what the benefit [00:02:00] packages are and those kind of things.

[00:02:01] Eric Goranson: So people could have an honest look at what actual people are doing out there. And so right now, R E F construction, as an example, is hiring a remodel contractor apprentice helper. So they're looking for somebody. Who is looking to get into this field or has one to three years of experience to come join their team, which is cool.

[00:02:20] Eric Goranson: So, of course, you gotta be hardworking, willing to learn all the aspects of residential remodeling, including demo interior, carpentry, trim, door, installation, light framing, flooring, drywall, painting, touch ups. Small tile project, minor HVAC, like fixing ductwork or basic stuff like that. Got to be able to show up on time, which is one of the biggest problems out there.

[00:02:40] Eric Goranson: I think one of the biggest things that I see with people hiring new team members is one, making sure someone shows up on time. And the second one, having a driver's license for the ability to get to a job site or having a clean driver's record. A lot of these companies will provide you with a work van and tools and all that stuff [00:03:00] in there.

[00:03:00] Eric Goranson: And you know something? If you can't drive, you're going to be, you're going to be in trouble. So that's really going to be one of those issues. Unless you're Ubering to the job site each day, which nobody wants to mess with as an employer, I don't think that's going to be an issue right there. So you got to be insurable.

[00:03:16] Eric Goranson: You got to have a driver's license. And. Here's the thing with these guys for instance must have cordless drills and basic hand tools All the large tools are provided by the company. So have your favorite tools your tool belt that kind of stuff Must be able to lift 75 pounds They've got competitive wages and 401k with 3 percent company match after 90 days paid holidays and vacation time after 90 days So that's just for a general apprentice labor or somebody wanting to get out there So if you're working On a restaurant, or you're working fast food, or you're somebody out there going, I don't know what I want to do, that might be a great job to go track down.

[00:03:52] Eric Goranson: Because here's the thing. If you're younger out there and you're like, Hey, I don't know if I want to do this or not. Here's how you go find out. Start out as an apprentice, take a [00:04:00] look at it and see what you're doing. You're going to be making more money anyway, and just have a greater time learning than that.

[00:04:07] Eric Goranson: Making French fries all day. So take a look at that. That could be something that's a great one. And of course, once you're established in your journeyman out there, you're really have your carpentry skills down. Then you're getting into much higher pay. And this is where it really works. They're even hiring contractor journeyman out there, which is cool.

[00:04:26] Eric Goranson: So remodel contractor journeyman, they're looking for same kind of skills, but you just need to be able to manage all of those things. Basically, when you're a journeyman, what you're going to be doing is you're going to be running the job site out there. You'll be the one out there running the job site and making sure things are going well.

[00:04:41] Eric Goranson: You're going to make sure the, the subs are working and then you're going to be building and doing your own stuff as well. So you got to be independently minded on that to be able to go out And manage a job site, which really, you know, in your work at budgets, you're doing all that stuff to make sure you're in the middle of that.

[00:04:56] Eric Goranson: And so really the same thing as far as [00:05:00] the, when you're a remodel contractor journeyman, this is where you get the company vehicle and the gas card after 90 days. And then. Of course, all the different competitive wages, all that stuff. But really, here's the thing. I think there are so many great jobs out there that are being missed in the remodeling field.

[00:05:17] Eric Goranson: And here's the 1 thing I like about remodeling as well as it's fairly recession proof in that new house construction. When you're out there being a new house builder, we have our booms and our busts. So you're working 60 hours a week cranking away on this new housing development. And then all of a sudden the interest rates go up higher and trouble that new housing really slows down or like it did 15 years ago, it stops.

[00:05:41] Eric Goranson: So remodeling is one of those things that people, when they can't afford to go and buy a new house, they will go in and start remodeling their house. So remodeling is pretty recession proof as far as that goes. So really you don't have to get worried about. Getting laid off from that factory job or anything else out there.

[00:05:56] Eric Goranson: So take a look at getting into [00:06:00] construction. And if it's something that you go, Hey, this could be a good career for me. I want to do something different. I'm tired of what I doing. You know, it's funny when I sit there and talk to musicians out there and I'm talking, you know, touring musicians that have had videos on MTV.

[00:06:13] Eric Goranson: Or other channels like that, country music, television, a lot of 'em are contractors. A lot of them are tile installers, painters, drywallers, all those different things. And because they have that flexibility to go out and go on tour. And come back. So there's a lot of flexibility. And then once you have that skill, you can work anywhere you want to.

[00:06:34] Eric Goranson: If you want to go down to Florida and work, if you want to go to New York and, or Southern California, you can work just about anywhere you want to work with those skills. So take a look at. Getting a job in the trades out there. Cause I think there's a great opportunity for many people, men and women, and especially the ladies out there.

[00:06:50] Eric Goranson: Now that you're seeing women's workwear being made by many companies out there, work boots. I'm not talking just this cheeseball pink stuff. I'm [00:07:00] talking about stuff that's meant to go work in. I think it's much more accepted than it has been in the past. We get a long way to go, but I think we're on the right track and we have been on the right track for the last five years or so.

[00:07:11] Eric Goranson: So it's one of those things that You know, ladies and men out there, take a look at the trades. I think it's something very worthwhile. And if you want to find out more about these guys, these jobs, if you're like, Hey, I live in your area, Eric, I don't want to take a look at this, or I want to move out to Portland and get ahold of RF construction at refconstruction.

[00:07:28] Eric Goranson: com. That's where those guys are. They've got those postings up and they're trying to hire some more people because they're busy. All right, guys, this is where we also jump in and take a look at our recalls out there. And if you've got a bamboo B a M B U lab. They recall their A1 3D printers due to electric shock and fire hazards, about 12, 800 of those.

[00:07:50] Eric Goranson: So that's, uh, Bamboo Lab. Aven, or Adven Group, recalls Nap Queen Sleeper Victoria Hybrid mattresses due to fire hazard and violation of federal [00:08:00] mattress flammability standards. Magnetic chess games recalled due to ingestion hazard for little kids. Let's see, most everything else here, there's, uh, some bikes.

[00:08:09] Eric Goranson: Ah, here's a big one. Dakin Comfort Technologies Manufacturing recalls Amana, Dakin, Goodman branded AC and heat pump package units due to fire hazard. The unit's serial plate can have incorrect electrical ratings, which can lead to incorrect wirings being used. There's about 12, 100 of those out there. So Looks like what they're gonna be doing is reaching out to you guys if you are but if you've got one of these recalled units Make sure you check over at Goodman manufacturing comm package Dash recall or just go over to the CPSC gov recall page.

[00:08:48] Eric Goranson: There's about twelve thousand one hundred of those I bet that those guys are going back and checking From their records because almost all those they have the registered because they're an installed product But if, when in doubt, if you've got [00:09:00] one of those, take a look over at the, uh, cpsc.gov/recalls and you can find out more information there.

[00:09:07] Eric Goranson: We got a great episode coming up. It has been one that, uh, people have been asking me to do for a while. We did it a few years ago and it's time to do it again, and I can't wait to tease this to you, show you on Friday what we're doing this weekend. Gonna be a great one. So you want to tune in for that.

[00:09:21] Eric Goranson: We'll have two hours of around the house show ready for you on Saturday, whether you're listening on the radio or the podcast or on the. Alright everybody, I'm Eric G and you've been listening to Around the House. We'll see you Saturday. Thanks for tuning in.