# Training New Drywallers



## McCallum and Sons (Nov 3, 2013)

Where I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma it seems 95% of the finishers are Hispanic and a lot other guys have moved on to different careers because it's so hard to compete or they've destroyed themselves with meth and alcohol. I was thinking of starting some sort of apprenticeship and recruitment to be able to stay up with work and keep legal and try and get some new guys in the trade. How is everyone else coping with finding young guys interested in drywall? Drywall has been good to me and has fed my family for 25+ years and I am proud to be a drywaller and it sickens me to see our trade and what's happening here at least. Luckily we have long term customers that know the difference but it still has an overall effect on the market.


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## cracker (Nov 3, 2013)

I feel your pain..good luck with that


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## FAB (May 6, 2014)

Its really bad here. Lets put it this way. On every job iv been on in the last year or more when other trades are there i havent seen one person who spoke english. What really makes me laugh is that the GC's cant even tell them what to do because they dont speak the same language .Even more funny then that is the GC's are ok with it since he can pay them less then 100 bucks a day. Work i see them do is shoddy as all hell too. Only few people i see that speak english on occasion is electricians . Although i have seen GC's pick up mexicants to do electric too and they really dont have a clue how to do electric work. I know a lot about the electrician trade with my uncle being a electrician and i see them running things like 14ga wire on 50A breakers etc. Horrible fire hazards and once again GC's just dont care or know themselves. Its crazy .Then people who are knowledgable and care about quality cant get a job. Iv had GC's literally brag to me on how cheap he can pay them. If you go to home depot by me there is literally thousands of mexicans in the parking lot and lines of contractors picking them up like a feeding frenzy. Im not racist but this isnt right. 

What gets me pissed of most is that they are jepordizing the HO and families lives from inexperience and the GC's are happy about it all for that extra profit.


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## cracker (Nov 3, 2013)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD2Iv7Uim7Y&list=UUvsye7V9psc-APX6wV1twLg&index=6


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## FAB (May 6, 2014)

living in ny iv seen those costume performers first hand and they pretty much mug people. Iv seen them follow a lady for multiple blocks harassing her and demanding money. Iv seen them push someone into uncoming traffic for them saying no to a tip


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## Mr.Brightstar (Dec 2, 2011)

I had a foreman who would test new guys by throwing a roll of tape at them, to see if they could catch it or fumble with it. He said it showed if they had the hand and Eye coordination to make the cut.


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## FAB (May 6, 2014)

Mr.Brightstar said:


> I had a foreman who would test new guys by throwing a roll of tape at them, to see if they could catch it or fumble with it. He said it showed if they had the hand and Eye coordination to make the cut.


haha nice. You should tell him to switch to throwing taping knives


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## VANMAN (Jan 14, 2011)

FAB said:


> Its really bad here. Lets put it this way. On every job iv been on in the last year or more when other trades are there i havent seen one person who spoke english. What really makes me laugh is that the GC's cant even tell them what to do because they dont speak the same language .Even more funny then that is the GC's are ok with it since he can pay them less then 100 bucks a day. Work i see them do is shoddy as all hell too. Only few people i see that speak english on occasion is electricians . Although i have seen GC's pick up mexicants to do electric too and they really dont have a clue how to do electric work. I know a lot about the electrician trade with my uncle being a electrician and i see them running things like 14ga wire on 50A breakers etc. Horrible fire hazards and once again GC's just dont care or know themselves. Its crazy .Then people who are knowledgable and care about quality cant get a job. Iv had GC's literally brag to me on how cheap he can pay them. If you go to home depot by me there is literally thousands of mexicans in the parking lot and lines of contractors picking them up like a feeding frenzy. Im not racist but this isnt right.
> 
> What gets me pissed of most is that they are jepordizing the HO and families lives from inexperience and the GC's are happy about it all for that extra profit.


Well I do believe that answers Forestboy's question! :thumbsup:


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## foxinteriorsllc (Oct 25, 2009)

I am interested in setting an apprenticeship program as well, something similar to the union apprenticeship program. Why not train our high school grads that can`t go to college instead of importing illegals to fill that void.


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## Nick Harmon (Feb 16, 2013)

Great idea. Starting by putting an add in the paper or on Craigslist would be a good start. When I was an apprentice we started at 50% and moved up as we learned. It was a 3 year program and we had one class a week to discuss various aspects of the trade. It gave me a solid foundation.


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## mld (Jul 2, 2012)

foxinteriorsllc said:


> I am interested in setting an apprenticeship program as well, something similar to the union apprenticeship program. Why not train our high school grads that can`t go to college instead of importing illegals to fill that void.


I can't tell you how much I agree with you there. The emphasis on college these days is downright lopsided. Not every kid is our should go to college
And what about the thousands of kids that waste years of their life and then end up flipping burgers or on welfare. This is a tragedy. The trades are an honorable lifestyle and if we as a society forget that we are turning or backs on our heritage.
I'm so tired of hearing hardworking, honest, skilled and successful people saying" I don't want my kids to go through what I went through... I want something better for them... "
Well, let me tell you this, if we don't take back the pride and honor in skilled labor we will surrender another facet of our society to whoever wants to step up and fill that void. 

In my local town, 3000 people, there is four food handling facilities, a packing plant, two meat processing plants, and an egg- processing plant. 
My county also has the highest welfare rate in the state. Guess who works at those for plants?....

For a starting wage of close to $15 per hour.....

While a generation of people whose parents were hard working tradesmen and farmers etc. sit on there asses in their state assisted housing and complain about all the Mexicans taking their jobs!!!!!???!!!

It's time to take back the pride in physical work and go back to teaching our kids a skill that, even if they move on to something else in life, they will always have with them and will also have grown to appreciate the value of hard work.


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## foxinteriorsllc (Oct 25, 2009)

This is a good forum to get this going all ideas are welcome. I think it is important to the next generation. @Nick did you ever work with Brian/C.B. Drywall?


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## foxinteriorsllc (Oct 25, 2009)

@mld, Drywall has been good to me as I am sure it has been to everyone on this board. I feel it is time to give something back.


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## thefinisher (Sep 2, 2011)

I know when I have kids that they will work their @ss off! If I have a boy he will learn the trade regardless if he wants to or not. I learned very early how to finish and was as good as any finisher by the time I was in my teens. It is very important to have something to fall back on. College will be something I put emphasis on as I believe it is important. I have my degree and still do drywall. But, if our company went out of business heaven forbid then I would have the upper hand applying for a "day job". My kids will be raised like I was. If they do wrong then their backside will be hurting for days after. They will be forced to play outside and not rot playing video games. They will play sports of some fashion (hopefully baseball ). They will work as soon as they are capable to do so. God help them if their grades slip! I hated some days growing up but in the end I am a better person because I worked hard at whatever I did and was rewarded for it. The problem with todays kids are the parents. Lol and I'm only 25.


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## moore (Dec 2, 2010)

thefinisher said:


> I learned very early how to finish and was as good as any finisher by the time I was in my teens.





:lol::lol::lol::lol:


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## moore (Dec 2, 2010)

moore said:


> :lol::lol::lol::lol:


If your not in the mix day in and day out your not a real D/C! Your just a check writer .. A truck ass Contractor !


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## icerock drywall (Nov 13, 2010)

are there any new drywall hangers under 30?


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## Mr.Brightstar (Dec 2, 2011)

Training new guys is painful and Expensive. But somebody has to do it.


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## thefinisher (Sep 2, 2011)

moore said:


> If your not in the mix day in and day out your not a real D/C! Your just a check writer .. A truck ass Contractor !


Lol you kill me moore.


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## Nick Harmon (Feb 16, 2013)

foxinteriorsllc said:


> This is a good forum to get this going all ideas are welcome. I think it is important to the next generation. @Nick did you ever work with Brian/C.B. Drywall?


Yes! Brian is a good friend of mine and taught me about the business. My favorite company to work for. I also burrowed the base coat Fresco Harmony system from him. We were doing that texture on houses in CB back in the day. Love that guy! Fresco Harmony started in Crested Butte 12 years ago. I'd kill it with this finish over there today. I've bugged him about it. Are you working with him?


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## foxinteriorsllc (Oct 25, 2009)

Nick Harmon said:


> Yes! Brian is a good friend of mine and taught me about the business. My favorite company to work for. I also burrowed the base coat Fresco Harmony system from him. We were doing that texture on houses in CB back in the day. Love that guy! Fresco Harmony started in Crested Butte 12 years ago. I'd kill it with this finish over there today. I've bugged him about it. Are you working with him?


I started working with Brian about 22 years ago when we worked for Ron I have left and moved back twice in that time, not working with him presently had to tell him to go f___ himself, he is not as easy to get along with these days. I would`nt mind working with Fresco Harmony on some of the bigger jobs we have coming up, we should talk about it.


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## forestbhoy (Jun 16, 2013)

Talked to a contracts manager of one of the big builders over here , and we started talking about how nobody is coming through on the drylining side. The prices are so poor,especially on the boarding side,that a lot of good lads have dropped out to do private or just left the trade. He said all they will do is to supply us lads for free and for that we can give them an " apprenticeship". I tried to explain,so politely,that if he thinks i will train some lad up to work for the money im on now and so KEEP it low, he aint thought it out. If these big firms do go ahead with this, the poor sods on these schemes will just be used as cheap labour only, and learn bugger all in most cases imho....


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## MrWillys (Mar 10, 2014)

As most of you know I grew up in a union piecework drywall shop near SF, CA. My dad would talk about being able to double wages in the 60's, but I could never do it. I could get a day and half's wage but not double. There's been a campaign against the working class to not respect labor. You'll hear that anybody can do that job, so why do they get paid so much? I call BS, and we need to bring back respect for labor. Once wages rise it will bring back an interest in the building trades, and training programs. My union has a 4 year state sponsored apprenticeship where they go to class for one full week 4 times a year. They are introduced to the concepts of our industry, and actually perform hands on work in a shop environment. It is meant to enhance on the job training, and not to be a replacement. I know that non-union electrical has a training program, so it's not just unions doing this type of training. Also, schools are waking up to construction training, and several high schools now have construction tech programs.
It's hard to find dedicated people when you can't pay them squat!


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## chris (Apr 13, 2011)

Training a new drywaller is much easier than trying to retrain an old drywaller:yes: My first lesson to a newby is spottin screws and tool cleaning, if all thats done then I may let them run cornerbead or run banjo,, as long as ALL the screws are spotted. Sanding is next after screws and all tools are clean. If ALL the screws are hit and ALL the sanding done then run bead . I wont let them touch a box until the above duties are mastered. When that time comes I dont have to teach them much:thumbsup:


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## keke (Mar 7, 2012)

chris said:


> Training a new drywaller is much easier than trying to retrain an old drywaller:yes: My first lesson to a newby is spottin screws and tool cleaning, if all thats done then I may let them run cornerbead or run banjo,, as long as ALL the screws are spotted. Sanding is next after screws and all tools are clean. If ALL the screws are hit and ALL the sanding done then run bead . I wont let them touch a box until the above duties are mastered. When that time comes I dont have to teach them much:thumbsup:


I won't let him touch the auto tools until his hand skills are perfect


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## thefinisher (Sep 2, 2011)

keke said:


> I won't let him touch the auto tools until his hand skills are perfect


That's me lol, except we didn't have auto tools growing up. I was taught to spot screws first. I would hit all the bottom scresults then get on a bucket and get the top ones. Next I learned to run angles and flats. Then butts and beads. Of course I had my more than fair share of tight closets to tape out lol.


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## Mr.Brightstar (Dec 2, 2011)

I'm thinking of headhunting for a couple drywaller's.


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## Nick Harmon (Feb 16, 2013)

Mr.Brightstar said:


> I'm thinking of headhunting for a couple drywaller's.


I used Craig's list. I asked for a resume and references. Last I did interviews and actually called the references. Found some great finishers.


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