easy sider

I seemed to have married into it, then went out on my own with the help of my father in law. Most of the companies in my area are family owned with the next generations of contractor running them. My son will be running our company in the next few years and then I can be his headache . Even though we attend product seminars, some of the installation techniques we use are family trade secretes that are not shared with others.
I guess its the great feeling of accomplishment after the job is done that kept me in it and now that I don't have to it seems I still like to.

genecarp

Working as a carpenter 17 yrs old, grew up in a town with a guy who was 5 years older than me who had a big rig, covered with more aluminum equiptment than i had ever seen, ladders, planks, scaffolds, brakes, you name it. This guy was larger than life, always in the bars, drinking and fighting, and fond of reffering to himself as THE KING. I always watched him from a distance, a little intimidated. One day sitting at the bar he looked over a said, or growled, (YOU, ive seen your truck around, what do you do sissy trim work?) uuuu yea. We started drinking and talking, I ended up working with, and having my balls busted by him for 3 years, we eventually became partners and worked together for 5 years, it was a good run, Siding and Roofing, learned alot. I ran into him a few years back, the drinking and fighting had clearly taken its toll, still had the big truck, but no longer looked like the KING he once was. GMOD

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DavidC

I just knew that roofing was not a lifelong career for me and getting into siding was the next logical step as I worked my way down the ladder.

Good Luck
Dave

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OK, rant if you must. For the love of Pete, use paragraphs and spell check.

72chevy4x4

GMOD's entry is similar to mine-family in masonary-started at 15 packing hod during the summers and breaks for extra money (back then it wasn't extra money, just money)-moved up and out running my own crew later on.

interestingly enough, the crowd of mason's I observed were like the 'King'-drinking, druggin, getting into trouble and always blowing their money. Most of them are in poor health and still withi a trowel in hand.

MetalBender

A complete accident. I went to school for auto body and had a summer job working for a GC doing everything from lifting houses and laying block to framing additions and a few McMansions, alot of roofing too. Soon I was better at laying out and cutting compound miters for roofs with no room for growth. I went to work for a local siding company and caught on quik enough to be the highest paid, fastest and highest quality installer they had within 6 months. Again no room to move up any farther but I stuck it out for two years before leaving and going out on my own in September of '96. From September to the year end I made more than I ever had at any other job for a full year. Now I sometimes wish I did'nt have to constantly look for work but no other "job" that I am qualified for pays as well, not that I would care to punch a clock anyway.

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The cost of living is very exspensive yet it remains a poplular choice.

thezoo

Fell into it when a buddy's boss needed another hand. Did it for a couple of seasons (just the 3 of us w/ buddy & me doing solo). Couldn't do seasonal pay (dead winters) so went to IT office work. Now venturing out doing things I learned (mostly wrong ways of hacks) earlier.

CookeCarpentry

Someone put a gun to my head and forced me...

Actually, I live in the vinyl siding capital of the world (Pennsylvania) and if you don't at least dabble in vinyl siding you are missing out on a possible steady revenue stream.

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Mark
Wayne, PA
"It is what it is."

Framer53

"some of the installation techniques we use are family trade secretes that are not shared "

Come on it just the two of us, and I live in NY, whisper some to me!

buddy110

I started as a teenager after school and in the summer. I worked with a guy who did nothing but Alcoa aluminum siding. He never wrote a contract, just sealed every deal with a handshake. It just took and I became very proficient at it. One of is signatures was to place a newspaper behind the new siding. I've since ripped some of his jobs and read some of those papers. I've been doing it now for 37 years.. I'm so ****en old

CharlesD

I did that on hundreds of houses, plus I'd write my name in permenant magic marker on the inside of a piece of siding along with some profound thing I was thinking about that day.

CharlesD

Right out of HS I started working for a man who did just about everything. He got a house to side and him and I worked on it for about 6 weeks. Neither one of us knew what we were doing but the last I checked, it was still on the house.
Later as I was working as a carpenter for a builder he was complaining about his siding crew so I told him I'd done siding and would do it for him. So I became his siding man. Later he asked me if I wanted to do the siding on the side for an x amount of money so that became my first contracting job.
I then started picking up other siding jobs here and there that I did in my spare time.
Then I bought a brake, started adding tools and before long I was set to do it on my own. Got a job as general manager of an insulating company and started a siding division there.
Moved to Arkansas in 1978 and was there 20 years or so. Started in siding but branched off into other things but always kept a siding job going someplace. They were my cash flow jobs.

easy sider

I used to say , "If I told you, you wouldn't understand, if you understood, you wouldn't believe me ".

Now Im saying, "what?".

tomstruble

they better not be the same as my ''family secrets'' or your gonna hear from my lawyer

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Tom