Not trying to whine or complain too much but what the ****! Current place is an absolute dumpster fire, all the mechanics but me and the newest have left. One didn't like his manager so no called no showed, the other guy who was in no way ready was talked into being a field guy to cover for him. Well that guy found out how much less he's being paid and is on his way out. That's the normal for this place, promise anything do nothing that costs them, lying every time. Now all of their accounts were on hold all week because they won't pay. Told us to figure it out while the check is in the mail, yeah right. So I've been interviewing with local companies and they're all the same as these guys. Is it my area, the local population is all shady, or the bad companies are the only ones hiring? I've been looking around and much lower cost of living areas are paying the same as the front range? So how do I go about finding a company that pays enough for me to live here, average rent for a house is $2500/mo and insurance is $1000/mo after the companies "contribution". Without working 80hrs/wk and relying on overtime the only option I see is moving?
If I remember right you're in colorado? I don't see how many of the blue collar guys can afford to live in the higher priced housing market areas. It has to be tough when housing is over $500,000. I read a article the other day in on a financial site, person writing in was making $350,000 per year and was talking about how they were living "paycheck to paycheck". Big house payments, school debt payments, credit card debt, and owed $170,000 on their two electric cars (because they are saving the planet ). I think everyone has a tendency to spend what they make, but with what housing has skyrocketed to, and what my wife says grocery prices are doing, it makes one wonder where the spiral ends. I hope you find somewhere that fits your needs for employment.
I started as an auto mechanic went into atc and got out. The starting pay for the entry level mechanic is close to the same as when I left. I have watched the adds for the last five years or so and there are some that always have adds out for help. My limited experience indicates to me that they probably are not good to work for. Maybe knock on doors that are not hiring and ask to talk with resume ready. When I come across a tradesman in a gas station or similar I ask how they like their job and if they are hiring for my kids. It may well be difficult but county and state jobs tend to be desirable as far as I can tell around here. Union’s are pretty strong here and tend to pay well. Moving may well make sense but that can be complicated depending on your situation. You are capable of making that decision. Best of luck.
Colorado maybe? Your profile says earth, so that does narrow things down. Wow, what a deal. Sorry to here about your situation. Like MKS said, maybe look for a municipal, county or state gig? Less pressure overall. Operating to a budget vs operating to please shareholders. Can you tell us what industry? Construction, trucking, ag shop, ?
The problem with moving is, it’s to late to figure out that u hate your new job.. When I took a job 100 miles away (1 way) from my permanent home, I bought a nice mobile home already set up and lived in it for 3 years & went home on weekends or whenever the mood hit me.. I sold it when I decided that “this” wasn’t for me.. I took a $2000.00 loss but where else could you live for 3 years for $2000.00.?? Just something to think about...
I found you a great gig. A defense contractor in my state needs a mechanic or two to maintain a variety of vehicles, power equipment, prime power, heavy equipment, dishwashers, ATV’s, freezers, ice machines, whatever is broken. You get to travel to remote, top-secret, military installations, live with polar bears for weeks or months. IBEW gig, make big bucks, hook up with local native women in the villages and live the dream. Start a new family or a couple new family’s. Enjoy chartered flights in small aircraft operating at the margin. Live at the edge of the world. Three hots & a cot, shoot caribou after work, ride ATV’s, fish streams that never get fished, drink. Maybe all at the same time. No expenses. Just stack the dough. Stacks and stacks of it. Here is the link. You can thank me later. Seriously, I’m not even exaggerating. I might be wrong about the IBEW 1547 part, it could be a Teamster 959 contract. I’ll ask my kiddo. Get a nice place in Panama to stay when you are not working. https://www.arctecalaska.com/
I'll second that. Panama was our first choice for a "move to" but other considerations unfortunately prevailed.
Boquete is a fantastic town up in the mountains. Actually reminds me of the terrain out west.
Bruh, move outta there and gain better pay, lower costs, and most likely more freedom. My insurance is $160 a month and my house is $700 a month
Move east 400 miles. Pretty much every place is hiring mechanics. Yellow Deere, Green Deere, Cat, they all seem to have signs out. There are livable houses that sell for under 20K if you get away from the big cities, The biggest downside is its 70 miles to a acceptable doctor, and 160 miles to one you actually want to allow to operate on you. If you are healthy its not a problem.
What part of the world is this
From what my friend that has a place in Colorado tells me that is a very expensive place to live. Like others have said move if you can.
I moved to the Denver area in 2010, moved back to Michigan in 2012. Costs were exorbitant back then and I can only imagine how bad they've gotten now. Back then, I saw almost a 10% gain in savings every month from moving because of the reduction of living expenses. Housing was cheaper, food was cheaper, fuel was cheaper, etc. I liked living near the mountains, but it wasnt worth the cost. I can fly out and visit them someday if I want to go back.
From my own personal experience the big dealers absolutely suck to work for. I've been at a smaller company the last few years and I'm actually enjoying the job like I used to. Working for dealers made me hate this job lol.
I've never turned wrenches for a living, but if the $$$ was close to the same, I think I would prefer being a mechanic for a construction or industrial company that just has their own equipment, vs. working on whatever comes through the door at a dealer. With a fleet, even if you start with a mess from the last guy, you should be able to reach a point of stability of getting things rolling along. Sure, things are still going to break, but you know the fleet and you have some history, and work in progression. Of course then there's no where to hide from troublesome jobs, and no one else to blame, but that's not a problem for good guys.
At any big corporation you are a number. I worked for a large KW dealer for over twenty years. I was 09-01.
The big gain from being at a large dealer is the benefit and pension plans. A lot of smaller companies just don't have the ability to match what a multi billion dollar dealership chain can. Its a trade-off though. I find the smaller companies have a much more laid back environment and the owners often treat you like a person and not some little peon.
Dealership technical training and access to the resources. That can make a huge difference in technician development. Especially for a young fella. Five or six good years. Most guys can handle dealership politics for that long. Coincidentally, that magic 5 year mark coincides with the point of wage stagnation. Then, it’s time to pack up your game and whore yourself out to a customer you met while working at the dealer. Make a few bucks.
That career path worked out well for many of us.
Unless you just love commodity style retail wrenching, overall it’s a poor life decision. Go fix elevators, become an electrician (IBEW), fireman, repair medical equipment (bio-med), go into commercial HVAC.
What is this technical training you speak of? Besides the Cat dealer, not one of the other 2 dealers I've worked for ever offered anybody any kind of training.
You are correct. Some dealers are horrible about that. My last dealer employer mandated a min of two weeks and four weeks for field guys.
As it should be. Far too many employers cry that they cannot find anybody decent but offer nothing to retain the good employees they do manage to find and allow them to grow their abilities.
It's the corporate chicken & egg of an employer that won't invest in their guys for fear they'll take that training and move on, versus the guys that move on because said employer won't invest in training for them to do their job. Started out through a family shop and smaller dealers that wouldn't let you in the field without getting their factory training first. Then the two big dealer rental outfits I worked for never offered any training over the last 4 years. Bailed on that an now looking to get back on with a smaller outfit. To the OP; If you need to move, do it for the sake of getting ahead and not solely for a job that will lock you in with a $5k signing bonus and moving package. Everyone is desperate to hire right now, so it's not hard to name your price depending on what you do and where you want to be.
if you are good at troubleshooting you become the guy that gets called to save the day when no one else can figure out the issue instead of being the rote “take this out and put it back in” guy. much more satisfying.
I had plenty of mini courses at the three big dealers I wrenched for. Most is training now is distance education but really only works for motivated people. The small dealers can barely afford service manuals. I vote for a move if possible as well.
Want to do remote camp work 2 weeks on 2 weeks off live anywhere? I actually left Denver for Alaska and work with another guy who still lives there though works up here to be able to afford down there. Not sure I'd recommend where I work now though the money is decent and we are always hiring mechanics. I used to work here, depending on where you live in Denver the commute can really suck. The pace was pretty slow, typical BS though could be much worse, decent benefits, underground shops were better than some surface shops, worse than others, it's either 2 weeks of days 2 weeks of nights or 4 weeks of days 2 weeks of nights, typical schedule was 14 days a month 4 on 2 off 3 on 5 off, some OT available though usually not mandatory. https://jobs.fcx.com/Climax-Molybde...pment-Diagnostic-Mechanic-CO-80438/941633000/ Good luck, the places worth working at that pay well though they are very rare.
I gotta make that kind of money to pay for the physical therapy I need to get out of bed and up on another tank. Plus, my service truck payment is more than the sh$ty single wide I live in. Which, I’ll probably loose in a couple years anyways, when I eventually go into rehab. Hopefully I can keep the rubber truck nuts hanging from the hitch. .
My cousin worked at a mine in Arizona and described how to find the place he lived at. It was down a dirt road and when you find a group of mail boxes with bullet holes in them turn right and go to the single wide mobile home on the left. His place was the third double wide after that. You will know for sure because the composition roof is coated in some kind of white goop.
Thread took off while I was away. I'm in Denver, I started with the local John Deere outfit north of Denver, was priced out of housing, college town, so I went to private companies on the south side of Denver. But most that I applied to were disasters, some couldn't even hide in the interview how much of a mess their company was. The offers right now are $28 to $32 an hour which doesn't go very far against $2500/mo rental or $3000/mo mortgage for a nothing special place in a not so great part of the city. I've been busy over the last week applying in Colorado, Kansas City, etc and the people in Kansas City area are biting hard, apparently they're getting some of their best guys from Denver who decided to move. One called me an hour after I sent an application in. The pay is the same or better than what's offered here but a house is half what it is here so seems like a win. Also had a chat with someone from Cripple Creek mine, the 2 weeks on 2 weeks off would be kinda sweet being able to have lots of time with the kids. Right now I'm gone before they wake and home when they're asleep, so other than weekends I don't see them and sometimes I'm so tired from the week all I want to do is rest. My tool guy joked about the alaska/antartica jobs but I don't think the misses would keep me if I disappeared for 6 months at a time. The 2 weeks seems about max, but this one ad for cripple creek is the only one I've seen that doesn't want 2 years experience with underground equipment, of which I've got none. As far as training all the private companies have the good tech's out in the field and the knuckle draggers in the shop. That turns out pretty much as expected. No factory training to be found. Also the shop foreman is usually buddies with the CEO or operations manager and that's how they got the job so no one actually has a clue how a real shop works. Vtech's thread is pretty typical for how too many companies operate around here.
As far as I know cripple creek is surface and wasn't planning on going underground though it's been 2 years since I've been in Colorado. I had an interview there a while back though didn't get the job. When I was at Henderson almost none of the new hires had underground experiance so if you are interested apply. Climax is surface as well though you pretty much need to move to leadville or BV. If you are interested in Alaska shoot me a PM and I can give you a run down of the different properties. I believe where I'm at is hiring underground mobile guys without underground experiance though I could be wrong. I do know of one surface mechanic at an underground mine (smaller surface construction equipment) job currently posted.
Would you mind sharing a link
Have you looked at industrial maintenance jobs. Factory/manufacturing/foundry. Pay is good and consistent. Some places are death traps but I preferred wrenching on industrial machines instead of cars/and yellow equipment. In the Midwest housing is cheap and a lot of good companies are union. Not banging the unions are best drum but the pay/benefits are almost always better.
Easy trade-off. Company provides training, employee signs on the dotted line to stay for "X" amount of time after his/her last training course was completed or incur financial penalties for quitting earlier. Win-win. Different industry but #3 son is now a fully-qualified accountant and his employer paid for every cent of his training in return for him agreeing to stay at the company for a specified amount of time after qualifying. If he left earlier there was a sliding scale of his class fees he had to repay.
First off, you live in one of the most expensive areas of the country outside of California. I would get away from the big city areas as fast as I could........I'm a country boy anyway. I know here in Oklahoma you can live like a king off of a $125K paying job. The housing is reasonable, plenty of work, and everything you will ever need is a short commute. I think journeyman pay at the Cat dealer here is over $40 an hour. ......the other dealers are less but decent. The midwest and the south seem to be the most affordable areas to work and live......and mechanics/techs are in extremely high demand.
Contract labor isn't much of a thing here. Probably some laws somewhere that limit it or prohibit it as all outside training seems to be done as an added employment benefit. Even training at the dealerships was paid for as regular working hours.
Sent you a PM with a run down of the Alaska mines. If anyone is interested in Alaska mining let me know and I can copy and paste the PM.
Pretty much anywhere between the Rocky Mountains and the Missouri River.
Same old argument: What if we train them and they leave? What if we don't train them and they stay?
Another overlooked avenue is water/waste water. Any town with a water/waste water system has mechanical staff. Our region had marine engineers, then heavy duty mechanics, and now is hiring millwrights. The work is the same and all 3 trades have similar skills. Pumps, motors, engines, large valves, standby power. The demographics of our workforce was getting towards retirement age 10 yrs ago. It is a growth industry and there is fairly good job security. Cam
The employees have to be trained by explaining the ethics and practices of the company in such a way that they believe us, as we should be honest with them in the first point.
I put in 15 years at an electrical utility. It was a good job plus I was able to get a small pension out of it. There was lots of training and a good benefit package. The wage was a bit lower than the private shops but the benefits made up for it.
All the municipal jobs here are way under payed think $20-25/hr vs $3000/mo mortgage. As for the "retirement" money tomorrow doesn't feed my family today and maybe I'm also a pessimist but with the way the economy is and going further I have a hard time seeing a pension when I'm ready to retire that's kept up with inflation.
I left a state job. Very low pay ($11/hr) and the retirement was 60 percent of your three highest paid years. I would have topped out at 32k per year so…60 percent of damn near nothing, let me do the math is…nothing. Even more damning is I was starting in the last year of the “good” old retirement plan. New plan is very akin to a 401k with minimal input from the employer side. Let’s just say I have never looked back.
When I worked for the first equipment dealer back in 79 the word was there would be no social security and the union pension would be the only thing for us. Union pension went broke in 2008 and 2009 and there was little left to pay retirees. The only reason I get some of that pension is because when I quit that job after I vested the pension, the union bought an annuity to cover me. It isn't near what I paid in for. The only thing still around is Social Security and I'm real glad I paid into it even though I didn't have to. If you aren't making enough to feed the family and put a dollar or two away for when you can't work, you need to go somewhere else or do something else.
An old cattle rancher I did work for years ago told me about some range land he bought after WWII, .75 and acre. That was in the early 80's that he told me, those days are long gone he said then. That same land, sage, rocks and range grass has houses on it now 350k living on a rock pile. The lots sold for 80k a piece. Pretty tough to make a living, pay for a house, two cars and raise a family. Living the dream.
Moving is the plan. Although Kansas City wasn't the first thing that came to mind all the places we did look at had a rather high cost of living to the local wages. Right now I'm talking with two equipment dealers in the area about moving out. The plan is to have my own service company but the COL of Denver and surrounding areas has hindered that and even set us backwards. The recent used truck prices, along with commercial property rents have made it impossible here. Sometimes I'm desperate enough to get out of here I think about bugging Vtech haha.
The scale for the union operators in Kansas city is good wages (I think). Its certainly not the scenery you're used to, but like you've found out, Colorado is pretty tough to afford. I didn't think our housing was that high, until the wife and I started looking at local listings the other day. I may not be able to afford the house I live in. I think that may change in the next year, but who knows. I think a change of job and location is a good thing, and it can change your outlook on things. Good luck!
Alright first job offer is in and it's good. Not a ton of money for relocation but it's better than anything offered by companies trying to get me to move up into the mountains here. Now I've got to figure out moving, do I move out first and find a place for the family? Or do we do it Beverly Hillbilly style? Or dump it all and rebuy it and move bag of clothes each?
Dump the personal possessions and rebuy what you need. Pay to move the tools and related equipment for work. I moved from Colorado to Michigan in 2012. We packed everything and moved into our first house. In 2015, we sold that house. The move was frantic as buyers required immediate possession on close. We rush moved into storage while building a house. Moved into that house in 2017. Going through boxes during move in, we found stuff that had been packed in Colorado, and never opened until 5 years later. Much of that stuff got tossed or donated. Why we held on to boxes of crap that we thought we needed for so long, I'll never know. If I could go back, I would have ditched way more in Colorado, and gotten a smaller vehicle to move my stuff in.
Stop telling everybody! LOL
A great place to settle is ND, SD, Mont, NEB, OK, WY. Wide open, cheap housing and the best of neighbors, they will even help you unload your stuff and provide a free first dinner.
Come on down! There's plenty of work, good cheap living, and plenty good looking women with daddy issues. LOL its paradise!!
And free beer!
haha wife might have an issue with moving for available women. She came up with a plan to shove all of the things we want to keep, that are worth keeping, into a storage unit. Pack the basics in out travel trailer and stay at a KOA place while she house hunts and I work. Biggest issue right now is fitting my tool boxes into the move, trailer door is only 23" wide and my boxes are all 30" deep, oops.
Well not bad not bad
Did you say FREE BEER and needy women? Looks like I'm coming out of retirement and moving to Oklahoma. You do need an assistant right? With those kind of benefits I'll work nights,weekends and holidays.
So back on the topic of employers. Anyone have an opinion on Foley Cat vs Roadbuilders Komatsu? They're both making similar offers, but Foley is field and Roadbuilders is shop to start with an eye on me going to the field. The field manager at Foley seems straight forward. The issue with Roadbuilders is other than "hi" I never heard a word from the shop manager, so I've got no idea on his temperament. Any experiences or rumors?
Shouldn't field pay a little more?
Never has where I've ever worked. Same rate but almost unlimited amounts of overtime in the field.
Same here John.. I even had a meeting w the head honchos about it.. I felt it was a down grade, going out on a job.. I toldm that I would like to be compensated for the benefits that I’m loosing when going outside the premises to work.. I toldm that working in 110* temps, loosing the access to the drink machine, the food machine and even basic needs like the bathroom was considered a benefit.. that I was losing.. And wouldn’t you know it.. I was laughed out of the meeting .. And they wondered why I retired..
We pay field a premium. It’s blood money to work out in the extreme heat, rain, cold, landfills, and other undesirable conditions plus late and weekends. I have no problem with them getting more for that and for me it’s not enough of an incentive to climb into a field truck and work like a dog. on the same idea like thepumpguy I am a little annoyed when I get sent out into the field because they send me out in a pickup truck without air, power, tools, etc
I have never had a service truck to use i have done alot of field work. I bet i never went out on a job and had every thing i could have used. The first job of management is to turn a profit number 2 job is to get every atom of profit from the employees . If you are very lucky way down on the list at the bottom is try to make the employees not want to quit. If i ever get rich even if i didnt have a need for it i would have a service truck just because it would have been great to have.
I remember picking up the purpose built service trucks at the first dealership that I worked at. Just F350 gas pots with service boxes and a 2500 pound capacity crane that only had power on the winch. The boom raise was a long hand jack and the swing was free. Management didn't care how long a job took because they charged by time on the work order from leaving the shop to returning to the shop. Winding bolts by hand was just that much more profit in the job. I had a dozer wind up a mattress spring in the sprocket and we had to change the seals. Cat dealer sent out a guy to work the jacks and press with a hand pump. We got the thing up in the air and apart in one day. We told the guy that if he didn't bring the electric pump the next day we would get someone else to do the work. Customer push back is why service trucks got bigger and better equipped.
I'm being told that after a performance review I will be making more. They claim to offer everyone this much to start in the field but who knows. Either way they keep their word or they don't, but I'm out of Denver so it's a win.
Get that five or six years, live as cheap as can handle then buy a service truck, get cards made and go Inde. In this day and age can cut a fat hog relatively quick but will cost time spent away from family, bodily wear and tear and tools expenses. Best part, wake up storms everywhere, do not answer the phone. Good days make as much charge able time as can to cover winter slow downs and crap weather do not want to do it today moments.
No truer words have ever been written.!!! It’s easy to say at “our” age.. and easy to read.. but you’ll never understand what it means until u actually do it.. I’m in the retired club and it’s the best decision I ever made.. I’m busier than I’ve ever been.. My boats are sitting w pine trees growing thru the trailers and my grass is ankle hi.. If I’m not turning wrenches, I’m on the phone calling and doing callbacks.. & when I’m not doing THAT, I try to get here and help out.. Damn I’m tired.!! Lol
I was on a Jeep fourm and learned that a Toyota starter could be made to work on a Willys jeep. Just think someday a Mechanic could be working for a shop owned by a Japanese company on a WWll jeep with a Toyota starter and discover that this very Jeep that was used to fight aginst losing America was owned and restored by his great Grandfather and his family lost when this country was lost that is something he will never be able to own . Why would anyone bolt a Toyota starter to a Jeep???? This is the kind of thing that keeps me up at night
Doug that type of management is about 10 years old and has not aged well in my area of the country. In our area the labor market is tighter than dicks hatband so retaining skilled employees is priority #1.
Years ago and maybe it still is, a good indicator for good employment {Did the owner start from the bottom and slowly build a solid business being careful. Or did he stumble into it or was it bought for him without his own skin in the game. I tend to believe the owner who started low rung and built-is probably a better choice. Not always but most of the time.
Only worked for one as that, the rest walked thru a door inexperienced but family and were hand the operation. That includes the Nuke where that very Nuclear Navy ‘Family’ guaranteed the men and women in offices of power were granted their positions not on skills or qualities but the fact they had been Navy and that only. Showed out in how they appointed and promoted Golden Hair Children. Anyone did anything to better the facility was always ‘working Under’ one of these even as generally weren’t. Last group of ExNav people hired, several repeated the words they were Owed Their positions, I left them to their game, no pity. Mort Zalk took a local Car and Truck rental business as a wedding gift from his Father in Law, he was already a known business developer and at only 25 had two of his own auto dealerships. He improved that and expanded that to Feld Truck Rental in under three Years, it became a nurtured evolving growing national rental company built on Satisfied customers and shops that made efforts to make that company. When he died the company died, GELCO Corp finished the burial. Mort and his Wife had no children. Hogan Leasing was gifted entirely and remained stagnant while owned by the son of the builder. Once old man Carl died his three sons and one daughter parted ways, one kept the business and improved, the ofher three ard off doing their thing no involvement these days. Kohrs truck was a offshoot of A International Dealership the owner ran into the ground with his brothers, six of them, continued the process in that little garage, wife son daughter all in managerial positions. Mississippi Lime was built after WWI, expanded after WWII, was devoured by the children of those that built it up for every dine could snake out of the coffers machinery showed that. It failed and was absorbed by Fruin Colnon owners of Fred Weber Construction.and is now multi million Dollar floundering mess. Mack trucks in St Louis was owned by the man that opened the doors as he bought a Right to sell them in 1938, he sold the rights and was the man to final close that operation. The current dealer is a faint shadow of the business he once made. Mack sold him the rights as the Factory dealer was failing, no skin in that game by manager.
Farms I worked as Inde for, they were the odd ducks. Most were family, most had subsidy money coming in but all worked their fingers raw to derive a dollar from a dollar, corporate farmers around here only have the land investment usually from the family names of employees today hiring the original owners as those employees. Sadly those family members expect to own a small part at some future date of what their family once held, a false premise. Investors and banks now own much of those properties where will not relinquish that investment. A few farms here are owned by single children of the original owners, will be no continuance as they pass. What I really do not care for is the near to industrial development of our little hamlet here. Every home that comes up for sale bought by those intent to corner the B&B market or to start another trinket shop or another coffee shop. Once had several restaurants served breakfast lunch and dinner, fewer and fewer true residents, worker bee’s live out and come in just to work, most will not accept that tourism is a limited game, wineries a expensive annual gamble, junk shops are not Craft Workers, and the town loses a few more quality customers every year to frufru swilling day trippers that spend little real money. Three larger well established resort style venues sold off in last few years, are now Changing hands near to annually as cannot make facility payments on weekender two day at most guests, discounts to draw anyone draws wrong clientele. Restaurants are down to a limited few and specialize in dinner or snack meals only. Finding a breakfast beyond designer Scones and $7 a cup designer brew cafe’ is impossible. Local stores used to supply the local fare shops, now are big cheap grade food service providers. Trucks clog the streets M-Th. Fridays are banished for them. Help wanted signs are unfilled as few worker types to see them.
Stopped by KW at CoMO the other day, just to say Hi to those that aided in getting the beast built. Seems MHC is experiencing said pains. Shop was near to desolate, down to three techs and Shop manager offered myself a job that I declined. He was astonished I could or would turn down good money, but at 66 money is not everything anymore.
I actually experienced that recently. Long story short the kids got involved in the business and slowly started thinking they ran the place (owner managed the business but out of a different location). Got into a spat with one of the kids about coveralls one day and that was the last straw. Its funny how they suddenly care once you walk out the door.