· General Carpenter and Joiner

· Residential Carpenter

· Exhibit & Display Installer

· Interior Systems Carpenter

· Lather

· Cabinetmaker and Millworker

· Flooring Installer

· Pile Driver

· Millwright

· Insulation Installer

· Roofer

· Siding Installer

· Concrete Former

· Heavy and Highway Carpenters

► General Carpenter and Joiner

Carpenters and joiners work with many tools and materials to build houses, erect skyscrapers, and construct bridges, tunnels and highways. Just about every building in a community was at least partially built by skilled carpenters. To be a carpenter is to be a member of one of the oldest and most respected trades. You can build a lifetime career in carpentry, if you like working with tools and like to create things. From years of training we constantly build with the safety of construction, and the safety and security of the workers in mind.

► Residential Carpenter

Residential carpenters are the primary craft workers on homes, apartments and condominiums from foundations to roofing. They assemble and erect the frameworks of residences. They build the partitions, install the flooring, and do much of the finish work, often staying on a particular job until completion. The residential carpenter has experience in nearly every aspect of residential construction.

► Exhibit & Display Installer

Exhibit and Display Installers erect and dismantle trade shows, like those at McCormick Place and Navy Pier in Chicago. From flooring to framing to millwright work, they do it all. They uncrate exhibits and display materials, plus they install and take down the cabinets, fixtures, shelving units, and furniture. Exhibit and Display Installers lay floor tile and carpets, hang and install structural signs, and re-crate exhibits and machinery. They also install and dismantle scaffolding, bleachers and gang chairs.

► Interior Systems Carpenter

Here is an expanding field of work, which offers challenges to many young people entering the construction trades. It involves the installation of a variety of factory-produced systems and construction materials in commercial buildings and public structures. Specialized skills are brought into play as they assemble complex interior systems from floors to ceilings using technical data supplied by manufacturers.

► Lather

Lathering is a small but vital trade the employs thousands of people in the United States and Canada. It’s an ancient trade that goes back to the days when buildings were built with stone and plaster. The lather applies the basic framework for the plasterer. At one time lathers worked with wooden strips called lath; now lathers work mostly with wire and metal mesh to create the structures and various shapes that help create the wonders of ornate ceilings, dome ceilings and the walls of many buildings. In order to achieve the sometimes spectacular creations, lathers use tie wire, screws, nails, clips and staples to fasten metal studs, metal lath and drywall. The framework built by lathers is eventually covered by plaster, drywall materials or other finished surfaces. Although lathers work indoors much of the time, their duties also involve working on the outside of buildings and other structures, in situations often requiring the use of scaffolding. Lathers work with a variety of hand and portable power tools, and frequently cut, join and fasten metal.

► Cabinetmaker and Millworker

Cabinetmakers and Millworkers will cut, shape and assemble wood products, including moldings, panels and furniture. They also fabricate store fixtures, which includes the use of metal, plastics, and glass. Many work on exhibits and display cases. Cabinetmakers and Millworkers operate a number of machines, including power saws, planers, joiners and shapers. They create the woodwork, cabinetry and décor commonly found in shopping malls, banks, hotels and office buildings.

► Flooring Installer

A Flooring Installer does the installation of carpeting, hardwood flooring, soft tile and linoleum-type products made of vinyl, rubber or cork. Synthetic sport floors, turf-type material, and many other resilient products are also the work of a flooring installer. A flooring installer must be trained in preparation of the sub-floor and the proper choice of many different materials to ensure a smooth and level floor. Flooring installers must work from the specifications of architects and interior designers and must be proficient in geometrical inlaid designs in residential, commercial and institutional applications such as, hospitals and schools.

► Pile Driver

These are the people who work with pile-driving rigs. Usually the first workers at the construction site, they drive metal sheet piling to hold back dirt during excavations. They drive concrete and metal piling as part of the foundation system upon which skyscrapers are built, and they drive wood and concrete piling to hold up docks, wharves and bridges. In some cases they work on offshore oilrigs and as commercial divers involved in underwater construction. Pile drivers are also required to install heavy timbers and work with a variety of hand and portable power tools, and frequently cut, join and fasten metal construction materials using welding equipment and oxy-acetylene torches.

Jim Czaja

► Millwright

Millwrights are an elite group who work primarily in metal and with machinery and equipment requiring precision. If you like to work with machine tools and precision instruments, and have a keen eye for the perfect fit, you might consider being a millwright. Millwrights sometime work to specifications requiring tolerances to a thousandth of an inch. They install giant electrical turbines and generators. Millwrights install and perform maintenance on machinery in factories, as well as much of the precision work in nuclear power plants. They are also skilled construction mechanics who study and interpret blueprints, and then put their knowledge and expertise to work drilling, welding, bolting and doing whatever else is necessary to assure that the cogs of industry are in perfect working order.

► Insulation Installer

They install fiberglass, rock wool and cellulose insulation in the walls and ceilings of new houses, offices, high-rise buildings, strip mall stores, and remodeled homes. Insulation Installers put in fire-stopping materials whenever buildings require them. Most of the insulators work for either a residential insulation company or a commercial company.

► Roofer

Roofing mechanics install shingles and other materials needed to protect the interior of homes, buildings, churches, and schools. Carpenter Roofers install and maintain steep sloped roofs being covered with asphalt or wood shingling materials that encompass a very broad spectrum of shingle types and styles.

► Siding Installer

Siders measure, saw, level, and install all types of siding and soffit materials on the exteriors of houses, churches, and many other types of buildings. Where the roof hangs down past the walls this is called soffit and fascia, which can be made out of cedar, vinyl, aluminum, or fiber cement.

► Concrete Former

A Carpenter, who does Concrete Forming, performs the skilled work and handles all the materials to prepare and dismantle forms for pouring concrete in Residential and Commercial construction. A Concrete Former must have the skills to cut, drill, modify, clamp, glue, weld, burn, staple, hang, wire, nail, join, screw, fasten, assemble, hookup, sling, and signal all the varied materials used to form concrete. A Concrete Former will also frame, mold, shape, brace, erect, align, plumb, level, grade, elevate, raise, underpin, layout, shore, and stake many elements of a construction project, including the bulk headings, expansion joints, scaffolding, footings, piers, walls, columns, beams, decks, roofs, stairs, floors, slabs, and planter boxes. Once the concrete is poured into place, a Concrete Former also strips and dismantles the forms.

► Heavy and Highway Carpenters

Heavy and Highway Carpenters build much of the infrastructure involving transportation. They build the bridges and retaining walls on roads and highways. They frame the concrete for deep tunnel projects and pump stations. In airports Heavy and Highway Carpenters frame bridges, walls and pump stations. On the lakefront they frame sea walls and erosion control projects. These Carpenters also work on railroads building bridges and stations. Bridges and their related retaining walls provide the majority of heavy and highway work.  Framing concrete thirty to ninety feet in the air requires that Heavy and Highway Carpenters have no fear of heights. Safety is a top priority.