Hours

[Indi_712]

Hi! Lovely to be on here! One of my friends wants to be an Aborist, but she's wondering how many hours she'd have to work, (I'm assuming she'd be on apprenticeship since she's turning 18 soon). I've tried to find answers online but I found this instead, any advice would be helpful!!

[Mick Dempsey]

It would be normal hours, give or take.

Somedays she may have to stay a bit later on site (with the rest of the crew) to finish a job.

Depends on the employer, it can vary, but generally they’re normal.

[Mark Bolam]

If she’s worried about the hours I would say she’s looking at the wrong career.

 

As Mick says they tend to be normal, but on crappy hedgecutting jobs they can feel like 30-hour days.

[Rich Rule]

Tell her not to be a clock watcher.

 

Sometimes it is hard long graft.  Sometimes it’s an early day.

 

Employer dependent.

[Conor Wright]

I think it also depends on whether they want to be employed , subbie climber with kit, or set up their own company.

As an employed climber you'll have fairly set hours and it'll pretty much a job like any other. 40ish hours weekly and usual holidays etc 

 

If you're good enough, subbie work is probably the best money for least investment and you more or less manage your own hours. Much better day rate but no paid leave and your own insurance.

 

If the long term plan is to set up a company and employ staff then prepare for lots of long hours, weekends, sleepless nights etc or a decade of crippling debt. Whichever you prefer.

You get all the responsibility and cost, which can be a burden but if you get it right you can make almost as much as an employed climber!

[Steven P]

For site work - working on trees - 'Normal hours' being generally the high 30's a week (37 to 40), some weeks more some less depending on the work. Some firms might include driving time in this, some might not depends how far away the site is. Start time could depend on the site - round here they generally don't start the chainsaws till 9-ish, are on site 8:30-ish to set up, could be an hours drive from their base, and finish time about 8 1/2 hours after you start - start could be from 7 till 8:30 depends on the firm and the work (some specialists such as railway work might be night shifts or weekends).

 

We have a couple in work who are office based on an advisory role - their hours are 8:30 to 5 Monday to Friday except for site when they could be staying somewhere overnight and longer days.

 

However as an apprentice go with 'worst case', Monday to Friday, 7 till 5 and Saturday mornings and see if she hates that idea or is ready to embrace the work. Very much dependant on the employer.

[GarethM]

The actual question she should be asking is how much will they take home during an apprenticeship and how that increases.

 

Back in the old days, a 2/3rd job wasn't unusual. I briefly did an awful apprenticeship in IT for a couple of years, something slave like at £80 a week with retail work paying that in a day!.

[Rich Rule]

Yeah but look where that has got you 😜

[GarethM]

30 minutes ago, Rich Rule said:

Yeah but look where that has got you 😜

Erm, I did use the word briefly 😉.

 

At 18 I barely had a clue, at 25 I had more of a clue at 42. Whilst I'm not rich, I've always treated work as a way to progress educationally and financially.

 

No jobs for life, do what she can for a couple of years and always look at the next step.

 

Granted like all jobs, if you have family in the trades it's a step up. Tree guys usually with plumbers and sparkles.

Edited November 26 by GarethM

[Whoppa Choppa]

I've done 15 hour weeks when the weather is ridiculous to 100+ hour plus weeks in the summer harvesting. What's normal?! 🤑