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never hear from that particular person again.
Still, this contract-based or job-based structure doesn’t necessarily
hurt the consistency of skilled trades employment. For instance, a
major homebuilding company will be bidding projects on a consis-
tent basis to line up a pipeline of work, which means an employee
for that business will usually just be moving on to another project
as soon as the work on the previous one is done.
As for more independent tradespeople, like plumbers or electricians
who own their own businesses, the work is important precisely
because their services are available to a lot of different clients or
customers. Most people don’t need plumbing or electrical work
on a regular basis, but lots of people require those services on an
occasional or emergency basis. Offering your electrical or plumbing
services across a sizable geographic radius and then building a
reputation for quality work will net you a consistent flow of work—
even if you are working with different customers every day.
Finally, regarding seasonality, there’s really no skilled trade job that
stops being important in the winter or the summer. Energy and
electricity will always be important. Freight and logistics will always
be important. Manufacturing will always be important. Even agri-
culture in parts of the country that have harsh, long winters tends
to be a more four-season career than many people realize, with
farmers increasingly using greenhouses and hoop houses to grow
crops and plants outside of the normal growing season.
Some industries do fluctuate a bit in terms of how many jobs
are available or how much work is being done, depending on the
season. However, that doesn’t mean careers in those trades aren’t
reliable. Landscaping professionals, for instance, will usually have
an extremely busy summer, to the point where most professionals
in those trades make the majority of their money in the warmer
months. Still, landscapers can find plenty of work in the spring and
fall—from removing dead plants to winterizing sprinkler systems—
and even often stay busy in the winter by offering snow removal
services.