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If the idea of work-life balance matters to you, that may be a reason
that you are wary about a career in the trades. There is a relatively
common assumption that workers in the trades have long, irregular
hours and that they don’t have much flexibility in their work.
Undeniably, many careers in the trades will involve periods where
the schedule is extremely busy. Construction contractors might
need their employees to work overtime to get a project done on
time. Agriculture workers might find themselves working long hours
during key seasonal junctures such as harvest time. Landscape
designers, as previously discussed, typically see very busy summer
schedules.
Still, there are a few advantages of the skilled trades in the work-
life balance category. The first is that the busy periods are often
bracketed with more leisurely times. Seasonal swings or breaks
between contracts and projects can afford wonderful opportunities
to relax and recharge the batteries.
The second is that, because so many skilled trades jobs involve
hands-on work, the idea of “bringing your work home with you” in
the evenings, on weekends, or during holidays is rarer for trades
workers than it is for many more white collar-oriented jobs. When
you leave a construction site or a welding project at the end of the
day, that’s a cleaner break between work and home than a lot of
people ever have. An office worker can keep working on spread-
sheets at home, but a construction worker probably can’t keep
building a house!
Finally, the third advantage of the trades when it comes to work-life
balance is the aforementioned potential for entrepreneurship. One
of the big reasons that so many people are drawn to the possi-
bility of opening their own businesses is that they like the idea of
setting their own schedules and being their own bosses. If you do
reach the point in the trades where you decide to start your own
business and hire a team of your own, you’ll be the one setting the
schedules and designing the policies around work-life balance.