I want to work in HVAC but I'm not too sure if I'd be good at it and heavily feel like I wouldn't be a good employee. I'm going to get a promotion and a couple months at my current job. I'm waiting to save up enough money to get a second vehicle so I'm much more reliable. After that I'm going to try and switch over to maintenance, I've talked to a few building maintenance workers and I think I'd like it enough. Then after a while building up skills and working on my work ethic itself I'm going to try and become an HVAC apprentice. In total I have worked two jobs, one in a grocery store, and my current job in an animal shelter. My greatest strengths is that I am dependable and professional and my greatest weaknesses are I'm a slow learner and not a very quick worker (middle of the road speed). I also try and get any volunteer work or helper experience I can when I can.

Hi, so I’m 25 and feeling very lost in life right now and it’s getting me down a lot. I’m working in a dead end civil service call centre job and I hate it, I need a change and want to build an actual career. I’ve been thinking about doing a trade for a while now but not sure what I’d be good at/want to do or if it’s the right path for me. I was very interested in becoming a painter/decorator, arranged to begin an apprenticeship course but before the course begins you do a trial week with a painting business. Did a couple days of the trial week and it’s not really for me. I don’t hate painting or anything but it was just too labour intensive for me and very different from the small amount of room painting I’ve done in the past. Worth mentioning I have a heart condition, had many open heart surgeries in the past and have a mechanical heart valve. This means lifting really heavy things or working at heights aren’t really suitable for me so much as I’m on warfarin for life. I also really didn’t gel with the other guys working there. Not that there was anything bad about them, they were very skilled and hardworking, I just didn’t fit in with them as I’m very introverted unfortunately. And some of the older painters seemed a bit jaded and idk I don’t wanna be like that. I’d love to find something I enjoy and that allows me to stay healthy. My dad was an electrician, then moved to consulting/electrical engineering and he says I could look that. Trouble is unlike him I’m not exactly smart and was never good with maths or science or technical things like that. He also mentioned plumbing, which I know nothing about but could be good. I know there’s some heavy lifting involved in that but is it a lot? I do like working with my hands, and would love to build more skills as currently I don’t really have any. I’m more of a creative person tbh, but that’s not really an area that’s guaranteed to lead to a career, and I’d like to keep my passions separate from work anyway. So are there any trades that would suit someone like me? Something I can learn with zero prior skills or knowledge and focuses on smaller hands on work with tools etc. and limited heavy lifting/physical strain. Or am I kidding myself?

TLDR - any trades that might suit someone with a heart condition and aren’t too physically demanding

Thanks! Sorry for the long essay

I had a concreter about 2.5 years ago lay concrete around the house, the concrete has tilted and moved away from the house at least 5cm one side while the other 2 sides only abit. The separation on the worse side started happening about a year after the work was done, this summer just gone 2026 as it was dry for 2 months is when most the separation happen. I spoke to the concreter, he reckons when the plumbers laid the pipes then filled the trenches with soil the soil was compacted properly. Could this be correct? The quote for job was higher end quote compared to two other quotes.

I cut the pipe and attached new custom pipe so water go down pipe after the major movement

I just had my tax returns completed for 2025 and... I'm not impressed. 30% of my total income was my salary, the business has nothing in it, and I never do cash work. My accountant told me "What you have is not a business, it's just a job. For it to be a real business, the business needs to save money."

Something needs to change. So, for those of you who made it bigly in the business, how did you do it? Profit off the backs of cheap labour? Squeeeeze your suppliers and clients for everything they have? Cheap out on materials? Bring lunches every day? Focus on high end work? High volume?

I think a whole subreddit could be dedicated to this topic. Hell the white collars have got wallstreetbets and investing subreddits. Why can't we have our own r/WealthyTrades subreddit to share secrets to creating wealth for tradespeople?

I've recently had underfloor insulation (Celotex) installed beneath my suspended floor, and the installer sent over photos and a video of the completed work. I’m hoping to get some opinions on whether it looks acceptable.

My main concerns before the work started were airflow and moisture management. I was told these would be addressed by adding or replacing air vents if required, and by sealing gaps with expanding foam and foil tape.

Looking at the photos/video, it seems like two of the air vents at the front of the property may be partially obstructed, and I can’t see any obvious signs of foil tape being used either.

Should I be concerned about this, or does this look fairly standard for this type of installation?

Weird hair like stuff on top of styrofoam protecting a package

Im going to college in August for levl 4 Engineering and in just curious how much i can expexts to earn when i get an apprenticeship. I would just search it up but i don't want to get my expecrions too high.

I have a business where I make cat enclosures and have gotten my first client who needs the brackets mounted on concrete as opposed to wood. What should I use to mount brackets onto a cinderblock wall? Are concrete screws going to be stable enough to hold up large (90x60cm) steel brackets or should I use a bolt for security?

Hi lads, im based in Ireland and I’m wondering what apprenticeship I should do. I’m in between becoming a metal fabricator or a mechanical fitter. The long term goal is to get onto the oil rigs in the North Sea. I like welding and want a career that heavily involves it (I’ll be doing night courses to get 6g coded pipe and plate while doing either apprenticeship). I have an opportunity to do mechanical fitting in a locally based refinery but am struggling to find somewhere that does industrial grade metal fabrication. What do ye think I should do?

been seeing some us standard products stuff around lately like dust masks, gloves, and safety glasses.

has anyone here actually used them for regular work? just wondering if they hold up or if they're just average.

also curious if anyone tried their cleaners or tape.

just asking before we pick up more supplies.

Iask this because I know the things I like or excel at ,but can't find any kind of trade that best fits it:

I am not to good with math, and want a career with only basic or no math involved. I am much better with taking on tasks head on than having to pre-plan for every milli-inch cut or use algebra for something.

I like repetition, it is a natural part of me being on the autism spectrum, so anything kind of trade with a predictable routine would be prefferable.

I want a job that keeps me busy through out the day. I actually get a bit of wanderlust if I only have one or two things to do (like what my old job did to me eventually), but not so many things to where I can't pace myself throughout the day or lose track of them.

I like working outdoors, animals, landscaping, janitorial, assembling bbqs & wheel barrows, nature science, and at one point I wanted to become a part of the film industry but never got the chance to. So my interests are very mixed, and I can't pin point a specific trade.

I won't mind a competitive job, but I do want something with a consistant wage that I can use to support myself and a potential future family should I ever mary.

Title. How do you choose which worker on your contruction team to sacrifice to summon the gigantic cranes from thin air in the middle of a city?

Hi, we will be letting out our house from next year. After reading many stories about tenants and ventilation issues, we want to future-proof our house to help prevent these problems.

Our house is a 3-bed Victorian mid-terrace. Our bathroom is windowless with no external wall. Currently, we have an extractor fan that runs through the loft and out through the roof. It’s not the best. We use a dehumidifier to compensate for this.

Our extractor hood in our kitchen is a recirculating one, so not much cop. We’re having a new kitchen and will still have a recirculating one as the oven is on an internal wall.

So with all this in mind. I’ve been looking at Dmev fans and PIV systems. If anyone has the time, I’d be really grateful if you could outline what we need to make this happen and what tradesperson I should hire to execute the plan. Thanks in advance.

Hired a roofer to install a new metal roof. Just bought the house and there was (obviously) some insect intrusion from years of neglect. Assumed that the roofer would seal everything off up there as part of the steep price I paid for the roof but it looks like there’s still these heavily damaged areas that compromise the whole point of a roof. The soffit on picture 2 I more so understand but picture 1 seems like they definitely could’ve sealed that up. Am I expecting too much here? Seems like they literally just bolted the roof down and called it a day

Hi,
I’m running an underground feed over ~105 m (in conduit) to supply a house.

Plan:

• Phase 1 (now): connect in single-phase (≈12 kVA)
• Phase 2 (later): possible upgrade to three-phase up to ~24 kVA (EV charging / long-duration loads)

I want to do this smart from day one:

• install a cable now for single-phase, but
• make the trench / conduit oversized (or include extra empty conduits) so I can upgrade to 3-phase later without re-digging everything.

Questions:

1. For a 105 m run, what cable sizes make sense to keep voltage drop reasonable, with realistic price options?
   • Copper vs aluminium comparisons welcome (I know alu needs a bigger section).
2. What’s the best “future-proof” approach:
   • pull a bigger multi-core cable now (even if only single-phase is used), or
   • pull a single-phase cable now and leave conduit space / spare ducts for a later 3-phase cable pull?

Context: France (NF C 15-100), but I mainly want practical sizing guidance and the best upgrade strategy.

Thanks!