The Safest Job on the Planet.

Source

We are currently doing works in one of the sites in work. Normally in December my work is done and I can breeze around the place and get into the festive spirit. But we have an incoming tenant and also we decided we want to build over them. The big bosses sent down two guys to make the changes which were putting in the utilities for the building upstairs which involves a core drill and lots of pipework. Arriving with them was two hoists , a teleporter, a van full of tools and a boom hoist to get to the place that the normal hoists cannot. They have been here two weeks now and the amount of stuff they got through is unimaginable. I have never seen two lads do more work than anyone. It would normally take a team of builders to get through what the two lads have got through. There is one guy in particular that does everything. Here is a list of things he did over the last couple of weeks.

• Took Down a wall measuring 7 meters high and 50 metres wide.
• Drove the teleporter to dispose of the bricks.
• Blocked a field up to prevent horses coming in with the bricks (long story)
• Core drilled 7 holes on the roof to installed water , electricity and waste pipes.
• Installed the pipework to connect the various utilities
• Dug 4 x 6 foot deep holes for 4 new metal beams to be installed for the new building above with a mini digger.
• took down a suspended 50 meter suspended ceiling
• took down 50 meters of insulation
• sprayed 2 hour fire proof substance on the new beams and old ones.
• fixed 10 leaks around the scheme with encapore
• taught me a trick to put vaseline on your hands under gloves while painting or using sealant,that way the sealant won't stick
• Installed a metal beam to hold a shutter which was secured by the wall that was removed
• Made 3 doorways
• Built 30 meters of hoarding to protect place from dust
• Removed 20 meters square of floor tiles
• Installed 10 meters of glazing

And this is the stuff I know about. Now you might say to me big deal but this guy did all this himself. The other guy is an auld lad who loves drilling so he left him do this part while he took care of the rest. It is unbelievable what they have got through. On the first floor he then moved a load of Air Conditioning units and the pipework underneath. Installed new trays and then got rid of an entire plant compound that was on the roof to make way for this new building. I have never seen anything like it. The boss came down a few weeks ago saying I want this this and that removed and the boys got on it straight away. It is the opposite of procrastination. They just went ahead and did it. It was amazing. And here's me putting off hanging a picture frame in my house or fixing the toilet flusher.

I was talking to a colleague telling him how impressed I was with these guys. They are our own workers and he agreed and he said to me something interesting. We are replaceable. This guy is not. He is the most valuable asset in the company. And he was. The world is going back to the trades in a bit way. AI will replace accountants , marketing executives, HR, payroll. AI can never replace what this guy just did. At the moment he is the safest job on the planet. It will be 100 years before there are bots able to think and perform like this guy does. If you run into problems hitting a water main and you need to shut off a mains water valve, Johnny Robot will be calculating probabilities shutting "Does not Compute", "Does Not Compute" whereas tradesmen will just know where the valve is.

So the safest job in the world is a builder who knows a bit of everything. Plumbing , electrics , putting up walls and stud walls. Because human built buildings in the first place, there is a whole world of mistakes, miscalculations , shortcuts taken that a robot will never be able to get to the bottom of it. Going from the plans or drawings alone cannot be done because a project may run into cost cutting measure nearing the end so the length of beams , materials may change from the plans.
A contractor predicted in the future plumbers will be the highest paid contractors as well as an electrician. Someone pointed out to me not so long ago, did you ever see a poor electrician? I know one who drives a Porsche. They are raking it in. Maybe in the not so distant future university degrees will be outperformed by trade school. Graft will soon be the next highest paid job. It is moving that way already. Waffle will no longer be a thing with AI cutting this out. A GI Joe builder will be the worth their weight in gold.