Survey Ranks Roofing as Most Physically Demanding Construction Trade

By Karen L. Edwards, RCS Editor.

The survey wanted to find the answer to “What sort of work is most physically grueling and what’s hardest to learn and master?”

The company CraftJack, a contractor lead service, decided to conduct a survey to answer the question of what sort of work is the most physically grueling. They surveyed 1,609 contractors and 652 consumers to get their answer. They conducted the survey in November of 2019 and the average age of respondents was 43 years old. Both groups agreed that roofing and demolition are the most physically demanding.

The survey also wanted to determine what trades are the most difficult to master. Both contractors and consumers determined that the most difficult trades to master are electrical, carpentry, HVAC and cabinets/countertops. 

Surveyors asked contractors if they thought their own trade to be the most challenging in terms of both physical demands and mastery. Contractors said that they don’t believe painting, carpet cleaning and electrical work to be physically demanding, unless it was their own specialty. Carpentry was ranked by carpenters and non-carpenters as one of the most physically demanding.

In terms of mastery, contractors ranked electrical and HVAC as the hardest to learn, with flooring and cleaning specialists being most likely to call their own crafts the toughest to learn.

A spokesman for CraftJack told Construction Dive that the firm didn’t take into account project size and “found no correlation between difficulty ranking and salary.” Associated Builders and Contractors vice president of health, safety and environment told Construction Dive that he found the results arbitrary, saying “If I walk up to a carpenter and say ‘Is your job difficult?’ I expect him or her to say ‘Yeah.’ But I also expect the next guy to say his job is just as difficult.”

What do you think is the most demanding and the hardest to learn? We think that roofing fits the bill on both of those categories.

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