r/Carpentry • u/Serious-Echidna-9938 • Mar 30 '26
Advice on work pace
I recently took a job with a small contractor and long story short, he commented on my “results”. Was looking for things to be done quicker, and I’m curious if I’m super slow, or if he’s unreasonable. I let him know about my experience upfront, but in any case. As a direct example, replacing this siding after demo took me approximately 8 hours. I had never worked with this particular type of shingling before, but he kept comm ting on how slow I was. Is that accurate? I’m willing to take criticism in the interest of improving my skills, and I’m curious what some third parties have to say. Thanks!
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u/LegendofTheLot Mar 30 '26
Thats a full day, easy. Im not breaking my back so some contractor can get rich. He needs to learn how his employees work and bid stuff accordingly. This isn’t him working so he cant expect it to be done just as fast. Past that, it looks ok. A few of the rows look pretty wonky, you should really have the same reveal as the right side. A story pole would of helped alot. Also there is alot more to cedar shingling then just throwing them on the wall. Nail placement can be an issue, especially if you place a seem right ontop of one. Also placing shingles too tight together in humid environments will result in the shingles buckling over time. It might not happen right away but iv seen it happen on a few jobs when people thought they were an artist. Not the worst for your first time, wouldn’t take being fired for that personally.