Sprinkler fitter jobs out there

im in local 821 and have same problem i called 669 to see if they needed fitters said lots on bench its crap out there good luck

Im a 638 fitter and it is just as bad on this side to they said in 6 months they will be at full speed.we will see im starting to look at other state's my self!

flddiaz77@yahoo.com in Lindenhurst, New York said: Im a 638 fitter and it is just as bad on this side to they said in 6 months they will be at full speed.we will see im starting to look at other state's my self!

I have been hereing that for a year now.Back in the early 90's they had a thing called target jobs to take jobs from the RATS.I think they need to start it again to put members back to work and get some benifits paid.

Just another RAT running his know it all mouth.You could not make in the union.I work my butt off.It's dumb people like you I have to go behind and fix f#@$# ups because the haven't been trained right.I've been in the union for 28 years I have real good retirment.I'm allways going behind RATS fixing there f@#$ ups.Get a life stupid.

i have been a union member for 28 years and it was always good to me-till now-I went from apprentice to journeyman to self tuaght designer to contractor-then back down the hill during this crash-I am going to try trucking-but man it looks hard-or at least till the economy turns around.
R shoultz is exactly right-the trained fix the untrained workers work-most of them would not know a double interlock from a bath tub.
Hang in there 669- Mathew 32-6-Let tomorrow take care of itself and try to make it through to day-god bless If you know any one that can use an estimator, hydracad designer or experienced fitter drop me a line.

AMEN BROTHER !!! What the rats don't understand if it wasn't for the union wages they would be making 8.00 an hour (thats what they are worth).When we get a raise they have to get one to stay comp. if not any of them that was worth a crap they would be working union with benifits.

You guys have no reason to bash non union workers..im a union apprentice that works for Northstar Fire Protection of Texas and have worked on the biggest jobs...including the cowboys stadium. The union is crap every time they give us something they take it away...im about ready to go non union get more hours and make more money.

Funny how the union is so much better. Union shops have people on the bench without work. Meanwhile non-union workers are out here fitting. Enjoy your Unemployment checks dumbasses

judge-smith in Littleton, Colorado said: Funny how the union is so much better. Union shops have people on the bench without work. Meanwhile non-union workers are out here fitting. Enjoy your Unemployment checks dumbasses

Hey man Im actually wanting to move to Colorado...do you think you may be able to help me out??? I would really appreciate it..I have been looking for companys in CO with no luck..thanks man

Your any ignorant idiot...you think the union is so great in 20 years our retirement wont be anything. And I highly doubt with your personality you have any easy time keeping a job. I am union now but maybe not for long...im tired of them taking something away every time they give us something.

JOND in Arlington, Texas said: I am union now but maybe not for long...im tired of them taking something away every time they give us something.

Well, your probably better off sticking with the union job because I'm sure it's no different with the non-union ones. Take our company for example. For the most part it's pretty good at staying compatible with union benefits and wages. Every year or two, there's always some adjustment with our wages and benefits and it's always the same. Some increase in pay or a new benefit added but a loss of something elsewhere. You can be damn sure that every time, we end up losing a a little bit here or there and some bean counter gets a pat on the back. Usually, it's not too much so we just grin and bear it but this last recession, we got hit a bit more then before. Things are definitely looking up here in Alberta though. Already seems to be a shortage of good tradesman especially pipe fitters so hopefully we can gain back some of what we lost the last couple years.

That sounds good . Go you stinking RAT!!!.

Non-union and busy as hell in SD. Maybe your reps could kick down some cash and pad that bench for you, you're going to be on it awhile. Unions dead..........

Jeff in San Diego, California said: Non-union and busy as hell in SD. Maybe your reps could kick down some cash and pad that bench for you, you're going to be on it awhile. Unions dead..........

where in san diego there is nothing there, maybe for apprentices

jeff in san diego give me some leads who is hiring

If anyone has any leads in Colorado (non union or union) let me know...Im relocating there in 2 weeks.

jond in Arlington, Texas said: Rick is an idiot...he must think sprinkler work is rocket science. Im a 22 year old 5th year apprentice and I could probably run circles around him.

you should work rat . you probaly don't know your ass from a hole in the ground . your just another know it all HELPER . STUPID

People like you make the union look bad. And Im not a helper...Im an apprentice that runs work and has Nicet certifications...something your to stupid to get.

Wow guys, I thought this was suppose to be a forum for advise on how to better yourself. I hope it is only you guys reading this page, because this makes me feel very embarased if people outside the industry had a chance to glance.

jd in Arlington, Texas said: You guys have no reason to bash non union workers..im a union apprentice that works for Northstar Fire Protection of Texas and have worked on the biggest jobs...including the cowboys stadium. The union is crap every time they give us something they take it away...im about ready to go non union get more hours and make more money.

I agree, Im non- union and were so busy we can't keep up sometimes. I agree that good pay is due to union pay scales.My friends in the HVAC service union shop, he was laid off twice last year!

We are a non-union shop looking for a few good men in the Austin, San Antonio, Houston, and surrounding areas. We are not looking for entitled-minded people, but folks eager to be part of a growing team. If you are interested, please call Bob at TOM.TL0-FIRE (use your phone to get the no). Tell your friends.

I beleave that if I had todo this kind off work for any less(non-union scale), I'd just quit and go back to school. And to comment on jond from Arlington, what kind of derelict fitters do you have down there for a contractor to let an apprentice run work anyway? You haven't even earn your stripes yet so you really shouldn't be on here bashing like you are a big boy. You just sound dumb.

Pipefitter Local 502 Louisville, Ky

Well there are alot of fitters down here who are running work that shoudlnt be. Who are you to say I havent earned my stripes? Unions not big down in here in Tx I dont know how it is in KY but being union dont mean jack here. Non Union scale is a little lower but evens it self out with everything that is take out of our checks being union. Right now there is so many union workers here and not enough union. Not to mention there is a new rule here where union companies are able to bring non union hands in and we are allowed to have 3 apprentices per fitter on the job making it bad for fitters. Alot of companies are bringing in non union hands rather than bringing our union brothers off the bench. Thing like this are why not happy with local union. Everytime they give us something it gets taken away. I truly hope it gets better.

ive been off for bout a year and half...still waiting, calling to see work move, heard in my area they got bunch of dorms coming up....they got it where they can bring in new apprentices no matter how many on bench....kinda crapped on the brothers i think...i have like 7 months to get my card, prolly need a lil brushing up for time off, but was on top of the jobs...i hope to get my card...but i might have to find other work to pay for everything....but dont want to walk away from sprinkle work, as i love it....and argueing in here, cmon man we know who knows how to install systems, as i have seen 4 story hotels with 1 1/4 main ....threw flag up to BA...not union installed...they just trying to jerk chains in here...hope work turns for us all

Colorado is very slow, I have a bud working non union there right now in service. Service and inspections is all the work they have. NICET is the way to go for all of us. NICET separates the highly trained fitter, from the careless, and illegals taking our jobs. NICET is in English, not Spanish. When I was looking for a job, most companies said no, unless you have NICET I or II. You get III and you can tell your boss what to do, and when you want to work, for what you want to work for. You don't need a a union if you have Level II or III. I work for a non union shop in Texas. 0ur highly experienced foremen(20+) are ex-union, half are NICET II. We have frequent training on NFPA 13, even the foremen have to attend. Our company wants us to study for NICET. We have been getting slammed with A & Rs aka tenant finish. Its all about speed brothers, you gotta get ir done per NFPA 13. We also fire lots of people. If you have a year at my work, you made it, many fitters don't last a month. Speed, effeciency, and knowledge will keep you working. Don't get that "old school" mentality, or you won't last.

John in IL Was the main CPVC, if you can prove the calcs to the AHJ it can be done. How would the AHJ approve 1 1/4 main if the drawings didnt show it? How many sprinkler men here can determine the size of main roughly by looking at the main drain from outside the building? I can. CPVC has superior flow characteristics over steel. In other words water flows better in CPVC than steel pipe. I seen a union built hotel in Colorado with five heads run off 1" steel pipe during a retrofit. The calcs were proven, and the drawings were approved by the AHJ. City pressure there was about 180, they don't need a fire pump and this was the basement with pressure pushing down from the 1st floor! Outside of Denver city pressure can be over 100! I did a job in downtown Denver, where city was 40! Beware of flex heads, those POS cause lots of friction loss. I passed a job in Boulder with 3/4 flexes maxed out by talking my way, because calcs weren't submitted to the AHJ by the shop. The higher pressure, the smaller the pipe. In Texas city tends to be 50 to 60, rarely gets past 80. Therefore we run lots of 6" and 8", while those sizes are less common in Colorado, with higher domestic pressures. I would like to see a sprinkler fitter board to talk shop, any of you unemployed union hands gonna start a sprinkler fitter board to talk shop? Check out fireball.firesprinkler.org/pipermail/sprinklerforum/ its sprinkler talk but mostly design, and AHJs, lets learn something from them, and ask our own questions?

Union fitters, and non union, let's educate ourselves by reading, and commenting on this board fireball.firesprinkler.org/pipermail/sprinklerforum/ Some of the questions asked by designers, and AHJs, we know the answer, or I at least I do. A RAT fitter working on NICET.

John in IL Was the main CPVC, if you can prove the calcs to the AHJ it can be done. How would the AHJ approve 1 1/4 main if the drawings didnt show it? I seen a union built hotel in Colorado with five heads run off 1" steel pipe during a retrofit. The calcs were proven, and the drawings were approved by the AHJ. City pressure there was about 180, they don't need a fire pump and this was the basement with pressure pushing down from the 1st floor! Outside of Denver city pressure can be over 100! I did a job in downtown Denver, where city was 40! Beware of flex heads, those POS cause lots of friction loss. I passed a job in Boulder with 3/4 flexes maxed out by talking my way, because calcs weren't submitted to the AHJ by the shop. The higher pressure, the smaller the pipe. In Texas city tends to be 50 to 60, rarely gets past 80. Therefore we run lots of 6" and 8", while those sizes are less common in Colorado, with higher domestic pressures. I would like to see a sprinkler fitter board to talk shop, any of you unemployed union hands gonna start a sprinkler fitter board to talk shop? Check out fireball.firesprinkler.org/pipermail/sprinklerforum/ its sprinkler talk but mostly design, and AHJs, lets learn something from them, and ask our own questions?

john in Pekin, Illinois said: ive been off for bout a year and half...still waiting, calling to see work move, heard in my area they got bunch of dorms coming up....they got it where they can bring in new apprentices no matter how many on bench....kinda crapped on the brothers i think...i have like 7 months to get my card, prolly need a lil brushing up for time off, but was on top of the jobs...i hope to get my card...but i might have to find other work to pay for everything....

By the way, you fitters with a history of drug/alcohol abuse, or had an accident, your not getting hired. The good hands that were on a job where there was a flood, or the pump kicked on, forget about it, even if you were an apprentice. When you apply for a job, you are mud checked by us field guys too. Any hand be fitter/helper/foreman with a history of being late, hungover, high, slow work, bad attitude, absent, lazy, inefficient, ignorant, apathetic, "union man", is not getting hired.
Out of state fitters moving somewhere, beware! We locals will be watching your every move, and knowledge. If you mess up, its going to the PM today! We protect our own local brothers that need a job, and we don't want you, we want our proven fitters we know local first over your foreign butt. If you cut in one head wrong, it goes to the PM, if you are slow, late, drunk, high, it goes to the PM. If I talk technical and your ex-union you better understand, because it goes to the PM that day. We don't want you out of state fitters in our town. We are everywhere, in CO, CA, TX, NY, OH, MI, AZ, FL, PA, WA, OR, NM, IL, etc A RAT fitter connected to fitters in other states.

seems like my post got deleted, or messed up....no it was not cpvc, ive had the classes on it, and installed plenty...thought id come here to see how others were doing, and see if work starts moving a bit....but this seems like a bash site....ive worked with alot of hard ass union fellers and heard it all...obviously they think gloating gets the job ...i differ....just thoght maybe id find some nice stuff here, or conversations, but see you all, and best of luck to all you brothers

14 years in trade with apprentership nicet 1 and 2 elements from level2 I'm getting out of trade my passion is sprinkler fitting but try working 4 years with no raise this trade was a waste of my time

And as for anyone talking smack about LA RAZA Watch your back dog because one thing is for sure ,we are everywhere and most know someone that know someone that is quick to handle it.Don't bash The Mexi~cans for working ,bash the gringos who hire them ,dam it's your people .903tx.

Richard in Houston. City pressure of 180? What is the maximum operating pressure of a sprinkler system per the NFPA? Oops. That is the kind of thing we expect our 1rst year UNION apprentices to know. We also expect them to know why the maximum pressure is what it is. Open your code book and revisit your post or it will go to your PM.

175 , most components are tested through fm global and ul listed to work at that pressure , correct me of I'm wrong

I worked for a Corp.office in Texas (east) and what's sad is that some field supervisors don't know how or when to value a good ,honest,reliable,responsible, and most of all loyal fitter foreman.This so called good old boy as they call themselfs are still caught up in the old days and doesn't know how or when to change his ways, but like they say u can't teach a old dog new tricks ,well he said I hate to lay off my best hand I got but it's getting slow ,that's cool but funny how 1month later his boys name is picked out for a drug test and his boy quits cause he knew he was going to fail,how competent was that if u ask me he felt challenged by me .My point is don't hate on passion to fit fitters,take care of what u got cause once u let it go chances are it's not coming back.

Domestic pressures over 200 lbs. are common in the high(mountainous regions) of Colorado. I have seen systems approved by the Fire Marshall with 5 heads run off 1" steel pipe. Boulder, CO maintains a domestic pressure of 110 psi. PRV are quite common in Colorado.

@ Sprinky in Wisconsin. Why would a UNION sprink even be on this forum? Jobs on here are non-union. You looking to go rat? Do you have NICET? Prove you know what your talking about, my company knows I know my job.
Thats what NFPA 13 states, true, but a system must hold at over 200 psi 2 hour pressure test for the AHJ. I go for 210 on a system without a FP. Did you forget a system should be tested over 50 psi above the FP domestic + FP psi? That would be a min. of 225. How much leakage can UG have, yes UG can have a small amount of leakage. I have NFPA 13, 13R, 13D, 14, 20, 22,24, 25 latest editions in my company van. I passed the Denver, CO sprinkler installer test with a high score of 94. Can you pass that? I have forgotten more than I have known. Are you gonna hang sch. 40 6 inch on a stinger? I can, but I don't want too.
BTW FM parts aren't as good as you think. Victualic has declined in quality lately. We are showing up late on jobs with sheetrock up to rough in main, yes, sch. 40. We make it happen. Pipe gets hung fast, can your union man keep with us? We are fighting a war with no soldiers, or ammo. I clean up jobs other losers messed up to pass finals. Jobs over labor hours, and I make it happen. I pass all my finals on time. GCs pissed off when I show up on the job, soon like my Mexican ass on the job. Other trades like me, and my company knows I will make it happen, even with a "green" pre-apprentice.

Viva la Raza

I've been a union Sprinklerfitter for 21 years, twice a Superintendent. I've sat home unemployed for 1.5 years now. I'm at the end of my rope. Does anyone need an experienced job foreman or fitter ANYWHERE in the midwest? In fact, in the country? I like my union, but I gotta put food on the table. If you need help, please let me know, I'll be there.

Same boat brother-try these guys -they have work all over the country-I hate to see any one leave the local but i do not know what to do either-26 years down the tubes
You have to weigh this against your pension and suplemntal-is it worth it-I tried Otr trucking and got screwed bad-if you try that go with central regrigerattion or over the road school-have the unemployment office pay for it or get a grant-be carefull-this OTR is one heck of a hard job-7/24 all hours of the day-especially driving between midnight and dawn
good luck
bruce

bruce in Meridian, Idaho said: Same boat brother-try these guys -they have work all over the country-I hate to see any one leave the local but i do not know what to do either-26 years down the tubes
You have to weigh this against your pension and suplemntal-is it worth it-I tried Otr trucking and got screwed bad-if you try that go with central regrigerattion or over the road school-have the unemployment office pay for it or get a grant-be carefull-this OTR is one heck of a hard job-7/24 all hours of the day-especially driving between midnight and dawn
good luck
bruce

Thanks Bruce, I also thought about the OTR thing, and said no thanks!

r.shoultz in Baytown, Texas said: Just another RAT running his know it all mouth.You could not make in the union.I work my butt off.It's dumb people like you I have to go behind and fix f#@$# ups because the haven't been trained right.I've been in the union for 28 years I have real good retirment.I'm allways going behind RATS fixing there f@#$ ups.Get a life stupid.

RATS huh? I dont think i've heard that one. I come from Georgia, we dont have Rats, we have rehabers, my last company hires people out of a rehab program that one of the superintendants went to when he was strung out on meth, now he's reformed running the twack pack, they have guys in this program that are so called jobsite foremen making $10.00/hour & most of them have less than 2 years experiance. As if entire floors of pipe having to be demolished due to bad head spacing, & other out of code problems isnt bad enough, it's impossible to get a simi successful hydrostatic test on any of their systems. You are going to have at least one flooding per test guaranteed, hand tight starter pieces, broken fittings, the whole nine yeards. The last system I did for that company was just me & my boss & we got one leak of the entire 2000 plus joints & flex drops on top of that. The leak was fixed without draining & retesting, & never looked at until trim out. Understantd too that there is only one union company in the state of Ga out of 30 plus companies, so even some fitters that arent in that program can still put in some bad pipe. Their design team is relentlessly ignorant as well.
There was a St.Regis 30 story highrise motel mostly CPVC done by all rehabers, getting the blowouts out of the way costing god knows what in finished paint job damage, this job was signed off over 2 years ago, & they still have a crew out there pretty much full time fixing leaks. They are basicly paying to work that job as much money that was lost.

Look guys all this union/non-union talk doesn't matter anymore , the problem is sprinkler fitting doesn't pay.People work their butts off for 40 hours and u never come out winning not to mention supervisor bird-dogin u all the time, that's gotta stop.I spent 13 years with my apprentice from CEF in Dallas, Texas plus nicet 1 and 2 and quit this career to join the oil industry , I've made in 2 weeks what it would have took me 5 weeks to make fitting , with better benefits , if u want to make better bread for your family that's the field to be in.

Rick in Baytown, Texas said: you should work rat . you probaly don't know your ass from a hole in the ground . your just another know it all HELPER . STUPID

Just a little tip for you. If you're going to misspell "probably" in your reply to someone, perhaps you should refrain from calling them "stupid". It categorically discredits you. Also, you may want to use the grammatically correct "you're" instead of "your" Just saying.

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r.shoultz in Baytown, Texas said: Just another RAT running his know it all mouth.You could not make in the union.I work my butt off.It's dumb people like you I have to go behind and fix f#@$# ups because the haven't been trained right.I've been in the union for 28 years I have real good retirment.I'm allways going behind RATS fixing there f@#$ ups.Get a life stupid.

yes but now my husband and other younger men in the union paying for your retirement and insurance which is a joke (catty plan my butt...can't afford w/ the insurance to take the kids to the dr) have no job stabity and if you try to better your self they (the union ) try to hold you back. union shops over charging companies ( charge for 3 men and only send 1 ) or disregard the safty of the men to earn a bit more $$ is just wrong.

Rick in Baytown, Texas said: Thats good the rats have work . Go ahead install it wrong we'll be there to fix it you stinking RAT BA%$^TARD .[/QUOT
i once thought that too but when the union gives no insentives to learning how to do something right even the owners will cut corners and then get mad at the one who called them on it and insist it be left alone and WRONG! the union needs to be what it once was and is not any more ......it is sad but our union is not up to par any more

i have been in sprinkler work for twenty five years now i can t even find a helper jobs

UA all the way! We dont work with the rats!

The ultimate satisfaction would be a A/S I installed putting out a fire. Because are whole careers are based on just in case union or non union we all do good things for people we never even met . So keep putting pipes to hangers boys