>I know a master carpenter/craftsman who makea >500k a year,
I have a very close family member who is a master carpenter who does finish carpentry (like cabinets) for billionaire's homes and other large projects in LA. He has never made more than 120k, though he works union so possibly that's what limits him.
Whatever the parent is describing, it's an extreme outlier, or a loosey-goosey definition of "carpenter."
My father came from a poor family and went to college on a scholarship, but after graduating and finding that he couldn't afford to complete graduate school, he went into carpentry. He started with basically nothing, but ended up making a decent living after years of busting his ass. Ultimately he was pulling in six figures before retirement.
I can think of two ways the parent's statement might be true-ish:
1) The "master carpenter" is some kind of artisan, doing bespoke pieces (essentially, artwork) for incredibly wealthy individuals. Perhaps they come from wealth and already had connections.
2) The carpenter is not a carpenter, but a business owner. This is eventually what my father did - he used his own labor exclusively at first, working for other people. Once his network expanded he started taking on small jobs on his own. Once that expanded he started hiring people to help. Once that expanded he was able to save enough money, and eventually he got his general contractor's license.
At some point along the line, although he retained and sometimes still utilized his own carpentry skills, a vast majority of his earnings were generated by the fact that he owned a business and employed other people to do the labor. And yet, he still made maybe 1/4 of what the parent post's acquaintance does (adjusted for inflation).
For 1), you would need to be both incredibly talented and incredibly good at marketing. For 2), you need to be good at "business" more than you need to be good at carpentry.
This isn't a straightforward path. For everybody like my father, I knew people in his orbit who never made the leap to ownership. They worked doing manual labor for other people, and the toll it took on their bodies was immediately evident. The kind of physical work that you can do in your 20s and 30s starts to grind you down quickly in your 40s or 50s. He knew plenty of peers and colleagues whose pain became unmanageable, and drug addiction was the result. Others who ended up on disability being unable to work at all.
"Rich tradesman" is a low percentage play. I suspect that the extent that it's possible to be a $500k/yr carpenter (for somebody really starting out in the trades - not somebody coming from wealth/privilege and starting off with a business or art connections), you may as well be trying to become a professional athlete.
You have to own the business to make that much money. Many years of working labor during the day, then doing bookwork at night. Eventually you do well, but those early years are not easy, and the ecconomy will turn against you more than once.
> the ecconomy will turn against you more than once
It pays to sock away some of that high income while you can. Don Lemon and Tucker Carlson just got unexpectedly fired today, but they'll be fine if they saved a chunk of their pay. And an athlete is always one injury away from no more pay.
Not to mention that he can just move over to ever more extreme and unpalatable television networks. AON offered him a job, and if he doesn't mind being paid in rubles there's always Russia Today.
The master carpenter guy I'm referring to is very intelligent and has worked very hard at his craft for tens of years. He didn't wake up at 18 years old knowing how to craft mantle pieces or build the perfect kitchen table. He studied, practiced, applied himself consistently to jobs of increasing size and artistic requirement over many years.
From my exposure to craftsman and trades, I think being truly successful in trade is about 'really applying yourself' and developing real expertise and gradually expanding that expertise over time, and then making intelligent business decisions.
It is really very similar to most technical disciplines: software engineering, electrical engineering, etc.
I worked construction and home remodels for a while in college and then as an electricians 'helper'... also worked in cabinet shop and doing basic finish carpentry. Most people on job sites in the 90's had no drive to improve themselves. Many of them clocked off the job, drove home, picked up a 6 or 12-pack on the way, and drank the rest of night. Rinse, repeat the next day. These folks are probably the majority and thus pull down the mean/median.
But capable people can make a lot of money in the trades. If you are smart enough, and hard working enough, to get a BS in CS. You were probably also capable of starting in a trade at 18-20yrs old and building a >250K profit (income for yourself) per year business.
You could tell the dudes on the sites who were going places...
I have a very close family member who is a master carpenter who does finish carpentry (like cabinets) for billionaire's homes and other large projects in LA. He has never made more than 120k, though he works union so possibly that's what limits him.
How does your friend make that much?