Which Trade Is Better - Plumbing Or Electrical?

The Pros & Cons Of Each

I'm one of the very lucky few people who has had the opportunity to undertake a dual trade. This has allowed me to work with my hands my whole life, and gain skills that are simply invaluable. I cannot tell you how many times my skills have come in useful when needing to fix an emergency around home or for friends, potentially saving hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. If I had my time again, I wouldn't do a thing different, because there are things that I love (and no-so-love) about each trade.

However, not everybody is going to have the same opportunity as me, and some might not even take the opportunity if it were presented to them. But for those who are stuck wondering what are the benefits and cons of each trade, then let me give you my tips.

Electrician Pro's:
Very clean job, you won't have to get digging down in dirt very often - if at all. Especially if you are working in a maintenance electrician role.
Endless amount of learning. With the pace of technology, there's always something new to learn. Whether it's testing out new wireless multimeters, or learning how new german safety scanners work, you'll be feeling like an apprentice (learning a lot) at most new jobs you go to.
More opportunities to earn big dollars. I know quite a few electricians who work in the oil fields and earn well over $200,000 per year.

Electrician Con's:
Can be highly dangerous. Depending on what type of electrician you become, you may end up working with equipment that runs on voltages into the tens of thousands of volts. There are numerous deaths each year due to electrical accidents, and it's not just the high voltages that can kill you.
Expensive equipment and tools. Again, this will all depend on what field of electricity you get into, but you may need to purchase multimeters and testing equipment such as insulation testers, that will cost hundreds of dollars.

Plumber Pro's:
Working in different places. Some days in my plumbing career I would work in up to 5 or 6 different places in a single day. This is great for keeping things interesting.
Job security. With these uncertain times in the economy, some industries are experiencing a downturn in business. But plumbing is of the lucky industries where they will always be work available.
Independence. Becoming a professional plumber allows you to start your own business, the sky is the limit when it comes to how big you want to grow your company.

Plumber Con's:
Dirty work. Let's face it, plumbers have to some dirty work. If getting your hands dirty isn't your idea of fun, then plumbing definitely isn't for you.
Irregular hours. This can be the same for an electrician, but I found I was getting a lot more emergency call outs when I was a plumber compared to when I was an electrician.

If you're still undecided, send through a message with your questions and I'll be glad to help.
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