Cranes on the horizon of a beautiful surf spot usually signal a sinking in the heart of the surfer – unless of course he‘s doing price work. Honolua Bay, Maui. Photo:Timo
BUILDER/CHIPPY
Surf time:
Hmm kind of so-so. Thing is when you’ve been doing man shit all day and are covered in paint/cement/etc, even blown out 2ft beachies will look fun and you’re out there, stoked. If you’re doing big jobs, you might be grafting seven days a week but more than likely you’ll have time between contracts to rip the shred.
Money:
Pretty good really. A decent chippy/builder can charge around 20 eur/hour in SW France and most of the Australian ones do. The Portuguese meanwhile come in at under half that… and are less likely to not show up if it’s pumping/they had a better offer.
Travel Possibilities:
Can be good. You should be able to get cash work pretty much anywhere if you do good work, show up on time and don’t come back from lunch half cut.
Qualifications:
The more papers (or ‘tickets’) you have the more you can charge per hour. If you can drive a fork lift, do electrics, carpentry, concreting and fit gas plumbing, you’re laughing. You’ll also need to be able to wolf whistle.
Downside:
Building sites generally don’t have many good spots for earning half an hour’s money taking a slow, enjoyable shit, like office jobs. Also injuries like splinters, hammered thumbs and bad backs are no fun at all.
Famous Surfers:
Occy famously took up construction after tour burn out in the early 90’s, before deciding that staging a legendary comeback to win a World Title was preferable to hauling bricks up a ladder in 30 degree heat from 6am every day getting shouted at by a high functioning alcoholic racist foreman with anger issues.
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