Plumber, Pipefitter and Sprinkler Fitter
SOC 47-2152
⚠⚠ A paid-apprenticeship trade: BLS describes 4 to 5 years of apprenticeship with about 2,000 paid hours a year, on a high school diploma. ⚠⚠⚠ Florida pays well below the national figure ($52,910 median against $63,800), and the gap widens to $34,810 at the 90th percentile. Florida's journeyman licence is issued locally but recognised in every county and city, and the contractor licence is the step that changes income.
Carpenter
SOC 47-2031
⚠⚠⚠ Florida carpenters earn a median $49,870, $10,710 below the national figure, and the gap grows to $29,960 at the 90th percentile. The way up in Florida is to become the contractor. ⚠⚠ Florida licenses contractors, not carpenters: the contractor exam needs four years of experience including one as foreman, and college credit can replace up to three of them. Florida trains only about 150 carpenters a year in programmes; most learn on the job or through apprenticeship.
Construction Manager
SOC 11-9021
Construction managers plan, price, schedule and deliver building projects — coordinating trades, controlling cost, enforcing code and safety, and answering for the programme. ⚠ A median of $114,990 with 9% growth, on a route with no licence gate at entry — compare architecture at $99,280 after an accredited degree, 3,740 supervised hours and a six-division exam. ⚠⚠⚠ And the finding that matters most in Florida: a construction degree is worth THREE YEARS of site experience toward a contractor licence under s. 489.111. This page covers three related roles, and two routes that look alike and end in different places.
Building and construction trades and site management — the trade route. Included because it is how roughly half the people supervising Florida construction sites actually got there, and because Florida credits trade experience directly toward a contractor licence.