Making Money

Just a few more words on piece work…

As I said earlier, piece work was what you did when times were tough and hourly work couldn’t be found. Yet, I always found an excuse to do some piece work all through my career. If I needed some money for something special, I would look for a house or some apartments to work on at night or on the weekends.

But, piece work was a career choice for many drywallers. For those who were fast and strong, “Lids” were the best way to make a lot of money in a hurry. “Lids” were ceilings, and that was all that a “Lid crew” would do. Of course it required a partner and a silent type of teamwork. I did it for awhile with my piece work partner, Lloyd “Babe” Jones. But we had a few things going against us…for one; I was tall and Babe was short. That meant that our “Horses” were of different heights and they always had to be placed correctly in the room before we stepped up on them. The stack of board was usually in one larger room and we would each grab our end, place it against our shoulders and then run to the room where our “Horses” stood; jumping up on to it and rotating the board onto our heads as we stood. The “Horse” had to be at a height where all you had to do was raise up on your toes to put your head (and the board) against the ceiling joists. With your head pressing the board up tightly, you would reach in your nail pouch and grab a handful of nails. Bang. Bang. That was the desired rhythm; one hit to set the nail and one more to drive it home. And don’t stop till the board had at least a dozen nails in it. Then you could relax and get off of your toes before continuing the nailing rhythm. Fast.

OK, now imagine that same scenario when the horses are in the wrong position. I’m standing on Babe’s horse and he is on mine. Painful!  

“Sidewalls” were one of the other choices in piece work. This only required a partner for a few minutes and after that you were free to work by yourself.

Babe and I would often do sidewalls, teaming up just long enough to get the longer sheets of drywall in place. In those days, houses were stocked with the longest sheets available for the longer walls in the house. That meant that sometimes the first half a dozen sheets would be 4’x16’. I could hang 4’x12’ sheets by myself; a 16’ or 14’ sheet was another matter. So we would help each other with the “big” sheets and then the house was all ours to complete – and to be paid for.

Piece work was all about speed; speed in moving the material, cutting it, and nailing it. And although I was never fast enough to make a lot of money, I learned a lot from it. The most important thing I learned was that I shouldn’t make a career of it! But…I did enjoy the solitude of doing sidewalls. No one depended on me to go faster. I knew where every piece of drywall was; when I cut a piece off, I knew exactly what size it was and where it was going to fit later on.

Like my friend and mentor, Alex, I thought that every journeyman should have to do piecework for a time. It taught you good work habits and you learned to move the materials quickly and safely. And you had to do good, clean work. A good lesson. Most contractors would take money out of your paycheck for any board that was damaged by your negligence. In fact, most houses were stocked with exactly the right amount of board to complete them, and if you needed one more sheet…you paid for it.