Early morning wake-up calls, the ability to buy a home at age 20 and the satisfaction that comes from a job well done. Those are all hallmarks and benefits of a construction career, according to a Monday webinar to mark Construction Inclusion Week 2026.
The conversation showcased trade careers for the next generation of workers as a high-earning, career “Plan A.”
Moderated by Erin Bibo, executive director of talent development initiative Hire Local DC, the overall theme aligned with this year’s focus for CIW, which has evolved beyond just inclusion to emphasize workforce development, a critical need for the industry. Panelists stressed the monetary perks and career opportunities present in the sector.
For example, Mysoun Patrick, a first-year carpenter apprentice for Turner Construction, said he passed up approximately $500,000 in scholarship offers coming out of high school in order to make money sooner while learning practical skills. The path has now led him, at age 20, to buy his first home with his fiancee.
“I’m an apprentice, and I’m already making good money,” Patrick said during the panel. “Carpenters, they start out making around $36 to $40 an hour, and four years from now, you know, it will be raised by $1 or $2 every year.”
The ability to quickly scale up earnings was a recurrent topic. Toni Casey, a journeyman electrician with apprenticeship program experience who works in the Facilities Futures Youth Apprenticeship Program for Washington, D.C.'s Department of Energy and Environment, said she had an epiphany early in her career.
When she was a third year apprentice, Casey reflected on common refrains she heard in school about the impracticality of certain subjects.
“A lot of time, you’ll hear people say, ‘When will I ever use Pythagorean’s Theorem?’ You use it a lot in construction,” she said.
Beyond seeing the relevance of geometry to her job, however, she was also making between $70,000 and $80,000 a year.
“And I’m pretty sure that’s more than what my high school teacher that was teaching me Pythagorean’s Theorem was making,” Casey said. “The reality is that construction workers make a lot of money.”
Wake-up call
The money doesn’t come for just showing up, however. The panel stressed the hard work construction takes, the grit and dirt involved in the job and the need to wake up as early as 3 a.m. to get to a site.
“This is an in-person job, you’re not sitting at home,” said Anne Finerfrock, vice president at Beltsville, Maryland-based contractor W.E. Bowers. “Sometimes, the barriers to entry is that this is hard work.”
For those who can handle those demands, however, there’s money to be made while building a solid career path, Finerfrock said. “It might not be for everyone, and that’s okay,” she said.
At the same time, panelists stressed the need to leave ego at the door while having an eagerness to learn.
“Showing up every day with an attitude that you want to learn, but also, you’ve got to have a little bit of humility,” Finerfrock said. “I think that’s something that really drives a person’s career, is to know, ‘I’ve got a lot to learn here.’”
Casey said she learned a lesson in humility at a point in her career when she was laid off. The reason why? She got in the habit of being two minutes late to work, even though she lived close by.
“Not because my work wasn’t good, not because I wasn’t needed,” Casey said. “It’s that if they can’t depend on you, they don’t want you.”
If workers can come to the industry with humility and a willingness to learn, the opportunities to learn about news skills and technology are plentiful, panelists said.
“You walk the fab shop and the equipment that we have there is incredibly exciting,” Finerfrock said. “There’s opportunities within CAD, which is computer-aided design or BIM, building information modeling and virtual design and construction.”
A fast track to career advancement is another aspect that sets construction apart, panelists said.
“Usually, in other sectors of work, it takes a long time to progress into higher roles,” said Casey, who said she launched her own business shortly after finishing her electrician apprenticeship. “So you can become anything you want.”
