For generations, the construction industry rested on a quiet but unbreakable foundation: the skilled journeyman. These were the carpenters, masons, plumbers, electricians, and ironworkers who had completed rigorous apprenticeships (typically four to five years), logged thousands of hours under seasoned mentors, and earned the legal and professional title of “journeyman” through examinations and demonstrated competence throughout every aspect of their trade. They were the people with the skillset who actually built the buildings, wired the houses, and laid the pipes that kept modern civilization running. Today the knowledge base these journeymen hold is collapsing, and almost no one outside the trades seems to notice until the roof leaks, the wiring catches fire, or the entire structure has to be redone at triple the original cost. But why be concerned with this extra cost, you saved money by hiring a handyman.

The Numbers Tell the Story

The average age of a skilled tradesperson in the United States is now over 43 and climbing fast. In some trades (plumbing, electrical, masonry), it’s pushing 55. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a shortfall of roughly 500,000 skilled construction workers by 2026 — and that estimate was made before the post-COVID labor exodus. Apprenticeship completion rates have fallen below 50% in many programs. Kids start, see that to get paid they have to actually work, be on-time and apply themselves physically, and then bail for jobs that are mindless and relatively easy (Amazon warehouse, DoorDash, etc.). Between 1995 and 2023, the number of union apprenticeship programs in the building trades dropped by nearly 30%, while non-union “helper” culture exploded.

How We Got Here, Cultural Devaluation

Starting in the 1980s, American high schools dismantled shop class and funneled every kid toward a four-year college degree — even the ones who hated sitting still and loved building things. “College for all” became a talking point of every state sponsored media outlet and every liberal teacher throughout the western hemisphere. if weak minded adults hear a lie enough it becomes their truth, though Children are the innocent victims as usual being taught that college is the only way to make a good living. 

The Rise of the “Handyman Economy”

Guys who are unhireable in the real world for one reason or another whether it be drugs, inability to tie a shoelace or addiction to sleeping till noon started, found out their auntie or grandmothers faucet was leaking or the fence needed painting and now the handyman culture is thriving. Platforms like Task, Rabbit, Angi, Thumbtack, and YouTube democratized basic repairs — and created the illusion that a skilled work is just a 10-minute video away. Homeowners now routinely hire the cheapest guy with a drill instead of a licensed, insured, four-year-trained plumber who will complete the job competently with insurance available, protecting your family and taking the liability out of any project they take on. The market rewarded low price over competence and reliability.

Short-Term Thinking in Contracting

General contractors, squeezed by private equity-backed builders and big-box store competition, shifted from hiring full-time journeymen to subcontracting day-labor “helpers.” Another culprit, the real estate flippers know no boundary in their greed to hire the cheapest labor to make a profit.  A journeyman carpenter might make $45–$65/hour with benefits; a handyman or illegal alien gets $18–$25 cash, no overtime, no workers’ comp. Guess who gets the work.

Illegal Aliens and the US Laborforce

Undocumented illegal immigrants are being used nationwide now who are willing to work for wages that no American journeyman can live on. This keeps costs of the American Taxpayer skyrocketing but also suppresses local American training investment — why train an American kid when you can hire someone tomorrow who says he “knows plumbing” for real cheap?

The Consequences We’re Already Living With Skyrocketing Insurance and Repair Costs

The Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside, Florida (2021) was a wake-up call. Investigators found decades of neglected maintenance and shoddy repairs performed by unqualified workers. Similar stories are playing out quietly everywhere: balcony collapses in Berkeley, deadly deck failures in the Midwest, exploding water heaters installed by YouTube graduates. Insurance companies now routinely deny claims or jack premiums when they discover work was done by unlicensed or under-skilled labor. A botched re-wire can void an entire homeowner’s policy.

The “Second Bill” Phenomenon

Home buyers in new developments are discovering five to ten years in that their “professionally built” house was actually assembled by crews who had never swung a hammer before the job started. Leaky roofs, crooked framing, and failing stucco systems are generating a second wave of construction — the multi-billion-dollar repair industry fixing yesterday’s new builds.

Loss of Institutional Knowledge

When the last 55-year-old journeyman plumber or carpenter retires without training a replacement, centuries of hard-won tricks (how to sweat copper in a 150-year-old brownstone, or how to frame a roof that will survive a Category 5 hurricane) simply vanish.

The Handyman Delusion

We now live in a society that genuinely believes complex systems can be maintained by part-timers with cordless drills. Social media rewards and reinforces this: a slick 60-second reel of a guy replacing a faucet makes it look trivial. What the video never shows is the corroded shut-off valve under the house, the polyethylene pipe that’s about to burst, or the fact that the “handyman” just created a no-hot-water situation for an elderly couple that will cost $4,000 to fix properly. But the content creator went viral and got paid. Real skill is cultivated over years, its not cheap, and it takes someones sweat and time to complete — which is exactly why it’s disappearing. Three generations of people were taught to find the loophole to survive, so when college doesn’t pan out for the 75 percent that never finish they can always live in moms basement and become a handyman.

Can We Reverse the Decline?

Some places are trying:

Mike Rowe’s WORKS Foundation has awarded over $20 million in trade scholarships.

States like Texas and Florida are putting shop class back in high schools and fast-tracking veterans into apprenticeships.

A few large contractors (Turner, Clark, Mortenson) are bringing training in-house again because they’re tired of fixing everyone else’s mistakes.

But these are drops in a very dry bucket. Until we stop treating skilled labor as a cheap, disposable input and start treating it as the critical infrastructure it actually is, the highly skilled journeyman and tradesman will keep disappearing. The next time you’re tempted to hire the cheapest guy on Craigslist because “how hard can it be,” remember this: every complex thing that works in your life — the house over your head, the water that comes out hot, the lights that turn on — was built and is maintained by someone who spent years learning how to do it right.

When those people are gone, no amount of YouTube videos will bring them back.