FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q. Why should I be a part of the CIP?

Each individual in the construction industry or related businesses has a unique perspective on the industry, its problems and its successes. Your involvement can and will contribute to the improvement of the industry.

Q. What is the Construction Industry Partnership?

A group of contractors, building trades, educators, government officials, owners and community members concerned about the construction industry relative to collaboration, training, workforce and improvement of the industry as a whole.

Q. Do I have to have a college degree to be in construction?

No. Jobs range from labor to management. You can start in labor and with hard work you can gain the knowledge to grow into management or even start your own company. Or learn to be a master at your craft and stay in the industry workforce. It is all up to you!

Q. Do I have to join the union to be in construction?

It depends on the company and the type of work you want to do. There are union and non-union companies in virtually all trades. Find the company that fits best for you.

Q. What is the difference between union and non union work?

Unions have defined and structured employment procedures and protocol for areas including training, grievances, work site, and wages. Non-union workers negotiate employment agreements individually with their employer.

Q. Is there a college in the area that teaches Construction Management?

Yes. California State University Fresno offers a 4 year accredited

Q. Does Fresno City College offer a Construction Degree?

Yes. Fresno City College offers a Associate of Science degree program and a Certificate of Achievement in construction.

Q. What is a Boilermaker?

Construct, assemble, maintain, and repair stationary steam boilers and boiler house auxiliaries. Align structures or plate sections to assemble boiler frame tanks or vats, following blueprints. Work involves use of hand and power tools, plumb bobs, levels, wedges, dogs, or turnbuckles. Assist in testing assembled vessels. Direct cleaning of boilers and boiler furnaces. Inspect and repair boiler fittings, such as safety valves, regulators, automatic-control mechanisms, water columns, and auxiliary machines.

Illustrative Examples: Boiler Installer; Boiler Mechanic; Pressure Tester

Q. What is a Brickmason and Blockmason?

Lay and bind building materials, such as brick, structural tile, concrete block, cinder block, glass block, and terra-cotta block, with mortar and other substances to construct or repair walls, partitions, arches, sewers, and other structures.

Illustrative Examples: Adobe Layer; Chimney Builder; Furnace Liner

Q. What is a Stonemason?

Build stone structures, such as piers, walls, and abutments. Lay walks, curbstones, or special types of masonry for vats, tanks, and floors.

Illustrative Examples: Granite Setter; Monument Installer; Rock Mason

Q. What is a Carpenter?

Construct, erect, install, or repair structures and fixtures made of wood, such as concrete forms; building frameworks, including partitions, joists, studding, and rafters; wood stairways, window and door frames, and hardwood floors. May also install cabinets, siding, drywall and batt or roll insulation. Include brattice builders who build doors or brattices (ventilation walls or partitions) in underground passageways to control the proper circulation of air through the passageways and to the working places.

Illustrative Examples: Shipwright; Cabinetmaker; Wood Floor Layer

Q. What is a Carpet Installer?

Lay and install carpet from rolls or blocks on floors. Install padding and trim flooring materials.

Illustrative Examples: Floor Coverer; Rug Layer

Q. What is a Tile and Marble Setter?

Apply hard tile, marble, and wood tile to walls, floors, ceilings, and roof decks.

Illustrative Examples: Ceramic Tile Installer; Hard Tile Setter; Marble Installer

Q. What is a Cement Mason and Concrete Finisher?

Smooth and finish surfaces of poured concrete, such as floors, walks, sidewalks, roads, or curbs using a variety of hand and power tools. Align forms for sidewalks, curbs, or gutters; patch voids; use saws to cut expansion joints.

Illustrative Examples: Curb Builder; Concrete Floor Installer.

Q. What is a Construction Laborer?

Perform tasks involving physical labor at building, highway, and heavy construction projects, tunnel and shaft excavations, and demolition sites. May operate hand and power tools of all types: air hammers, earth tampers, cement mixers, small mechanical hoists, surveying and measuring equipment, and a variety of other equipment and instruments. May clean and prepare sites, dig trenches, set braces to support the sides of excavations, erect scaffolding, clean up rubble and debris, and remove asbestos, lead, and other hazardous waste materials. May assist other craft workers.

Illustrative Examples: Air Hammer Operator; Asphalt Patcher; Construction Craft Laborer

Q. What is a Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operator?

Operate equipment used for applying concrete, asphalt, or other materials to road beds, parking lots, or airport runways and taxiways, or equipment used for tamping gravel, dirt, or other materials. Include concrete and asphalt paving machine operators, form tampers, tamping machine operators, and stone spreader operators.

Illustrative Examples: Asphalt Spreader Operator; Black Top Machine Operator; Road Grader

Q. What is a Operating Engineer and Other Construction Equipment Operator?

Operate one or several types of power construction equipment, such as motor graders, bulldozers, scrapers, compressors, pumps, derricks, shovels, tractors, or front-end loaders to excavate, move, and grade earth, erect structures, or pour concrete or other hard surface pavement. May repair and maintain equipment in addition to other duties.

Illustrative Examples: Bulldozer Operator; Power Grader Operator; Steam Shovel Operator

Q. What is a Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installer?

Apply plasterboard or other wallboard to ceilings or interior walls of buildings. Apply or mount acoustical tiles or blocks, strips, or sheets of shock-absorbing materials to ceilings and walls of buildings to reduce or reflect sound. Materials may be of decorative quality. Include lathers who fasten wooden, metal, or rockboard lath to walls, ceilings or partitions of buildings to provide support base for plaster, fire-proofing, or acoustical material.

Illustrative Examples: Acoustical Carpenter; Lather; Sheet Rock Hanger

Q. What is a Taper?

Seal joints between plasterboard or other wallboard to prepare wall surface for painting or papering.

Illustrative Examples: Sheet Rock Taper; Wall Taper

Q. What is an Electrician?

Install, maintain, and repair electrical wiring, equipment, and fixtures. Ensure that work is in accordance with relevant codes. May install or service street lights, intercom systems, or electrical control systems.

Illustrative Examples: Electrical Sign Servicer; House Wirer; Chief Electrician

Q. What is a Glazier?

Install glass in windows, skylights, store fronts, and display cases, or on surfaces, such as building fronts, interior walls, ceilings, and tabletops.

Illustrative Examples: Window Glass Installer; Plate Glass Installer; Stained Glass Glazier

Q. What is an Insulation Worker?

This broad occupation includes the following two detailed occupations: Insulation Workers, Floor, Ceiling, and Wall: Line and cover structures with insulating materials. May work with batt, roll, or blown insulation materials. Insulation Workers, Mechanical: Apply insulating materials to pipes or ductwork, or other mechanical systems in order to help control and maintain temperature.

Illustrative Examples: Fiberglass Insulation Installer; Composition Weatherboard Installer; Boiler Coverer; Pipe Coverer

Q. What is a Painter?

Paint walls, equipment, buildings, bridges, and other structural surfaces, using brushes, rollers, and spray guns. May remove old paint to prepare surface prior to painting. May mix colors or oils to obtain desired color or consistency.

Illustrative Examples: Bridge Painter; Traffic Line Painter; House Painter

Q. What is a Paperhanger?

Cover interior walls and ceilings of rooms with decorative wallpaper or fabric, or attach advertising posters on surfaces, such as walls and billboards. Duties include removing old materials from surface to be papered.

Illustrative Examples: Billboard Poster; Wallpaperer

Q. What is a Pipelayer?

Lay pipe for storm or sanitation sewers, drains, and water mains. Perform any combination of the following tasks: grade trenches or culverts, position pipe, or seal joints.

Illustrative Examples: Trench Pipe Layer; Pipe Liner; Sewer Connector

Q. What is a Plumber, Pipefitter, and Steamfitter?

Assemble, install, alter, and repair pipelines or pipe systems that carry water, steam, air, or other liquids or gases. May install heating and cooling equipment and mechanical control systems.

Illustrative Examples: Gas Line Installer; Hot Water Heater Installer; Sprinkling System Installer

Q. What is a Plasterer and Stucco Mason?

Apply interior or exterior plaster, cement, stucco, or similar materials. May also set ornamental plaster.

Illustrative Examples: Dry Plasterer; Stucco Worker; Ornamental Plasterer

Q. What is a Reinforcing Iron and Rebar Worker?

Position and secure steel bars or mesh in concrete forms in order to reinforce concrete. Use a variety of fasteners, rod-bending machines, blowtorches, and hand tools. Include rod busters.

Illustrative Examples: Reinforcing Rod Layer; Rod Buster; Steel Tier

Q. What is a Roofer?

Cover roofs of structures with shingles, slate, asphalt, aluminum, wood, and related materials. May spray roofs, sidings, and walls with material to bind, seal, insulate, or soundproof sections of structures.

Illustrative Examples: Slater; Hot Tar Roofer; Terra Cotta Roofer

Q. What is a Sheet Metal Worker?

Fabricate, assemble, install, and repair sheet metal products and equipment, such as ducts, control boxes, drainpipes, and furnace casings. Work may involve any of the following: setting up and operating fabricating machines to cut, bend, and straighten sheet metal; shaping metal over anvils, blocks, or forms using hammer; operating soldering and welding equipment to join sheet metal parts; inspecting, assembling, and smoothing seams and joints of burred surfaces. Include sheet metal duct installers who install prefabricated sheet metal ducts used for heating, air conditioning, or other purposes.

Illustrative Examples: Duct Installer, Metal Work; Tinsmith

Q. What is a Structural Iron and Steel Worker?

Raise, place, and unite iron or steel girders, columns, and other structural members to form completed structures or structural frameworks. May erect metal storage tanks and assemble prefabricated metal buildings.

Illustrative Examples: Bolter; Guard Rail Installer; Construction Ironworker

Q. What is a Construction and Building Inspector?

Inspect structures using engineering skills to determine structural soundness and compliance with specifications, building codes, and other regulations. Inspections may be general in nature or may be limited to a specific area, such as electrical systems or plumbing.

Illustrative Examples: Highway Inspector; Electrical Inspector; Architectural Inspector

Q. What is a Elevator Installer and Repairer?

Assemble, install, repair, or maintain electric or hydraulic freight or passenger elevators, escalators, or dumbwaiters.

Illustrative Examples: Escalator Installer; Elevator Mechanic; Hydraulic Elevator Constructor

Q. What is a Fence Erector?

Erect and repair metal and wooden fences and fence gates around highways, industrial establishments, residences, or farms, using hand and power tools.

Illustrative Examples: Wire Fence Builder; Wood Fence Installer

Q. What is a Hazardous Materials Removal Worker?

Identify, remove, pack, transport, or dispose of hazardous materials, including asbestos, lead-based paint, waste oil, fuel, transmission fluid, radioactive materials, contaminated soil, etc. Specialized training and certification in hazardous materials handling or a confined entry permit are generally required. May operate earth-moving equipment or trucks.

Illustrative Examples: Asbestos Remover; Irradiated Fuel Handler; Hazardous Waste Remover

Q. What is a Highway Maintenance Worker?

Maintain highways, municipal and rural roads, airport runways, and rights-of-way. Duties include patching broken or eroded pavement, repairing guard rails, highway markers, and snow fences. May also mow or clear brush from along road or plow snow from roadway.

Illustrative Examples: Snow Plow Operator; Road Patcher; Road Sign Installer

Q. What is a Septic Tank Servicer and Sewer Pipe Cleaner?

Clean and repair septic tanks, sewer lines, or drains. May patch walls and partitions of tank, replace damaged drain tile, or repair breaks in underground piping.

Illustrative Examples: Sewage Screen Operator; Septic Tank Cleaner; Electric Sewer Cleaning Machine Operator