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I finally took a boiler repair job in Texas and it's making me rethink everything
I just got back from a three-month stint fixing boilers at a plant in Houston. The pay was great, with a solid per diem, and I learned new techniques from the crew there. But I missed my kid's birthday and felt stuck in a hotel room most nights. Some guys say traveling is the only way to earn real money in this trade, while others prefer steady local work even if it pays less. I saw both sides, the cash was nice, but coming home to an empty room every day got old fast. Now I'm not sure if I should sign up for another road job or look for something closer to home. What do you all think? Is the extra money worth being away?
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keith2791mo ago
Used to chase those big road paychecks just like everyone else. Then I missed my daughter's first steps during a long job out of state. @hayden772 has a point about the empty rooms, it's not just the money. That Houston trip you described sounds exactly like what made me rethink things. Now I take less cash to be home for dinner every night. For me, the trade-off stopped being worth it once I added up what I was missing.
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the_faith1mo ago
That whole thing about hotel rooms reminds me of a welding inspector I worked with in Louisiana. He had been on the road for eight years straight, just following the big jobs. The guy made a ton of money, more than anyone else on site. But he told me one day that his back was shot from sleeping in different motel beds every week and his diet was just gas station food. He said all that cash in the bank didn't mean much when he felt broken down all the time. It was a different kind of cost.
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