We're not here to sell you a dream, a course or a magic strategy.
Trade school and apprenticeships are good at teaching you how to use your hands. They're rubbish at teaching you how to run a business and run yourself. That gap has been there for decades, and too much of the honest info has ended up behind paywalls, in $997 'mentorships,' or buried in forums.
This section exists to fix that.
If you're at the end of your apprenticeship or just getting going, you don't need another subscription. You need a straight-talking guide, a bit of context on money and risk, and someone in your corner saying, 'Here's how this actually works - you can do it.'
That's what SiteKiln is for. You're the future foremen, site managers and business owners in this trade, whether anyone's told you that or not. So from us: welcome.
To keep this free, there will be the odd plug - for things we use ourselves, and for products we make. That's how SiteKiln stays feasible. But there's no obligation to buy anything. The core information you need to stand on your own two feet will always be here without a paywall.
And one more thing. If you're a trade-school instructor, run apprentices, or have young people working for you and you'd like to use these guides in your training - reach out. This is written to help as many new starters as possible, and if we can get it into more classrooms, workshops and job trailers, all the better.
After Your Apprenticeship
You've got the qualification - now what?
College teaches you the trade. Nobody teaches you what happens on the Monday after you finish. This section covers the gap - from 'what do I do now?' through to a 5-year plan that actually makes sense. These guides aren't gospel. They're a helping hand. Read them, talk to people you trust about them, challenge them, use what fits your situation.
The Crossroads
The big decisions you'll face in the first few months.
You've finished your apprenticeship. Now what?
The journeyman card is the middle rung, not the summit. What it lets you do, what it does not, the three paths from here, and the six-month mistakes that cost the most.
Stay on the payroll or go out on your own? The honest comparison
What a W-2 job pays you beyond the wage, what being on your own has to bill to match it, who decides which one you legally are, and the four questions that settle it.
Going out on your own straight out of your apprenticeship: realistic, or a mistake?
The license gate a journeyman hits first, how much runway the site's own guides say you need, which trades a one-person outfit can start in, and where it is a mistake.
Your first year on your own: what actually happens
The shape of the twelve months, the money surprises that are predictable and therefore avoidable, the customer-facing part, and the monthly habit that makes year two easier.
Getting Started
The practical stuff you need to sort out.
How to get your first customers when nobody knows you
Where a new contractor's first jobs really come from, what a won job costs on a lead platform, and the three free assets that keep producing after you stop paying.
The money reality: what you will actually take home
Where each dollar you bill goes when you work for yourself: the employer costs now yours, the days you cannot bill, overhead, both halves of payroll tax, and what is left to spend.
Setting up properly before the first job: the stuff your apprenticeship did not cover
The order to set up a one-person trade business in: structure, EIN, state registration, bank account, license, insurance, sales tax, books, tax set-aside and the paperwork that protects your first job.
W-2 employee vs on your own: a year-by-year comparison
What each path looks like at years one, three, five and ten: the pay, the risk, the benefits an employer quietly pays, the hybrid that is legal and the 1099 arrangement that is not.
Your first quote: how not to undersell yourself on day one
Why pricing off your old wage loses money on every job, the rate built one step at a time, the margin to add, what the quote has to say, and how to answer a cheaper number.
Surviving and Learning
The stuff that catches everyone out in the first couple of years.
The slow season: what to do when the phone stops
Quiet spells are normal. How to know your trade's pattern, bank for it in the busy months, chase what you are owed, and the moves that bring in work when a week has nothing booked.
Tools of the trade: what to buy first and what can wait
What to buy before the first solo job, what waits for a real job, where used makes sense, how the tax treats tools, the insurance that actually covers them, and the financing trap.
Do you need a truck? Buying, leasing and the real costs
A truck is a monthly subscription, not a purchase. Commercial auto, buy versus finance versus lease, the heavy-vehicle tax rule, the running costs people miss, and whether you need one yet.
Building a reputation from zero
How long a good name really takes, the review system that builds it honestly, the profile and website people find, the network that refers you, what can wreck it, and a 24-month plan.
When things go wrong on your first jobs
What goes wrong on first solo jobs, the four-step complaint script, where you stand in law, the escalations a customer can reach for, the problem customer to walk away from, and the habits that protect you.
Friends-and-family rates and free work: where to draw the line
What a favor really costs against your rate stack, why the law and the IRS do not care that it is your cousin, the problems that always come up, and the rules experienced trades decide in advance.
Thinking Bigger
Where you go from here.
The trades nobody talks about: the less obvious paths that pay
The under-the-radar work that pays for a reason: a federal credential, a certification test, a specialty license, a risk class or a rule that makes the work recurring. What each takes and why it pays.
Specializing vs staying general: when to pick a lane
What the market pays for, when tradespeople actually specialize, which trades gain most, the risks of going too narrow, and how to pick a lane without boxing yourself in.
Certifications worth getting after your apprenticeship, and the ones that are wallpaper
The credentials sorted by whether anyone will ask for them: the ones the law requires, the cards the gate wants, the ones that lift your rate, what is wallpaper, what is free, and five questions before you book.
Staying on the tools or moving into management: how to decide
The path from tradesperson to foreman to superintendent, the credentials at each rung, how the money and the risk really compare, the body and the culture nobody mentions, and the questions that tell you which way you lean.
The five-year plan nobody gives you
What five to ten years really looks like after an apprenticeship, why trade businesses fail in that window, the resilience that survives it, and a year-by-year plan you can actually follow.
Your Starter Toolkit
Free templates, calculators and copy-paste messages to get you going. Download them, fill them in, use them.
Before you start
Going Out On Your Own: Setup Checklist
The order to do things in when you go solo. Doing them out of order is what causes the expensive rework.
Your First 90 Days On The Tools
What to do, learn and record in your first three months in the trade, whether that is an apprenticeship or your first paid site work. The habits set here tend to stick for thirty years.
First Year After Your Apprenticeship
What to sort in the twelve months after you qualify, while the habits are still forming and before anyone assumes you already know.
Truck or Van: Monthly Cost Worksheet
Every line a work vehicle costs each month, on one sheet with the payment, so the question you answer is the right one: can I cover this total in a month with no work?
Once you're working
Job Sign-Off Text Message
The four messages that close a job properly: the walk-through, the sign-off, the review ask and the invoice. Their yes in writing is your proof if anything is argued about later.
Monthly Money Check
The one-hour check that stops a busy month becoming a broke one. Invoices, the tax set-aside, profit per job, the reserve, the renewals, and next month's calendar.
Review Request Message
How to ask for a review so it is both effective and compliant. The FTC rule targets incentives and review gating, so the safe version asks everyone and pays nobody.
When it gets messy
Homeowner Dispute: De-escalation Letter
The letter to send when a job with a homeowner is going wrong and you still want to fix it. Most of these end up settled or in front of a board, and this letter is read either way.
Friends and Family Rates: What to Say
The lines for the request you knew was coming: materials at cost, the one-page text, no line-jumping, and the no. Decided in advance so no request becomes a negotiation.
Thinking bigger
Training and Certification Tracker
A spreadsheet for every card, ticket and certification across you and your crew, with expiry dates and whose responsibility each one is.
Five-Year Trade Career Plan
A page to work out where the trade is taking you, rather than finding out in ten years. Deliberately blunt questions.