How about some ideas for retirement time ? (Woodland Park, Palmer Lake: Home Depot, water heater)

[walksteady]

I will reach my minimum retirement age in a few years and lately I have been wondering about ways to keep busy and maybe make a few extra bucks while I'm at it. I have worked most of my adult life in the construction trades and to tell you the truth after I retire I hope I'll never have to use a wrench again. I've been thinking about some light consulting or maybe a virtual assistant or retail sales. Something more mental than physical. Has anyone out there crossed this ground, if so, what did you come up with. I'm a great conversationalist,drop me a line and we'll shoot the breeze. I've got some ideas, you probably do to, we'll trade 'em.

[Bullitt007]

How 'bout driving a school bus???

Also, a lot of non-profits in town are looking for people part-time. Find one you like and apply.

[Carrera32]

I did what you're considering, but I was also very lucky. The organization from which I retired hired me back almost immediately on contract to consult and do technical work for the person who replaced me. Started out at about 3/4 time for the first couple of years; now about four years in, I'm working about 1/2 time. The kicker is I do it from home, so no commute and I was able to relocate from VA to COS. Also, since I'm my own boss, I get to be employee of the month every month. Worked out very well.

Not sure what you're plans are for consulting, but here's a thought: How about teaching at a trade school or technical school? Second thought: Volunteer your time. Habitat for Humanity comes to mind, but I'm sure there are plenty of other outlets for someone who has technical skills to pass on. Here's a story: My step father-in-law married my mother-in-law later in life, after he retired from his farm in Ohio. She lived in Santa Barbara and when he joined her there he found retired life was soon driving him crazy. Before he retired, he also worked in HVAC and had other other trades skills, like welding, that always come into play when you run a farm. So, he started volunteering at the local Habitat for Humanity and became a regular for them well into his 80's. Happy as a clam.

[Marcy1210]

Have you thought about maybe working for an architectural firm, say someone in the mountains like Manitou, Woodland Park, Monument, Palmer Lake? With your skills, you might be able to take some of the workload and visualize a project for an architect, especially one who thinks as you do. I know two architects in Wooldand Park, one of whom might be interested as he goes through draftsmen like glasses of water. He works in my husband's old building up in Woodland Park.

[vfrpilot]

What about Lowe's or Home Depot? With your background you could be an asset to either. Plus it's a 'no pressure to perform' type job.

[lurtsman]

I wouldn't consider retail (including lowes / home depot) to be "more mental than physical". Working a cash register is like being kicked in the brain repeatedly. After being offered this job countless times when applying for career positions, I finally decided I would rather starve to death than accept the offers. Ironically, that's when things started getting better.

[Carrera32]

A lot of the jobs at Lowe's or Home Depot don't involve working a register. They try to hire folks with trades backgrounds to work in the departments where they can advise shoppers on what to buy and how to complete their projects. They also have regular workshop/seminars (conducted by their employees, I believe) to demonstrate how to diy, such as cutting and setting tile. Some of their mini-departments, like the paint dept and power tools area may have registers, but that's not the main function of the folks who work in those areas.

[walksteady]

That sounds like an Idea that would be worth exploring. Time after time during my working career the general contractor would come out with a set of blueprints with the orders "Just put this work in exactly how the prints show it". Then after studying the prints for a while it becomes evident that it is impossible to follow that instruction. Some of the problems that arise are: there is no way to structurally support the pipe, the elevation is not possible due to lighting fixtures. duct work or whatever. What happens then, starts to cost money. On our end, we submit an RFI (Request for information) that goes to the design professional(Architect) Now he has to stop what he's doing in order to research the problem and come up with a fix. We have to leave off what we were doing on that part of the project and mobilize on another part of the project until an answer can be confirmed. The amount of money that could be saved by paying a person on a part-time basis to plan check and visit the site beforehand to spot these trouble spots before they cause a stop work situation, is enormous. The Draftsman is trained for his job and more often than not is great at what he does, but he doesn't have the hands on experience of years of showing up on these jobs and working through the on site problems that develop. I'd be willing to talk to your architect friend to see if I could help him out. I'm pretty new on this site, I wouldn't know how we could make contact, how does that work, do you know? Talk to ya later.

[walksteady]

I have thought about the Home Depot/ Lowes route and I think I would enjoy that type of work. The problem is they usually want a full-time commitment and I'm just looking for a more part-time casual relationship. It would be nice if they could work me with an on-call type deal. Where they could give me a weeks notice on a homeowner class teaching how to change out your kitchen sink or your garbage disposal or your toilet, lavatory or tub and shower trim. That would be fine. When it comes to any fixture that is served by natural gas, (water heater, furnace,fireplace or clothes dryer) that would be a different story. That type of work is too dangerous to be done by an inexperienced homeowner without him being licensed and insured to do that type of work. I think that is real neat, your experience with consulting. I was thinking more along the lines of plan checking for an architect. It is a fact that most projects are in the planning stages for quite a bit longer than the construction phase. I could probably save the project some money relating to the Mechanical phases. As it stands right now I am still actively seeking work in my trade(plumbing, pipefitting) and I will be until next year or so. The economy is real slow to bounce back this time, steady work has been kinda scarce which has got me to thinking about after I retire, What then? Oh well, something will turn up, it always does. Talk to you later, time to shovel the driveway..