Tag

#trades

61 words tagged “trades”

Rubber duck
noun

A wheeled excavator, as opposed to a tracked one.

#construction#trades#plant#excavator
Tic Tracer
noun

Non-contact voltage tester. Beeps near live, no probe required.

#construction#electrician#tools#trades
Saw doctor
noun

The skilled tradesman who sharpens, sets, and repairs industrial saws.

#construction#trades#joinery#sawmill
Butter
noun

Mortar — specifically the dollop a bricklayer spreads on a brick before setting it.

#construction#masonry#bricklaying#trades
Steel fixer
noun

Tradesman who builds the steel reinforcement cages that go inside concrete.

#construction#trades#british#rebar
New York screwdriver
phrase

A hammer — used in place of a screwdriver.

#construction#trades#tools#slang
Smoke Wrench
noun

An oxy-acetylene cutting torch — when the actual wrench won't do it.

#construction#welding#trades#tools
Dunny diver
noun

Australian slang for a plumber.

#construction#plumbing#trades#australian
Sand hog
noun

Tunnel worker — the crew digging underground and underwater.

#construction#tunneling#trades#nyc
Fire Wrench
noun

Yet another name for the oxy-acetylene torch.

#construction#welding#trades#tools
Idiot Stick
noun

A non-contact voltage tester — pen-shaped, beeps near live wires.

#construction#electrician#tools#trades
Dyker
noun

A craftsman who builds dry-stone walls — no mortar, just gravity and skill.

#construction#masonry#drystone#trades
Muck Stick
noun

Another name for a shovel, leaning on the 'muck' it'll be moving.

#construction#trades#tools#groundworks
Topping out
phrase

The ceremony for placing the highest beam on a building.

#construction#trades#ironwork#ceremony
Sparky
noun

An electrician.

#construction#trades#british#electrician
Persuader
noun

Any hammer used to make something fit when it really shouldn't.

#construction#trades#tools#carpentry
Goon Spoon
noun

A shovel. The tool you hand to the new guy.

#construction#trades#tools#labour
Cheater
noun

A pipe slipped over a wrench handle for extra leverage.

#construction#trades#plumbing#mechanics
Snagging
noun

Finding and fixing the small defects on a build before it's handed over.

#construction#trades#british#handover
Gas Axe
noun

An oxy-acetylene cutting torch — the tool you grab when subtlety is over.

#construction#welding#trades#tools
BX
noun

Armoured flexible electrical cable — wires inside a spiral metal jacket.

#construction#electrical#wiring#trades
Klein's
noun

Lineman's pliers, named after the brand that owns the trade.

#construction#electrical#trades#tools
Dirty money
phrase

Extra pay for doing a genuinely grim job.

#construction#trades#british#unions
Taper
noun

The drywall finisher — tapes and muds the seams.

#construction#drywall#trades#finishing
Romex
noun

The plastic-jacketed house wiring inside basically every American home built since the 60s.

#construction#electrical#wiring#trades
Working on the lump
phrase

Getting paid gross cash with no tax, no NI, and no employment rights.

#construction#trades#british#tax
Drag up
verb

To quit the job and pack out your tools.

#construction#trades#union#ironwork
Scab
noun

A worker who crosses a picket line, or a non-union hand on a union job.

#construction#trades#union#labor
Greenfield
noun

Flexible metal conduit — the bendy aluminium tube you snake through finished walls.

#construction#electrical#conduit#trades
Gut Truck
noun

Same thing as a roach coach — the jobsite lunch wagon.

#construction#trades#food#jobsite
Ganger
noun

Foreman in charge of a gang of labourers.

#construction#trades#british#groundworks
Single jack
noun

A short-handled sledgehammer swung one-handed, usually around 3–4 lb.

#construction#trades#tools#masonry
Hot Wrench
noun

Heating a seized bolt with a torch so it'll finally turn.

#construction#welding#trades#tools
blue-collar
adjective

Relating to manual or trade-based wage labor.

#corporate#office#work#labor
Brickie
noun

A bricklayer.

#construction#trades#british#bricklayer
Banker
noun

A mason who cuts and shapes building stone at a workbench.

#construction#masonry#stonework#trades
Tinknocker
noun

A sheet-metal worker — ducting, flashing, anything bent from sheet.

#construction#sheet-metal#hvac#trades
Rodbuster
noun

Ironworker who ties rebar — the steel skeleton inside concrete.

#construction#ironwork#rebar#trades
Gang Box
noun

The big lockable steel chest where a crew's tools live overnight on a jobsite.

#construction#trades#tools#jobsite
Whiskey stick
noun

A spirit level.

#construction#trades#tools#carpentry