#trades
60 words tagged “trades”
A wheeled excavator, as opposed to a tracked one.
Non-contact voltage tester. Beeps near live, no probe required.
The skilled tradesman who sharpens, sets, and repairs industrial saws.
Mortar — specifically the dollop a bricklayer spreads on a brick before setting it.
Tradesman who builds the steel reinforcement cages that go inside concrete.
A hammer — used in place of a screwdriver.
An oxy-acetylene cutting torch — when the actual wrench won't do it.
Australian slang for a plumber.
Tunnel worker — the crew digging underground and underwater.
Yet another name for the oxy-acetylene torch.
A non-contact voltage tester — pen-shaped, beeps near live wires.
A craftsman who builds dry-stone walls — no mortar, just gravity and skill.
Another name for a shovel, leaning on the 'muck' it'll be moving.
The ceremony for placing the highest beam on a building.
An electrician.
Any hammer used to make something fit when it really shouldn't.
A shovel. The tool you hand to the new guy.
A pipe slipped over a wrench handle for extra leverage.
Finding and fixing the small defects on a build before it's handed over.
An oxy-acetylene cutting torch — the tool you grab when subtlety is over.
Armoured flexible electrical cable — wires inside a spiral metal jacket.
Lineman's pliers, named after the brand that owns the trade.
Extra pay for doing a genuinely grim job.
The drywall finisher — tapes and muds the seams.
The plastic-jacketed house wiring inside basically every American home built since the 60s.
Getting paid gross cash with no tax, no NI, and no employment rights.
To quit the job and pack out your tools.
A worker who crosses a picket line, or a non-union hand on a union job.
Flexible metal conduit — the bendy aluminium tube you snake through finished walls.
Same thing as a roach coach — the jobsite lunch wagon.
Foreman in charge of a gang of labourers.
A short-handled sledgehammer swung one-handed, usually around 3–4 lb.
Heating a seized bolt with a torch so it'll finally turn.
A bricklayer.
A mason who cuts and shapes building stone at a workbench.
A sheet-metal worker — ducting, flashing, anything bent from sheet.
Ironworker who ties rebar — the steel skeleton inside concrete.
The big lockable steel chest where a crew's tools live overnight on a jobsite.
A spirit level.
The pump truck that comes to suck out the porta-potties.
Diagonal cutting pliers — the snub-nosed cutters in every electrician's pouch.
A porta-potty. The 'honey' is a polite lie about what's inside.
A plumber.
Pile driver — the foundation crew driving piles into the ground.
A cable sling wrapped round a load to hoist it.
Lubricant compound on bolt threads — jokingly called 'anal ease'.
Jobsite name for the porta-potty — because they're nearly always blue.
Mature content — open to view.
Finished your apprenticeship — or the last beam is set on the building.
Plasterer or drywall finisher — the guy slinging joint compound.
Sheet metal worker — anyone fabbing or fitting ductwork and metal.
A manual labourer, especially on heavy excavation or groundworks.
Thread sealant compound for pipe joints.
The lunch truck that swings by the jobsite at break.
A short jumper wire used to connect a device to a circuit without breaking the run.
A hand bender for shaping rigid electrical conduit by leverage.
The wiring box bolted to an electric motor where the supply cable lands.
A heavy short-handled sledge swung two-handed.
Drywall installer — the guy hanging sheetrock.
The person who signals and directs vehicle and crane movements on a construction site.