Carpentry & Woodworking

Building with wood: framing, finish work, giant concrete forms, movie sets, and fine cabinets.

Top pay: highest pay, longest training

• Custom Home Builder: Owns a company that builds one-of-a-kind houses for clients. Typical pay $120k.

Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship

• Carpentry General Foreman: Leads all the carpenters on a large project like a hospital or high-rise. Typical pay $100k.
• Architectural Millwork Shop Owner: Owns a shop that builds custom cabinets, paneling, and woodwork for fancy homes and offices. Typical pay $100k.
• Journeyman Carpenter: Builds the frames, forms, stairs, and finishes of buildings out of wood and other materials. Typical pay $59k.
• Finish Carpenter: Installs the visible woodwork: trim, doors, stairs, and built-in cabinets. Typical pay $58k.
• Concrete Formwork Carpenter: Builds the giant wooden and metal molds that hold concrete until it hardens. Typical pay $62k.
• Pile Driver / Dock Builder Carpenter: Builds piers, docks, and waterfront structures, often working over and in the water. Typical pay $75k.
• Timber Framer: Builds homes and barns from huge wooden beams joined with pegs instead of nails. Typical pay $55k.
• Scenic Carpenter / Set Builder: Builds sets for movies, TV shows, theaters, and theme parks. Typical pay $60k.
• Stair Builder: Designs and builds custom staircases, including curved and spiral stairs. Typical pay $56k.
• Log Home Builder: Builds log cabins and log homes, scribing and notching each log by hand or with a crane to fit tightly. Typical pay $56k.
• Wooden Water Tank Builder: Builds and repairs the wooden water tanks perched on top of New York City buildings, using methods over a century old. Typical pay $65k.

Starter: fastest way in

• Carpentry Apprentice: Learns carpentry on real job sites while taking classes. Typical pay $42k.
• Framer: Builds the wooden skeleton of houses and apartments. Typical pay $45k.
• Cabinetmaker: Builds cabinets, furniture, and fine woodwork in a shop. Typical pay $42k.
• CNC Router Operator (Woodworking): Runs computer-controlled routers that cut wood parts for cabinets and furniture. Typical pay $42k.
• Carpenter Helper: Helps carpenters by carrying lumber, holding pieces, and cleaning up. Typical pay $38k.
• Tiny House Builder: Builds small homes, often on trailers, that pack a kitchen, bathroom and sleeping loft into a couple hundred square feet. Typical pay $45k.
• Cabinet & Millwork Installer: Installs kitchen cabinets, built-ins, paneling and architectural woodwork so everything is level, tight and perfect. Typical pay $48k.
• Sports Floor Installer: Builds and refinishes the springy maple floors used in basketball courts, gyms and dance studios. Typical pay $48k.
• Wooden Roller Coaster Carpenter: Walks, inspects and rebuilds the wooden tracks and structures of classic roller coasters at amusement parks. Typical pay $50k.

Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.