Ask for the raise with a number, not a threat

Quick answer: Bring a one-page case with your own numbers, ask the person who controls payroll, and ask right after you've delivered something. If it's a no, ask what it takes to get to yes and get that in writing.

Say you're making $34 an hour as a second-year journeyman. You know a guy down the road who's getting $38. You've been stewing about it since March. Then on a Thursday afternoon you tell your foreman, "I think I'm due for a raise."

Your foreman nods, says he'll mention it, and nothing happens. It's not because he's against you. He doesn't sign the checks, and you handed him nothing to carry upstairs.

Fix that, and most of the problem goes away.

Find out who actually says yes

In a small shop it's the owner. In a bigger outfit it might be an operations manager, a project executive, or an owner who only listens to the operations manager. Your foreman or lead is usually your advocate, not your decision-maker.

So take it to the foreman first, as a courtesy and an ally. Say, "I'd like to talk about my pay. Who should I sit down with, and what would help you back me?" Then follow his answer. Going over a man's head without telling him is how you lose a friend and a reference.

If you're union, wages on the scale are set by the contract and nobody's negotiating your hourly rate across a desk. You can still push on classification, foreman or general foreman pay, and which jobs you get sent to. Our union versus non-union breakdown covers how that changes the math.

Build the one-page case

A raise request is a short business proposal. You're telling an owner that paying you more is a smart move. Owners think in billable hours, callbacks, schedules and what it costs to replace you.

Put these on one page, and use only what's true for you:

• Your licenses and certifications, with dates. A new one since your last raise is your strongest card. A welder who just passed a code test is a different asset than he was last year. See which welding certifications pay.
• Jobs you've run or finished, and how they went. Finished on schedule, passed inspection the first time, no callbacks.
• Anything you do that someone else would otherwise be paid for. Reading prints, ordering material, training the apprentice, running a crew when the foreman's out.
• Your safety record. Owners pay for insurance premiums. A clean record saves them money, and they know it.
• What the market pays for your work in your area. Get this from job postings, your state's published wage data, and honest talk with people in the trade. Pay varies a lot by state, by city and by whether the work is residential, commercial or industrial. Don't quote a number you can't back up.

Don't pad it. If you've got four solid lines, four lines is fine. A thin page full of complaints loses to a short page full of results.

Pick the moment

Timing does half the work.

Ask after a win. The day a big job passes final inspection. After a customer sends a compliment to the office. When you've just earned a license or a certification. When the owner's in a good mood because a bid came through.

Don't ask in the middle of a crisis, on a Monday morning, or the day after a callback you caused. And don't ask in the field with the crew standing around. Request a sit-down. "Could I get fifteen minutes this week to talk about my role and pay?" is a normal request, and decent owners respect it.

Also think about the shop's calendar. Many contractors set budgets and wages around the start of the year or before busy season. Asking in the slow stretch, when the owner's watching every dollar, is a rougher road.

Say the number out loud

Don't say "more." Say a figure.

Walk in with a range you can defend and a number you actually want at the low end of it. Then say it plainly: "Based on my certifications, the work I'm running and what the market pays, I'd like to be at $39 an hour."

Then stop talking.

The silence feels awful. Sit in it. The first man to fill it usually gives something away. If he asks why, you've got the page. If he says he'll have to think about it, ask when you can expect an answer. "By the end of next week?" is a fair thing to ask.

Don't apologize, and don't pad the ask with "I know things are tight, but." If things are tight, he'll tell you.

Don't use an outside offer as a bluff

The old advice says to line up another job offer and wave it around. It works only if you're willing to take the other job.

Say it works and he matches the offer. You're now the guy who threatened to leave, in a shop where the owner has to wonder if it'll happen again. Say it doesn't work and he calls it. Now you've got to walk, and you're standing in someone else's yard on Monday.

Know what you're worth in the market. That's different from using the market as a club. If you've got a real offer and you really would consider it, say so honestly and let him decide. If you don't, leave it out.

When the answer's no

Sometimes the shop can't pay it. A small contractor on thin margins can't conjure $5 an hour out of nothing, and an honest no deserves an honest response.

Ask this: "What would it take for me to get to that number, and when could we revisit it?" You want a specific answer, like a license, a certain job, a defined number of months. Then ask him to put it in a short email. Not as a gotcha. So you both remember it.

You can also trade for things that cost him less than a raise but are worth real money to you:

• A take-home truck or a fuel allowance
• A tool allowance, or the shop paying for your tools
• Paid training or exam fees, including the test for the next license
• A set number of guaranteed hours in slow months
• A better crew, a better schedule, a better lead position

Our first-year apprentice tool list shows how fast tool costs add up, and a tool allowance is real money back in your pocket. If you're chasing a license, our plumber path breakdown shows what exam and renewal costs look like in your state. Rules for licensing and prevailing wage on public jobs differ by state, so check yours.

Hold your end of it

Put the same effort into the work after the conversation as before it. If you got the raise, earn it in the first ninety days. Show up early, finish the job, stay to stack the material and sweep the floor. Leave the jobsite cleaner than you found it.

If you got a no with a plan, hit the plan. Then go back on the date you agreed to.

And if you get three polite brush-offs in a row with no plan and no date, that tells you something. You don't have to be bitter about it. A man who serves his crew and does the work well has earned a straight answer, and if the shop can't give you one, you can quietly start looking, on your own time, with your head up.

Asking for what you're worth isn't greedy. It's part of being a professional. Do it with a number and a record behind it, and most good employers will take you more seriously, not less.