People use words like lazy, unsuccessful, and even stupid to stereotyping a “college dropout”. 22-year-old Chance Pini, who dropped out of school due to failing grades two and a half years ago, is now running his own contracting company.
After attending Penn State Berks for one year in pursuit of becoming a suit-and-tie businessman, Pini’s grades made him realize college wasn't for him. He had no plans and no direction to what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.
Although his business isn't what he originally thought it would be when he attended school, he is extremely knowledgeable in the field because of years of previous experience along with guidance from his father and owner of C&F contracting, Chris Pini. While out of school, Chance climbed up the ladder rapidly.
Pini says he never intended to follow in his father’s footsteps. However, he always loved visiting him at work when he was younger. When he was just fifteen, he began learning the ins and outs of building and started off learning how to install window sills, which was a huge step from sweeping. This greatly enhanced his knowledge of how intricate the process of building a home is. Installing the window sills is only one of many parts of building a single window where each measurement has to fit perfectly and he says it is “very difficult to get it right”.
“It takes a while to get down. If you just throw it together, people complain,” Pini describes how hard it is to put doors together even after he mastered the window installing process. Moreover, there are about 30 doors on average that need to be hung in each house, “You have to be aware that wood shrinks over time and don’t close correctly if they are not hanged properly,” he explained that hanging the doors is even harder than putting them together.
Pini's next big step learned was doing railings. He says not every house has a railing, but the ones that do don’t have the exact same railings throughout the house. Pini says building railings are one of the most important abilities to have as a finishing carpenter. “If you don’t know how to build railings, you’re pretty much out of a job.”
While Pini’s main skill is finish carpentry, otherwise known as the interior stuff, he says knowing rough carpentry such as framing is also important. Framing does not require much design and molding, because it will most likely get covered by dry wall.
“I know some guys who can’t even walk down the steps anymore because their bodies are so destroyed,” he described some bad consequences of working outside constantly, “that sucks.”
Being self-employed means that bills and taxes are more substantial on his shoulders in his line of work. “If I just take everything I make right away, I’ll only be in business for a little while,” He says, “More importantly than knowing how to do the actual work is knowing how to handle money and finance too.”
“It’s not like I get a check written to me and I can deposit it and that’s it,” he says.
Pini says while it can all get tiring and sometimes repetitive, framing is his favorite thing to do right now. As he sees it, it is more athletic and requires more activity and energy. As an active person, he enjoys using his full body working rather than sitting down and concentrating on one small thing. He hopes he can continue doing so throughout his career.
Audio: Like Father, Like Son
Chris Pini is the co-founder of C&F contracting based out of Lititz, Pa. Although he was disappointed when Chance was first kicked out of school, he is extremely proud of his son for working so hard and making it so far in such a short amount of time.