How To Become A Building Carpenter: What It Is and Career Path

What is a building carpenter and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

The average building carpenter salary is $37,278. The most common degree is a high school diploma degree with an business major. It usually takes 6-12 months of experience to become a building carpenter. Building carpenters with a OSHA Safety Certificate certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 2% and produce 20,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreBuilding CarpenterUS Average

Salary

2.9

Avg. Salary $37,278

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.6

Growth rate 2%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.00%

Asian 1.64%

Black or African American 7.69%

Hispanic or Latino 23.17%

Unknown 4.57%

White 61.94%

Gender

female 4.32%

male 95.68%

Age - 41

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 41

Stress level

7.6

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.8

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.3

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a building carpenter

Explore building carpenter education requirements

Most common building carpenter degrees

High School Diploma

40.5 %

Bachelor's

23.7 %

Associate

17.5 %

Start to develop specific building carpenter skills

Skills	Percentages
Hand Tools	15.19%
Customer Service	12.68%
Roofing	12.38%
Plumbing	8.34%
Safety Rules	7.27%

Complete relevant building carpenter training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New building carpenters learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a building carpenter based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real building carpenter resumes.

Research building carpenter duties and responsibilities

General carpentry, painting, and plumbing to residential construction firm.
Build homes from the ground up, performing all tasks, excluding mechanical, electrical, and plumbing trades.
Coordinate with crane operators and heavy equipment operators for structural assembly/ material / scaffolding location.
Participate in process improvement and strategic planning initiatives with leadership team.

Prepare your building carpenter resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your building carpenter resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a building carpenter resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable building carpenter resume templates

Build a professional building carpenter resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your building carpenter resume.