Carpentry is one of the easiest trades to start: you can begin as a helper with a few hand tools and a willingness to work. Here’s how to get in on Long Island.
What the job is
Rough carpenters frame walls, floors and roofs. Finish carpenters install doors, windows, trim, stairs and cabinets. Some shops do both; many specialize. On Long Island there are more than 900 framing and finish carpentry businesses with employees, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most of them small.
The union route: Carpenters Training Fund
The North Atlantic States Carpenters Training Fund in Hauppauge runs the union apprenticeship for Nassau and Suffolk. Its current recruitment, posted by the New York State Department of Labor:
- Open November 3, 2026 to November 2, 2027, for 50 apprentices.
- You must be at least 17 and live in Nassau or Suffolk.
- First attend an in-person info session at 270 Motor Parkway, Hauppauge, on the first Monday of each month at 6 p.m. (second Monday if the first is a holiday). Spots are first come, first served.
- At the session you get a passcode to apply online at nasctf.org.
- You’ll sign a statement that you can do the physical work (heights, lifting 50 lbs, all weather), have reliable transportation, and pass a drug test if selected.
- Questions: (631) 952-9555, weekdays 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The non-union route
Small framing and finish carpentry contractors hire helpers year-round. Ask what kind of work they do (new houses, renovations, commercial), what tools you need to buy, and how raises work.
Pay
In the New York metro area, which includes Long Island, the median carpenter earned about $35.72 an hour and the median carpenter’s helper about $23.49 in May 2025 (Bureau of Labor Statistics). See apprentice pay on Long Island.
What you can do this week
- If you want the union route, put the next first-Monday info session on your calendar.
- Get a basic tool belt: tape measure, hammer, utility knife, speed square, pencil.
- Visit a carpentry shop at an open house and see the work up close.