Getting into a roofer apprenticeship

Carrying material, tearing off old roofing and learning the system. Hot in summer, exposed year round.

• 18 or older.
• High-school diploma or GED for formal apprenticeships. Contractors hiring directly often skip it.
• Basic math.
• Genuine comfort at height and in heat.
• Drug screen and physical.

These are what most programs ask. Every sponsor sets its own, so check the program page before you rely on any of it.

Usually an interview and a practical trial.

Strongly seasonal in cold states and close to continuous in warm ones.

We do not list application dates, because no registry publishes them and we will not invent one. Calling the training center and asking is the only reliable way, and it takes five minutes.

• Be clear-eyed: roofing has among the highest injury rates in construction. Ask any program what its safety training and fall protection actually are, and treat a vague answer as an answer.
• Commercial and industrial roofing pays better and is less brutal than residential tear-off.
• Union locals invest more in training than most residential contractors do.

None of this disqualifies you permanently. Most of it is a few months of work.