A career as a labourer or general construction operative offers a wide variety of work. Construction labourers often have a range of skills and so are highly employable.

Unlike bricklayers or stonemasons, who specialise in one area of the building trade, general construction operatives gain a wide range of skills so that they can work in many areas, including concreting, frame working and timbering.

The trade of a steeplejack, like that of a stonemason, is a traditional craft that is still in high demand. Steeplejacks use a wide range of skills – painting, welding, replacing glass – in a variety of different structures, to do renovations and repairs.

The defining aspect of a steeplejack's work, however, is that it is all carried out at great heights, for example, on church spires and chimneys.