This is a 5-year apprenticeship consisting of 7000 hours of on-the-job training with 750 hours of classroom instruction and training. Classes are held Monday through Friday from 6:00 A.M. to 2:30 P.M. Sheet metal workers are part of the buildings and construction trade. When working in our union shops they layout, fabricate, and assemble sheet metal products. Fieldwork consists of installation of sheet metal products in buildings and on construction projects. The sheet metal trade is unique due to the fact that it is one of the few crafts that start with raw materials, create a product, and install and maintain the product. When working in a shop, sheet metal workers determine the quantity and type of material that is needed to correspond with the blueprints and specifications of the job. Utilizing a combination of mathematics, layout tools, hammers, drills, hacksaws, plasma and laser beam cutting systems, computers, cutting, forming, seaming, or welding machines, workers craft the metal into the desired product. The fabricated parts are shipped to the job site to be installed according to blueprints and coordinated by sheet metal workers. The maintenance sector includes preventive maintenance, repair, testing, and balancing of installed HVAC systems. Items commonly fabricated and installed include HVAC systems, metal roofs, kitchen hoods and equipment, various flashings, gutters decorative architectural features. Sheet metal workers constantly meet new challenges, using their hands, visualizing and analyzing how components can be installed or made, and how mechanical systems work, it’s an interesting and evolving field with exciting growth potential.