The UBC represents one trade with many crafts. Our members touch every aspect of a construction project; they’re frequently first on the job and the last to leave. Carpenters create and maintain commercial, residential, institutional. and industrial structures through the skill and experience that is established only by structured training.

Carpenters make up the largest single group of skilled workers in the country. To be a carpenter is to be a member of one of the oldest and most respected trades in the world, and our varied work today stems from the many products that once were made entirely of wood.

Whether with concrete, exteriors, roofs, infrastructure, scaffolding, to the finest trim and finish work, UBC carpentry professionals provide the crucial work on most every type of structure found in our world. From skyscrapers and hospitals to office buildings, prisons, schools, hotels, bridges, highways, infrastructure, and beyond, carpenters are responsible for bringing the blueprints for these structures to life. 

From foundations to finishes, professional carpenters are there. In fact, carpenters make up the largest single group of skilled workers in the country.

Commercial and general carpentry professionals work with a variety of materials, in a variety of settings--indoor and outdoor, urban and rural, far above ground or below grade. UBC carpenters are skilled in layout, measuring, cutting, erecting, and joining materials together. Their work is used by our signatory contractors, who rely on the skills, productivity, and attitude of UBC members to deliver the quality of work that our contractors’ customers have come to expect from a UBC crew.

Millwrights are construction professionals who work primarily with machinery and equipment requiring precision. Millwrights install, maintain, diagnose, and repair equipment such as compressors, pumps, conveyors, gas and steam turbines, monorails, and extruders.

“Precision” is the standard work product of UBC millwrights. These members consistently participate in training and skill-enhancement classes to become experts in the use of tools and instruments that they must master. A keen eye for the perfect fit is a primary asset for millwrights, having to sometimes work with specifications requiring tolerances to a thousandth of an inch.

UBC millwrights can be found performing mission-critical work at coal, gas, nuclear, and alternative-energy power plants. Their skills are also vital in industries as diverse as automotive, aerospace, food processing, lumber, pulp and paper, material handling, mining, petrochemical, steel and alloys, pharmaceuticals, and mechanical construction.

Led by a national Labor-Management Committee, the UBC’s millwright program actively seeks out industry partnerships, with the goal of providing to customers exactly what is needed on the job site. These partnerships include Siemens Generation Service (SGS), General Electric (APM), Excelon, FlowServe, and others, all of which assist in our training efforts by providing equipment, expert consultation, guest instructors, and more.

UBC pile drivers are adept at expertly and efficiently driving steel, concrete or wood piling into the earth during the early stages of construction. This skill is crucial to both a project’s success and the safety of workers, since the piling is also meant to hold back the earth during excavations, to set up the foundation of skyscrapers, highways, and bridges, and to build docks and wharfs.

To service customers who have a wide range of project types in this hearty trade, many pile drivers are certified welders and capable of working with a variety of sizes and shapes of steel. Some pile drivers are also commercial divers, responsible for the underwater construction required by many industries including construction and power generation.

Our professional pile drivers are versed in pre-installation inspection of the material and job site, using static and dynamic testing to determine load-carrying capacities and to gauge hammer performance. Our carpenters also understand how to install to accommodate lateral, compression or tension loads, sound wall barriers, mooring structures, pile-supported embankments, bulkheads, and more.