Four days a week in hotels. Months away from home. Equipment worth more than most people’s cars.
This is what they don’t mention in the job interview.
I dug into the real employee experience at Ellingson Plumbing, HVAC & Electrical in Minnesota, and what I found challenges everything you think you know about skilled trades employment. The conversation revealed a industry grappling with retention challenges that force companies to make hard choices about compensation, career paths, and company culture.
Two Jobs Under One Roof
At Ellingson, you’re essentially choosing between two completely different careers that happen to share the same company name.
Commercial work means travel. Sometimes overnight travel for four days of the week, for several months straight. The projects stretch within a two-hour radius from their Alexandria and Purham locations, covering a geographic footprint that can take you anywhere from small Minnesota towns to the outskirts of the Twin Cities.
Residential work means going home every night.
The division is clean. Commercial plumbing, HVAC, and electrical departments handle the travel-heavy projects. Residential teams stick to local service calls and installations.
But here’s what gets interesting: the pay difference between these dramatically different work experiences is minimal.
The Compensation Reality
Commercial workers get per diem. Hotel coverage. And a different pay scale.
How much different? “Usually a couple bucks more, so not very significant.”
That’s the honest answer most companies won’t give you. For being away from home four days a week, handling complex commercial systems, and managing the logistics of extended travel, you get a modest bump that barely covers the inconvenience.
This reality reflects broader industry pressures. Hiring in skilled trades is expected to be more than 20 times the projected annual increase in net new jobs, creating massive recruitment and training costs that squeeze compensation budgets.
So why do people choose commercial work?
The Real Motivators
Money isn’t the draw. Experience is.
Commercial systems are more complex and larger in physical size. Workers operate scissor lifts, bobcats, extending boom lifts, forklifts, and coordinate crane services. They work in teams of at least two people instead of handling solo residential calls.
The variety factor matters. Residential work can become repetitive, with similar service calls and installations. Commercial projects offer different challenges, different equipment, and different problem-solving scenarios.
It’s the difference between being a technician and being an operator of heavy machinery who solves complex system puzzles.
Career Mobility That Actually Works
Here’s where Ellingson breaks from typical trades employers: they adapt to employee needs when skillsets allow.
Tired of residential repetition? They’ll move you to commercial if you can handle the learning curve. Burned out on travel? You can transition back to residential work.
The transition process is surprisingly straightforward. Experienced technicians can adapt to commercial work quickly, especially in laborer roles. The real training investment comes when someone wants to become a foreman and run projects.
That foreman role represents the actual career growth opportunity. These are the highest-paid field employees, responsible for keeping projects on budget and managing teams.
Getting tapped for foreman requires skillset demonstration and the ability to manage other employees. Planning skills and communication abilities are essential. It’s not about years of service or seniority politics.
The Pay Progression Reality
Ellingson operates multiple pay tiers that create clear advancement incentives.
Journeyman license holders get significant pay bumps in plumbing and electrical. Foremen sit at the top of the field employee pay scale. The structure creates genuine financial motivation for skill development and leadership growth.
But there’s a ceiling. Successful business owners should earn more than foreman salaries, though that comes with business ownership headaches that many skilled workers want to avoid.
The company loses employees in predictable ways: people moving, changing careers, or starting their own businesses. It’s not typically about compensation dissatisfaction or management problems.
Culture as Competitive Strategy
When asked what sets Ellingson apart from other Minnesota trades employers, the answer was immediate: internal culture.
That sounds like corporate speak until you see the specifics.
Every vehicle in their 100+ fleet carries purpose and values cards. These aren’t just decorative. They discuss these values in employee meetings. The principles get reinforced through regular conversation, not just posted on walls.
Every other month, they host breakfast events for all employees to meet new faces and connect across departments. They organize ladies events, fishing trips, and departmental team building activities. Monthly birthday cake recognition and anniversary shout-outs.
This investment in relationship-building addresses a critical industry challenge. Employees in manufacturing, maintenance, service, and trade account for 28.4% of total workforce turnover, making retention a survival issue for trades companies.
Research shows that companies successful at retaining skilled trades talent are passionate and obsessive about being employee-centric, with strength-based cultures and high employee engagement levels.
The Transparency Factor
What struck me most about this conversation was the willingness to be honest about limitations.
The travel requirements get explained upfront. The modest pay premium for commercial work gets stated plainly. The career ceiling gets acknowledged. The business ownership trade-offs get discussed openly.
This transparency serves both parties. Employees make informed decisions about commercial versus residential tracks. The company gets workers who understand what they’re signing up for.
In an industry where job descriptions often oversell opportunities and undersell demands, this approach builds trust that translates into retention.
What This Means for Trades Workers
The Ellingson model reveals something important about skilled trades employment: the companies that survive the current labor shortage are those that treat retention as seriously as recruitment.
That means honest communication about job realities. Flexible career paths that adapt to changing employee needs. Cultural investment that goes beyond paychecks. Clear advancement structures that reward skill development.
It also means accepting that some financial limitations are industry-wide, not company-specific. The modest premium for commercial travel work reflects cost pressures that affect most trades employers.
For job seekers, this suggests focusing on factors beyond immediate compensation: learning opportunities, equipment access, team dynamics, advancement clarity, and cultural fit.
The companies that combine operational honesty with genuine employee investment are the ones building sustainable competitive advantages in a tight labor market.
They’re also the ones most likely to still be around when you’re ready for that foreman promotion.