How to become a tower climber: pay, benefits and schedule

The experience, training/certifications, and necessary equipment to become a tower climber have been covered in part one of this series, and now we turn our attention to a day in the life of a tower climber. What are the hours and pay? What are the benefits like? Will I be traveling much? Those are the questions we explore in this second part of our ‘how to be a tower climber’ series. Information was gathered from sources at Global Recruiters of Blackhawk, Verticom, TelForce Group, and working tower climbers.

Work schedule

Flexibility is the name of the game in the tower climber profession. If you’re looking for a set 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday sort of gig, you should probably look elsewhere. Workdays can start early or end late, ranging from 8 – 10 hours and sometimes longer. Some climbers will be out on assignment for weeks at a time. Some report only being home one week between working 6 – 8 week shifts traveling between sites far from home. So if you enjoy travel and being outdoors, then this could be a great job for you.

Travel is usually associated with a tower climber gig, but it really depends on what kind of work you will be doing. If it’s work for a carrier, then expect around 80% of your time traveling across a very wide territory. If you’re climbing broadcast towers, it’s a little less at 50% travel, and if you just do local maintenance and repair, then 20% travel is all that is required. Because there’s so much travel, remember that having a valid driver’s license is a necessity.

Pay

The big bold preface before discussing pay and benefits is that it depends on many factors, including which company you work for, the region of the country, experience, certifications, and the type of work you’ve been hired to do. So keep in mind these are range, estimations, and general industry practice, but your experience may vary.

Remember those long hours mentioned previously? The good thing is that most offer 1.5x pay for overtime and some even offer 2x pay for Sundays. Geography plays a huge part in starting pay. For many regions in the country tower climbers start between $30k – $35k, but in areas with a much higher cost of living, such as New York or Los Angeles, it could be two times that.

Tower techs (as opposed to just tower climbers) can possibly make between $10k and $15k more depending on the difficulty of the work. Foremen roughly make around $40k per year, and mechanical engineers that do structural improvements and other technical work make upwards of $70k – $80k (but remember this requires a degree). These are yearly estimates, but many times climbers are paid hourly.

Benefits

Many of these positions include a company vehicle you use for your job and take home every night, so you are responsible for keeping an eye on it. Climbers traveling for the job also usually get a “per diem” which you can think of like an allowance. The company you work for pays for meals each day and some also pay for the hotel rooms in addition to the per diem. Benefits are straightforward, with most companies offering full medical and dental, and some even a 401k. If a job posting doesn’t list this information, make sure and ask in your interview. In a job that involves a lot of heights, you definitely want insurance!

If you feel we’ve missed any vital information concerning tower climber work schedule, pay, or benefits, feel free to share some stories or information in the comments. We know this is a sensitive subject, because it is general consensus among most tower climbers that the wages are far too low for the work they do–and it’s hard to blame them. After all, they are risking life and limb hundreds of feet in the air just so we can all have a good call signal. Having said that, it is good to start an open dialogue about it and raise awareness on an issue that the men and women in the tower industry care very deeply about.

For more information on the necessary experience, training and equipment, click here.

Join us next week for the final installment in this series when we discuss tips for putting together a great resume, as well as how to search for a tower climber job.

Looking for tower climber positions? Check out Towercrews.net