Pipelayers
Career Cluster
Architecture and Construction
Focuses on human-made structures such as buildings, parks, and cities. In this field, you'll engage in designing and managing the built environment. It includes disciplines like landscaping, urban planning, and public health.
Learn more about this clusterAt a glance
Expected pay range
Expected pay range
This represents the median earnings for this career in the selected county or state. In the range shown, 25% of workers earned less than the bottom salary and 25% earned more than the top salary. Data is provided by the Texas Workforce Commission.
Monthly cost of living
These numbers give you an idea of how much you can spend each month on common expenses with this salary. Percentages are the average a person with no children spends according to data collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (external link opens new tab) These numbers are a starting point and will differ person to person.
Your actual expenses may differ from those listed. You’ll need to account for the amount taken out in taxes each month. Learn more about income tax expenses. (external link opens new tab) Your student loan payments may also differ. To calculate your student loan payments, use the federal student loan repayment estimator. (external link opens new tab)
About pipelayers
What they do
Lay pipe for storm or sanitation sewers, drains, and water mains. Perform any combination of the following tasks: grade trenches or culverts, position pipe, or seal joints.
Other titles
Pipelayer, Tailman, Waste Water Worker
Skills they need
- Operation and Control - Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
- Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Operations Monitoring - Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
- Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Quality Control Analysis - Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
- Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Repairing - Repairing machines or systems using the needed tools.
- Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Troubleshooting - Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.
Licenses and Certifications they may hold
How to decide which one is right? That depends on an individual’s career path, specialty, and resources.
FIRE SPRINKLER RESPONSIBLE MANAGING EMPLOYEE
Texas Department of Insurance~State Fire Marshal
- License Type
- Stand-alone license
- Status
- Active
- Exam
- Both state and third-party exams required
- Education
- No educational requirements
- Continuing education
- No continuing education requirement to maintain license
- Criminal record
- Specific type of conviction prohibited
- License Type
- Stand-alone license
- Status
- Active
- Exam
- State exam required
- Education
- No educational requirements
- Continuing education
- Continuing education required to maintain license
- Criminal record
- Specific type of conviction prohibited
Certifications
Certifications may be available for this career and can help build knowledge and skills in specific job roles. Explore available certifications (external link opens new tab)
Similar careers
View careers in the same field as pipelayers.
Insulation Workers, Floor, Ceiling, and Wall
Line and cover structures with insulating materials. May work with batt, roll, or blown insulation materials.
Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters
Assemble, install, alter, and repair pipelines or pipe systems that carry water, steam, air, or other liquids or gases. May install heating and cooling equipment and mechanical control systems. Includes sprinkler fitters.
Structural Iron and Steel Workers
In demand
In demand careers have high-growth, high-demand, and emerging jobs critical to Texas. They are based on economic indicators like in demand industries, labor market trends, and economic conditions, provided by the Texas Workforce Commission.
Raise, place, and unite iron or steel girders, columns, and other structural members to form completed structures or structural frameworks. May erect metal storage tanks and assemble prefabricated metal buildings.
Sheet Metal Workers
In demand
In demand careers have high-growth, high-demand, and emerging jobs critical to Texas. They are based on economic indicators like in demand industries, labor market trends, and economic conditions, provided by the Texas Workforce Commission.
Fabricate, assemble, install, and repair sheet metal products and equipment, such as ducts, control boxes, drainpipes, and furnace casings. Work may involve any of the following: setting up and operating fabricating machines to cut, bend, and straighten sheet metal; shaping metal over anvils, blocks, or forms using hammer; operating soldering and welding equipment to join sheet metal parts; or inspecting, assembling, and smoothing seams and joints of burred surfaces. Includes sheet metal duct installers who install prefabricated sheet metal ducts used for heating, air conditioning, or other purposes.
- American Fire Sprinkler Association (external link opens new tab)
- Home Builders Institute (external link opens new tab)
- Laborers' International Union of North America (external link opens new tab)
- Mechanical Contractors Association of America (external link opens new tab)
- National Association of Home Builders (external link opens new tab)
- National Fire Sprinkler Association (external link opens new tab)
- Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Association (external link opens new tab)
- United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry (external link opens new tab)