My apologies, I got sidetracked and forgot I posted this.
Like I said, I've been in the trades for almost 20 years. I have experience in a number of different trades, but finish carpentry is the one that stuck. I mostly do cabinets and trim these days.
The pay is terrible unless you own your own business. Like I said, 20 years in, I'm pretty good at what I do and I only bring home $550 a week. Top pay working for pretty much any contractor is usually around $25 an hour. You usually work long hours in rough conditions, often have to work weekends, will most likely never have health insurance through your employer or paid vacations. Time off is usually frowned upon as are sick days. Actually, you don't call in sick unless you are in the hospital or incapacitated in some form.
It's also very much a "pay your dues" kind of job. Unless you have at least a couple years of steady experience, you will be operating a broom and/or a shovel for $10/hr.
The only way to really make any money is to have your own business and be in a specialized niche. I had my own business for 8 years just doing cabinets and I made good money a few of those years, but I usually made about $35k a year net. And I had to work very hard to make that.
Another thing to consider is the people you will be working with. The people construction attracts are usually "different". It's not as bad as it used to be, but most jobs still do not require a drug test or a background test. So there are a lot of people in construction that are there because they can't get a job anywhere else. Lots of very rough, abrasive personalities. And contractors themselves are, more often than not, "type a" egomaniacs. Definitely not an occupation for thin skinned people.
That's all I can come up with for now. Feel free to ask me any questions you have. And I'll post more if I think of something I forgot.
