RoadHand is a mobile and web app built for traveling trades workers. It combines contractor reviews, real pay data, OSHA safety scores, and worker-reviewed housing — so welders, linemen, pipefitters, and other tradespeople can evaluate jobs and job sites before committing.

Where does RoadHand's pay data come from?

RoadHand combines government data (BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, Davis-Bacon prevailing wage determinations, and GSA per diem rates) with anonymous pay reports submitted by workers on actual projects. Users can compare real take-home against market and prevailing-wage benchmarks.

How do OSHA safety scores work?

Safety scores are auto-generated from OSHA enforcement inspection data, covering 50,000+ federal inspections. Each contractor gets a rolling safety record including serious violations, repeat offenses, and enforcement history.

Yes. Viewing contractor reviews, pay data, housing listings, and government wage benchmarks is free for workers. Property hosts pay a flat $199/year to list housing — no booking fees, no commission.

Traveling trades workers in industrial construction — welders, linemen, pipefitters, ironworkers, electricians, crane operators, millwrights, boilermakers, heavy equipment operators, and industrial mechanics. Also property owners near job sites who want to list housing to verified tradespeople.

weeklyDATA-SOURCED

This Week’s Top-Reported RoadHand Pay Packages (Nationwide)

Breakdown of this week’s strongest traveler packages on RoadHand: high-$40s to low-$50s base in hot spots, plus stout per diem and OT on long-hour schedules.

ROADHAND DATA TEAMMay 29, 2026

This isn’t BLS theory or Davis‑Bacon tables. This is what hands are anonymously reporting right now on RoadHand — base, OT, per diem, and the hours it takes to get there.

If you want the long-term picture by trade, start at /wages/national, then drill into your state and craft. This report is just this week’s strongest traveler packages, nationwide.

1. Boiler & outage crews: base in the high‑$40s with 7x12s

Across multiple heavy industrial and power outage reports, traveler base rates are landing in the high‑$40s to low‑$50s per hour, with some hands flagging structured incentives for full outage completion.

Compared to the BLS national medians that hover in the mid‑$20s for many core crafts, that’s roughly double the full‑population median once you stack in traveler premiums and OT.

What we’re seeing this week:

Base pay: commonly high‑$40s to low‑$50s/hr for experienced welders, fitters, and millwrights on critical-path work.
Schedule: 7x12s are still alive — 80–84 hours/week on the higher-intensity outages.
Effective weekly gross: after OT and bonuses, top reports land in the low‑$5,000s for a hard 7x12 week.
Per diem: worker reports cluster around solid three‑figure per diem, often enough to clear housing and still bank a little if you’re sharing a place.

If you want to sanity-check your own numbers against the broader market, line them up next to the national medians at /wages/national and your target state at /wages/<state>/<trade>.

2. Transmission & distribution: line work still paying traveler premiums

Line hands reporting in this week continue to show base in the low‑$40s to upper‑$40s/hr on storm and heavy construction, with strong OT and livable per diem on the road.

Key patterns in the reports:

Base pay: seasoned travelers are seeing low‑$40s to upper‑$40s/hr on the better calls.
Hours: 60–72 hours/week is common, with spikes higher on storm rebuilds and emergency work.
Weekly gross: after OT, that pushes well into the low‑to‑mid $3,000s/week, before taxes and away-from-home costs.
Per diem: most of the better packages show daily per diem in the low-to-mid three figures, enough to cover a long‑stay hotel in secondary markets or a shared Airbnb in pricier areas.

For T&D in particular, always cross‑check any “prevailing wage” talk against the active determinations on SAM.gov and the DOL’s Davis‑Bacon hub at dol.gov/agencies/whd/government-contracts. Federal jobs can clear more, but only if the WD backs it up.

3. Industrial welders & pipehands: high‑$30s to mid‑$40s with per diem

Outside the absolute top‑end shutdowns, this week’s steady industrial traveler work for welders, pipefitters, and combo hands is clustering around:

Base pay: roughly high‑$30s to mid‑$40s/hr for competent travelers with recent heavy industrial experience.
Hours: 55–65 hours/week is typical on longer-duration projects (LNG, terminals, plants).
Weekly gross: that mix of base + time‑and‑a‑half is driving weekly checks in the upper‑$2,000s to low‑$3,000s.
Per diem: worker reports show three‑figure per diem is still standard on true traveler billets.

If you’re trying to decide whether to roll for a job, cross‑check the city or basin against our cost-of-living notes at /area/<city-slug> and housing breakdowns at /housing/<city>. A $150/day per diem goes a lot further in rural Oklahoma than it does in the Bay Area.

4. Crane operators & rigging support: low‑$40s+ with fat OT weeks

On the crane side, RoadHand reports this week show:

Base pay: many traveler packages at low‑$40s/hr and up for experienced operators on big-stick or critical lift work.
Hours: 60–70 hour weeks are common, with some jobs offering structured 6x10s.
Weekly gross: hands are reporting gross in the low‑to‑mid $3,000s/week once you pencil in OT.
Per diem: similar story — healthy three‑figure per diem on the better travelers, leaner or none on local-only packages.

When you’re stacking offers, don’t just look at the base. Lay out the full week:

Paid hours (straight + OT)
Per diem
Travel pay (if any)
Housing reality in that market

Then compare it to what other operators are submitting at /pay/submit so we can keep the real range visible.

5. GSA per diem is your floor, not the ceiling

We pull federal General Services Administration (GSA) per diem data to sanity‑check lodging + meals expectations.

For most of the country outside the high‑cost metros, the FY2026 GSA baseline sits at $178/day total — $110 lodging + $68 meals & incidental expenses.[4]

What that means in practice:

If you’re getting significantly under $178/day total in a non‑cheap area, you’re likely subsidizing the job with your own wallet.
If you’re clearing well above that baseline, especially in lower‑cost towns, you’re on the better end of the per diem curve.

When in doubt, pull the federal rate for the county you’re headed to and stack it next to what the contractor is offering. And if the numbers don’t pencil out, there’s usually another call somewhere that will.

6. Where to dig deeper and how to help other hands

This field report is a weekly snapshot, not the whole map. To get the full picture and plan your next move:

Start with trade-wide benchmarks at /wages/national and then drill into /wages/<state>/<trade> for local baselines.
Check area cost and housing at /area/<city-slug> and /housing/<city> before you say yes to a rate that looks good on paper but dies in a high‑rent town.
Add your own numbers at /pay/submit. The more hands who report, the harder it is for anyone to play games with the pay story.

Weekly takeaway: this week’s best traveler packages are still high‑$40s to low‑$50s base with 60–84 hour schedules and strong three‑figure per diem. If your offer is a long drive from that and still wants 6s or 7s, you know where you stand.

Sources

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