# TradeOnRamp

> How to get into HVAC, electrical and plumbing in your state and city: the license steps per tier, every apprenticeship sponsor and training program we can find, what each rung pays (BLS OEWS May 2025 anchored, employer-stated posting pay on top), and who is hiring apprentices this week. Every fact row carries a source URL, a verification date and an honesty label; every change is logged publicly.

## Datasets (CSV + JSON, CC BY 4.0)

- Entry-path (state × trade × tier: hours, exam, fees, renewal, CE, board link, verified_on, verification_status): /data/licenses.csv · /data/licenses.json
- Apprenticeship sponsors (metro × trade: type, union/open-shop, program length, application window when published, prerequisites, source): /data/apprenticeships.csv · /data/apprenticeships.json
- Pay (metro/state/national × SOC × percentile, BLS OEWS May 2025, cell provenance): /data/pay.csv · /data/pay.json
- Public changelog (append-only): /changelog

## Page types

- /become/<trade>/<state> — the pathway from no experience to contractor for that state, with the tier fact table
- /apprenticeships/<trade>/<metro> — every sponsor we list, with "not published — call" where a window is unknown
- /pay/<trade>/<metro> — BLS median, p10–p90, employer-stated posting pay (n, window), reconciliation of third-party figures
- /pay/<trade>/ladder/<metro> — helper → apprentice → journeyman → lead → owner, with the license gate between rungs
- /pay/<trade>/<metro-a>-vs-<metro-b> — metro comparisons
- /jobs/<trade>/<metro> — apprentice/helper/tech listings, employer-stated pay only, 14-day expiry, HTTP 410 when gone
- /start-here/<state> — what you can legally do with no license, and the EPA 608 path
- /epa-608 — what it is, certifier finder, free practice tests
- /methodology — how every number is produced and labeled

## Honesty labels

- board-verified: a second pass re-opened the source URL and confirmed every cell
- board-page-seen: the board page was fetched and its structure confirmed; figures from research pending re-verification
- research-seeded: from published research; not yet verified against the source page

Trades: HVAC (SOC 49-9021), electricians (47-2111), plumbers (47-2152). Estimates are never presented as JobPosting.baseSalary.