Plumber's pay is about on par with that of software engineers in the Pacific Northwest of the US. Job satisfaction, anecdotally, seems to be a bit better than software engineers, too.
I talk to a lot of both parties. I'm personally in a jack of all trades job that has me doing everything from occasionally using shovels in dirt and other manual labor, as well as higher-end stuff, like programming. It's pretty nice, mental health-wise.
The problem with manual labor is, they are really paid peanuts unless you have the education and the certification and whatever, which takes X years.
I'm actually thinking about getting into home demolition. I had to remove every piece of floor and plywood underneath and cut off the bottom 4 feet of the dry walls of the basement due to flooding and I found it extremely satisfying. I don't need a license to do that too. I'd be happy to do it part-time for maybe $25/hour.
The person that “demolished” the house on a property I bought did it for free and made a nice profit. Before going with them I got an estimate from a “house recycler” that wanted $45-50,000, plus disposal charges for anything they couldn’t use for resale, to remove the house. That was a ridiculous ask in my opinion.
The person that did the “demolition” carefully extracted anything of value (timber, fixtures, hardware, etc.) and resold as they went. It was a mid sized house from the 80s and had good bones (but significant issues) and some nice updates. It was a great deal for us both. He cleared about $10k per week (after his costs) for two weeks and I ended up with a pristine lot.
I guess I tend to view things from the perspective of top performers, because I am a person who tries to excel. That said, technology people are usually paid peanuts unless they have the education, skills, and sometimes certifications.
I agree, demolition work is very fun and a very nice foil to working with technology, especially after a difficult week.
You have to be joking.