CarpMaster .. I will be 17 on july 27th , this is my first real job too that i work regularly , i make 15 /hr for a 40 hr week , but after taxes i bring home between 450 and 500 a week... i work for a construction company jsut running dozers , backhoes , skid loaders and other machines , i plant grass alot too , and drive a truck back and forth to the yard to get supplies , maybe its jsut your state , but 15 an hour isnt much here in PA , like my parents both make 28 / hr and my dads only a heavy highway construction steward , and my mom works for the post office ... niether went to college and we about an average family in my nieghborhood , with a ranch house , u should see some of the other plans around , we r talkin 500 to 1 M dollar houses , kids on my HS hockey team have parents makin up to 60 dollars an hour...