A groundman is the entry-level job on an electrical line crew.
Groundmen do the non-climbing work around the crew: under the California outside line agreement, they work under the direct supervision of linemen, drive bucket and line trucks, and never climb poles or work near energized lines.
Groundman work is not itself an apprenticeship — but in some programs a documented groundman record is a selection advantage when you apply for one.
What is a groundman?
A groundman is the non-apprentice member of a line crew: the worker on the ground while journeymen and trained apprentices work at height.
The formal documents use slightly different labels for the same job.
The California outside line construction agreement carries a groundman classification; the Northwest Line JATC's registered standards refer to a "groundsman classification" and track "Groundman/Operator hours" as their own category of work.
Line helper and lineman helper are informal titles for the same entry-level, non-climbing work.
Two things the job is not.
It is not the apprenticeship: groundman is a crew classification, and the registered apprenticeship that trains linemen is a separate program you apply into.
And it is not inside electrical work: outside line work — the trade that installs and maintains transmission and distribution systems — is its own apprenticeship area in the IBEW/NECA system, with its own programs and progression.
If you are new to the trade entirely, the lineman career guide covers what line work is and how it differs from electrician work before this page zooms in on the entry job.
What does a groundman do on a line crew?
The clearest published scope of the job sits in the California outside line construction agreement.
It places groundmen under the direct supervision of linemen and lets them drive bucket trucks, line trucks and vehicles over 26,001 lb.
What it takes away is just as defining: "under no circumstances shall a groundman climb poles, towers or structures, or work in the proximity of energized lines."
Ground work plus the driving, then — while anything aloft or near energized conductors belongs to workers trained in climbing.
The Northwest Line standards draw the same line from the apprentice side: first-period apprentices, and higher-step apprentices not properly trained in climbing, "shall be used in groundsman classification."
Both documents also treat the groundman slot as a standing part of crew structure.
The Northwest Line standards cap energized-conductor crews at two apprentices with two journey-level workers, one in the hot period and one doing groundman or equipment-operator work; the California agreement requires energized work at 600 V or more to run with at least three journeyman linemen and a groundman, foreman included, or with two journeymen, a hot apprentice and a groundman.
What the job looks like day to day varies by crew and employer — the constant in the documents is that the groundman slot is the non-climbing one.
Groundman vs apprentice lineman: what's the difference?
Status and scope.
An apprentice lineman is enrolled in a registered line apprenticeship — working under a program's standards toward journey-level, with on-the-job hours credited toward the term.
A groundman is a crew classification outside the apprenticeship, doing the non-climbing work described above.
The overlap is at the bottom of the ladder.
Under the Northwest Line standards, first-period apprentices work in the groundsman classification until they are trained in climbing, and no apprentice works aloft or advances a step without a documented line school and/or the JATC deeming them a qualified climber.
Early apprentices, in other words, do groundman work — and climbing is gated by training, not by time served.
Pay follows classification.
On the California outside line agreement at the June 1, 2026 rate, groundman pays $42.51 an hour, line equipment man $55.59 and journeyman lineman $74.43.
That is one agreement's scale, not a national ladder — but it shows how the classifications separate on the same crew.
How groundman hours count toward an apprenticeship is its own question, and the programs genuinely disagree — it is covered below.
Do you need lineman school to be a groundman?
Not in the documents we read.
The Northwest Line standards define the groundsman classification as where workers not yet trained in climbing are used, and the California outside agreement hires groundmen to drive and work the ground under supervision — neither document makes lineman school a requirement for the groundman job.
Lineman school is a different thing: pre-apprentice training aimed at the trade rather than a groundman credential.
The Southeast Lineman Training Center's Electrical Lineworker Program, for example, runs 15 weeks and 500 hours, with 320 field hours and 180 classroom hours — and the school itself states that it does not guarantee a job.
Where a school record does carry formal weight: the California-Nevada JATC grants a priority interview to applicants with 1,750 or more documented hours as a groundman or a similar classification, completion of an ETA-approved line school of at least 400 hours including climbing, or an honorable military discharge within 5 years.
Groundman hours and line school sit side by side as selection routes there — neither is listed as required.
Requirements are set per employer and per program
How do groundmen become linemen?
Through a line apprenticeship.
The programs we read set the same total — 7,000 hours of supervised on-the-job learning — though they structure it differently: the Northwest Line standards split it into seven 1,000-hour periods, the California-Nevada JATC describes its 7,000 hours as nearly four years across seven steps, and ALBAT's line, substation and cable splicer apprenticeships also require 7,000 hours.
Entry rules, aptitude tests and selection are set program by program.
What groundman hours are worth depends on where you apply.
In the Northwest Line standards they do not shorten the apprenticeship at all: "Credit for non-apprentice Groundman/Operator hours will not be awarded."
In the California-Nevada program they are a selection advantage — 1,750 or more documented groundman hours earn a priority interview.
ALBAT runs its second-chance route on industry hours rather than a groundman classification: an applicant can request a re-interview after gaining at least 450 hours of documented work experience in the electrical line construction industry, or with two or more related post-secondary classes.
The honest version of the path: get hired as a groundman, keep your hours documented, apply to the line apprenticeships in your area, and ask each program directly how it counts groundman time.
The apprenticeship, not the groundman job, is what trains you to climb and carries you to journey-level line work — the line apprenticeship page covers what the program itself involves.
How much do groundmen make?
BLS has no groundman line of its own.
The OEWS survey reports the line-worker occupation — electrical power-line installers and repairers, SOC 49-9051 — with no separate series for groundmen, and BLS counts line helpers under other codes.
Those figures describe power-line installers and repairers, not groundmen.
For context, the May 2025 national figures for SOC 49-9051: median pay of $95,320 a year ($45.83 an hour), with the 25th percentile at $67,270 and the 75th percentile at $109,740, across 131,070 employed in the occupation.
One named scale point: the California outside line construction agreement — negotiated between the Western Line Constructors Chapter of NECA and IBEW Locals 47 and 1245 — pays the groundman classification $42.51 an hour at the June 1, 2026 rate, against $74.43 for journeyman lineman under the same agreement.
Each agreement sets its own scale, so that figure is that agreement's, not a national rate.
The groundman salary page explains why BLS publishes no groundman wage and which nearby occupations it does cover.
Find groundman jobs
Search the labels together.
Groundman, groundsman and groundman/operator are the names the documents above use, and line helper and lineman helper are informal titles for the same entry-level, non-climbing job.
If you want onto a crew before you are in an apprenticeship, this is the non-climbing classification those documents describe — and the hours you bank are worth documenting, since some programs weigh them at selection.
Read each posting's duties against the scope on this page, and confirm anything unclear with the employer.
Current openings: browse groundman jobs.
Career information, not licensing, legal, code or safety advice. The program standards and agreements named above set their own rules — confirm current requirements with the employer, JATC or program before you apply.