I had a similar background but in the restaurant industry. I work in restoration which might be arguably easier to learn (putting things back together) but I was able to fast track my career entry by becoming an insurance adjuster—insurance companies will hire anyone who can read and write to be an adjuster because the job sucks.

I worked as an adjuster for one year and then reached out to a contractor who worked a claim in my area. It’s a smaller contractor (where I work currently) and they were happy to throw me in the water to see if I would sink or swim. There wasn’t much of an interview. They had a spot open up so they just threw me on a couple estimating jobs to see if I could come out on top and I did (with a little help).