ESCONDIDO -- On Oct. 31, William "Bill" Dowler plans to close his sheet metal shop for the last time. He's retiring and liquidating General Sheet Metal, the company he has owned since 1979.

Dowler, who turns 65 in December, said he hasn't been able to find any buyers. The sheet metal industry is in a down cycle, he said, and at his age, he doesn't want to wait until business picks up. What's more, skilled workers are becoming increasingly rare. So he's selling off the equipment and shutting down.

General Sheet Metal was founded about 50 years ago in downtown Escondido. The company moved in 1972 to its present location on Simpson Way, in the industrial center near the city's auto park. Employing eight sheet metal workers at its height, the company's sole remaining worker is Dowler. It's hard to get new people in the trade, Dowler said, because it takes years to become proficient.

"They say that the metal trade is on the decline, but if you get into it, you're dwarfed with work," said Dowler, an Escondido resident who started his career in 1959. "The sheet metal companies make cabinets and all the little components you have for computers."

Dowler said as befits the company's name, he performs every type of work involving sheet metal: "galvanized steel, black iron, copper, brass, aluminum."

"Anything that has to do with metal, we do it," Dowler said. "I do it for contractors, electricians, roofers, plumbers, homeowners, developers, anyone and everybody, from a $12 million home in Rancho Santa Fe to soldering a little lid on a teapot for Mrs. Brown."

Measured in grades of thousandths of an inch, sheet metal goes up to 1/16th of an inch, Dowler said. "After that, you go over to a welding shop."

Sheet metal is a common sight on roads and freeways, in the exteriors of vehicles and road signs. And it's also ubiquitous around the home and offices, Dowler said, in items such as Mrs. Brown's teapot.

"A real sheet metal worker is the guy who does the gutters on your house, he makes the trim for the stucco, he makes the duct work for all your heating and ventilating systems, plumbers. … The sheet metal workers also get into the high-rise buildings, by making the duct work.

"It's all metal. Anything that's metal goes through a metal shop."

Lifelong trade

Today's employees are used to hopping from job to job, possibly from career to career. Dowler said that mentality isn't suited to the sheet metal industry, which requires a long-term commitment to learn all the skills. So while those already in the business have plenty of work, people aren't clamoring to get in.

"If I had 20 guys and I could afford it, I could easily work 20 guys," Dowler said. "So the demand is still there."

But without the employees, keeping the shop going wasn't an option, Dowler said. And the lack of employees made it impossible to keep the company going.

"I even advertised back East, but there's nobody that wants to," he said. "It's a lifelong trade. It takes you many years to perfect it, where you can make all the parts."

Sheet metal working is a middle-class industrial job. These workers earn a median wage of $21.48 per hour, according to the California Employment Development Department.

Statewide, about 55 percent of the companies that employ these workers are building equipment contractors. The total number of sheet metal employees in California is projected to grow from about 20,000 in 2004 to 24,200 in 2014, an increase of 21 percent in 10 years. The department estimates that about 900 average job openings will occur each year during that time.

Dowler said his customers will probably go to a few other metal shops in the area: in Vista, San Marcos or in San Diego.

Learning sheet metal working begins with a four-year apprenticeship, Dowler said.

"I was one of the fastest as far as learning and retaining that, and it took me six years to find out what I could and couldn't do with iron," he said. "It's easy to say, I'll make one of those, but when you go to do it, you can't. You got to know the material, you got to know the equipment. … A couple of years into it, you haven't even touched the surface. You don't have a clue."

Dowler said he's going to use his newly freed time for hobbies.

"I want to do a lot of arts and crafts stuff, and then I have a home that needs a lot of repairs, like painting. The trade is so demanding, I never had any time to do it. I work six days a week, and there just isn't any time left. I appreciate all the people that I've done work for. We've had a good time, a lot of jokes, a lot of laughing. It's been a great ride."

Contact staff writer Bradley J. Fikes at (760) 739-6641 or bfikes@nctimes.com.