Why do this work?" I asked Brian Gallagher, a sandhog for 16 years. Brian's father was a sandhog, too, but it is not tradition that brought him here. "It's the money," he said. An experienced sandhog earns over $100,000 a year. The rewards are well deserved. A sandhog's chances of dying on the job are far greater than those of an above-ground construction worker, or even a one sandhog said. They know many more workers will die before the tunnel is completed.