wheal 27 Posted March 19, 2013 Report Share Posted March 19, 2013 I was a site manager for a while and you no they not tradesmen when they turn up with wilko bags painters mainly,joiner by trade myself. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kps1979 1,308 Posted March 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2013 yeah thats a give away straight away! can tell there not tradesmen by the rubbish thats in there tool box, Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nothernlite 18,077 Posted March 19, 2013 Report Share Posted March 19, 2013 painters with a floor brush lol and that was a polish painter was a joiner the day before Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kps1979 1,308 Posted March 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2013 my dad was running a job and got sent a old polish bricklayer to lay trench blocks, he was using a pointing trowel to lay the darbo and a brick instead of a hammer to tap the blocks level.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NEWKID 27,132 Posted March 19, 2013 Report Share Posted March 19, 2013 (edited) Site works harder now than ever, the hoops you've got to jump through to get on site is incredible, thats why I find it amazing that they wll kill a job completely for health and safety... but don't give a shit about the quality of the "tradesman" I've had my business for for over 15 years and learnt from the old boys before that(working for a steel erecting, fabricating plus roofing and clading company) , when me and my brother started on our own we took on mainly roofing and cladding jobs, all sorts from Tescos, waitrose, Mercedes Benz to farm sheds, we have never been out of work because we always took pride in our work, we could fix dificult aluminium works or bang out big areas... I've seen and employed (shortly) blokes who as soon as they start you know, they start half cocked, work in a mess and the end product is crap... 1 gang trimmed 1 window for us and that was it, it was so bad... But in all trades the quality is slowly going, deadlines get shorter and the working conditions get harder... We now run a mid sized business, with a small workshop fabricating allsorts from steel frames to spiral staircases + the full package steel frames and the envelope.... I don't employ any polish, romanian. lithuanian etc... we're putting my Nephew through an NVQ in roofing and cladding and all my subbies have either worked with me or been trained by me or my brother....... I try to price so the labour rate is what I would expect to be paid, the way some companies build their profit margins is take it all from the labour, instead of buying harder or holding out on rates... quality will outweigh price eventually.... There is a lot of work about though on the buildings, but the good old days (even from my time ) are sadly gone, more I feel because of Health and safety and bad site management/time scales as anything else Good luck to all you lads Edited March 19, 2013 by NEWKID 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
northern lad 2,292 Posted March 19, 2013 Report Share Posted March 19, 2013 Building games fooked now,lost my business /home nearly 5years ago.....went from a booming business,well established client base ,loyal staff etc to not being able to land a days work due to all the ridiculous prices the Europeans were charging £20 per day labour charges .I can understand anybody wanting to improve the quality of living for their families....but all they are doing is dragging down our wages and taking all the council houses.....we are now the toilet of Europe....and it will only get worse.Just to end on a positive note..... .........nope ,sorry.....I got nothing Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NEWKID 27,132 Posted March 19, 2013 Report Share Posted March 19, 2013 Building games fooked now,lost my business /home nearly 5years ago.....went from a booming business,well established client base ,loyal staff etc to not being able to land a days work due to all the ridiculous prices the Europeans were charging £20 per day labour charges .I can understand anybody wanting to improve the quality of living for their families....but all they are doing is dragging down our wages and taking all the council houses.....we are now the toilet of Europe....and it will only get worse.Just to end on a positive note..... .........nope ,sorry.....I got nothing Thats shit mate, sorry to hear that, I hope things are better for you now..... I remember my dad late 80's early 90's struggling for months without a job dropping in, he told us all we would have to sell the house etc to survive, he pulled out of it luckily but it changed him, I think the stress of almost losing the lot was too much.... 3 years ago we got hit for 42k from a big company, mainly for unsigned extra works, i was foolish enough to believe them when they told me it would all be paid and kept going to complete their work ( at the time we were on 2 tescos and had just finished a waitrose for them)... the knock on effect was awful and the last couple of years has been hard work to get us back again on a level footing, my wife asks is it worth the stress, but it's all I know... I've built my business from a clapped out car a bag of tools and me and my brother grafting... it just pisses me off that you get the big companies trying to rob you, the eastern europeans fcking the pricing up, and others in the same trade carving the pricing up... but what can you do........ In some ways we're lucky as we're at the right age with the right client base now, hopefully it will work out, it's looking good with us now with 2 years of work on the books ( a big trading estate for a developer who we do all his work) plus a tie in on KFC's around the country... but from past experiance I'm always scared of the knock thats around the corner.. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
staffs riffraff 1,068 Posted March 19, 2013 Report Share Posted March 19, 2013 What makes this worse is if I heard right the other day when the eastern accession states were admitted to the eu only Sweden Ireland and us put nothing in place to stop us being swamped by them think it was something like 8 years before they could go to Germany etc in any numbers. I may be wrong but that's how I interpreted it Quote Link to post Share on other sites
staffs riffraff 1,068 Posted March 19, 2013 Report Share Posted March 19, 2013 Yep Open door policy at its finest http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_enlargement_of_the_European_Union#section_5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
northern lad 2,292 Posted March 19, 2013 Report Share Posted March 19, 2013 Building games fooked now,lost my business /home nearly 5years ago.....went from a booming business,well established client base ,loyal staff etc to not being able to land a days work due to all the ridiculous prices the Europeans were charging £20 per day labour charges .I can understand anybody wanting to improve the quality of living for their families....but all they are doing is dragging down our wages and taking all the council houses.....we are now the toilet of Europe....and it will only get worse.Just to end on a positive note..... .........nope ,sorry.....I got nothing Thats shit mate, sorry to hear that, I hope things are better for you now..... I remember my dad late 80's early 90's struggling for months without a job dropping in, he told us all we would have to sell the house etc to survive, he pulled out of it luckily but it changed him, I think the stress of almost losing the lot was too much.... 3 years ago we got hit for 42k from a big company, mainly for unsigned extra works, i was foolish enough to believe them when they told me it would all be paid and kept going to complete their work ( at the time we were on 2 tescos and had just finished a waitrose for them)... the knock on effect was awful and the last couple of years has been hard work to get us back again on a level footing, my wife asks is it worth the stress, but it's all I know... I've built my business from a clapped out car a bag of tools and me and my brother grafting... it just pisses me off that you get the big companies trying to rob you, the eastern europeans fcking the pricing up, and others in the same trade carving the pricing up... but what can you do........ In some ways we're lucky as we're at the right age with the right client base now, hopefully it will work out, it's looking good with us now with 2 years of work on the books ( a big trading estate for a developer who we do all his work) plus a tie in on KFC's around the country... but from past experiance I'm always scared of the knock thats around the corner.. Glad things are going well for you mate it never really recovered in Manchester,tried selling my house to pay the Inland Revenue but the slump in work coincided with the slump in house prices my house was valued at £195,000 when it went on the market,and sold by the receivers for £113,000 twelve months later......wouldn't wish it on anyone,but in the grand scheme of things its not the end of the world....I now understand the saying" things own you,rather than you own them" incidently the only people I owed were the IR,f***ing hate people deliberately running up bills with small companies knowing they will never pay them Hope your business goes from strength to strength ATVB Dave (maybe see you outside KFC one time,with me dog and blanket....chuck us a bargain bucket) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NEWKID 27,132 Posted March 19, 2013 Report Share Posted March 19, 2013 Building games fooked now,lost my business /home nearly 5years ago.....went from a booming business,well established client base ,loyal staff etc to not being able to land a days work due to all the ridiculous prices the Europeans were charging £20 per day labour charges .I can understand anybody wanting to improve the quality of living for their families....but all they are doing is dragging down our wages and taking all the council houses.....we are now the toilet of Europe....and it will only get worse.Just to end on a positive note..... .........nope ,sorry.....I got nothing Thats shit mate, sorry to hear that, I hope things are better for you now..... I remember my dad late 80's early 90's struggling for months without a job dropping in, he told us all we would have to sell the house etc to survive, he pulled out of it luckily but it changed him, I think the stress of almost losing the lot was too much.... 3 years ago we got hit for 42k from a big company, mainly for unsigned extra works, i was foolish enough to believe them when they told me it would all be paid and kept going to complete their work ( at the time we were on 2 tescos and had just finished a waitrose for them)... the knock on effect was awful and the last couple of years has been hard work to get us back again on a level footing, my wife asks is it worth the stress, but it's all I know... I've built my business from a clapped out car a bag of tools and me and my brother grafting... it just pisses me off that you get the big companies trying to rob you, the eastern europeans fcking the pricing up, and others in the same trade carving the pricing up... but what can you do........ In some ways we're lucky as we're at the right age with the right client base now, hopefully it will work out, it's looking good with us now with 2 years of work on the books ( a big trading estate for a developer who we do all his work) plus a tie in on KFC's around the country... but from past experiance I'm always scared of the knock thats around the corner.. Glad things are going well for you mate it never really recovered in Manchester,tried selling my house to pay the Inland Revenue but the slump in work coincided with the slump in house prices my house was valued at £195,000 when it went on the market,and sold by the receivers for £113,000 twelve months later......wouldn't wish it on anyone,but in the grand scheme of things its not the end of the world....I now understand the saying" things own you,rather than you own them" incidently the only people I owed were the IR,f***ing hate people deliberately running up bills with small companies knowing they will never pay them Hope your business goes from strength to strength ATVB Dave (maybe see you outside KFC one time,with me dog and blanket....chuck us a bargain bucket) no worries Dave, funilly enough I've just priced one in Denton, thats up your way?? If I get it I'll be up for that bargain bucket.... Your right about "things own you, rather than you own them"... I admit I work too much, I always have, not just because of money but I hate letting people down... you know what I mean, you put yourself under pressure to please others, thats the bit that does me in at times... As for the big companies taking the piss, most of them now employ legally qualified QS's to tear your invoices to shreds.... you do the work then fight to get paid.. my missus is sick of hearing me moan about it now All the best for the future mate 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MAIN MAN 277 Posted March 19, 2013 Report Share Posted March 19, 2013 perhaps all us british tradesman should start our own building company!! time served genuin lads who have been trained properly. But yea i agree the building game is on its knees now due to poles ect chucking all sorts of work together. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
northern lad 2,292 Posted March 19, 2013 Report Share Posted March 19, 2013 Building games fooked now,lost my business /home nearly 5years ago.....went from a booming business,well established client base ,loyal staff etc to not being able to land a days work due to all the ridiculous prices the Europeans were charging £20 per day labour charges .I can understand anybody wanting to improve the quality of living for their families....but all they are doing is dragging down our wages and taking all the council houses.....we are now the toilet of Europe....and it will only get worse.Just to end on a positive note..... .........nope ,sorry.....I got nothing Thats shit mate, sorry to hear that, I hope things are better for you now..... I remember my dad late 80's early 90's struggling for months without a job dropping in, he told us all we would have to sell the house etc to survive, he pulled out of it luckily but it changed him, I think the stress of almost losing the lot was too much.... 3 years ago we got hit for 42k from a big company, mainly for unsigned extra works, i was foolish enough to believe them when they told me it would all be paid and kept going to complete their work ( at the time we were on 2 tescos and had just finished a waitrose for them)... the knock on effect was awful and the last couple of years has been hard work to get us back again on a level footing, my wife asks is it worth the stress, but it's all I know... I've built my business from a clapped out car a bag of tools and me and my brother grafting... it just pisses me off that you get the big companies trying to rob you, the eastern europeans fcking the pricing up, and others in the same trade carving the pricing up... but what can you do........ In some ways we're lucky as we're at the right age with the right client base now, hopefully it will work out, it's looking good with us now with 2 years of work on the books ( a big trading estate for a developer who we do all his work) plus a tie in on KFC's around the country... but from past experiance I'm always scared of the knock thats around the corner.. Glad things are going well for you mate it never really recovered in Manchester,tried selling my house to pay the Inland Revenue but the slump in work coincided with the slump in house prices my house was valued at £195,000 when it went on the market,and sold by the receivers for £113,000 twelve months later......wouldn't wish it on anyone,but in the grand scheme of things its not the end of the world....I now understand the saying" things own you,rather than you own them" incidently the only people I owed were the IR,f***ing hate people deliberately running up bills with small companies knowing they will never pay them Hope your business goes from strength to strength ATVB Dave (maybe see you outside KFC one time,with me dog and blanket....chuck us a bargain bucket) no worries Dave, funilly enough I've just priced one in Denton, thats up your way?? If I get it I'll be up for that bargain bucket.... Your right about "things own you, rather than you own them"... I admit I work too much, I always have, not just because of money but I hate letting people down... you know what I mean, you put yourself under pressure to please others, thats the bit that does me in at times... As for the big companies taking the piss, most of them now employ legally qualified QS's to tear your invoices to shreds.... you do the work then fight to get paid.. my missus is sick of hearing me moan about it now All the best for the future mate Denton is the other side of Manchester from me,Im in Salford,willing to walk for chicken though A lot of people don't get that its stressfull running a business,think its all early finishes,pint at dinner and a bulging wallet.....the pressure I put myself under I don't miss eventually I accepted the fact you cant please all people all the time trying will break you eventually if youre not careful,but its difficult in an uncertain economic climate turning work down when you don't know when the phone will ring again,I only ever did contract work for a select few companies so I never had to wait for money....the thought of somebody trying to rump me for a tenner makes my blood boil,waiting for and not receiving thousands would eat me up I couldn't let it go.....I wouldn't have thought many companies were made bankrupt without knowing for months they were circling the drain,and so shouldn't be employing people with no chance of paying them....Its great that your busy,but make time to smell the roses,theres no pockets in a shroud..... 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Qbgrey 4,089 Posted March 19, 2013 Report Share Posted March 19, 2013 im seriously thinking bout jacking it in,been on the trowel for 30yrs,prices are shit,even brit companys cropping up daily ,pricing work well under the rates ,then once they in they put on extras.im lucky as i get a lot of local work by word of mouth,but it not getting any easier......i tell clients that shit brickwork stays shit for ever....its not like a fine wine gets better with age 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Its_grim_up_norf 577 Posted March 19, 2013 Report Share Posted March 19, 2013 plumbing and heating....fresh out of my time (22, late starter) and I'm beginning to realise what you lads are on about. Yet another reason to vote UKIP and start looking after ourselves. Send them back and shut the border up like Australia have. Nothing good to give us that will benefit the UK? Not welcome mate...piss off back 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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