Tradesman..

[chilli 381]

Ive been a electrician 32 years and the rates are not what they were. Acency rates are well down to what they were also overtime rates at some places dont exist.

When I ask about the foreiners tickets I get told to shut up & that says a lot to me ( I'm also a spark ) .

[nothernlite 18,077]

If i was younger instead of learning a trade i would learn a few languages and become a translater lol

[GRAM71 29]

not doing too bad at the moment, came close over the xmas period but managed to pick up some agency work, they really do pay peanuts don't they!

nearly cleared the overdraft and it's hopefully going to warm up soon, lighter nights too so i can put the hours in. i'll just have to accept the fact that i'm not going to earn anywhere near what i used to. don't feckin talk to me about eastern europeans! bunch of twats without any clue how to do the job but still manage to land a job. i saw an ad looking for brushes last month, and i quote, "prospective employees must have an excellent level of.... wait for it....

SPOKEN ENGLISH!"

FFS!

[WILF 46,687]

well this year i will of been in the joinery trade for 18 years! starting my apprentiship at 16 and ill be 34 next month, during this time ive worked all over the uk, shopfitting, doing restaurants out, hotels etc etc, anyway not once have i been asked if i can prove im a time served joiner!

 

as other guys in the building trade will no doubt know, its on its arse at the moment, my last job away was on kings cross station fitting a restaurant out on the new extension that was getting built, in the canteen there must of been 200 people and if 25 were from this country id be very surprised, they were people just walking around clearly with no idea about the job they had been given, i hate the fact anyone could blag there way onto a site and say there a tradesmen and clearly there not..

 

we need all the rubbish cscs saftey cards and such which are just a money spinner and a load of crap, maybe its about time we had to prove that were time served tradesmen! maybe do a skills test so we can get plenty of work before all the gobshites that are useless, lag there way into jobs before we have a chance.. i was looking online at jobs the otherday and the rates of pay is what it was about ten years ago.. throuble is theres always someone that works for peanuts that keeps the rates down and its just a big piss take..

 

i think the days of" you want to get a trade" you wont go wrong with a trade are sadly over!!

 

well thats my rant over for today..

 

 

The hard thing for skilled lads in the building trade is that most of your customers make all their decisions based on price !!.......and because their are so many in the building trade, when things are quiet you have to try and compete based solely on price which is a death spiral for any business

 

I don't envy any skilled builder........to many at it, to many cheapskate punters, to many people want to f**k you about for your dough.

[ginga john 268]

I have to deal with all different trades and there is a reason that these poxy eastern europeans have swamped our industry, Attitude

They will do anything anytime and anywhere, granted they will make a bollocks of it most of the time but they are cheap and above all cheerful

I used to be a carpenter, complete waste of time now days as every one with a hardpoint saw is a chippy and are happy for their £50 a day

Most of the work on site now can be done by an average DIY enthusiast so it's not the skilled job it once was

An example is my own bathroom, need a tiler so call a bloke from trades link, he comes over and has a look, took 5 minutes, I'm not doing that bit, you need to do that bit, this needs doing before I can start etc

Then tell me that he wants £50 a metre to fix the tiles I bought the tiles adhesive grout matting etc, so I pointed out that there are 5 tiles to the metre and thats £10 a tile, who did he think he was a fecking brain surgeon !!

had a blokes number given to me who comes from Croatia ( I know ) he came and looked, took a shed load of measurements, told me that the floor needs to be overlayed, then fixed with matting etc, asked about the wiring ( thats hanging down the wall ) then said it will take me 5 days so that's £500 please

Now what do I do go with the English bloke who was frankly a knob and wanted £1000 or the croatian who was a "proper tradesman" and only wants £500

And don't get me started with plumbers, I have yet to meet a plumber who is worth £25 a day let alone the £500 they try for, complete tossers the lot of them !!!

[Malt 379]

I'm just wondering why a proper old school chippie needed to pay someone to lay tiles! Most old school chippies I ever worked with were dab hands on the old tiling!

[just jack 998]

I'm just wondering why a proper old school chippie needed to pay someone to lay tiles! Most old school chippies I ever worked with were dab hands on the old tiling!

i'd say

[pegleg33 134]

I have to deal with all different trades and there is a reason that these poxy eastern europeans have swamped our industry, Attiude

They will do anything anytime and anywhere, granted they will make a bollocks of it most of the time but they are cheap and above all cheerful

I used to be a carpenter, complete waste of time now days as every one with a hardpoint saw is a chippy and are happy for their £50 a day

Most of the work on site now can be done by an average DIY enthusiast so it's not the skilled job it once was

An example is my own bathroom, need a tiler so call a bloke from trades link, he comes over and has a look, took 5 minutes, I'm not doing that bit, you need to do that bit, this needs doing before I can start etc

Then tell me that he wants £50 a metre to fix the tiles I bought the tiles adhesive grout matting etc, so I pointed out that there are 5 tiles to the metre and thats £10 a tile, who did he think he was a fecking brain surgeon !!

had a blokes number given to me who comes from Croatia ( I know ) he came and looked, took a shed load of measurements, told me that the floor needs to be overlayed, then fixed with matting etc, asked about the wiring ( thats hanging down the wall ) then said it will take me 5 days so that's £500 please

Now what do I do go with the English bloke who was frankly a knob and wanted £1000 or the croatian who was a "proper tradesman" and only wants £500

And don't get me started with plumbers, I have yet to meet a plumber who is worth £25 a day let alone the £500 they try for, complete tossers the lot of them !!!

How many meters of tiling is in your bathroom, 20?

f**k me, that's alot. Is he tiling around the bathroom or has he got an empty room?

I'd be charging £20 a m2 unless you wanted some sort of pattern

[NEWKID 27,132]

I'd say if you've been around the buildings for a while you can get by in your own house... I wouldn't want to go on site and attempt to lay bricks, plaster, tile etc but.... I've built the walls in my garden, laid the floor tiles in the hall and patio tiles.. Will paint and decorate etc last house I fitted the plumbing.. Never again but that's another story lol... Electrics and plumbing I won't touch... Tbh the chippies I know are tight as fck and would never pay for a tiler lol...

 

Now the big problem I see with your Eastern Europeans are, they work like fck for very little money.. On most of the big sites I've been on we've worked alongside poles etc and in the main they've been ok and definitely put a shift in.. As a labourer, ground worker or even crashing big areas of roof/ floor deck they get stuck in and graft... They are not, in the main, from what I've seen skilled... It's the dilemma of running a business, employ hard working, cheap foreigners or not.... I don't and won't.. If your smaller businesses stuck together a bit, and didn't cut each other up we'd all be in a better position... Eventually when this so called recession ends ( if the media and politicians let it end) the quality workforce will still be going... You can't make money if your going back over your work snagging or getting knocked for crap work... As an earlier poster said maybe the trades should stick together and work with each other...... The big contractors bank on us all cutting each other up, some price work with no margin and build the margin in by hammering the labour, suppliers etc... Companies like mcalpines, Midas, ISG will try to get you on terms that only suit them they're strangling the life out if the big site work now... That's why people are using the cheap labour.... But as I said its not for me...

[keepitcovert 842]

Started in the game in 1967 apprentice bricky got my city and guilds, series 600 levelling surveying, and i have never known the game to be as bad as it is today. Influx of foreign workers has taken its toll, but worse than that is the attitude of the guys currently in the game, backstabbing, bribery, and double dealing is the name of the game these days, why do you need a cscs card to prove you can do the job, just another money making scam to keep another load of freeloading bloodsuckers in a job. HSE officials that turn a blind eye to foreigners that cant speak english, site managers that sign their safety passport after an induction that they never understood a single word of. No the attitude of the current work force seems to be im allright jack, and very few stand up for their rights these days, just a blind acceptance of what is doled out to them. Not a good industry to be in these days, will things change i for one doubt it.

[Rat face 1,655]

very intresting this lads. im a bricklayery but have managed to keep my head down buy working for councils and doing housing association work. just out of interest what trade do you guys think has been hit the worst?

[pedro 39]

very intresting this lads. im a bricklayery but have managed to keep my head down buy working for councils and doing housing association work. just out of interest what trade do you guys think has been hit the worst?

Painters, Theres loads of east euros trying to pass themselfs off as painters, thet soon get found out tho

[ginga john 268]

I'm just wondering why a proper old school chippie needed to pay someone to lay tiles! Most old school chippies I ever worked with were dab hands on the old tiling!

You are right Malt and I could make half a job of it but the tiles cost a bloody fortune and I want it to look the best it can, given the time I could do it, just the same as the electrics and the woodwork but it's horses for courses and all that

[Malt 379]

 

I'm just wondering why a proper old school chippie needed to pay someone to lay tiles! Most old school chippies I ever worked with were dab hands on the old tiling!

You are right Malt and I could make half a job of it but the tiles cost a bloody fortune and I want it to look the best it can, given the time I could do it, just the same as the electrics and the woodwork but it's horses for courses and all that

Just pulling your leg mate, a bit of inter trade banter from an ex plasterer!

[ginga john 268]

 

I have to deal with all different trades and there is a reason that these poxy eastern europeans have swamped our industry, Attiude

They will do anything anytime and anywhere, granted they will make a bollocks of it most of the time but they are cheap and above all cheerful

I used to be a carpenter, complete waste of time now days as every one with a hardpoint saw is a chippy and are happy for their £50 a day

Most of the work on site now can be done by an average DIY enthusiast so it's not the skilled job it once was

An example is my own bathroom, need a tiler so call a bloke from trades link, he comes over and has a look, took 5 minutes, I'm not doing that bit, you need to do that bit, this needs doing before I can start etc

Then tell me that he wants £50 a metre to fix the tiles I bought the tiles adhesive grout matting etc, so I pointed out that there are 5 tiles to the metre and thats £10 a tile, who did he think he was a fecking brain surgeon !!

had a blokes number given to me who comes from Croatia ( I know ) he came and looked, took a shed load of measurements, told me that the floor needs to be overlayed, then fixed with matting etc, asked about the wiring ( thats hanging down the wall ) then said it will take me 5 days so that's £500 please

Now what do I do go with the English bloke who was frankly a knob and wanted £1000 or the croatian who was a "proper tradesman" and only wants £500

And don't get me started with plumbers, I have yet to meet a plumber who is worth £25 a day let alone the £500 they try for, complete tossers the lot of them !!!

How many meters of tiling is in your bathroom, 20?

f**k me, that's alot. Is he tiling around the bathroom or has he got an empty room?

I'd be charging £20 a m2 unless you wanted some sort of pattern

Its about 20 metres pegleg, the walls are back to the plaster etc, I think the so called tilers are in league with the so called plumbers, trademen my arse :laugh: