Dont mess with the old man !

[nybor62]

did the fact that you heard them talking about you , spur you on , ill show them

cream all ways rises to the top

 

[Gazzer]

did the fact that you heard them talking about you , spur you on , ill show them

cream all ways rises to the top

I was booked for 2 days so when I saw the room I just thought I would do it in 2 days easy but as I got into it, I soon realised that I had a chance of completing the tiling in one day so I went for it. It was dead straight though I do admit.

 

[Spud]

well done, i would suggest to your friend that he gets them to supply their own adhesive and trim for a month and to give him the invoice ,when he gets their invoices the penny will drop that they are using far less when they buy their own than when they grab it out of the yard,we have a book that the guys have to sign out the materials and although we do have some leakage its mainly stuff left on site rather than them nicking it for their own jobs

 

[tommyzooom]

Not bad for an "old codger",
I remember my first commercial job, back when I was about 19, after a couple of days the other tilers were complaining I was showing them up.
the job was nearing an end and after i had been there a couple of weeks, the main contractor got the boot and I was kept on on my own to finish up

 

[Gazzer]

Well The other lads must have left minutes after me yesterday. They were late this morning and had been complaining to the boss. By the time they arrived I was grouted up and ready to start the next room.
The boss then arrived and a lot of shouting was heard.
The younger tiler turned out to be a newbie of about 6 months and the older one was said to be someone " who knew the job".
The company is mainly a painting firm that has taken on more and more tiling on the sites they have.
I was offered a job today as a sort of Contract manager but also a tiler.( basically a nursemaid for his other tilers)......I declined even after the wages were offered seemed ok for steady money....why did I decline? ... i can see them going the way that other companies have gone ( bankrupt) and then I would have to start all again.

 

[DHTiling]

Steady money Neale.. hard to find in these times..??

 

[Gazzer]

Steady money Neale.. hard to find in these times..??

But for how long Dave ? and the money wasnt that good for what was being asked, also own vehicle and fuel was included not supplied. it would be ok job for someone who was unable to do the tiling job due to ....knee injury etc but not for a healthy guy.

 

[hillhead]

You done right sir, buck your own goat i say !
Easier to look after yourself without worrying about others.

 

[Gazzer]

Too right Joe, been there and got the T shirt.

 

[hillhead]

I have a few jobs ongoing at the minute and one is for a builder, he can't be assed getting templates made for granite worktops which i have to tile above so i left last week,lol.
My phone is hopping but i wont go back to next monday or tuesday.Even a small viccy floor there to do and shape a wetroom floor and tile in marble(i have walls done),lol.
I work for myself not a builder, they drag their feet i go to other jobs.simple.

 

[jamie B]

just read through the saga..and sounds SO familiar!..I did some work the other year for a big London based tiling co. (no names will be mentioned!) and was shocked how many pirates work in this way ie. all the straight work first then leave the tricky bits for someone else..also the readiness to down tools at the first problem...I know it takes all sorts but I dunno how these guys make a living..then again I s'pose they don't having spoken to a few of the moaning so & so's!!

 

[Rob Z]

just read through the saga..and sounds SO familiar!..I did some work the other year for a big London based tiling co. (no names will be mentioned!) and was shocked how many pirates work in this way ie. all the straight work first then leave the tricky bits for someone else..also the readiness to down tools at the first problem...I know it takes all sorts but I dunno how these guys make a living..then again I s'pose they don't having spoken to a few of the moaning so & so's!!

Hi Jamie, I think most members here are cut from the same cloth...we see something that's going to be a PITA, and we think "OK, how can I figure this out and do it?"

The deadwood just wants it all laid out in front of them, with nothing required in the smarts department. I',m dealing with a subcontractor right now that's the same way. They talked a great game when they wanted the work. Now , they can't perform and the property owner and I have kicked them off the job. Her attorney will handle the rest and we'll get paid to finish the work. The whole reason we hired them in the first place was to get stuff done quickly. They said "four days"...it's now 2 1/2 months later and they still aren't finished.

 

[Rob Z]

Neale, I can specifically remember times when I was much younger, first starting out in the trade (carpentry). I was a green bean and knew it. I listened so intently to anything that the Old Timers would tell me.

Looking back on it, these older guys were, at the time, the age we are now (mid 40's and older). They had decades of experience and were willing to impart some wisdom to an eager young buck.

I don't recall the kind of nitwits that you just dealt with being on the jobsites, but I am sure they were around back then. I do remember that these Old School guys that I worked with didn't tolerate any BS.

I was on one job one time and an older carpenter and his helper came to install some commercial door units (steel doors and steel frames, set in the block). He took the time to explain to me how to use a tap set, size the bits, read thread pitch, select fasteners, and so forth. THis was in the 1980's, and this carpenter had been in WW2, so he must have been in his 60's at the time.

I haven't thought about that until this thread, but his efforts to spend what must have been less than a half-hour with me ended up so that I have used my tap set probably a hundred times for work, and made plenty of money solving problems that otherwise would have gone unresolved or would have gone to someone else.

These motorheads you ran into probably won't ever know what they might have learned from you and your experience, if only they hadn't copped an attitude and had simply paid attention to anything that you might have been able to pass on.

 

[jamie B]

Hi Jamie, I think most members here are cut from the same cloth...we see something that's going to be a PITA, and we think "OK, how can I figure this out and do it?"

The deadwood just wants it all laid out in front of them, with nothing required in the smarts department. I',m dealing with a subcontractor right now that's the same way. They talked a great game when they wanted the work. Now , they can't perform and the property owner and I have kicked them off the job. Her attorney will handle the rest and we'll get paid to finish the work. The whole reason we hired them in the first place was to get stuff done quickly. They said "four days"...it's now 2 1/2 months later and they still aren't finished.

couldn't agree more Rob, and I'm seeing it more now I'm trying to run a firm than I ever saw it before!
They say there's a recession on in the uk..but at the risk of sounding like an old man I'm gobsmacked at the amount of tilers we've had who down tools at the slightest thing!...one of the 'given' aspects of new build / site work is that you are behest to other trades etc. but I expect people to use some common sense (as I was taught!) when faced with a problem..
I'm amazed how many 'jobbing' tilers we've had who have no initiative when something pops up and are quite happy to go to what I think of as "factory' mentality..ie..down tools and wait till someone comes to tell me what to do... I just DON"T GET IT!!...even when I worked on a big firm we were always acutely aware when we weren't fixing we weren't earning!!
the fellas we have are all self employed so must know if you ain't making meterage you ain't earning!!...that said we never leave our guys hanging in the wind on any problem..whoever calls one of us will be there asap...just freaks me out when I find them sitting in the canteen and there's always another plot they can move onto no matter what the problem...all our tilers know we are behind them 100 percent as we are working tilers ourselves...we want to earn..we want THEM to earn it's a win win! but maybe that's the dividing line between what I would call Craftsmen/professionals and ..well...jobbing tilers...I don't know..but it's been an education the last few months!

 

[merlecollins]

Too right Joe, been there and got the T shirt.

Know exactly where you are coming from there Neale - you were dead right to stick on your own mate

 

[Rob Z]

Jamie,

I am convinced the thing in my lifetime that has taught me the most was not school, university degrees, playing sports on teams, the military, and so on...but instead it's been dealing with the public and running a business.

couldn't agree more Rob, and I'm seeing it more now I'm trying to run a firm than I ever saw it before!
!

 

[jamie B]

ditto dude ..it's a proper education!..suddenly I"M the grown up!!...how did that happen! ha ha ha!

 

[Rob Z]

ditto dude ..it's a proper education!..suddenly I"M the grown up!!...how did that happen! ha ha ha!

Yeah, no kidding Holy Moly I'm wondering the same thing myself.

I still feel like a 15 year old, hard to imagine that I'm 45.:lol: