G
Gazzer
If I ever was cool that is..
For the past year I have been working with my brother since our Dad died. My Dad was a tiler and had some small contracts which I took over after his death. Now I thought it was only fair to share this work with my brother who was struggling with work at the time. So I would treat it as my contracts and employ by brother to do some of the work.
Anyway as the months went by I have been trying to find a way out of this "partnership" ....I never wanted anything permanent , I just thought a helping hand from me to him and vice versa would be good.
Over the following weeks, he would get a bathroom to tile and we would do it together....all very nice you may say. Some work he got was fine, biggish floors that could take two men working together but some work was so fiddly it was plain stupid for two bodies to be on the same job....and dont forget only 50% of the money each !
When we had a bathroom to tile he would do the cuts and I seemed to end up setting out, spreading, marking cuts and tiling....he would mix adhesive and cut tiles. Most of the time he seemed to be watching me but not actually paying attention, for instance...I would be tiling and mark a tile to be cut....I would put the tile down for him to cut but unless I actually told him ., He wouldnt cut it.
It seems as I have to tell him everything to do, and dont think its because he is new to the game. he has been tiling years.
Now my brother is a talker...Big time. As soon as we enter a clients house or on site he jaw is flapping...me , I am setting up and all systems go. Then he is on the phone...I have timed him recently and he spent 30 minutes talking while I was floor tiling.
Over the last year, he has....cut through 2 angle grinder cables, Used my montolit angle grinder wheel an metal trim and its now useless. He has cut through some mosaic with a grinder while the mosaic was on my box for the grinder....Nice gouges through the plastic !.
He has lost an 80mm montolit grinder wheel.
Twice he has snapped the cable to both of my adhesive mixers by letting the cable wrap around the whisk. The last time (last week) it happened and he left the broken cable on the floor still plugged in....this was my 240v mixer. A while back I caught him mixing up and the lead was actually in a bucket of water !
I am not the cleanest work but he takes the P. He actually blocks his own work area , broken tiles everywhere, cables all messed up, Cut tiles just thrown on the floor and causing a trip hazard.
He doesnt seem to care for anyone elses property either. When he has cut a tile he may just lean the off cut against the wall or even if we are inside against wall paper/painted walls.
The site we were working on recently but in separate Ensuites actually have provided small skips for our use. i clean up as I go and when I go out for more tiles I take the off cuts with me into the skip. I was amazed to pop my head around to where he was working to find that the whole floor was covered in broken tiles cardboard and tools.
Anyway to the point ! today we were on the same site and had a kitchen floor and a Cloakroom floor to tile. On arrival at the site, I was out and grabbed scraper and broom and set off to clean the floors. He moved some architraves that were on the floor. After the first clean I went out to where the tiles were and saw him....Talking to his mate on the phone !...I was now boiling over. I went back to the house and carried on but I was really wanting a fight.
I had set out and got lines down to work to by the time he came in. He asked if I was ready for adhesive and I said I was....The adhesive came and as usual It was half mixed and half powder. I mixed it in by hand and started spreading....I could hear him messing about and by the time I had spread the 1st section he said " Oh you have the trowel, I was looking for it !"
So I started tiling and I marked some tiles but he wasnt about so I cut them myself. I had set the cutter so he could carry on but he then moved the set mark. I was so close to exploding by now but held on.
Now as this kitchen was about 17m2 there was enough space for me to have the tile trolley with me, stacked with 4 boxes of tiles so I can push it along with me as I go. So a few minutes later I am carrying on with the 1st row through into the utility room which is the furthest point from the cutter. He then proceeds to take tiles from the trolley that I was using to take back through the house to the cutter even though the tiles are nearer the cutter. Well it may have been a small thing but it made me explode and without saying exactly what I said the short and clean edited version was that I could work faster and with less frustration if I did it alone. At this he said "I wil sit in the van then and you can do it"..." You do that" I replied...
And that is what happened, I tiled the floor and did it all myself in less time than if he was labouring for me and dont forget he is only labouring yet getting 50% of the money !
We drove back in silence and as yet have no idea what the future holds but as I was driving back it dawned on me that even if he didnt work with me on that floor , there was still some grouting to be done from his previous work in another kitchen....why didnt he do that ??
OMG Just read it all back and didnt realise it was that long but as I say I have a slow fuse but once it reaches the end I explode big time !
For the past year I have been working with my brother since our Dad died. My Dad was a tiler and had some small contracts which I took over after his death. Now I thought it was only fair to share this work with my brother who was struggling with work at the time. So I would treat it as my contracts and employ by brother to do some of the work.
Anyway as the months went by I have been trying to find a way out of this "partnership" ....I never wanted anything permanent , I just thought a helping hand from me to him and vice versa would be good.
Over the following weeks, he would get a bathroom to tile and we would do it together....all very nice you may say. Some work he got was fine, biggish floors that could take two men working together but some work was so fiddly it was plain stupid for two bodies to be on the same job....and dont forget only 50% of the money each !
When we had a bathroom to tile he would do the cuts and I seemed to end up setting out, spreading, marking cuts and tiling....he would mix adhesive and cut tiles. Most of the time he seemed to be watching me but not actually paying attention, for instance...I would be tiling and mark a tile to be cut....I would put the tile down for him to cut but unless I actually told him ., He wouldnt cut it.
It seems as I have to tell him everything to do, and dont think its because he is new to the game. he has been tiling years.
Now my brother is a talker...Big time. As soon as we enter a clients house or on site he jaw is flapping...me , I am setting up and all systems go. Then he is on the phone...I have timed him recently and he spent 30 minutes talking while I was floor tiling.
Over the last year, he has....cut through 2 angle grinder cables, Used my montolit angle grinder wheel an metal trim and its now useless. He has cut through some mosaic with a grinder while the mosaic was on my box for the grinder....Nice gouges through the plastic !.
He has lost an 80mm montolit grinder wheel.
Twice he has snapped the cable to both of my adhesive mixers by letting the cable wrap around the whisk. The last time (last week) it happened and he left the broken cable on the floor still plugged in....this was my 240v mixer. A while back I caught him mixing up and the lead was actually in a bucket of water !
I am not the cleanest work but he takes the P. He actually blocks his own work area , broken tiles everywhere, cables all messed up, Cut tiles just thrown on the floor and causing a trip hazard.
He doesnt seem to care for anyone elses property either. When he has cut a tile he may just lean the off cut against the wall or even if we are inside against wall paper/painted walls.
The site we were working on recently but in separate Ensuites actually have provided small skips for our use. i clean up as I go and when I go out for more tiles I take the off cuts with me into the skip. I was amazed to pop my head around to where he was working to find that the whole floor was covered in broken tiles cardboard and tools.
Anyway to the point ! today we were on the same site and had a kitchen floor and a Cloakroom floor to tile. On arrival at the site, I was out and grabbed scraper and broom and set off to clean the floors. He moved some architraves that were on the floor. After the first clean I went out to where the tiles were and saw him....Talking to his mate on the phone !...I was now boiling over. I went back to the house and carried on but I was really wanting a fight.
I had set out and got lines down to work to by the time he came in. He asked if I was ready for adhesive and I said I was....The adhesive came and as usual It was half mixed and half powder. I mixed it in by hand and started spreading....I could hear him messing about and by the time I had spread the 1st section he said " Oh you have the trowel, I was looking for it !"
So I started tiling and I marked some tiles but he wasnt about so I cut them myself. I had set the cutter so he could carry on but he then moved the set mark. I was so close to exploding by now but held on.
Now as this kitchen was about 17m2 there was enough space for me to have the tile trolley with me, stacked with 4 boxes of tiles so I can push it along with me as I go. So a few minutes later I am carrying on with the 1st row through into the utility room which is the furthest point from the cutter. He then proceeds to take tiles from the trolley that I was using to take back through the house to the cutter even though the tiles are nearer the cutter. Well it may have been a small thing but it made me explode and without saying exactly what I said the short and clean edited version was that I could work faster and with less frustration if I did it alone. At this he said "I wil sit in the van then and you can do it"..." You do that" I replied...
And that is what happened, I tiled the floor and did it all myself in less time than if he was labouring for me and dont forget he is only labouring yet getting 50% of the money !
We drove back in silence and as yet have no idea what the future holds but as I was driving back it dawned on me that even if he didnt work with me on that floor , there was still some grouting to be done from his previous work in another kitchen....why didnt he do that ??
OMG Just read it all back and didnt realise it was that long but as I say I have a slow fuse but once it reaches the end I explode big time !
