G
Gazzer
A few weeks back I got a call from an unknown person asking if I could give them a price on a job. Well I turned up and it turned out that the guy was a general builder and a very nice approachable chap he was too. So he took me around the house and showed be a Hall floor, A kitchen floor inc Utility room, then upstairs a wet room.
So i took measurements and dug deeper as to how they got my number. Seems that Bob ( Yes honest , the builder) knew another builder I have worked for and i came reccomended but there was a twist....in another part of the house there was another bathroom and shower but it had been started by another tiler....well they showed me the bathroom and I thought that they were going to ask me to finish it. But they said that the original tiler was coming and going and they needed someone to just come and tile. Anyway the bathroom loked ok from a distance but on closer inspection I noticed a few things, he had started full tile from the corners of the walls instead of centring out, Mosaic borders were all over the place and he had used Plastic trim on the Travertine ( which looked bad) and was not sitting flush anyway. Then I noticed that where the tiles had eventually had to meet up around the room , they were out of line :yikes:
Well I didnt say much but asked about the trim and suggested bullnosing edges in the room where I was to work but as there were only 2 vertical edges they decided against and went with trim again. Not wanting to kick up too much of a fuss I went along with it.
All Tiles were supplied by TileGiant and I obtained all adhesives and grout from TileGiant too.
The job was a dream, all trades on site were a pleasure to work with...none of the usual hassles. It was then I found out that the builder was acting as a general builder and the plumber was the real boss ( apart from the owner of the house)...All the trades knew each other and I then realised that they work together on a regular basis.
Any issues I came across were handled correct in my opinion. If I brought up a problem, they asked how I would handle it and they listened.
Anyway to cut the whole thing short, over the time I worked there, Eveyne was impressed with my work .The client was most enthusiastic with me, especially as I had offered to work the Saturday to get a room ready for the plumber on the Monday. the fact that I had offered to collect extra tiles on my way home as I passed TileGiant.
I then saw the client looking at the wastage from the Travertine, "such a shame it cant be used in some way" He said.
Well he went away and I was thinking the same about the waste and then I thought that i would cut all the waste up into 100mm squares, This would give them enough to use for a splashback or 2 . By the time I finished I had cut almost 250 squares ( 2.5m2) Not a great deal but enough.
The client returned and I showed him the cuts and he was delighted with the reuse of the waste.
So on the last few days I was at the house I gave out 3 business cards and then the main Plumber asked for my number as he had a job on with 5 bathrooms and probably a swimming pool and could I go and price it up. Well of course I could but I thought right away that all that would be too much but if I could get someone else to do the pool then it would be helping someone else out. Of course I am thinking of Gooner for the pool but need to see the job 1st.
Anyway its crazy that sometimes I sit here in the week without so much as a phone call or even a sniff of work and then it all goes crazy.....i know have 3 smallish private jobs waiting for dates I can start, inbetween I am subbing to another firm on 3 fire stations plus i have this one to price up this week.
It can all change overnight ...bothways I know but it feels so much better saying that I am very busy than snapping the clients hand off and saying aI can start their job right away. ....I sleep better too
So i took measurements and dug deeper as to how they got my number. Seems that Bob ( Yes honest , the builder) knew another builder I have worked for and i came reccomended but there was a twist....in another part of the house there was another bathroom and shower but it had been started by another tiler....well they showed me the bathroom and I thought that they were going to ask me to finish it. But they said that the original tiler was coming and going and they needed someone to just come and tile. Anyway the bathroom loked ok from a distance but on closer inspection I noticed a few things, he had started full tile from the corners of the walls instead of centring out, Mosaic borders were all over the place and he had used Plastic trim on the Travertine ( which looked bad) and was not sitting flush anyway. Then I noticed that where the tiles had eventually had to meet up around the room , they were out of line :yikes:
Well I didnt say much but asked about the trim and suggested bullnosing edges in the room where I was to work but as there were only 2 vertical edges they decided against and went with trim again. Not wanting to kick up too much of a fuss I went along with it.
All Tiles were supplied by TileGiant and I obtained all adhesives and grout from TileGiant too.
The job was a dream, all trades on site were a pleasure to work with...none of the usual hassles. It was then I found out that the builder was acting as a general builder and the plumber was the real boss ( apart from the owner of the house)...All the trades knew each other and I then realised that they work together on a regular basis.
Any issues I came across were handled correct in my opinion. If I brought up a problem, they asked how I would handle it and they listened.
Anyway to cut the whole thing short, over the time I worked there, Eveyne was impressed with my work .The client was most enthusiastic with me, especially as I had offered to work the Saturday to get a room ready for the plumber on the Monday. the fact that I had offered to collect extra tiles on my way home as I passed TileGiant.
I then saw the client looking at the wastage from the Travertine, "such a shame it cant be used in some way" He said.
Well he went away and I was thinking the same about the waste and then I thought that i would cut all the waste up into 100mm squares, This would give them enough to use for a splashback or 2 . By the time I finished I had cut almost 250 squares ( 2.5m2) Not a great deal but enough.
The client returned and I showed him the cuts and he was delighted with the reuse of the waste.
So on the last few days I was at the house I gave out 3 business cards and then the main Plumber asked for my number as he had a job on with 5 bathrooms and probably a swimming pool and could I go and price it up. Well of course I could but I thought right away that all that would be too much but if I could get someone else to do the pool then it would be helping someone else out. Of course I am thinking of Gooner for the pool but need to see the job 1st.
Anyway its crazy that sometimes I sit here in the week without so much as a phone call or even a sniff of work and then it all goes crazy.....i know have 3 smallish private jobs waiting for dates I can start, inbetween I am subbing to another firm on 3 fire stations plus i have this one to price up this week.
It can all change overnight ...bothways I know but it feels so much better saying that I am very busy than snapping the clients hand off and saying aI can start their job right away. ....I sleep better too
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