Rant Rant Rant

[Thespanishtiler]

on this subject in general

I am sorry to say this but the m2 rate on offer is there to accept or decline and thats up to you and your circumstances.

if you do and dont like the site/contractor again you can leave site

it comes down to what you want to do

lots of fixers have made good money subbing to tile contractors in the good times without all the hastles of the domestic side and now its come to an end have to accept the current state of play.

 

[White Room]

I've seen a few recessions and the one in the nineties saw good bricklayers on £50 a day on site work, it's a matter of biting the bullet for the time being.

 

[doug boardley]

on this subject in general

I am sorry to say this but the m2 rate on offer is there to accept or decline and thats up to you and your circumstances.

if you do and dont like the site/contractor again you can leave site

it comes down to what you want to do

lots of fixers have made good money subbing to tile contractors in the good times without all the hastles of the domestic side and now its come to an end have to accept the current state of play.

I agree in principle Spanish, but in these days of mass redundancies every Tom,Dick and Harry think that they can tile! (us pro's know otherwise), but it's these guys that set the undercutting trend, they trade for maybe 12 months then go bust, but there's more waiting to repeat the cycle. They can maybe sweet talk the customers and say about accepted methods being overkill and this drives proper fixing methods down. Any tiler worth his/her salt wouldn't stoop to running an inferior service and compromising an enduring installation imo.

 

[Thespanishtiler]

I agree Doug, this situation is more prevalant in the subcontract/commercial arena and my point is that whilst some tilers have spent the last few years working to build up a name/reputation in the domestic side which is not as volatile as commercial(with all the hard/extra work that entails)
others have been on site earning good money on basic ceramics. working as a subbie is great when things are good, fact is things aint good.

 

[doug boardley]

which is why I think that tiling should be licenced, it has the same potential to kill as much as shoddy electrics, plumbing etc. That is why every job I do I always go with a belt and braces attitude thinking, "this could be my house and my wife and kids in that bathroom" I personally couldn't sleep easy unless I was sure that all bases were covered, and that attitude does cost extra, but an extra cost well worth having imo.

 

[Thespanishtiler]

its like anything Doug, we set our stall out to provide the service we want to sell

I provide a top end service and charge accordingly, this week i replaced a floor that i felt was not up to being tiled onto, new boards and extra noggins, hardie backer boards and dural ci, top quality C2 S1 addy. i hadnt allowed for all this but did it labour free and provided the ci foc, only the hardie backer had been allowed for. so i earn a bit less but my integrety is intact.

domestic customer that I work for care about their home and want a proper job doing, some commercial operations just want the job doing, they dont care, except for the price.

 

[doug boardley]

its like anything Doug, we set our stall out to provide the service we want to sell

I provide a top end service and charge accordingly, this week i replaced a floor that i felt was not up to being tiled onto, new boards and extra noggins, hardie backer boards and dural ci, top quality C2 S1 addy. i hadnt allowed for all this but did it labour free and provided the ci foc, only the hardie backer had been allowed for. so i earn a bit less but my integrety is intact.

domestic customer that I work for care about their home and want a proper job doing, some commercial operations just want the job doing, they dont care, except for the price.

my atttitude exactly mate

 

[EFC Mike]

I agree SPM,
I won't work for agencies or certain builders (there're not all bad)...one particular builder expected me to fix Trav for 8m2 and then asked me to use dry wall adhesive to fix them with because he had over ordered it.:mad2: