social housing work

[Mike]

i just spoke to a boss of a tiling firm regarding working for him tiling a bathroom and a kitchen , both finished the same day, thats 2 bathroom walls to the ceiling and kitchen splashbacks. all done in 150 x 150's with tubbed addy :yikes: and grouted the same day :yikes: he said they just throw them up, no quality involved. i don't really fancy doing this type of work but it's an opertunity to earn a bit more than i am at the moment on the domestic scene and it would be regular work. (it's a 4 year contract) what do you think of this, would you do it?

 

[tfs]

if you need the cash then you should go for it mate. Not a high standard of work that you will be use to mate but if you dont someone else will. If you decide you cant handle it then you can just walk away.

Just dont pick up any bad habbits! :lol:

 

[Dan]

Needs must mate. Just don't go in your signed van or leave business cards anywhere. lol

Shocking aint it that this is the government who is paying their bill. They'd have had prices put in at the time of bidding for the work including the right gear. And they'd have just gone for bob the builder who just stuck in the lowest price.

 

[Mike]

lovells is the main contractor but the guy i spoke to is a subby, i've not got my van signwritten so i can do a bodgit and scarper :lol: its about 30 miles from me so nobody will know me anyway. the contract starts on the 18th so i'll meet him on site to discuss it further. not nice work i know:mad2:

 

[tfs]

another learning curve mate and you might make some good contacts working in commercial projects

 

[Mike]

another learning curve mate and you might make some good contacts working in commercial projects

yeah thats true mate, it's not that i'm short of work, i'm struggling to raise my prices due to too many jobbers around here. guys are pricing jobs here at 50 quid a day.:yikes::yikes:

 

[tfs]

wow, clearly not paying tax etc

 

[hillhead]

Anything is better than nowt !!!

 

[johnryan]

not sure why everyone here seems to think that housing projects are no good. i finished 16 flats for a housing association in gillingham in january, and while everything wasn't how i'd have liked it, it wasn't so bad. 150x150 and tubbed nicobond (which i thought was pretty good stuff) the only bad thing was that they'd skimmed and painted the walls which i pointed out to them wasn't good, but they said go ahead anyway. job turned out ok, and they said i may get more work from them, and hopefully next time i can have a say in the prep, ie ask them not to skim or paint where tiles are going. doesn't seem like the right climate to be getting fussy about work atm.
anyway, here's a few pics from there, one kitchen and one bathroom per day roughly, so not bad money, and very easy work. i tiled mon to thur, then grouted them all on friday.

 

[Dan]

A housing association can be a lot different to your standard council housing schemes. housing associations often get their money from the dole direct and therefore tend to want to keep their homes pretty decent (not always mind). But the council just want things done asap and for free (in my experience anyway).

My old manager at topps stuck a fair bid in (still cheap but fair with the right gear) for a big contract around here many moons ago. It went to a firm that halved his price. And probably sent the council bloke on his holiday as a backhander.

Got a sound housing association around here though in comparison to the council.

 

[Del W]

Possible 4 year contract. If you don't do it someone else will.( labourer,plumber,kerb layer,road sweeper,etc,etc,).Have done some in the past,not by the book, but i had to do something.Can't pay bills with shirt buttons.Picked up several jobs afterwards.You'll know after a week if it's your cup of tea.

 

[Mike]

cheers everyone, i'll give it a go but i'll keep my options open on my other work too. would be nice to have a steady income. i normally have about 4 to 6 weeks work on the books but it can get really worrying when it dwindles down to nothing but the bills keep coming in. i'm just about keeping my head above water so the extra income will be more than welcome

 

[Mike]

wow, clearly not paying tax etc

yeah, on the giro or semi retired :mad2:

 

[widler]

i did it for a while,some good some bad(the houses not workmanship),they were more or less the same as johnryans. the money was pretty good,i got £240 a day,a splashback and a bathroom,on my own,then taught my apprentice to do them and left him on them. got cheesed off after a while so bagged them off,still did a hell of a lot though.
just do them mate,its not good,but needs must and all that

 

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

I used do do a lot of new work in the 80s. All nice houses, but it shows how this game has changed, ( I know it's not a game) just a term.

But getting back to the thread, I used to do a 8M2 bathroom, a 8M2 en-suite, a 4M2 kitchen, and a 2M2 utility room, tiled, grouted, and siliconed, in the day. 22M2 every day, and be on my way home at 4,00 pm, easy day.

Four areas, four set outs, the big difference was, it was all 150mm x 150mm, a stack of them under your chin, and off you went,

You would be hard pushed to complete those areas today, using 600mm x 300mm porcelain.

Yet some builders expect us to work on the same prices we were on in the 80, as I say " different game":mad2: