What have you done today thread?

[Count Steer]

At one time my permies used to mutter about our contractors being on an apparent £80k pa. I pointed out that contractors didn't get: paid leave, paid sick, paid training, pensions, job security etc etc and pondered out loud as to why some of the contract staff had tapped me up about becoming permanent staff. (I actually recruited a few of the contract people as permies at my next job).

People tend to just see the ££s going out (they forgot the agency takes a slice too, because, usually, we worked through agencies rather than directly with individuals). It's mainly that folk don't understand/ignore the down side of being self employed.

In project cost/planning terms the cost for permies and contract was actually the same, once you did full absorption costing of permanent staff.

[v8-powered]

Some of the trades have turned in to right pisstakers, especially the non-skilled ones likes painter / decorators. We had decorators in a while back - one of the best rated in the area and their work was pretty shoddy, 5 days work and then they had to do another 2 days rework to make good their screw-ups. Guy was pleading poverty and almost begging for payments for his 'lads'!

On the other hand had the tree surgeons in on Weds (proper qualified guys, not pikeys) - 4 guys grafting really hard for 3/4 of a day, bill was £750. More than happy to pay, have used them for years in a couple of houses.

[mangocrazy]

We live in a cul-de-sac that also happens to be unadopted. We're also easy walking disrtance to the train station, so it's common to find cars dumped in our road in the morning then disappear around 5 or 6 o'clock.

Today some fuckwit parked so badly that he/she/it all but closed the entrance to the road off. So I did this.


DSCF4073.JPG

Personally I don’t think that’s big or clever.
I understand the gripe and I’d also be inclined to address it, but it would have been a polite and formal notice without the drama.

There are people that probably don’t want to see that sort of language posted in the street. Calling someone a cunt anonymously from afar is unnecessary and cowardly.

OK, so it's Potter, upholder of rights and values today, is it? You never really know which one will show up.

[Yambo]

Some of the trades have turned in to right pisstakers, especially the non-skilled ones likes painter / decorators.

My mate Brian, here in the village would not be happy with you. He was a painter and decorator in the Ely area before retiring here to Turkey. He did a 4 year apprenticeship iirc and you'd be seriously insulting him if you called him non-skilled.

[Count Steer]

Some of the trades have turned in to right pisstakers, especially the non-skilled ones likes painter / decorators.

My mate Brian, here in the village would not be happy with you. He was a painter and decorator in the Ely area before retiring here to Turkey. He did a 4 year apprenticeship iirc and you'd be seriously insulting him if you called him non-skilled.

Anyone that thinks a decorator is unskilled has never tried hanging pattern matched wallpaper.

[Horse]

Yesterday, rather than today, but we got quotes for painting the outside of our house,

The materials are about a quarter of the price and the rest is labour, for what they say is about a weeks work for two people, it's quite a size so I thought it would take longer but I suppose two of them battering away with rollers would make quick work of the main parts. So that's £1,500 a week for a painter and decorator.

Do some sums:

- Decide how long (including getting materials and tools, etc.) would it take you to do it.

- Work out how much you would earn in that time.

- If that's more than the quote, earn it and pay them. If not, DIY.

[v8-powered]

Some of the trades have turned in to right pisstakers, especially the non-skilled ones likes painter / decorators.

My mate Brian, here in the village would not be happy with you. He was a painter and decorator in the Ely area before retiring here to Turkey. He did a 4 year apprenticeship iirc and you'd be seriously insulting him if you called him non-skilled.

Yeah, I do get that some may have served their time but most are just blaggers that have grabbed a set of brushes and spent a few years building up a following on local FB groups etc. Funnily enough the 2 guys that did ours, I doubt either were time served, but their 2 apprentices who were near the end of their apprenticeships were shockingly bad - lumps of paint skin in the walls, un-sanded filler under the paint, dings that had been marked up left unfilled etc.

Anyone that thinks a decorator is unskilled has never tried hanging pattern matched wallpaper.

My old mum was an ace at wall papering, she never did an apprenticeship

[Mr. Dazzle]

Some of the trades have turned in to right pisstakers, especially the non-skilled ones likes painter / decorators.

My mate Brian, here in the village would not be happy with you. He was a painter and decorator in the Ely area before retiring here to Turkey. He did a 4 year apprenticeship iirc and you'd be seriously insulting him if you called him non-skilled.

Anyone that thinks a decorator is unskilled has never tried hanging pattern matched wallpaper.

Guy who did my interior had just come off a job hanging wallpaper. Bespoke wallpaper that cost something daft like hundreds per roll and for which he had no excess/spare.

That tested his skills, apparently.

It's definitely a skilled job! If it weren't they wouldn't be able to charge loads. Even "being willing to do ballache jobs no-one else wants to do" counts as a skill in my book

[Sadlonelygit]

1500 quid for a week's labour ain't mad, in any context, is it?

£70k a year, if they work 52 weeks

Wouldn't get out of bed for that.............would you Mr P?

£72k for a painter and decorator seems like good money?

But you have missed the point. They don't work 52 weeks. After holibobs, a bit of sick, and Xmas/winter slack and the occasional non payer they'll be 'lucky' to get 9 months work which comes out as a more reasonable £55 ISH k.
Still not a sum to be sniffed at for chucking paint at a wall mind!

[Wossname]

“I’m worth the huge salary I earn, but he’s not worth his modest one….”

[gremlin]

Like plastering, it’s really hard to do it properly and takes the time to learn.

If you want evidence of that, I can post up photos of my tape and jointing efforts.

[Wossname]

If one was £4k and the rest much cheaper, I’d say he didn’t like the job or the customer, or was a chancer. If all the quotes were similar, I reckon that’s the right price for the job. We had a painter quote for a job in NI - 2 men, a week’s work - £2500. He rang near the time and said weather had messed him up and he couldn’t get to it. Found someone else - one bloke, one week - £1250. Well recommended and seems to have done a decent job. I’m not sure what the lesson is.

Btw- VAT in your £4k? - makes a difference. And why would you want/ expect a discount?

[Count Steer]

My mate Brian, here in the village would not be happy with you. He was a painter and decorator in the Ely area before retiring here to Turkey. He did a 4 year apprenticeship iirc and you'd be seriously insulting him if you called him non-skilled.

Yeah, I do get that some may have served their time but most are just blaggers that have grabbed a set of brushes and spent a few years building up a following on local FB groups etc. Funnily enough the 2 guys that did ours, I doubt either were time served, but their 2 apprentices who were near the end of their apprenticeships were shockingly bad - lumps of paint skin in the walls, un-sanded filler under the paint, dings that had been marked up left unfilled etc.

Anyone that thinks a decorator is unskilled has never tried hanging pattern matched wallpaper.

My old mum was an ace at wall papering, she never did an apprenticeship

Funnily enough mine was too. (The old man was the paintbrush wielder). They did a decent job between them but I suspect a professional would know it was a DiY job.

I have absolutely no idea where or how she learned to wield a pasting brush.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Every time I've had someone quote for a large piece of renovation work I've had at least one offer of a discount if I pay cash. Always an instant red flag for me

They probably went home to moan about Amazon not paying taxes or something.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I have absolutely no idea where or how she learned to wield a pasting brush.

There's a clip going around on LinkedIn of a lady on some TV game show doing her introduction spiel.

She applies MLI "multi layer insulaiton" to satellites. The 'gold foil' stuff. So she spends her days putting incredibly expensive material onto even more expensive satellites. But she looks and speaks like a mad cat woman

'course - she learned how to wrap stuff in other stuff by doing crafts, bakery and things like that. Which makes her the perfect person for the practical task of carefully wrapping a spacecraft in very high tech tinfoil.

[gremlin]

Which makes her the perfect person for the practical task of carefully wrapping a spacecraft in very high tech tinfoil.

I bet the sandwiches she takes in for lunch are a work of aluminium foil artwork.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Which makes her the perfect person for the practical task of carefully wrapping a spacecraft in very high tech tinfoil.

I bet the sandwiches she takes in for lunch are a work of aluminium foil artwork.

I used to work quite a lot with guys who do 'hand laid' carbon fibre composites. The classic carbon fibre bodywork stuff you think of when someone says "carbon fibre".

Secret Santa was always a very neat affair.

[mangocrazy]

We've got a guy in painting our stairway, two different colours on the walls plus gloss white on the woodwork. We bought the paint (came to a hair off £100) and he does the filling, sanding, prep and painting. He's charging us £280 for approx 2.5 days work. It's work I absolutely don't want to do (very high, inaccessible ceiling), and if I did it would take me months. I think £280 is a bargain. His work is good quality as well.

[Sadlonelygit]

Anyway, enough bickering
One coat should be enough, she said!

20240322_112741.jpg (988.2 KiB) Viewed 422 times

Spot the one coat?

[Druid]

I have done nothing. I did my last day at work yesterday and I am looking forward to a long retirement spent chatting to the check out girls at Tescos, going to the post office at dinnertime* and telling people how old I will be next year**


* Dinnertime is in the middle of the day, so between 12.00 and 14.00

** I'll be 67 next year you know