fuzzy

anyone have any good reliable contacts or companies for construction work anywhere in the world? im not fussed where as i fancy doing what i used to do 10 years ago . im also wanting to go back hands on working on the tools rather than in a supervisory capacity. im a joiner .

Pudnpepsi

iTrader: (2)

i would be interested in this, only thing would be a prob for me is i have no qualifications!

fuzzy

your fucked then.
i have all necessary papers to prove my trade right back to my apprenticeship papers and advanced city and guilds stuff not to mention 20+ years experience at levels upto running a site/squad of 40 joiners and 10 labourers on a £16 million development.

Rsmat

iTrader: (2)

major fail....

burnzy

i'v heard there is alot of work going on in qatar for the new airport a bloke told me there was alot of vacancies but don't no where you'd find them a mate of mine has just come back and said it was a good laugh and 5p a liter for fuel , not very good if you like a drink though.

fuzzy

i was looking at qatar but anything on the internet is management level. i want to go back to hammer monkey level.im much happier doing hands on stuff rather than hearing excuses about why they cant do a job all day long from cunts that dont want to work.

james kiely

iTrader: (5)

my mates a sparks and had 14 guys working for him and he would say if anyone asks him .......how many have you got working for you now .,his reply is always .......about fookin half of them

cheers james

burnzy

^^^^^

and yea your right fuzzy my mate was a suit over there, he was saying they where dragging all there own people in for labour but us lot and americans for the manegment, just a ground worker in highgate told me he seen loads of vacancies for on the tools, but to be fair i dunno how much i could trust his word

fuzzy

guys working on price will always be hard at work and dont need looking after. those on an hourly rate will do half the work and will be chatting at any oppertunity and need watching all day long for breaks , finishing time etc.

Shings

Fuzzy

In the middle east I have only ever seen management jobs/professional jobs - all the trade press discusses how they employ more or less slave labour that lives in slums.

Australlia and New Zealend and more recently Canada seem to want other trades - but they also want emigration I think?

Jake

burnzy

very true fuzzy i work on an hourly rate but it's for a good friend and he also looks after me so when it's needed i'm always 150%, he does give me some slack sometimes so it's a mutual respect, we have a couple of lads with us that we thought where ok (first time used) and they took forever to get a part of the school finnished off and they are the only reason where behind cos of silly little mistakes that should of been looked over before completion , he's learned his lesson now though and putting some new lads on prices to keep them motivated, it's shocking to see how many bad tradesman are out there really isn't it.

Pudnpepsi

iTrader: (2)

yeah true but i have my own business, a nice house, my RS's and pride in my work, so at least i have that eh?

fuzzy

some old guys that are meant to be tradesmen need led by the hand for the simplest of bread and butter joinery jobs and even still fuck it up when you look away. " but i thought if i did it this way......" usually means a botch up and less work for them but not done properly that always comes back to bite us on the arse.

fuzzy

im meant to be going to aus in july/august to see my dad and suss the place out.....

alangti

i was working over in gibraltar for a year last year was good job good pay company was called haymills done most of the construction on the island boss was called liam i can find his number and contact details for ya if you like mate im a plasterer but there was lots of joiners and other tradesman there

fuzzy

that would be good if you could.

james kiely

iTrader: (5)

papers dont mean fuckall ,unless for emigrating purposes, in my 25 years in the industry i have never being asked for papers .
im not disregarding having papers ,but i have some real idiots with papers .;fact

cheers james

Cragrat

iTrader: (4)

have always found cheapest and easiest way is THE RIGHT WAY first time
every time

Lee Reynolds

Never been asked for papers either!

danneth

it always use to be the people without the papers were better anyway the people just leaving college etc with every qual going always use to be useless on site, but now a days you need them anyway just to even get a job interview

john

Gib and the costa del sol as all the costas are dead for any tradesman. The place is like a graveyard of abandoned building sites and has been for a long time and will continue that way. I'm afraid in Spain you cant just go over like back in the day and walk into the construction industry. Any British in jobs have been there years, it really is who you know in Spain and them jobs for them are very very thin on the ground.

Alan didnt you return home due to the eastern european's under cutting you on your job ? Or am i thinking someone else ? Apoligies if im mistaken.

Iain Mac

My old uncle Larry always used to say the problem with British industry nowadays is that people had no time to do a job right, but plenty of time to do it again.

Cragrat

iTrader: (4)

too true,have lost many jobs i priced for as i wont cut corners,but have been asked many times to report on and correct poor workmanship

boils my blood TBH,so many people want a good job dont want to bloody well pay for it!!

yellowsierra

If you are going to be working overseas then it helps to know the boss

SelbyRST

iTrader: (2)

i know what you mean about that, we price for jobs, dont get them cus someone wants to do it cheaper, and they just dont do it properly at all. i do alot of landlords gas inspections and the amount of things i have to write down on new installations is stupid, even big ones that are building new estates, youd think they would do them properly, just about all the work on new build looks toss aswell. had to do a job a month ago, priced for it didnt get it, obvioously someone cheaper did it, didnt support the tanks in the loft properly, 2 pieces of cls!! water pissing through the ceiling lol had to replace them, build a decent support, so i think people should pay for things properly in the first place. the twats that do the shit jobs never go back either, too busy ripping people off.

gus

iTrader: (1)

i would love to go to canada to work / live

the onlything stopping me is the misses, she wont leave her family

Cragrat

iTrader: (4)

We fancy Canada too,gonna make a proper effort to it sorted this year

Did look @ New Zealand but it just looks a bit too quiet even for me

She very keen on Canada as she grew up there

Nick D

If your after getting back on the tools then the middle east is not the place to be unless you want to earn around 600 pounds a month and live in a labour camp. All joinery in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha etc is done by eiter Indian or Philipino's. You could get a job as a Joinery Manager no problems I would of thought. I have some contacts if your interested.

Nick.

Lee Reynolds

The problem is there isn't enough governing over quality of work by builders and tradesmen. Building control have no control over quality, only if it is up to regs . Its ridiculous. Im in the FMB, and basically pay the yearly fee just for the sticker on the van and the symbol on my letterhead. People want to see stuff like that, yet they dont realise that virtually anybody can join as there isn't that much checking goes off. When we signed up the guy came to a refurb we were about to finish and said oh yes i can see your work is quality. That could have been a one off, all our other work could have been crap! They never make spontaneous site visits etc. Rubbish! All i read about in their mags is adverts and health and bastard safety!

There needs to be more control over the building industry. It shouldn't be allowed that a builder can undercut me and do a poor job! Fair enough, undercut me and do it to the same standard. The amount of stories ive heard from potential customers who have gone cheaper then regretted it! And i often think HOW THE HELL can they do it cheaper, as we are not expensive anyway! Boils my blood.

What boils my blood even more is tosser tradesmen that are ona site and do a shit job 'cause the price is wank', No YOU ARE WANK pal. A TRADESMAN should do his trade to the best of his abilities no matter what the price is. You CHOSE to work their for that price, not happy go elsewhere! Half of them that say this talk shite, if the price was double they would still do it shite and just make more as they are greedy cunts and think they have to earn the max possible they can per week regardless of wether the job they do is right or not! Hate em! Tossers!


Sunday morning rant over........

fuzzy

i wouldnt always agree. not in a hands on building trade anyway. its always good to learn the proper way before some monkey tradesman shows you how to do something his way . then its up to you to work out the best way for you to do it.
ive never been asked for my papers either but i kept them as there isnt many people that get a distinction (98-100%) in the advanced city and guilds and score 100% in their trade test, and chosen to represent their college at the national skills competition...
as for poor standards i dont understand how some seem to get away with leaving shoddy jobs as all the big sites we do have a clerk of works that is a cunt and doesnt let anything pass.
if poor standards are found then management have to take their share of the blame as well as theyre not managing properly and checking whats going on and the usual "thatll do" building site culture is happening.
im not responsible for pricing jobs for us , i just manage the 40-50 men and tell them their prices or hourly rate.were not the main contractor but the biggest sub contractor on site and keeping a check on whats all happening but as its a 102 flats were building with all interior work from roughing and sheeting to stairwells, flat finishings and kitchens theres a lot going on. this is the site im doing just now....

righthooker

I spent 10 years working in Germany , jobs just got harder to find in the end due to the influx of eastern europeans. Would love to do it again the quality of life was much better.
Fancied Australia or canada nd i would emigrate tbh. Four of the lads i was working with in Munich are living there now, the only down side is they watch hockey lol.
Point being i would leave europe allone as it has had its day imo, and to go further afield i think management/supervisory roles would be needed as said before , lackys would be doing the hands on .

Iain Mac

What about adding this to your letterhead
"The taste of low quality lingers long after the satisfaction of low price. ..."

and backing it up with a book of testimonials from satisfied customers, ideally including those who got you in to rectify someone else's shoddy work.

I'd even ask satisfied customers if they would be willing to be contacted by your potential customers as references for their unbiased opinion. That is GREAT advertising and worth paying for. Two disadvantages to any offer of reward though:
A) If they are being paid to recommend you they aren't unbiased any more and the potential client could see that as a real adverse thing.
B) How would you know who your prospective client spoke to and got the recommendation that won the job?

Cragrat

iTrader: (4)

Ooh! Look at you in ya matching shoes

My latest apprentice was asked represent the college but didn't for fear of mickey take

Don't know where he got that idea from....

james kiely

iTrader: (5)

the problem with management jobs is they are usually paid very poorly,i left the bricklaying and done 4 years getting my hnd as i wanted out of the trade as i always ended up working with wasters who spent most of their time getting stoned or pissed.
i was site manager on various apartment blocks ,housing estates ,but spent most of my time trying to get guys to do their work and do it properly .

when i handed in timesheets everyweek the guy sweeping the floors was getting paid more than me................like what the fook

cheers james

fuzzy

im still on an hourly rate although obviously increased. i can come in at the weekends and fit kitchens or whatever on price if i want to bump up my own earnings.
its not a bad place i am working at just now at all. the 2 directors above me are quite helpful to me.

Blown Hell

Chill out Lee there not all cunts, I've worked on site for 25+ years and am currently a supervisor for medium size carpentry contractor, we only work for major contractors Barret, Taylor Wimpey ect..
In my opinion the problem lies with the them, in the last year they have continualy imposed price reductions all the tradesmen on siteand they have had several pay cuts, all these tradesmen are not represented by any union or govourning organisation at all they/we are practicaly invisible and exploited to the max.
I personaly know several tradesmen who are well passed retirment but have to carry on out of nessesaty,
The major contractors do not provide training in quality or offer ANY incentives regarding quality, good practise ect.. they are only interested in one thing COST £££ they are the real cunts.
Result - not an ideal working inviroment and standards/quality drops.

RC4

oslo norway ,loads of jobs loads of money and a fair few english working out there

Iain Mac

So it's not all good then...

fuzzy

yep, the private build housing contactors have a lot to answer for but theyre mostly sowing now what theyve reaped for the last few years.

RC4