no work - no workers morelike

18 Dec 2013

For 3 months now we have been trying to find a builder to do a small half day job for us, not the most lucrative of jobs but I would have thought it would make a good filler for someone who may be rained off on their main project.
All we want is an internal door putting in, not even a door, just a square opening knocked through and finished off.
We have tried the local papers, advertised on local/trusted tradesman sites and the response has been totally negative, 1 guy came and took a look at it, booked to do it, phoned to change the date, then never turned up, others have said they would come and look at it but have never turned up.
Seems there is not that much shortage of work about as we are led to believe lol

Lord knows how we are going to get the other two small jobs done after that :sad:

18 Dec 2013

Quote by MidsCouple24
For 3 months now we have been trying to find a builder to do a small half day job for us, not the most lucrative of jobs but I would have thought it would make a good filler for someone who may be rained off on their main project.
All we want is an internal door putting in, not even a door, just a square opening knocked through and finished off.
We have tried the local papers, advertised on local/trusted tradesman sites and the response has been totally negative, 1 guy came and took a look at it, booked to do it, phoned to change the date, then never turned up, others have said they would come and look at it but have never turned up.
Seems there is not that much shortage of work about as we are led to believe Lord knows how we are going to get the other two small jobs done after that :sad:

It can be frustration, thing is (if I were in the trade but am actually taking the 5th)that given a choice of keeping a regular customer happy, even if I were not getting much for it, I would over somebody who I have never done work for before. A half day job does not exist. It may be half a day doing the work but getting the materials, getting to your house and then to get somewhere else makes it unlikely they will be able to do another job that day.
I also find (I am sure this is not true in your case) that the person who wants the job doing does not appreciate what is involved!
Having said all that you should be able to get someone to do it. I have mailed you a little tip to get somebody out to do it.
And for all those sniggering, it's not what you think!

18 Dec 2013

Maybe you could get all 3 jobs done at the same time ?
That might tempt a builder more, make it worth while them going to your house.

18 Dec 2013

The job is to knock a whole in a wall, stick an RSJ/block etc then make good with some plaster, how much in materials is needed for that, the 4 builders who have quoted me have all said they will have it done in half a day and have quoted me between £200 and £250 which I am happy with.
In the building trade there are days in the middle of jobs when you simply cannot work, waiting for building inspectors, waiting for other tradespersons to finish something that prevents you continuing until they are finished, waiting for unexpected materials, high winds (very common recently) too wet (when roofing has to be removed) are just some of the ones I can think of off the top of my head, so a job like mine could be a nice little time filler, we are also available 7 days and evenings a week for anyone who wants to earn a little extra for Christmas, we are even available every day over the Christmas break including Christmas day.
The 4 builders who have quoted have all said they would prefer to do the internal job one day and the two outside jobs of fitting 4 new fence panels and a new garden gate another day.
We are happy to pay cash in hand on the day and do any running around or even assisting where needed, can't think of what else we can do lol

18 Dec 2013

Quote by MidsCouple24

We are happy to pay cash in hand on the day and do any running around or even assisting where needed, can't think of what else we can do

Maybe mention that Sasha will be serving the tea topless ?
J & S

18 Dec 2013

Sasha would be so happy she would do more than serve tea topless lol

So happy to get a decent shag that is not to get the work done rotflmao

19 Dec 2013

a polish builder would have been round and done it the same day.
people may have views and not like them but i use a local builder who is polish because he is always on time and his work is good.
they want to work, want the money and dont care how they get it.

19 Dec 2013

My neighbours are Polish, all 32 of them in 7 houses in the street, sadly they are all white collar workers not a builders bum in site

19 Dec 2013

Quote by MidsCouple24
For 3 months now we have been trying to find a builder to do a small half day job for us,

although I'm no builder this would put me off the idea that you already think this is just half a day to complete

Quote by MidsCouple24

All we want is an internal door putting in, not even a door, just a square opening knocked through and finished off.

again I'm no builder but i think this is more than half a day

Quote by MidsCouple24

We have tried the local papers, advertised on local/trusted tradesman sites and the response has been totally negative, 1 guy came and took a look at it, booked to do it, phoned to change the date, then never turned up, others have said they would come and look at it but have never turned up.

do you suggest to them how much you wanna pay or how long you think the job will take

Quote by MidsCouple24

Seems there is not that much shortage of work about as we are led to believe Lord knows how we are going to get the other two small jobs done after that :sad:

why not get all the Jobs done together and make the whole thing worth a builders while

19 Dec 2013

Quote by Lizaleanrob
For 3 months now we have been trying to find a builder to do a small half day job for us,

although I'm no builder this would put me off the idea that you already think this is just half a day to complete

Quote by MidsCouple24

All we want is an internal door putting in, not even a door, just a square opening knocked through and finished off.

again I'm no builder but i think this is more than half a day
I have no idea how long such a job would take, but a builder friend/site member looked at the job and said half a day (sadly since then his partner has been admitted to hospital with Lukemia), another friend who owns a building company said the same thing when he looked at it, but his company do massive constructions around the UK and couldn't undertake it for us. Number 3 was a builder who quoted us half a day and £260 but on the day he was due to come he phoned and put the job back a week, since then we have not been able to contact him the fourth builder actually erected our fencing, at the time he looked at the job and said half a day £200 but the number I have for him is now out of service.

Quote by MidsCouple24

We have tried the local papers, advertised on local/trusted tradesman sites and the response has been totally negative, 1 guy came and took a look at it, booked to do it, phoned to change the date, then never turned up, others have said they would come and look at it but have never turned up.

do you suggest to them how much you wanna pay or how long you think the job will take
absolutely not, that is for them to tell us that is the idea of getting a quote

Quote by MidsCouple24

Seems there is not that much shortage of work about as we are led to believe Lord knows how we are going to get the other two small jobs done after that :sad:

why not get all the Jobs done together and make the whole thing worth a builders while
Good idea if I could afford to do it that way but I can't and this job is urgent for us whilst the other 2 jobs are only cosmetic so can wait until we save our pennies

20 Dec 2013

Quote by MidsCouple24
For 3 months now we have been trying to find a builder to do a small half day job for us,

although I'm no builder this would put me off the idea that you already think this is just half a day to complete

Quote by MidsCouple24

All we want is an internal door putting in, not even a door, just a square opening knocked through and finished off.

again I'm no builder but i think this is more than half a day
I have no idea how long such a job would take, but a builder friend/site member looked at the job and said half a day (sadly since then his partner has been admitted to hospital with Lukemia), another friend who owns a building company said the same thing when he looked at it, but his company do massive constructions around the UK and couldn't undertake it for us. Number 3 was a builder who quoted us half a day and £260 but on the day he was due to come he phoned and put the job back a week, since then we have not been able to contact him the fourth builder actually erected our fencing, at the time he looked at the job and said half a day £200 but the number I have for him is now out of service.

Quote by MidsCouple24

We have tried the local papers, advertised on local/trusted tradesman sites and the response has been totally negative, 1 guy came and took a look at it, booked to do it, phoned to change the date, then never turned up, others have said they would come and look at it but have never turned up.

do you suggest to them how much you wanna pay or how long you think the job will take
absolutely not, that is for them to tell us that is the idea of getting a quote

Quote by MidsCouple24

Seems there is not that much shortage of work about as we are led to believe Lord knows how we are going to get the other two small jobs done after that :sad:

why not get all the Jobs done together and make the whole thing worth a builders while
Good idea if I could afford to do it that way but I can't and this job is urgent for us whilst the other 2 jobs are only cosmetic so can wait until we save our pennies
in that case maybe you should phone the local builders college and see if they would send round a instructor and a couple of star pupils for some practical work.

20 Dec 2013

Now there is a thought lol

20 Dec 2013

Would there not be any builders who attend the same swingers club as you ?
Send Sasha round the place with a tee shirt on which says "erection job req" and see if there is any response.
John

20 Dec 2013

giggles, there are those that say they can do it but never come back to us with a date when they can do it. They seem to do ok on the erection side though lol

17 Jan 2014

Do it yourself- tis quite easy!
I'm in the middle of rebuilding my bedroom complete with a new en-suite, ceiling, rewire, plaster and built in wardrobes, which required an 8ft non load bearing wall knocking down for the new bathroom. it took me about 3 hours to remove it (mainly because i was extra careful removing the bricks to stop them dropping on the floor and cracking the plaster on the ceiling downstairs. The only tradesman i've had in so far is a window fitter (FENSA requirement for building regs) and I might have it plastered to speed up the job. Having a fookin big SDS drill helps the wall demolition go quicker and is rather fun too ;-)

17 Jan 2014

It might be too expensive to do it myself, it IS a load bearing wall and will require a support of some sort over the frame, I could hire the equipment to do it but simply do not have the knowledge to do it without risk of causing expensive and possible dangerous consequences.

17 Jan 2014

Quote by MidsCouple24
It might be too expensive to do it myself, it IS a load bearing wall and will require a support of some sort over the frame, I could hire the equipment to do it but simply do not have the knowledge to do it without risk of causing expensive and possible dangerous consequences.

All a builder would do is....
Start with a tea break
fit 2 Acros either side of the wall to support the ceiling (plus its a good idea to remove anything heavy above the wall if you can, like a fully stocked wardrobe wink

)
put the kettle on
Take out the bricks at the top of the wall to fit your lintel in (needs to extend at least 100mm either side of the proposed opening or have 100mm pontoons IIRC) and set it in place.
brew and a biscuit
once its solid, take the rest of the wall down (this is where a diamond tip brick cutter wheel is a bonus- except for the huge amount of dust it kicks out.
thirsty work, tea helps
Plasterboard and plaster (followed by a brew), remove Acro supports and tidy up (pint on the way home)

17 Jan 2014

Quote by MidsCouple24
It might be too expensive to do it myself, it IS a load bearing wall and will require a support of some sort over the frame, I could hire the equipment to do it but simply do not have the knowledge to do it without risk of causing expensive and possible dangerous consequences.

Have you informed Building Control of the alterations you are making to your property?

18 Jan 2014

Quote by Rogue_Trader
It might be too expensive to do it myself, it IS a load bearing wall and will require a support of some sort over the frame, I could hire the equipment to do it but simply do not have the knowledge to do it without risk of causing expensive and possible dangerous consequences.

Have you informed Building Control of the alterations you are making to your property?

:thumbup:

25 Feb 2014

YAY, finally found a builder to do the job, they quoted me the same price as all the others despite travelling from Chesterfield to Stoke this morning to do the job (2 hours drive at that time of the morning), arrived on time and have worked like trojans ever since.
The work itself is above the standard I had hoped for, they have knocked through the double skin wall, fitted an RSJ and made good all the plaster work. They should be finished within the hour, an 8 hour job all in and I am really pleased with their attitude and workmanship.
Where did I find these treasures in the end .............. on another swingers site smile

and that's why I love forums wink

25 Feb 2014

8 hours is not half a day and more than one builder ?
i did think you was being a little over optimistic with your early estimates wink

25 Feb 2014

I still think building control should have been informed, along with getting structural calculations for the stability for that area of the property, now an important supporting wall has been removed.

25 Feb 2014

You will be saying next that I should have informed the two landlords who own the properties involved lol

26 Feb 2014

Quote by MidsCouple24
You will be saying next that I should have informed the two landlords who own the properties involved

well if you havent then its probably a case of criminal damage...

26 Feb 2014

Yes perhaps I should be imprisoned for my crimes, oh no wait a minute, I did get the appropriate planning permissions and don't have any landlords, you confused me with your ASSUMPTION that I hadn't. lol

26 Feb 2014

Again, you have purposely misread what I wrote....but hey knock yourself out.

3 Apr 2014

So I finally got the job done a few weeks ago, I found a builder who agreed to do the job for the price I had been quoted by other builders ie £260
On the due date 2 guys arrived at 9am as agreed and worked like Trojans to get the job done and dusted by 6pm. Well perhaps not dusted, removal of a double brick wall does bring about a lot of dust.
Workrate .... excellent
Plastering .. excellent
Lintel/RSJ .. excellent
Overall satisfaction .. excellent
So did I finally find a local builder using all the standard methods of newspapers, recommended tradesman sites, the internet in general
Nah, I found him of Fabswingers and he lives in Chesterfield 2 hours from Stoke on Trent.

3 Apr 2014

Quote by MidsCouple24
So I finally got the job done a few weeks ago, I found a builder who agreed to do the job for the price I had been quoted by other builders ie £260
On the due date 2 guys arrived at 9am as agreed and worked like Trojans to get the job done and dusted by 6pm. Well perhaps not dusted, removal of a double brick wall does bring about a lot of dust.
Workrate .... excellent
Plastering .. excellent
Lintel/RSJ .. excellent
Overall satisfaction .. excellent
So did I finally find a local builder using all the standard methods of newspapers, recommended tradesman sites, the internet in general
Nah, I found him of elsewhere and he lives in Chesterfield 2 hours from Stoke on Trent.

You've already told us this on 25th Feb. it's even less interesting 2nd time around.

3 Apr 2014

Damn my Oldtimers is getting worse can't even remember then on Thursday the girl from 15% is the normal discount at Coronation Streets Deidrie Barlow I think.