bobski the builder
- Thread starter jockspark
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kkynaston
ssshhhh! recording it 
Caught the last 15 minutes of this - the couple who had the Polish builder working for them seemed like a right pair of ****holes, especially the wife. Was there really just cause for laying into the poor guy about a mistake that he agreed to fix for free anyway?
Seems like the producers went to extremes and found the worst english builder they could, but entertaining nontheless.
Seems like the producers went to extremes and found the worst english builder they could, but entertaining nontheless.
What?
A TV programme of that type which was deliberately designed to be "entertaining" rather than realistic, balanced and representational??
Almost as if it was a set-up from the start???
Surely not.......
A TV programme of that type which was deliberately designed to be "entertaining" rather than realistic, balanced and representational??
Almost as if it was a set-up from the start???
Surely not.......
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It was brill, the Polish guy had a very good "attitude" & from what I could see his built extension was OK, whereas the Englishman's one was awful!
I wonder if this was designed to help polish builders get more work instead of the native ones?
I wonder if this was designed to help polish builders get more work instead of the native ones?
No - it was designed to be a television programme - nothing else.
Therefore no concerns of truth, accuracy, fairness, usefulness etc would have been allowed to take precedence over turning out something that people would watch.
This country and Poland are both Northern European ones.
We have both been putting up buildings for thousands of years and we can both point to ones that are still in daily use after several hundred years.
We are both industrialised countries.
There is absolutely no reason why there should be any more dodgy Polish builders than British ones, or vice-versa.
One of each is not a representative sample.
Therefore no concerns of truth, accuracy, fairness, usefulness etc would have been allowed to take precedence over turning out something that people would watch.
This country and Poland are both Northern European ones.
We have both been putting up buildings for thousands of years and we can both point to ones that are still in daily use after several hundred years.
We are both industrialised countries.
There is absolutely no reason why there should be any more dodgy Polish builders than British ones, or vice-versa.
One of each is not a representative sample.
Of more concern were the clients.
The Asian guy was ripped off and the Brit builders were straight from Rogue Traders, the work in progress was appalling and yet the clients still poured money at them. Dumb and dumber comes to mind.
The Couple employing the Eastern European were feckers. Typical of a certain type who consider cost (or lack of it) to be the major criteria of the project and then whinge, moan and blame others for unaccountable problems.
In the end I felt sorry for the European and the shinning light was that the spark was impressed enough to give the lads his own extension to do.
What is shows is what we all know, there is good and bad, but that doesn't just apply to trades, it applies to customers.
The Asian guy was ripped off and the Brit builders were straight from Rogue Traders, the work in progress was appalling and yet the clients still poured money at them. Dumb and dumber comes to mind.
The Couple employing the Eastern European were feckers. Typical of a certain type who consider cost (or lack of it) to be the major criteria of the project and then whinge, moan and blame others for unaccountable problems.
In the end I felt sorry for the European and the shinning light was that the spark was impressed enough to give the lads his own extension to do.
What is shows is what we all know, there is good and bad, but that doesn't just apply to trades, it applies to customers.
Yup.
And just like the "new life abroad" programmes where they only show the people who with no more experience than putting up Ikea shelves and doing dinner parties for 4 decide to renovate a 14th century farmhouse with no mains electricity or water in a country where they don't speak the language and turn it into a hotel, where would last night's programme have been with reasonable clients and competent tradesmen who all got along?
It's car-crash TV, and it was designed from the outset to have that mix of people in it.
And just like the "new life abroad" programmes where they only show the people who with no more experience than putting up Ikea shelves and doing dinner parties for 4 decide to renovate a 14th century farmhouse with no mains electricity or water in a country where they don't speak the language and turn it into a hotel, where would last night's programme have been with reasonable clients and competent tradesmen who all got along?
It's car-crash TV, and it was designed from the outset to have that mix of people in it.
I don't think this programme was about pitting a polish builder against a british builder.
It was all about rogue customers and rogue builders in my eyes.
Rogue Customer - Decent Builder (polish)
Rogue Builder (brits) - Decent Customer
I think the programme would have been really interesting if things had been the other way around.
It was all about rogue customers and rogue builders in my eyes.
Rogue Customer - Decent Builder (polish)
Rogue Builder (brits) - Decent Customer
I think the programme would have been really interesting if things had been the other way around.
Yeah..right. Since when did the truth ever stand in the way of a good story reported by 'journalists'?
Correct if we are talking about stone cathedrals and castles. There aren't many semis and bungalows as we know them in Eastern Europe.
Are we still industrialised? You learn something new every day.
Dodgy and competent are two different things. A builder may well be competent in Poland and have the required skill set. However, unless they are immersed in the Building Regs, working practices and technical differences between 'how it's done in Poland' and 'how it's done in the UK', no matter how hard they try, they might not be able to help making a cock up. Dodgy is just lazy, work shy, poor attitude and incompetence.
I refer you to the reply I made above re. journalistic integrity.
The programme was a farce.
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