Family Firms - Craftsmen or Bodgers

[WetBimbette]

Hi,

What are peoples general thoughts on family firms as tradesmen. Are they craftsmen or bodgers who have a job by birthright?

I strikes me that some employees in family firms who are the children of the owners could possibly have their jobs only through their birthright and not on a skill based merit. If this is the case then unless a prospective customer vets the quality of work from previous jobs they could be getting a bloodline bodger rather than a craftsman. Obviously, some family firms take great pride in their skills and pass these on accordingly to children who come into the business.

What got me thinking about this was the difference in quality of some carpentry done by 2 different people. I looked at the work of a carpenter that I know who is a self employed worker and compared this with the quality of carpentry work from a birthright family firm employee. The difference was obvious, the quality of finish of the bloodline bodger was sub standard and way inferior to that of the true craftsman. I realise this could be an isolated incident but it got me thinking all the same.


Wet Bimbette

 

[noseall]

What a load of irrelevant twaddle.

The lack of experience of a tradesman is questionable whether they have inherited their position or simply acquired it through regular employment means.

To suggest that being related to your employer has a bias on the way you learn the trade is bizarre.

 

[joinerjohn]

Any family firm can only be judged by the standards of work they produce.
Perhaps they set a family member on as an apprentice, but the apprentice's sights are already set higher. What does that apprentice, care about " Learning the trade" when one day they will sit behind a desk?
I think you have a valid point, WetBimbette, although,I think. if it were my company and any employee was putting the business at risk, I'd rather that employee (whether son/daughter etc) was dismissed.

 

[WetBimbette]

I was not suggesting that being related to the owner of a family firm impacts on the way the trade is learnt, I apologise if it read that way. What I was inferring is that if a family member was producing sub standard work then they would probably not be sacked for incompetence, they would be kept on even though their productivity and quality of work was sub standard. It is the tolerance of sub standard work from a family member who does not have the aptitude for the job that leads to the bloodline bodger syndrome. As I stated in my original post, this is not applicable to all family firms and bloodline bodger syndrome is probably a minor occurrence rather than a major occurence.

Wet Bimbette

 

[ladylola]

I can see some valid points in your post.
I've worked with father and son and father and daughter combos and they have produced work to high standards. Equally I've worked with similiar , and sibling arrangements too , that have produced poorer work , and also equally I've worked with college trained craftsmen whose work has been just as varied, and then again I've worked with people who have had absolutaly no interest in following their fathers occupations.
In the end I feel it all comes down to having the inclination and disire to take up a profession rather than being told what to do or simply following blindly.
I do have some respect for anyone who can work with their father, mine is from a farming background before he became a council worker and his ideas and the way he works are set in stone and we normally end up arguing about which way a job should be done.
I'll also say that there is something decent about treating a family member in the way you describe. Families should stick together and if there is a problem other avenues should be explored before simply sacking them , maybe a different role or profession?

 

[ladylola]

Forgot to add.
For thousands of years a countries rulers have had nothing but a birth to the right woman to qualify them for their "work", no mandate from the people........ drifts off into monty python ... "just some watery bint holding a sword......."

 

[HERTS P&D]

You might get a better tradesman from a father and son team, due to the fact that the father might have took his son to work on school holidays and weekends. Making a tradesman start learning from the age of 12-13.

Andy

 

[WetBimbette]

HERTSDRAINAGE2010,

Andy, I agree, if the father is a craftsman and takes the time to show his skills to a family member with the aptitude for learning the trade then the firm will continue being known for its excellence.

Related to my original post was the fact that when family firms state in their advertising "Tradesmen For 3 Generations" or something similar, it is no guarantee that the current work standard is as good as the founding members work. However, on the reverse side of the coin, the current generation may actually raise the bar and be providing better quality work than previous generations.


Wet Bimbette

 

[Nige F]

2 generations painters/decorators before me ( I`m a retired plumber) son is a plasterer

 

[joinerjohn]

Years ago I worked for a local joinery company. The boss had given his daughter a position in the company as a project coordinator.
She was absolutely thick as a plank. The company got a contract with the local council to replace windows and doors in council properties.
She started off by asking us , how many windows/doors we could replace in a day as two men teams. We told her we could probably do 2 properties a day, perhaps 3 if everything went ok.
After a few weeks, she decided we could manage to replace windows in 4 properties a day, per team, even though we were struggling to complete 3 per day. She was booking council tenants in telling them we would turn up on a specific day. Local council had a customer care policy which we had to adhere to. Stating that arrangements made , had to be kept. We couldn't have possibly done the amount of work she was booking in and eventually the company lost the council contract.
Guess who the boss blamed ?? Everyone and his dog, but not his beloved thick daughter.

 

[CortinaV8]

You might get a better tradesman from a father and son team, due to the fact that the father might have took his son to work on school holidays and weekends. Making a tradesman start learning from the age of 12-13.

Andy

When my plumber started work on my boiler he brought both his sons, one was his appo the other just tagging along, was quite surprised to see the youngest maybe 12 or so changing out the radiator tails for thermostatic valves, he did a bloody good job too.

My mate worked as a brickie for a construction firm, he was constantly having to correct the owners sons brickwork and rebuild things they had totally messed up yet the owner could so he son doing no wrong, my mate got made redundant and the son kept, we quite often walk past a pillar built by this guy after my mate left, it looks a bit like an M.C Escher painting .

Guess that's the contrast.