Just what do you do all day?

[ladylola]

A couple of recent incidents caused us to ask this albeit tongue in cheek question of ourselves the other day.
I'm a carpenter , or joiner depending where you're from , and like most have young lads working with me. They are doing their NVQ's and need work based evidence. A couple of weeks ago I was putting in a flight of stairs and one of the young lads was pleased because he was saying that he needed three examples of every type of work for his evidence. I should say our work is predominatly restoration and the lads do struggle with their work based evidence.
Now Paul with whom I was working is also a qualified carpenter and in his fifties and he looked at me and said " I don't think I've put three sets of stairs in in ten years or more".
I was a little better placed having done one a year for the past three years but before that I'd have to go back quite a time.
On another job and again with Paul I went to help him finish a kitchen and again we struggled to think when we had last put a kitchen in.
I was the closest at seven years although that was my own but for a client we both had to go back over ten years.
Neither of us has lost much time at work and have been continually employed but we did have a giggle when the question was asked
"Just what do we do all day long then?"

 

[Brigadier]

Many days, nothing from the list I had made that needed doing urgently! I just have to fight the fires the coal-facers keep setting!

 

[dreadnoughtheating]

Given that I get at least half - a - dozen calls every week from call centres all saying that if I get them to sell/design website/adverts in non existent waiting room magasines - you all know the sort of course, then the fact that they only call my mobile number must suggest that they consider I do nuffink all day except have time to listen to their carp....

Now, if they were to leave a message on the office ansafone so that it could be dealt with in an orderly fashion instead of making me bang my head on the underside of a boiler/bath/kitchen sink etc the answer might be similar but less 'blunt'.

Rant over.

Oh, and on my business cards/flyers/van signage/website it says in BIG LETTERING''Plumber'. (and Gas installer) with a reasonable list of the sorts of jobs I undertake.

So, "No, I do not repair dishwashers, but I do install them....." or "Yes of course I am happy to replace tap-washers" is a typical response.

I too have a busy day. And the general public?, well you've just gotta luv'em.

 

[gregers]

i too am a carpenter/joiner/chippee/wood butcher etc,
what i have lacking from my experiance is stairs and roofing.i helped an old school carpenter(ioc) about 6 years back with a rather large staircase,he asked me what i thought and where do we start,my response was AINT GOT A F...ING CLUE .as for roofing my work invovles repairing whats already there,starting from nothing would scare the pants off me i would really have to rack my brains and consult my books.

i dont have any apprentices working with me at all,if i did i too would struggle to get them the correct experience needed for there course work.

as for kitchens all ready this year ive probably done about 12 ,do these in my sleep.
funny how within the realms of carpentry you dont often find someone who is exelent in all aspects of the trade.

 

[thatbloke]

Last days work I did was mixing up clay , straw and sand in water then smearing it all over some hazel to construct an interior wall.
Next job is using a chalk , hair and lime putty plaster in the dining room and rebuilding a pillar of a Tudor inglenook with some bricks from Bulmer Brick Co after removing the botch repair in which someone had the bright idea of using horrid commons.
Well ,its a toss up between that and replacing a well composted sole plate and scarfing in new timber to the lower half the wall studs.
Among other things.

 

[noseall]

I build extensions from start to finish except for electrics and plumbing.

Talk about master of none!

Joking aside, i have spent a lot of time learning several trades. I have to say that building a traditional cut roof carcass is by far the most challenging part of the build especially if it is a hipped purlin roof.

Digging foundations with an excavator can be rather nerve wracking especially if there are fibre optic cables around.

 

[joinerjohn]

Got me thinking,, Last set of stairs I put in was about ten years ago. Kitchen was earlier this year. Traditional roof was about 6 yrs ago. This past year I've done quite a few flooring jobs, about 4 or 5 kitchens, a mountain of skirtings and architraves and more doors than you could shake a stick at. Put the odd shelves up and made some wardrobes. Went to look at one job, and this woman insisted she wanted "d i l d o rail" up in the living room. Was all I could do to keep a straight face while I measured up.

 

[gregers]

Got me thinking,, Last set of stairs I put in was about ten years ago. Kitchen was earlier this year. Traditional roof was about 6 yrs ago. This past year I've done quite a few flooring jobs, about 4 or 5 kitchens, a mountain of skirtings and architraves and more doors than you could shake a stick at. Put the odd shelves up and made some wardrobes. Went to look at one job, and this woman insisted she wanted "d i l d o rail" up in the living room. Was all I could do to keep a straight face while I measured up.

and i bet you wouldnt have the nerve to take a copy of the ann summers book round so she could choose her 'D I L D O RAIL'

 

[Mw Roofline]

I build extensions from start to finish except for electrics and plumbing.

Talk about master of none!

Joking aside, i have spent a lot of time learning several trades. I have to say that building a traditional cut roof carcass is by far the most challenging part of the build especially if it is a hipped purlin roof.

Digging foundations with an excavator can be rather nerve wracking especially if there are fibre optic cables around.

Noseall if you ever need underground drainage I'll put u in contact with my man £5.99 3m pipe single socket, £4 double bend etc

 

[expertgasman]

Just what do you do all day?

If you are Tony Agile, you write stupid relpies to this forum

 

[ladylola]

Dildo rail--crackin'
The one thing I like about my job is the variety of different types of work that it entails. I'm currently working on a roof, hipped ends and purlins and it will eventually be leaded, before that was an office refurb which in the set of stairs went in, before that another roof with new made on site oak trusses, before that a lot of sash windows etc etc.
Of course the "downside" if you like is that we never get as much practice as some and lose some speed, I'd be struggling to make money hanging doors on newbuild for instance.
And at the other end of the argument are site agents who really should know better who give you three weeks work and ask "will you be finished by friday?"
One other thing, I worked away last week and my six year old daughter was convinced I was going away on holiday rather than to work

 

[oasistechnical]

yesterday i drove all the way to brighton to remove and replace 5 x warm air hand driers, not really part of our company remit, but its work and we are suitable qualified to do it,

today i will be replacing the injector pump on my Peugeot boxer 2.8 HDI turbo diesel van!!!

but between this and that,

we re wire public houses and nightclubs,
supply and fit CCTV intruder alarms, access control data cabling full fire detection and alarm systems and anything else that has to have cable attached to it.

we have been know to wire up 20kilowatt sound systems as well.

so its a rather varied structure to our business.

we have one trainee with us, who i must admit, is a great help, he has a interest in the job and all that it entails, he listens and asks questions, and surprisingly he is getting very competent in what we give him to do!!
and he is not a youngster he is 21 !!!

Oasis

 

[yourmoneyoryourwife]

Just what do you do all day?

If you are Tony Agile, you write stupid relpies to this forum

As well as all the risk assessments and method statements he must do