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Retraining...

Tucks said:
I've never met a poor tradesman. Wish I went that way when I was younger. Too old now.
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But so many are fooked by the time they get to 40‘s or 50’s, I had an arthroscopy in my 30’s and also 3 hernia ops. Knees £ucked and back not good.
Told my kids go uni and don’t do manual labour jobs, earn enough to pay someone to do all the hard work.
Worked out for all 4 of them🙏

Only problem is they ask me to do that stuff😖
 
M4carp said:
But so many are fooked by the time they get to 40‘s or 50’s, I had an arthroscopy in my 30’s and also 3 hernia ops. Knees £ucked and back not good.
Told my kids go uni and don’t do manual labour jobs, earn enough to pay someone to do all the hard work.
Worked out for all 4 of them🙏

Only problem is they ask me to do that stuff😖
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Never a truer word said I've told my son the same, I've been a brickie for 34 years backs away knees are gubbed,been told my hips are shot hence why I'm in discomfort always and don't even start on the white finger and arthritis always worse in the winter but I've loved it but do I want my son to do it not a chance .
 
Tucks said:
Maybe you're in the wrong job then or live in the wrong area.

I've got a carpenter coming in February we've been waiting months for to build two small cabinets. £1,800. Will take two days. Allowing for mdf and screws, they do alright.

Got a plasterer coming Monday to skim a small room ( about 4m x 3m) - £1,300. My very own builder quoted £4,000 for the same job!

My mates are builders and tradesmen. One is coming back from Egypt today from a £5,000 10 day holiday (no kids). Another went to Greece last summer for two weeks as a cost of £16,000 and he's had two more holidays since.

Average loft conversion and rear extension on a 3/4 bed semi is around £500,000 - £600,000.

These guys are booked at least a year in advance and turn down work everyday.

Life is great in 'construction'.
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Those prices are borderline crazy!!! We recently (year ago…) had our whole kitchen / hallway completely re plastered for £400
 
How about advertising yourself as a local handyman? There's constantly people that need stuff fixing. I fixed our tumble dryer today after a quick search on YouTube.

Also, if you live anywhere near holiday caravan parks there is a huge demand for plumbers when all their pipes freeze and burst in winter.
 
Tucks said:
Maybe you're in the wrong job then or live in the wrong area.

I've got a carpenter coming in February we've been waiting months for to build two small cabinets. £1,800. Will take two days. Allowing for mdf and screws, they do alright.

Got a plasterer coming Monday to skim a small room ( about 4m x 3m) - £1,300. My very own builder quoted £4,000 for the same job!

My mates are builders and tradesmen. One is coming back from Egypt today from a £5,000 10 day holiday (no kids). Another went to Greece last summer for two weeks as a cost of £16,000 and he's had two more holidays since.

Average loft conversion and rear extension on a 3/4 bed semi is around £500,000 - £600,000.

These guys are booked at least a year in advance and turn down work everyday.

Life is great in 'construction'.
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I could feel my pants being pulled down as I read all that.
 
I have had roof work, brick laying, plastering, plumbing and electrical work and that is just the last three years. For each job I break down how many days and how many people. For many, I pay directly for the material so I own them in the event they never turn up. Luton usually gets close to London rates as the tradesman can travel and get rich places like St Albans and Harpenden.
Never have I seen a day rate even 50% close to £750.
And then the folks run a van, pay for tools and will pay some taxes out of what they declare.
 
London rates are insane. We’re getting the front steps, path and our tiny front garden redone.

I stupidly rejected a pre pandemic quote of 25k. The bill has now gone north of 40k. 😢

Last year my wife arranged a cupboard to be built. I discovered afterwards that little thing set us back over a grand. There’s a reason I’m not allowed to have any say over household spending.
 
johnwhitfield said:
London rates are insane. We’re getting the front steps, path and our tiny front garden redone.

I stupidly rejected a pre pandemic quote of 25k. The bill has now gone north of 40k. 😢

Last year my wife arranged a cupboard to be built. I discovered afterwards that little thing set us back over a grand. There’s a reason I’m not allowed to have any say over household spending.
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Might be worth trying further north and putting them up in a B&B whilst the work is being done. Assuming it's not going to take months of course.
 
Imported labour might be the way forward. Trying to get people in from Kent etc simply doesn’t work. They just don’t want the stress and time of driving through London.

Interesting to see how many of us would have chosen different paths if we had our time again. I’m not convinced I would have gone down the trades route but might have decided to sell out and do corporate stuff for a while. I’ve never worked for a big business. Never had a bonus scheme etc. Never worked anywhere that would be big enough to have clubs/societies etc - that one feels utterly alien when I take kids to recruitment fairs. On the plus side I’ve had very few people ever directly managing me which is probably for the best 😀
 
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