Long working day - How long is your working day?

[Dave_L]

Im in the yard for 7.30 and then out to the job, leave site at 4.30 unless i need to work on. My paid time ends when i finish on site, so i could spend anything from 15 mins to an 2 hours heading back to the yard unpaid. And im not a passenger in the van, i drive.

Is it just me or does anybody else find the unpiad travelling unfair?

[seanandruby]

Its grossly unfair Dave. on our firm the lads get travel money...part taxable, part tax free. blokes like me who get the lodge have since January had it taxed as part of our wage. so now i am down an average of £70 a week. that's quite a sum monthly a?

[Stuarty]

i find it unfair, its been pestering me more and more now as jobs are getting further away. We have a job starting in a few weeks thats about 60 miles away from the yard, and the route is full of roadworks and constant traffic jams, ill be making a note of my unpaid time next week just to see how many hours i spend driving the van and the lads back to the yard.

[lutonlagerlout]

its a pain in the neck traveling but luckily most of our work is within 15 miles,the job i am on at the moment is 100M from my front door which is nice,sometimes it can take me up to 1 minute to get there i think if the diesel is paid for then travel is ok, if you are paying for the diesel it isnt right
then again from an employers perspective ,you want to keep the lads working, so you have to take the work wherever it is.
LLL

[Tony McC]

Anything more than 30 miles or an hour's travelling, and I prefer to stay in digs. I can't be doing with traffic jams when I want me tea, or when we'd a delivery booked for 8am. There's enough stress in running a contracting business without having to put up with traffic and two wasted hours each day!

[Dave_L]

Hell I wish we could do that! We were travelling between Wellington and Chippenham back along, daily. 2hrs travelling, 5am starts.

Trouble is, we needed different kit each day, planer, digger, Bobcat & Loader, bucket brush - we couldn't bring it all in one trip - plus there was the headache of storage overnight. It's very rare we leave any kit on site at any time.

[seanandruby]

for two years i travelled from eastbourne to heathrow 6 days a week. 180 miles a day. i started out at 5.00 am, did a days work then got home at all hours. i stay there now in the week. funny tho you would be surprised how easy it becomes.

[bobbi o]

800t in a day is well impressive. we did 160t on friday and that was good going with no breaks 7-4. take it you were laying about 100mm depth.

must be a trusty paver you've got,as it looks to be a fair age?

[Dave_L]

Yeah, we were laying at 100mm, in places it might have been a little more as the existing [in places] was pretty dire. We laid from 6.30am till 11.45pm with two 15 min stops.

Yeah, the paver is a trusty old girl, Bitelli BB52 of 1988 vintage - nearly 8000 running hours now.

But everything works, she never fails to perform (bit like the wife lol!!!!!) - probably the best £96k we've ever spent if you look at the work and revenue she's generated over her lifetime.

When you have kit of that age, maintenence is paramount - nip any issues in the bud and she'll look after you.