State of the economy - Good or poor?

[lutonlagerlout]

thats good to hear bobbi,maybe things are better now for the landscape/hardscape type of things.
there are a few big jobs on the go in luton full of liffys poles etc,all on £8 and hour,trades on £11.50 an hour
but they are the sites where people get instant dismissal for a multitude of things,from talking to 1 irish lad he said its a climate of fear day in day out because they have 20 more names on the gate to replace you
we are booked up till end of july,but i much preferred it 2 years ago when we were booked up for a year,
you can plan better that way
ATB
LLL

[seanandruby]

When the money takes a knock, it is usually the cheap labour that starts compromising safety. Even on big jobs, some of the lads will do what the foreman says, even if it is unsafe, for fear of losing their jobs. I've witnessed it time after time with inexperienced supervisors ( some who are made up by friends in high places ) putting lads to work unsafe.

[henpecked]

Asked my mate to quote me for a garage base. 150mm conc, grab wagon for stone and spoil removal, worked it out at 3 cube, (he put 5). 3 blokes, 2 days came in at 2300.Access is good (using neighbours drive) I don't know how he came to that price at all :0 , or for that matter where the 3rd bloke appeared from?
Looks like the prices are still not dropping in Warwickshire at the moment

[47p2]

......worked it out at 3 cube, (he put 5).......

The concrete guys are a law to themselves. No matter how accurate you measure and calculate the quantity they always tell you that you have reached the 'said amount' and require more, cash only for the extra. It makes my blood boil

[henpecked]

He said it would take 2 blokes to start with (one driver one on shovel ,i suppose).
So, it has an extra guy, plus 2 cube with is £400 (working on a ton a shift). Thats not to mention the other bits. I costed it out at just under a 1k + labour, so it looks like I will be doing it me self

HP

[GB_Groundworks]

started the 120 metres of 25mm sawn stone today, very porus stuff stains if you look at it.

newest memeber of the fleet arrived as we switch out the 16 ton machine, auction purchase from tuesday we have an old 3cx that we all refuse to use so finally updated it .



started to stone up and blind off the paths



proper big boys toys, on the next street from my house they are knocking the old uni down, my boy and i went for a nosey



also found out a job we did, well a product test for tony is in the travis perkins landscaping catalogue i'm famous haha lol

[lutonlagerlout]

I tell you a mad thing giles
they are knocking down buildings in luton that i worked on
office building less than 20 years old and they are flattening them with those big 30M demolition hammers
it doesn't seem to make sense
LLL

[GB_Groundworks]

i've knocked down a building my dad build 30 years ago was kinda nice next generation moving on etc haha


but yeah 20 years is nothing, my house is 1902 land just to expensive down saaaaarrrrttttthhhh

[lutonlagerlout]

back on to the state of the economy
its really bad down here,we are still working but its very bitty now and its dog eat dog
a lot of really top class bloke are laid off and once the current run of school refurbs finish there will be a lot following them
I priced a job yesterday (an extension) and the guy wants to save 800 quid by not using scaffold
normally i would blow it out ,but in the current climate i will have to do it off trestles
at least i only have to go 2.4m to soffit
he is pitching and tiling it himself off ladders
apparently your neck is only worth 800 sovs these days
LLL

[rab1]

i`ve just been asked to take a 15% pay cut.

[ilovesettsonmondays]

what you going to do then rab .do you work for a big company .we didnt get a pay rise last year and dont think we will get one this year .

[lutonlagerlout]

did they ask or tell you rab?

they know they have you by the short and curlies,the barstewards

this winter is gonna be very bad,I can smell it

2 years in to this recession and there are no signs of recovery

what will happen when interest rates go up (as surely they will at some point)

a lot of lads earning less money than when they took out the mortgage will be in the mire

also with all the govt cutbacks ,any public employee is going to be less likely to have work done
these teachers,police,nurses etc are our bread and butter

time will tell
LLL

[Mikey_C]

apparently your neck is only worth 800 sovs these days

NO apparently HIS neck is only worth £800!!

have you tried squeezing the scaffold company, tell them if they need to do it 4 £400.

get thee scaffolding installed you use and make sure you take it down before the client uses it, else you can then charge the client £400 for it.

my cousin is a roofer and when working for his previous medium sized firm was encourage to cut any corner that saved money, including a re-roof with no scaffolding!!! :O

[Mikey_C]

i`ve just been asked to take a 15% pay cut.

in a couple of years when things pick up (he says hoping!!) you'll say I off someone else has better t&c, pay etc. and your boss will say what about loyalty. you be able to say it went two years ago for about 15% of me wages!!!

[Mikey_C]

the company I work have started a new factory £16 mill development heavy plant on site 13T up, but not a lot of use to u guys as none of you are based any where near (bournemouth).