Quiet december?

[dig dug dan]

Ok, i agree that if marshalls pass on the lead, then you should use marshalls.
But i am talking about a different scenario.for example.

Mrs jones goes on the marshalls website, types in her postcode and looks for contractors near her. Up comes 3 or 4 companies. She likes the look of one. we'll call him John smith from "millennium paving".
she does not want to contact marshalls, she wants to phone the contractor. She looks up his number on the internet, and calls him, telling him she has got his number from the marshals register.
He calls round, with his marshalls brochure, but she wants bradstone.
He reluctantly agrees, and does the job. What happens there?

to continue. A few months later, a couple of ruts appear, and some edging comes loose. She complains to marhsalls that a contractor on their register has let her down. what to Marshalls do?
do they:

1. Strike him off for laying another product as the lead came from their website?
2. Do nothing as its not their product, and they are only interested in shoddy work on marshalls products, not anyone elses?
3. get him to sort the problem out or else?

[rab1]

Personally if I were in Marshall's boots so to speak, I`d go with Its nothing to do with us as it`s not our product but we`ll do all we can to have this Contractor put his work right. meaning nothing as the client went outside of the register and it`s nothing to do with us. ???

[Hawk]

got my new personalised marshalls brochures the other day, very smart indeed, Btw Marshalls make the paving for Wickes
and as far as I know they bought Stonemarket a couple of years ago, but are continuing trading as Stonemarket

[pickwell paving]

we used to be in the marshalls register when it first came out and we had a problem with some slabs about 40sqm, the rep agreed there was something wrong with them but it was an isolated case and "too small an area for them to worry about" so we had to rip it out and and replace slabs at our own cost. We used to have a good relationship with marshalls my dad even paved round one of there factories then they did that and we came straight out of the register.

The other thing I don't like about the register is what LLL is saying about the assessors you only have to look through the brochure and see all the drives with slips and darts for cuts if they were that bothered about quality of work then they shouldn't be in there. They also promote spot bedding for slab laying on their M fix page.

I agree what mick is saying about the brochures is does look more proffesional, and the cost is hardly over the top and to be fair our recent problem with there products was sorted out with no arguments.

[mickg]

I agree with you Luton if you cant make it on the tools then you go in the office, my assessor is in his late fifties and has been on the tools all his working life until he had to pack in through the aches and pains that we all get in later life.....

he is a gentleman and its alway a pleasure to have a conversation with him

[London Stone Paving]

I know a lot of blokes who assess and or teach brickwork never made the grade themselves, it would take a pedant to snag your work
LLL

There is that saying:

"Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach"

But on the other hand somebodys got to be out there assessing and teaching. The student will always out grow the teacher eventually but the teacher is there in the first place to make sure the correct principles are in place

[lutonlagerlout]

No disrespect to any teachers,but I have taught 3 lads from scratch bricklaying over the last 12 years and it pains me what a waste of time college is.
if someone has been on the tools for 30 years then goes into assessing then that is fair enough
its when some smart alec walks out of college and thinks he can criticize say cookie or mickg's work ,that cant be right
we offer an insurance backed guarantee for an extra 2% cost on the job but few want to pay that,
LLL

[London Stone Paving]

I'd have to agree with you there Tony. I suppose with things like brick laying and paving and groundworks in general its always been a case of, start of as a labourer and learn from the bottom up. That was how I learnt and everybody I know in the trade learnt.

It would be good if there were some more recognised formal qualifications out there for paving and groundwork because I dont think that lads get paid enough for what is highly skilled work (maybe a formal, recognised qualification would hellp address this). Not sure if it is feasible though due to the highly practical nature of the work.

Does anybody know of any formal qualifications for paving/groundwork?

[mickg]

Another benefit of being on the Marshall's register is on a quite a few occasions I could not get any corner kerbs straight away from any merchants i normally use or even in the area's i work so I phoned the Marshall's office and they managed to locate some which were 70 odd miles away on one occasion, not only that that my installer development manager delivered them to site

now that is going beyond the normal call of duty in my eyes and it allowed me to continue working, if you had to drive 140 miles there and back in a day your not going to get much work done by the time you get back, do that twice a year and there's the register fee's covered in lost labour costs alone

[ilovesettsonmondays]

yes london there is . i have city and guilds roadwork craft years 1 and 2 , which most apprentice streetmasons got years ago when an apprentice with the local authority . about 5 years ago i gained my nvq level 2 in modular paving .(in about an hour )

[London Stone Paving]

An hour? I think you need to pull your finger out mate

I did not know that such qualifications existed, shows what I know

[ilovesettsonmondays]

the city and guilds one , which i think has finished years ago, was a good course looking back . it was day release once a week . 9 till 7.30 pm . practical in the morning and theory in the afternoon .

[rab1]

I`ve got a sitting/guilds but its now not recognized by the cscs card people as a trade qulifiction as the 4 1/2 year s&g is now superseded by the 3 day nvq. (stands for not very qualified)

When I personally started out in my chosen trade aged 16. I was a boy and after 4 and bit years of College along with regular skills tests and on site experience I became a Tradesman and still spent the next 5 yrs learning IYKWIM just to become the full shilling at my Trade.
??? :O ???

[lutonlagerlout]

I reckon it takes about 5 years to become really good at a skill trade
then over the next 10 years you have to learn to curb your enthusiasm with experience
then you have the salad years 30-40
then you start falling apart :;):
LLL

[ilovesettsonmondays]

your right luton and rab .thats why nvq in paving is a waste of time. always learning imo