Work....

[DNgroundworks]

What do you do bobbi?

[lutonlagerlout]

the black stuff i believe
thing is all of us have got to adapt to survive
the best paver in bedfordshire emigrated earlier this year due to lack of work
that says it all
i will do much about anything for money
but i wont bodge
LLL

[bobbi o]

What do you do bobbi?

road surfacing contractor. though i'll turn my hand to just about anything these days,if theirs a dollar to be made.

[Dave_L]

Tell me about it Bobbi, I recently tendered for some roadbase/binder/surface course works totalling 1300m2 at a new health centre locally for a local building firm so cheap just to keep us ticking along until Xmas - and someone else got the work!!!!

Not that fussed as I know whoever is doing it will be doing it for virtually nothing, it could actually cost them money if they incur waiting time etc etc - but it does show the state of the market.

[GB_Groundworks]

I'll be passing wrexham tomorrow about dinner time Giles i think I'll leave my welles on site tho!

we had all 40m2 in by 12 and floated me and my 56yr old foreman dont mess around haha could have brought us some nice nice scran though although you'd have had to fill out 15 method statements to the origins of the beef lol haha, gotta love big site jobs...

perfect concreting day though, thick heavy wet mist

[bobbi o]

Tell me about it Bobbi, I recently tendered for some roadbase/binder/surface course works totalling 1300m2 at a new health centre locally for a local building firm so cheap just to keep us ticking along until Xmas - and someone else got the work!!!!

Not that fussed as I know whoever is doing it will be doing it for virtually nothing, it could actually cost them money if they incur waiting time etc etc - but it does show the state of the market.

If your quoting work and after costs dont add at least 15-25%,to cover things like insurance,office expenses,unforseen repairs,bad debts,bad jobs,the big freeze etc etc,what happens is that you dont, over the piece break even,but lose money.

their's nothing worse than working like a dog for a year for nowt. suprise suprise theirs plenty folks out their doing just that.

not everyone out their is awarding work on price.these are the jobs i'm targetting and plan to win by site visit and quoting within 48hrs,spending time with the customer,trying to win over their confidence in me and my company within the first 5 mins of meeting me and attempting to convince them their getting a fair price for the work their wanting.

[henpecked]

Tell me about it Bobbi, I recently tendered for some roadbase/binder/surface course works totalling 1300m2 at a new health centre locally for a local building firm so cheap just to keep us ticking along until Xmas - and someone else got the work!!!!

Not that fussed as I know whoever is doing it will be doing it for virtually nothing, it could actually cost them money if they incur waiting time etc etc - but it does show the state of the market.

If your quoting work and after costs dont add at least 15-25%,to cover things like insurance,office expenses,unforseen repairs,bad debts,bad jobs,the big freeze etc etc,what happens is that you dont, over the piece break even,but lose money.

Good in a way as the numpties would be out of business come 2012

[lutonlagerlout]

i agree with bobbi
although we are a much smaller scale (only 6 of us full time)
if you dont add profit to a job then it aint worth doing
when your tools and vehicles need replacing you wont be able to do it
there are people working for wages round here,but it is unsustainable
LLL

[ilovesettsonmondays]

i finished friday .done two sites with this company . was offered another site but it was pipelaying .i'll start looking for work monday and see what happens . great time of year to be laid off

[Dave_L]

I wouldn't want to be in the surfacing game having to keep 12 guys busy - it takes a good steady supply of work to keep surfacing gangs busy.

Agree about the working for wages - but there are obviously plenty of gangs out there doing so - or cutting corners where you can't see..........

[Pablo]

not everyone out their is awarding work on price.these are the jobs i'm targetting and plan to win by site visit and quoting within 48hrs,spending time with the customer,trying to win over their confidence in me and my company within the first 5 mins of meeting me and attempting to convince them their getting a fair price for the work their wanting.

I've been doing the very thing this last year and it's worked very well for me so far and we've got work until at least mid feb. I made the decision in early spring to stop cutting to much out of jobs I was sick of knocking my pan in for less money than my staff were making there was no point in it at all. I put the pricing back up to normal rates and was fully prepared and happy to close down if it didn't work I just didn't see the point in continuing I'd be better off finding another job and didn't care what it was. The opposite happened though it's been an amazing few months and because I've cut 3 squads down to 1 I've got hardly any pressure I may be earning less money but the trade off is worth it and spending time with the family and being able to get out para gliding again instead of working 24/7 has given me a new lease of life. Pre crash I was just a slave to money which means f#ck all if you're miserable and bolloxed everyday as painful as it's been the last few years have made me realise whats more important.

[lutonlagerlout]

para gliding again

best mate wanted me to go paragliding with him,till the thermal dropped and he broke both his ankles landing
OUCH!
LLL

[Carberry]

not everyone out their is awarding work on price.these are the jobs i'm targetting and plan to win by site visit and quoting within 48hrs,spending time with the customer,trying to win over their confidence in me and my company within the first 5 mins of meeting me and attempting to convince them their getting a fair price for the work their wanting.

I've been doing the very thing this last year and it's worked very well for me so far and we've got work until at least mid feb. I made the decision in early spring to stop cutting to much out of jobs I was sick of knocking my pan in for less money than my staff were making there was no point in it at all. I put the pricing back up to normal rates and was fully prepared and happy to close down if it didn't work I just didn't see the point in continuing I'd be better off finding another job and didn't care what it was. The opposite happened though it's been an amazing few months and because I've cut 3 squads down to 1 I've got hardly any pressure I may be earning less money but the trade off is worth it and spending time with the family and being able to get out para gliding again instead of working 24/7 has given me a new lease of life. Pre crash I was just a slave to money which means f#ck all if you're miserable and bolloxed everyday as painful as it's been the last few years have made me realise whats more important.

Wish I learnt that lesson sooner than I did. You will never compete on price with cowboys throwing down any old rubbish. Even if you do win the jobs at the silly prices you have to work 24/7 to make a living, which is hardly worth it because you're left with no time to live.

This year has been a lot of repeat business /recommendation or people that I sell gas or diesel to so I have been able to name my price.


edit: Don't go paragliding near eagles Paul :laugh: Eagle versus a paraglider

[haggistini]

Free as a bird.......! Fook that shit! Bet it's a mad buzz tho