Recent work

[Dave_L]

56 tonne of 20mm Cotswold chipping laid to car parking area at Bickleigh Mill, Devon, all finished by 9.30 this morning, early bird catches the worm as they say

[sy76uk]

What did you use as a sub base Dave? Also did you use a barrier between the sub base and chippings?
Nice work BTW.

[lutonlagerlout]

nice work lemoncurd
i reckon they got a bargain for 26 hundred
LLL

[Dave_L]

Laid on an existing sub base, no barrier. Acting upon customer instructions, I would rather have laid a basecourse tarmac.

[lemoncurd1702]

nice work lemoncurd
i reckon they got a bargain for 26 hundred

Cheers Sy76 & LLL

LLL they had a bargain alright but I'm reasonably happy with the margin. The lads that work for me are CIS so I ask the customer to give them a cheque each, they've now been employed by someone else and my Vat liability has been reduced.

I hear of the recovery elsewhere but it ain't happening here in south Wales yet. It's just gaining impetus now but that's probably a seasonal thing.

Funny thing is when the recession was kicking off, all us down here were a bit bewildered and quite smug as it was business as usual. 18 months later it hit so hopefully it'll boom in about a year, fingers and legs crossed.

[dig dug dan]

. The lads that work for me are CIS so I ask the customer to give them a cheque each, they've now been employed by someone else and my Vat liability has been reduced.

I do that for certain customers. It helps them out, and a legal way of them avoiding unnecessary vat

[lutonlagerlout]

but how can your customer give them a CIS voucher

unless of course the lads declare it themselves

I have heard of builders round here doing something similar,where the client pays the wages and buys some material

the recession is over round here maybe just taking a while to filter through to the valleys

LLL

[dig dug dan]

I dont have any contractor on cis, but a couple of the self employed guys i use to help me are not vat registered, so if the invoice me, i then add that to my bill for the customer and they pay the £20 vat on their invoice. If they invoice direct to them, they dont.

[msh paving]

if the customer pay them direct, its up to them to declare the tax, as far a tax goes the customer has hired them to do the job,
i used to do it with a guy who worked with me, cut down on paying tax for him and deductions.
It works well for maybe 1 or 2 guys if the customer is happy to pay that way, some wont some will if it saving them a bit of VAT.
if they are just site work men who don't do there own jobs it is harder for them to add untaxed income some wont do it because they don't want responsiblity, but all in all it does work MSH

[lutonlagerlout]

built a little step today for some bi-folds we fitted last year





buttered the saxons as I laid them as they are a pain to point afterwards

nice little job on a monday

back at the farm









cheers LLL

[sy76uk]

Do yo use saxons all the time when your laying textured slabs Tony. I like working with them but I think there a bit pricey compared to ordinary textured slabs.

Nice work up on the roof as well.

I had giggle when I saw the pictures because I'm either on my hands and knee's laying slabs or up a treble laying slates or tiles. Nothing in between.

[lutonlagerlout]

not particularly sy,the client wanted a get out of jail step and as non slippy as possible for their babies to get to the garden
saxons arent my favourite but they do the job

do you do dry ridge ,verge and valleys on roofs?

the tilers love it as they lose zero hours to frost or rain
LLL

[sy76uk]

Saxon's are my favourite Tony. I am keen on the Bradstone panache now too. I've never had any problems saxons. They're easily the most consisten slabs I've ever laid. It's just hard to sell that to a client when you can get a textured no name £2 a slab cheaper than a saxon.

I have used dry ridges and hip's. I've never used the dry valley you've used in your pictures though. The only thing I've used that is similar is a secret valley between terraced houses.

I do enjoy the roofing. Especially slates. The next Patio I'm installing is a 400 year old house that has the old swithland slates on the roof. I'll be putting the same dark sandstone down as I put down on my last job because they want to match up with the roof on a budget.

i'll put some pic's up of that one mid June.

[lemoncurd1702]

built a little step today for some bi-folds we fitted last year
buttered the saxons as I laid them as they are a pain to point afterwards

This may go against the grain but it works for me.
My grout mix is 3 to 1 a little water and a LOT of plasticiser! Leave it mix till very flexible, just wet enough to leave a sheen on your gloved hand. Load your trowel with a pencil thick line of the mortar, flick it in the joint and scrape off excess. Strike with trowel or pointer when suitable and brush off excess when it dries.
I have used this method for several years with 100% positive results and no crumbling mortar such as when a semi dry is used.
I know some will say that excess plasticiser will entrain to much air and make it porous and soft but I can only go by how it has withstood the test of time.
Use the brown coloured plasticiser not the red one.
Works on Saxon,granite, sandstone sawn and riven with no staining.
Just takes a bit of patience and practice with the mixing and maybe the flicking in.

[lutonlagerlout]

sounds interesting but i probably wont be trying it

I know theres plenty out there who would have buttjointed the saxons but i feel by jointing as I went it should hold them in place better

plus the ubiquitous SBR in the bedding
cheers LLL