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Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 10:22 pm
by Neal
They were one of a few companies in the yellow pages that offered labour as part of the price for ready mixed delivery, albeit these lot mixed it on site. Another company I contacted said up front they weren't prepared to barrow it up my drive. I'm not saying it's easy cos my drive is fairly steep, maybe a twenty degree slope, whatever that works out at. However me and my neighbour were all set to muck in so that would have been four blokes with barrows.
I respect the guys who said up front they weren't up for the job but these people advertise small loads and DIY. Unless you're turning up to a building site and pouring it straight into a trench there won't be many homes you can back the wagon straight up to the delivery point.
I told them I was up for lowering the depth to 300mm which would have meant less than 2m3 of concrete but they just weren't interested.
I appreciate my trenches may collapse, especially with the wetter weather we're now having. I guess I'll just have to take the chance cos there's not much I can get arranged in the next day and a half. I'm pretty hacked off about it all but it seems most people just want the easy jobs. If they can afford to pick and choose then I guess that's their perogative.
Maybe it's different down in England but I'd have thought living in Glasgow would have meant plenty of competition and people eager for the cash. It would appear not.
What would you advise... mixing it myself maybe when I get back or pestering some more firms???
Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 11:34 pm
by lutonlagerlout
that seems mad mate, i have family in greenock and they all seem to be scraping about for odds and sods of work
if you have a steep drive then just push half barrows,every job i do seems to have poor acess, WE FEAR NO FOE as they used to say at millwall,which means ,lets rise to the challenge
i have bucketed 1 m3 up stairs before for a ring beam, did it on my own in a morning
how long is your 1:5 drive?? 100m??
cheers LLL 
Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 11:42 pm
by Stuarty
Over here in Edinburgh / West Lothian there are tons of small firms / jobbers who would do that, as LLL said, its not like 3.5 cube is going to take them forever and a day.
Even when you offered reducing the amount they still werent interested. Some people do amaze me, you have to take the rough with the smooth - thats life heh.
Maybe the weej workforce just arent as hardy as us in the east perhaps :p
If you can knock up simple shuttering - nothing fancy, just to try and hold up the founds for the time your away. As for doing it yourself, I dont see why not, just try and get a couple of mates to give you a hand. Or try tempting some of us over this end to come help you out :p
Good luck anyway, and enjoy your time away
Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 8:45 am
by Neal
LLL, it's not quite 100m, it's about 12m from the front of my drive to the front of my back garden where the trenches are, up the drive, through the garage (flat ground) and up three steps at the back of the garage via a well constructed ramp that's less steep than the drive itself. The only real awkward bit is watching your head as you enter and exit the garage as the idiot that lived here before decided to build a garage for a hobbit. A regular six foot bloke has to duck about quite a bit.
Assuming 30 barrowloads per metre3 and 2.5m3, that's less than 20 barrowloads each for four fit blokes, maybe a bit more if you reduce the load a bit. If it had been ealier in the day without the heavy rain on the horizon, I would have got him to drop it in the road. I think I made the right decision as thirty minutes later it was tanking it down. Maybe I need to advertise for any Millwall fans living in Glasgow.
Stuarty, I think you may be right about the weegy workforce. I'll let you tell them that though!!! My Glaswegian girlfriend recommended advertising on a Polish web site which obtains work for Polish people in the UK!!!
If you know anyone over there that's interested in the job I'd be happy for you to point them in my direction. How much would it take to tempt you and some lads over???
I don't think I've got time to put any shuttering up as I've got a load of stuff to get ready today. I'll just have to run the risk and maybe do some more digging when I get back.
Cheers for the advice anyway lads, it's good to know it's not me being awkward.
Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 9:06 am
by neville_hope
sounds like your having a mare mate.
Me and a few mates have a bit of experience working on building sites and may be interested in a bit of work once we have finished a job for Mr Fraser in Spain.
Failing that you could just climb in the trench and ask your Mrs to fill it in on top of you.
Either way, Enjoy your Holiday i:p
Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 5:43 pm
by Neal
Just a bit of a nightmare. I thought the hard bit would be digging all the muck out, not getting someone to pour some concrete into the hole, or at least giving me a hand to pour it in.
I think I'd rather have the lads from Dusseldorf than the ones in Spain!!!
Cheers,
Neal...
Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 8:38 pm
by lutonlagerlout
try the jam rolls, at least they arent scared of work
the whole thing is baffling me,we use easimix or minimix, they charge 80- 120 a m2 then it would be 3 guys for a morning,so about 450 total
weird
LLL
Posted: Mon Oct 16, 2006 9:26 pm
by Neal
Just a quick update for you all.
Holiday was fantastic. I spent the day we departed pumping out the trenches in the pouring rain. The only bits that caved in did so before we left, so there was no further damage on our return apart from them being full of water again. That pump from B&Q has certainly earned it's keep.
The foundations are now in place. I spent all Saturday with two mixers and a load of mates doing the main trench and then all today doing the two side bits myself. Everything is really level. The only things I'm not sure about are the stepped bits for the side walls: are they on a brick or half brick boundary? It's pretty hard to measure through thin air and get the shuttering spot on but if they're out I guess I'll just end up cutting more bricks when I'm building the walls.
Cheers to those who provided advice along the way. It's a big load off my mind now that the foundations are finally in.
Neal...
Posted: Mon Oct 16, 2006 11:43 pm
by lutonlagerlout
nice one neal hope the wall goes well
tony LLL
Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2006 12:15 pm
by TrevorL
Neal,
Have you thought about hiring a small dumper truck for the day to move the concrete?
Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2006 12:17 pm
by TrevorL
Neal,
Ignore my last I didn't realise there were two pages! and you had sorted out the problem.
Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2006 6:14 pm
by Stuarty
Good to hear not alot of the trenches caved in. And its also good that your founds are now in, next step is the blockwork. Funtime 
Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 5:18 pm
by Neal
Yes, I'm looking foward to getting the first few courses in and working above sea level from then on!!!
Trevor, I did think about the mechanical barrow but it wouldn't have gone through the garage door at the back of the garage as there's some steps right at the door.
Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 1:29 pm
by Neal
Hello again, it's been a long time. I've just about finished the wall part of my garden project. It takes a while when you have to work for living.
Anyhow. I'm almost ready to do all the back filling and laying the pipework. I have one question though, and this is what should I use for waterproofing at the back of the wall. I've ready through the archives and there doesn't seem to be a concensus. It's either bitumen tanking, waterproof membrane or both. What do you pro's out there recommend.
Is the only way to post images on here via a URL. If there's an easier way I'll post a picture.
Cheers,
Neal...
Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 10:36 am
by Tony McC
The most appropriate method and material depends on the job. I'd use bitumen for smaller jobs, and a vertical waffle board or fin drain for larger project.
And yes: for anti-spam reasons, you have to use url references to post images.