Do you enjoy your job?

[DNgroundworks]

As the title really, do you guys enjoy the building and paving game?

Of late, well the last 12 months i cant help but think theres got to be an easier way to earn a living, sometimes it makes me shudder to think im going to be digging, barrowing, hunched over laying flags for the next 40 years? But whats the alternative?

Anyone else get like that?

Business is good at the minute, loads of work on, so that isnt the issue.

Just thought id have a vent on here and see what responses i get from the more seasoned among us.

Dan

[seanandruby]

Sounds like you need a holiday. I've been in the game a lot longer than that Dan and every year i have told myself "this is the last one out in the field". But i still carry on as best i can. Riddled with work related aches and pains ( òsteoarthritus ) i soldier on. You probably suffering with post winter blues but it will pass. Your healthy, working, earning the dollar, what more do you want, a lot of guys would love to be in your position m8. Alternative ... get a rich bitch :;):

[lutonlagerlout]

the alternative is sitting at the same desk every day for 40 years looking at the same view and listening to the same bollox that is talked in offices day in day out
I love the building game,I like being outdoors
love being my own boss
there are bad sides too but i prefer the roller coaster to the tea cups
cheers LLL

[Captain Concrete]

I love it now the weather is getting better, we get job satisfaction, exercise some more that others, meet different customers some become friends, being outside is where humans should be. In the past I've been a rep and had a few years in a site office, and much prefer the out and about stuff I do now. I do have a good friend who works like a trogon and is now 55 and he's wants to slow down a bit, having said that he is the fittest 55 year old I know. One thing that is a wind up is all the red tape we have to deal with on things like sewer connections, ect ect as for money if your healthy your wealthy. you got to love site Banta there's nothing like it.

[seanandruby]

After laying pipes in mud filled trenches, covered in shite, soaked with the rain and freezing cold, it does get you thinking like you w8hen the sun is shining. All we have to moan about now is the fecking dust kiced up by the plant . As above i love the game. You only got 40 years to go :laugh:

[DNgroundworks]

I dont hate it, im just bad for looking over the fence, grass is always greener...when it isnt. I know that, just had a bad day yesterday!

For me, i like the freedom this line of work has to offer, no boss, come and go as i please, no corporate drudgery etc etc

What other job can offer that on a self employed basis?

Probably getting a laborer to help with the menial stuff might help

[lutonlagerlout]

Dan the worst thing ever is working alone
in the last 2 recessions I have had periods of working alone and it is soul destroying
I am thinking about getting another apprentice soon as i really should get off the tools before I am 50
I can earn more money with a pen and paper now than actually working but I enjoy the work more
cheers LLL

[sy76uk]

You can either be the one looking at the office windows as your working in the winter thinking "wish I was in there" or the man in the office in the summer looking at the site across the road thinking "wish I was out there"
I know which one I prefer.

Never work alone. For one it's too dangerous. 2, as Tony says iit's soul destroying.
I did it for a bit last year as one lad jacked and needed to find another. Never again.
Got 2 apprentices now. I haven't touched a barrow, loaded or unloaded the van or picked up a 3x2 since.
All I do now is sit on a digger or lay paving. Just when I though I need a new pair of knees I got 2 pairs.

What I love about what we do is its an art form, its not just construction we paint pictures. The look on a clients face when the see the finished job is almost as good as getting paid.

Hopefully 10 years from now I'lI be able to leave the lads to it. Hopefully

[dig dug dan]

Dan the worst thing ever is working alone
in the last 2 recessions I have had periods of working alone and it is soul destroying
I am thinking about getting another apprentice soon as i really should get off the tools before I am 50
I can earn more money with a pen and paper now than actually working but I enjoy the work more
cheers LLL

I actually prefer working on my own. No banal drivel to listen to, I stop when I want, eat lunch when I want, do the job how I want without the cock ups associated with some idiots.
having said that, some jobs I have to do with someone else, especially paving.

[lutonlagerlout]

different jobs mean different workforces dan
a lot of your work can be done solo and i do understand what you mean
but when you get into extensions and refurbs it is nigh on impossible to work alone,thats when the diplomatic skills kick in
I dont mind doing pointing solo or a bit of block work
but laying 4-5000 bricks on your jacks sends you crazy
LLL

[sy76uk]

What happens if you have an accident, there's no one around to help, your phone's not in your pocket or your unconscious and loosing blood?

[Carberry]

What happens if you have an accident, there's no one around to help, your phone's not in your pocket or your unconscious and loosing blood?

As for the original question... Used to enjoy it but not so much anymore. Hard to make money, wreck your body, seasonal etc
People don't think twice before handing over £50+ an hour to a mechanic or plumber, try get £20 an hour as a landscaper and people start moaning :laugh:
Going to get out the landscaping game and focus on gas side of my business, maybe stick to doing small jobs that are high profit and easy on the body.

[sy76uk]

In the 24 years I've been paving I've only ever injured myself once on site and that was playing football in the car park.
Seen plenty though, my Dad getting his leg crushed by a full pack of blocks being one of them. If he wasn't standing on freshly dug really soft soil it would have been worse than the broken leg that kept him out of work for 6 months with no sick pay.
God may or may not always be with us but he ain't gonna get me to a hospital so I'd rather have someone with me who can.

[dig dug dan]

What happens if you have an accident, there's no one around to help, your phone's not in your pocket or your unconscious and loosing blood?

I would have had to have done something really stupid for that to happen. There is usually a customer around. If not, I will die doing the job I love!

[sy76uk]

You said usually Dan, that means not always and not all accidents are stupid.
look at the kit we use daily. Disc cutters, drills, diggers ect.
There are so many things that can happen that it is never a good idea to be alone on site.