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Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 6:29 pm
by ski
Since last year I have employed only Polish lads (I am a builder). The only trade I buy in is the sparks. I find them great, I pay and treat them fairly and work has become enjoyable again as they are keen and enthusiastic at work. But I am troubled, firstly because why could I not find similar local lads, the ones I have had just lacked everything. Yet reading this site I am aware that there are many good sounding people out there trying to do a good job, or are you in a minority. If I had used local subbies I would be 7 or 8 months behind where I am now. Do we think these immigarnt workers are curse or a blessing. I have been brought up in the building trade, and I can remember the old mans firm with good guys and a good craic, and I have to say with these Polish lads its the first time I have ever felt like it did then. So what do you all think?
Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 6:38 pm
by bobbi o
the local lads either want to earn big money in a qualified trade,want to work in a call centre or anywhere theirs no manual labour or cant be rsed to get out their bed and are happy to scrape by on the bru. there are of course exceptions to this rule,but they are hard to find.
i'm with you. i've got 3 poles and would happily take on more.
Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 7:04 pm
by Dave_L
Good on them I say, puts a lot of our workers to shame.
Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 8:15 pm
by seanandruby
I don't mind them they do work hard. But big firms are taking them on by the thousand. There has been 10.000 recruited in Poland for the Olympics. We all know what cheap labour will do for us eventually, don't we? I work with all east Europeans, hundreds of them. I can tell you that there are some who work their balls off and some who toss it off, just like anywhere. They all stay in their little groups speaking their own lingo. you get maybe one or two of each who know what they are doing, they are more ,or, less training the rest as the job goes on. We had ten steel fixers start one day, a couple had nips a couple had pliers, the rest had nothing. they were taken to their place of work and just stood watching the two with nips. they were gone by break time, and its the same with all trades. 
Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 8:21 pm
by Stuarty
Am i the only one who thought the thread was about polish ( as in boot polish :rock: ) Anyway, ive worked with a couple of Polish lads on site, and they really do work. Ive worked with ex call center employees and all they done was sleep in the van and play on their phones. Im a young'un myself, but i love working outside, and i do like to work hard, a day goes so long when your stood around just fannying about. The money could be better but such as life
Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 8:33 pm
by Dave_L
Stuarty wrote:Am i the only one who thought the thread was about polish (as in boot polish!)
I thought the same - thread title now edited slightly!
Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 9:21 pm
by lutonlagerlout
me and a mate were walking through the arndale market and a sign was up for black polish,he turned around and asked "are there any blacks in poland?" doh!
as for polaks,we have 1 subbie a roofer who has 1 pole working for him,now he is a nice enough lad but if left alone can be rough as arseholes
when i pointed out some sloppy pointing on a roof ridge he stated that because of communism no one ever really learned a building trade properly
also he has been here 6 years and is going home at xmas because he is sick of the *NEW* wave of poles that are here now (10,000 in luton) who are basically ne'er do wells
he reckons ppl in poland are waiting a year for roofing work because all the builders are here and in germany,so he is saving up and going back to start up his own firm.
i personally wont use any direct because we work inside as well as outside people's houses and i need to employ people whose references etc i can verify,apart from the apprentice we have all worked together for at least 10 years
regards LLL 
Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 9:59 pm
by Pablo
Ive got 6 lads working for me and 2 of them are Poles. We're very happy with them they work hard and carry out instructions to the letter. They use their initiative whenever I'm not around and find things to do. We start at 8am and they are always there at 7.50 and set about loading the vans for the day without any prompting. They come up to me and shake my hand every morning and are very polite to clients. Language can sometimes be a bother but I keep it real simple and it usually works. They can't drive for shit though and are being sent on a 1 day refresher next week in the hope that my vans will stay in one piece. On the other hand its a nightmare trying to find and keep a local fella that doesn't need his hand holding to get through the day efficiently and neatly. I reckon it comes down to responsibility in Poland they wolud starve if they didn't get off their Ar8es if they make a mistake then they have to deal with the after effects. In the Uk so many people don't take responsibility for anything and are so used to someone else sorting out the mess they created by saying its not their department.
Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 10:06 pm
by ski
Good grief I thought my father was the the only person who used to say "bloody hell thats as rough as arseoles!" I have recently cut and pitched the roof on my own extension( Hips, valleys, new hips in to the old roof-quite complex), a barn conversion and the chippies were very good though they do not always work things out the way I would. I think they have a better attitude than most local guys I come across. They are more motivated-maybe because things are grim back in polski. I went to the wedding of my machine driver, and I felt they valued community more than we do, drink more vodka than we do, but seriously you listen to people my age(46ish) who had friends disappear in the night when solidarity was gaining ground and you realise how lucky we are to have a stable system. I think we benefit enormously from them, if they all upped and left tomorrow the building industry would grind to a halt.
Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 10:37 pm
by hondacrm
This is the second year the company I work for has recruited from Poland to fill the skills gap. I have no first hand knowledge but talking to a number of our site foreman and engineers, the comments are positve. Our work is seasonal in nature and the polish lads are recruited on temporary contracts. There has to be one english speaker in a gang for Health & Safety reasons, work instructions, etc so it is difficult to split them up across the rest of the workforce. I think the demand will last for about 5 to 10 years, after that the workload will drop back to more normal levels. We do bring new people into the business and train them but cannot do it quickly enough to meet the current requirements.
Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 7:10 am
by Dave_L
What an excellent thread this is! Certainly a nice positive attitude to the Poles.
One boom area at the moment (if you have any spare cash) is to buy a 3 bed terraced house and spilt it up into bedsits and rent out to the Poles. As soon as you get one Pole tennant in, word spreads (they sort of self advertise!) and all your rooms will be taken. They don't wreck the joint, pay on time etc etc unlike any Brit tennats. Going rate down here is between £300 and £350/room per month - do that maths and you're onto a winner.
Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 7:33 am
by lutonlagerlout
i really wouldn't be buying anymore buy-to-lets at the minute dave,i have a couple and IMHO the property market is about to go seriously tits up,dated 29th may 2007 lets see what happens eh?
cheers LLL
Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 2:09 pm
by mouldmaker
The property market's been about to go seriously tits up for over a year now. And even if property prices crash, as long as incoming rents exceed mortgage payments, you're on a winner.
Seems like every building site in London I've visited this year is staffed almost exclusively by poles, under a brit site manager or foreman. Like with the Mexicans in the US, if they all went home we'd fall apart.
Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 9:14 pm
by lutonlagerlout
but mr mouldmaker ,with all the loons getting interest only mortgages and relying on rates staying low,income wont exceed rent if the rate rises another 1 % for a lot of people
every 1% costs me about £100 extra per month on every hundred K borrowed
dont really want to think how much my total debt is to BS ,lets just say its a lot,but i did mine a few years back so should be ok
cheers LLL
Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 3:04 am
by matt h
have had mixed experiences with our polish counterparts... for the most positive, but one particular site had to be condemned due to their lack of understanding of building regulations... what soundproofing... what dpc... what is tanking,,,and as for gas pipework...