Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2010 8:41 pm
So I am building a house in Luanda, Angola; a country that was colonised by the Portuguese who themselves are keen tilers. As Angola is hot and dusty, people do not want carpet in their houses and as the Portuguese taught Angolans how to build houses, tiles are very popular as a flooring material throughout a house. Meanwhile, here in England, people really only tile bathrooms and kitchens so orders in tile shops here are normaly just for between 10 and 30m2 I would imagine.
So the other day, I walked in to Tile Clearance Warehouse, which seems to be a chain that sells tiles and some lines IMO are very good value.
A young lad asks if he can help me so I explain I want to buy a few tiles and he responds that he hopes that he can help me...
I pointed to a tile and said "I want 110m2 of that". He looks gobsmacked and asks if I have my measurements right. I explain that I have to tile a whole ground floor of a house. "Oh right" he responds. "And that tile there, I want 110m2 of that as I have to tile the upstairs," I said. "Big house," he replies. To which I responded that it was a good size. "And that cheap tile there at £5.95, I want 200m2 of that," I said. "200m2, why do you need that much?" he goes, so I reply that I have to tile the flat roof/barbecue area on top of the house as well as the floors in the servant's quarters. I then bought wall tiles (all with listellos and contrasting colours) for nine bathrooms (each one different), two kitchens, a laundry and what Angolans call a dispenser (a sort of larder). I also bought a load of trim and all grout.
The bill came in at just over GBP9000 so I paid and he said it would be ready in a week or two. He said the company would have difficulty delivering to me as the courier they use can only carry one tonne at a time and it would cost a lot having him go back and forth (I can't remember how much). So I asked him to calculate how much it would all weigh so I could hire a suitable truck. They weigh just over 12 tonne and are approx 700m2...
So I found a company that claimed to have a truck (and driver) that could carry 12 tonne and had a tail lift and sent it down there the other day. When the lorry got to my yard I noticed it had no tail lift and I had a chat with the driver after we had unloaded using a telehandler and he told me they had problems at Tile Warehouse as there was no forklift so they couldn't load the tiles on to the truck. Fortunately the builder's merchant across the road came to the rescue with one of theirs. But while he was waiting for the forklift he had a chat with a couple of lads at Tile Warehouse.
Apparently Tile Warehouse pay individual commissions to each employee on the sales they put through the till. Apparently I spent more in one hour than that branch of Tile Warehouse turns over in a typical week, so the young lad did well on his commission that week! But to rub it in, my order was so large that it caused chaos in the shop as they did not have space in the shop for all these tiles that arrived from all over the place and the order was so large that the other lads all had to help load 12 tonnes of tiles on to pallets, but they didn't get a penny of the commission as it all went to the one lad.
I imagine they will be fighting to serve me when I next go back!
So the other day, I walked in to Tile Clearance Warehouse, which seems to be a chain that sells tiles and some lines IMO are very good value.
A young lad asks if he can help me so I explain I want to buy a few tiles and he responds that he hopes that he can help me...
I pointed to a tile and said "I want 110m2 of that". He looks gobsmacked and asks if I have my measurements right. I explain that I have to tile a whole ground floor of a house. "Oh right" he responds. "And that tile there, I want 110m2 of that as I have to tile the upstairs," I said. "Big house," he replies. To which I responded that it was a good size. "And that cheap tile there at £5.95, I want 200m2 of that," I said. "200m2, why do you need that much?" he goes, so I reply that I have to tile the flat roof/barbecue area on top of the house as well as the floors in the servant's quarters. I then bought wall tiles (all with listellos and contrasting colours) for nine bathrooms (each one different), two kitchens, a laundry and what Angolans call a dispenser (a sort of larder). I also bought a load of trim and all grout.
The bill came in at just over GBP9000 so I paid and he said it would be ready in a week or two. He said the company would have difficulty delivering to me as the courier they use can only carry one tonne at a time and it would cost a lot having him go back and forth (I can't remember how much). So I asked him to calculate how much it would all weigh so I could hire a suitable truck. They weigh just over 12 tonne and are approx 700m2...
So I found a company that claimed to have a truck (and driver) that could carry 12 tonne and had a tail lift and sent it down there the other day. When the lorry got to my yard I noticed it had no tail lift and I had a chat with the driver after we had unloaded using a telehandler and he told me they had problems at Tile Warehouse as there was no forklift so they couldn't load the tiles on to the truck. Fortunately the builder's merchant across the road came to the rescue with one of theirs. But while he was waiting for the forklift he had a chat with a couple of lads at Tile Warehouse.
Apparently Tile Warehouse pay individual commissions to each employee on the sales they put through the till. Apparently I spent more in one hour than that branch of Tile Warehouse turns over in a typical week, so the young lad did well on his commission that week! But to rub it in, my order was so large that it caused chaos in the shop as they did not have space in the shop for all these tiles that arrived from all over the place and the order was so large that the other lads all had to help load 12 tonnes of tiles on to pallets, but they didn't get a penny of the commission as it all went to the one lad.
I imagine they will be fighting to serve me when I next go back!