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BCExpat wrote:So RD, are you the middle eastern guy in the beat up old truck? I don't see you as the white guy with the I-pad

Ha...no not that guy. Just a builder who is tired of paying through the nose for shit work. Might as well start using the brown guys, same quality in the end, just a whole lot cheaper is all. I tell you what though, the brown guys work day is a twice as long as whitey. Whitey shows up 8:00 finishes coffee, starts to set up tools at 8:30, just when he is getting in a work groove he calls for a 10:00 coffee break at 9:45 drives 15 miles to Tim Hortons, comes back 25 minutes later, sits down enjoys that shit coffee, reads those free newspapers, ie 24, goes back to work at 10:45, then calls break somewhere between 12:00 and 12:30, this break is usually an hour, back at it at 1:00, work till 2:30 calls for a quick 15 minute break talks shite for a half an hour goes back to work only to start packing up tools at about 3:30, drives away from the job site at 3:59. 8 hours in on the their time card. All the while, brown guy up on the roof or installing insulation or drywall, after starting at 7:00 am has just takin his first break at 4:00 sips tea for a 15 minutes then goes back to work to about 5:30 - 6:00.

This my friend, is the fact.

RoyalDude wrote: day is a twice as long as whitey. Whitey shows up 8:00

This my friend, is the fact.

At this point I find it easier to keep track of who RD doesn't hate than who he does. The hate list is so much longer...

RoyalDude wrote:

BCExpat wrote:So RD, are you the middle eastern guy in the beat up old truck? I don't see you as the white guy with the I-pad

Ha...no not that guy. Just a builder who is tired of paying through the nose for shit work. Might as well start using the brown guys, same quality in the end, just a whole lot cheaper is all. I tell you what though, the brown guys work day is a twice as long as whitey. Whitey shows up 8:00 finishes coffee, starts to set up tools at 8:30, just when he is getting in a work groove he calls for a 10:00 coffee break at 9:45 drives 15 miles to Tim Hortons, comes back 25 minutes later, sits down enjoys that shit coffee, reads those free newspapers, ie 24, goes back to work at 10:45, then calls break somewhere between 12:00 and 12:30, this break is usually an hour, back at it at 1:00, work till 2:30 calls for a quick 15 minute break talks shite for a half an hour goes back to work only to start packing up tools at about 3:30, drives away from the job site at 3:59. 8 hours in on the their time card. All the while, brown guy up on the roof or installing insulation or drywall, after starting at 7:00 am has just takin his first break at 4:00 sips tea for a 15 minutes then goes back to work to about 5:30 - 6:00.

This my friend, is the fact.

Yup, that's because the brown guys are normally subs or on some type of piece rate system and treat their job like it's like their own little business.

As for the quality, if you train them to do it right, and constantly push quality and customer service, they will do very bit as well at whitey.

*bites tongue*

Potatoe1 wrote: Yup, that's because the brown guys are normally subs or on some type of piece rate system and treat their job like it's like their own little business.

As for the quality, if you train them to do it right, and constantly push quality and customer service, they will do very bit as well at whitey.

Hey Potski did ya catch this post:

viewtopic.php?p=137724#p137724

BCExpat wrote: So RD, are you the middle eastern guy

Close!

Couldn't resist....

When in Rome.....

RoyalDude wrote:

BCExpat wrote:So RD, are you the middle eastern guy in the beat up old truck? I don't see you as the white guy with the I-pad

Ha...no not that guy. Just a builder who is tired of paying through the nose for shit work. .

Take no creed in my opinion - but as a builder shouldn't you have your own trusted trades workers? Or is this more of a new gig for you?

It is a teething pain of many a good small business and one that kills some.

They build a good reputation and clientele based upon their solid work. Business improves and they take on more than they can chew. Hire new folks and can not adequately supervise them. Quality suffers, reputation falls off the map.

Owner may be a great tradesman, but lacks business sence

Topper wrote:It is a teething pain of many a good small business and one that kills some.

They build a good reputation and clientele based upon their solid work. Business improves and they take on more than they can chew. Hire new folks and can not adequately supervise them. Quality suffers, reputation falls off the map.

Owner may be a great tradesman, but lacks business sence

This

Basically what I was trying to say in not so many words.

Topper wrote:It is a teething pain of many a good small business and one that kills some.

They build a good reputation and clientele based upon their solid work. Business improves and they take on more than they can chew. Hire new folks and can not adequately supervise them. Quality suffers, reputation falls off the map.

Owner may be a great tradesman, but lacks business sence

In my industry we're seeing a tend in small and medium sized businesses where owners are hiring business consultants to 'run' direct the business affairs while the owners/ founders focus on the core strengths of the business. It allows them to do what they do best without having to run a company.

Not all people can evolve into good CEOs no matter what size the business.

Topper wrote:When in Rome.....

+ 1 billion

It starts at the top.

You set the standard for how the work must be done. You hire the right people with integrity, knowledge, work ethic and skills who want to work for the guy who does the job right. The tough part is not just finding said tradesman, but retaining them with competitive wages/benefits.

It's a dog eat dog business, but it all starts at the top.

Thought I would post an update on the basement reno.

This looking into the bathroom with shower base, toilet and plumbing we have one coat of paint up before all the millwork and flooring is in just for efficiency.



This is looking at closet and doorway to bedroom. Bit of a screw up here is the window size does meet code for a bedroom so we have not put a door on the room until after inspection.



This is the laundry room or part of it where the washer and dryer will go and millwork. It's hard to get the whole room in a photo on an iphone.


This looks towards the rec area from the 'office' and laundry room



This is the new mechanical room with brand new electric boiler and all the plumbing- not cheap!



This looks down at the media wall. Waiting for the millwork and the and accent features to go in. All the speaker wire as been run and there is a big 2" conduit pipe to run cables and from consoles to the TV.



Finally this is looking back from the media wall. There is the new electrical panel and there will be millwork and storage buitl in around it but it has to be redesigned as we moved all that from a different wall when we changed the layout during contstruction.



Still waiting on the flooring to arrive and then all the lights to go in and the final electrical tie-ins for dimmers and baseboard heaters as well plus the 'office' window. It's coming but man it's really ground to a halt while you wait for things to arrive.

So close to being done I can taste it. There was a major screw up with our millwork order so that added a huge delay to everything. It's dragged on a bit the last two months due to a bunch of things with my contractor trying to beat the weather on his other jobs but there are two doors left to hang and that's it!

Will post the final photos later.