Labourers

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How many lads on here use a labourer ?

Is it hassle / worth the hassle ?
Do you have them on the books or just have them in when needed ?

Without sounding like a dick, ive always been busy, but always shy ed away from having a lad in case work dried up and i had to let them down, also don't know if they'd make the job any quicker just my life easier.

Got the chance to take a young lad on whos an absolute grafter which is a rarity nowadays, and only wants £40 a day, for some reason i keep putting off doing it.
 
labourers are like dunkies handy when you need one, but once you have finished just throw em over your shoulder!
 
I took a lad on 12 years ago, trained him up now earns me money plus makes my life easier would never just have somebody to just mix skim up
 
Good labs are hard to come by, You can usually tell within the first week or two if they've got what it takes, if they are keen, interested you can make somthin of them, if they ain't interested there's no point in them being there,just wasting your time.
 
Airborne said:
How many lads on here use a labourer ?

Is it hassle / worth the hassle ?
Do you have them on the books or just have them in when needed ?

Without sounding like a dick, ive always been busy, but always shy ed away from having a lad in case work dried up and i had to let them down, also don't know if they'd make the job any quicker just my life easier.

Got the chance to take a young lad on whos an absolute grafter which is a rarity nowadays, and only wants £40 a day, for some reason i keep putting off doing it.
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I generally have a labourer as we work as two and one gang, very hard to get one full stop in london, much harder to get a good one, I was paying £70 a day through the books after tax that was and he started kicking up in the end saying he deserved more ie £80 a day equal to £500 a week before tax, told him ,no chance, had to let him go in the end as he kept tellying lies and letting me down ,refusing saturday work etc, a good labourer/apprentice is gold but rare, hard to find someone wanting to learn and not moan..
 
A good labourer IMO is worth their weight in gold, if you get a good one look after him, and he'll look after you
 
if i had one all hed/she'd do was take the stuff out of the van and clean the bucket then sit round for the rest of the day not paying someone to do that, also id have to put my prices up to accomodate him/her (i say her because I once had a 16 year old lass work with me for a week)
 
NPS said:
if i had one all hed/she'd do was take the stuff out of the van and clean the bucket then sit round for the rest of the day not paying someone to do that, also id have to put my prices up to accomodate him/her (i say her because I once had a 16 year old lass work with me for a week)
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It depends of course, I can have 250 boards to be carried in,walls to be hacked,mixing,pva ing etc .always work for a labourer, well nearly always, but you make a good point too
 
not for my mate i only do private residential work, no building sites (odd extention now and again but id rather not theres more money in staying with the privates)
 
Airborne said:
How many lads on here use a labourer ?

Is it hassle / worth the hassle ?
Do you have them on the books or just have them in when needed ?

Without sounding like a dick, ive always been busy, but always shy ed away from having a lad in case work dried up and i had to let them down, also don't know if they'd make the job any quicker just my life easier.

Got the chance to take a young lad on whos an absolute grafter which is a rarity nowadays, and only wants £40 a day, for some reason i keep putting off doing it.
Click to expand...

A good lad is worth the hassle ... It don't always make the job quick but a hell of a lot eaiser. You might lose slightly on the odd job moneywise, but you will make more in the long run.

The lad i have is paid cash by me and sorts his own tax and what not out ...

If you've got the chance to take the lad on, you won't look back, but give him 30 a day not 40 :)
 
As above you make money on them if they put the effort in they learn and you teach so there both happy.....you might go through a couple of gobshites but there's some lads out ther willing to lern
 
I trained up two lads, both of them crap labourers but wanted desperately to spread to make more money.
They would learn to skim but not much else.

Over the years they've both undercut me and nicked my builders.

Nice one.

Did have a good labourer off here a few months ago. Good grafter, but the work I could price him in for dried up. Shame really.
 
I was taken on sandsite as a labourer and i actually prefer that part of the job, its more varied. It helps that I'd mix for the 2 lads then throw myself a bucket on as well. I can do the labour part then as much plastering as there's time for or needs doing.
When we were a 1 and 1 gang I'd mix, clean, bead, scrim, cut boards etc then when we started skimming Scott would do tips, I'd follow on bottoms as soon as I'd cleaned or mixed another bucket. I'd get 3 or 4 buckets on the spot and then kick in.
If you have a labourer who can plaster as well you can be quids in and it takes a lot of the graft out of it.
 
We've never had labs unless we're working for a builder and he's got one of his lads to mix for us etc. to push the job on.
Don't have the work to take one on, we've had plenty of letters from young'uns looking for apprenticeships but we can't afford to take anyone on the books.
Practically all our work is small domestic stuff, the larger work we manage by ourselves and muck in together.
 
KevRM said:
A good labourer IMO is worth their weight in gold, if you get a good one look after him, and he'll look after you
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I had a look at your website, really well done, nice and simple. Do you mind me asking about set up and running costs and if its worthwhile. Thanks John
 
johniosaif said:
I had a look at your website, really well done, nice and simple. Do you mind me asking about set up and running costs and if its worthwhile. Thanks John
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Actually the cost for me was very little as i did the site myself, IMO every business should have a website worth every penny you spend on them
 
We got our website for free through an initiative called 'GBBO' (Getting British Businesses Online) which is. Collaboration between Google and BT. It was free for the first two years then after that its just the cost of the domain name (about £2 a year). It's a basic setup but gets you out there - they will of course ring you to try and get you to upgrade for a price lol.

If you can build websites (using Dreamweaver etc) then space canbe bought quite cheaply per month for a basic amount of webspace.
 
I have always had a labrador, a ten a penny, slave, servant, worker bee, unskilled person whatever you call them. I may have to go through a few before I get someone who can put up with me and the job. I never let them be stood for 1 minute. There job is to take out all the back ache and be my loyal servant.

Some show promise and progress onto the tools. Then comes the "i.m labouring and putting on so more money" fair enough. Then they get to a point where they want to do more laying on and no labouring so it's time to take on a new lab. Then they want more money than they are worth so they have to go and enter the real world of getting paid by the metre and not by the day. Some survive, some don,t.

The lab I have now has been with me on and off for 18 years. Thick as two short planks but a grafter and is my personal slave so to speak. Also flexible, on paye but down as part time. If i don't need him then he stays at home. if I do need him he is there with his tail wagging. Well buying him a Turkey for Xmas goes a long way.

When we do fall out we have to sack him for a week or two and we don't half miss him. We kiss and make up and all is forgiven.

Forgot to add, I had a bad time as an apprentice with two labourers. One made me suicidal. Never actually forgiven labourers. In fact I hate em!
 
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rigsby i am thinking about the lab as thick as two short planks.
do you remember the song by peter sellers about a plasterers mate, twit conway, who became a pop star ?
 
malc said:
rigsby i am thinking about the lab as thick as two short planks.
do you remember the song by peter sellers about a plasterers mate, twit conway, who became a pop star ?
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No, never heard. Pete Sellars did my head in as well.
 
Rigsby said:
I have always had a labrador. I may have to go through a few before I get someone who can put up with me and the job. I never let them be stood for 1 minute. There job is to take out all the back ache and be my loyal servant.

Some show promise and progress onto the tools. Then comes the "i.m labouring and putting on so more money" fair enough. Then they get to a point where they want to do more laying on and no labouring so it's time to take on a new lab. Then they want more money than they are worth so they have to go and enter the real world of getting paid by the metre and not by the day. Some survive, some don,t.

The lab I have now has been with me on and off for 18 years. Thick as two short planks but a grafter and is my personal slave so to speak. Also flexible, on paye but down as part time. If i don't need him then he stays at home. if I do need him he is there with his tail wagging. Well buying him a Turkey for Xmas goes a long way.

When we do fall out we have to sack him for a week or two and we don't half miss him. We kiss and make up and all is forgiven.

Forgot to add, I had a bad time as an apprentice with two labourers. One made me suicidal. Never actually forgiven labourers. In fact I hate em!
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I could have wrote the exact same thing.
 
One old timer said a lab needs to be 'comfortably numb' as the song goes, there's a certain saying from Wolverhampton that goes 'Wolverhampton born and bred, strong in the arm and thick in the head'. :RpS_laugh:
 
Rhys said:
One old timer said a lab needs to be 'comfortably numb' as the song goes, there's a certain saying from Wolverhampton that goes 'Wolverhampton born and bred, strong in the arm and bald on the head'. :RpS_laugh:
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thats not fair. Lee can't help it
 
Airborne said:
How many lads on here use a labourer ?

Is it hassle / worth the hassle ?
Do you have them on the books or just have them in when needed ?

Without sounding like a dick, ive always been busy, but always shy ed away from having a lad in case work dried up and i had to let them down, also don't know if they'd make the job any quicker just my life easier.

Got the chance to take a young lad on whos an absolute grafter which is a rarity nowadays, and only wants £40 a day, for some reason i keep putting off doing it.
Click to expand...

had a belter thats totally dropped me in it really, ex para did the graft of 3 men, switched on to fook but unfortunately hes had to go back and do private security again, get the young un' on if hes a grafter and hes keen as a badgers, get him trained and hell earn u double at least and always be loyal to you for giving him the opportunity, good young lads are like 'rocking horses ****' these days mate
 
Were from wolverrrhampton wher the hell are you from...

Example of a wolves slave

Were sitting there having a bit of scram he pipes up " whats a scrotum "
I couldnt stop laughing all day
 
Carltheplasterer said:
had a belter thats totally dropped me in it really, ex para did the graft of 3 men, switched on to fook but unfortunately hes had to go back and do private security again, get the young un' on if hes a grafter and hes keen as a badgers, get him trained and hell earn u double at least and always be loyal to you for giving him the opportunity, good young lads are like 'rocking horses ****' these days mate
Click to expand...

You need to be careful that they don,t become your competition. A lot of mine has but after 2 years they give up. It,s the unpaid time they find hard to do. Admin and looking at jobs you are not going to get. It gets to me as well and even more so now after 31 years of it. When your generation starts to die you begin to realise how important your free time is and wasting it on timewasters gets on your tits a bit.
If they don,t become your competitors they work for your competitors.

Mine realise the the grass is not greener on the other side but I never take them back.

When they become my competitors this song comes to mind..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8p8PYV86wo
 
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ELplastering123 said:
Were from wolverrrhampton wher the hell are you from...

Example of a wolves slave

Were sitting there having a bit of scram he pipes up " whats a scrotum "
I couldnt stop laughing all day
Click to expand...

My (recently ex) missus is a Wulfrunion, and its her dad that told me that lol
 
if they were rigger boots and drag their feet when walking piss them off just my experience with them
 
What's wrong with rigger boots? I wear them all the time and find them very comfy.
 
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