Sparky £100 per hour

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Most of the trades fellas I work with/for/work for me are in there 50s I'd say there's a real shortage coming down the line , most young lads now mind are computing etc they don't want the graft.

This is true and it's harder than ever to get into a trade now...the cost of a van, insurance, storage, tools are prohibitive for most.

I've had improver ads out and get very little interest.

There has to be a massive shift in government policy from the Blair days of encouraging everyone to get a degree...don't think it will happen...
 
Awwww...got a little tear in my eye reading that
..does jonnywonny want a cuddle

G** THREAD CLOSED!!!
I do mate and some salt and vinegar crisps . And can you go finish that room of for me as I the thought of it f**k**g pains me
 
Plasterers do get paid the sh*test of all trades and one of the hardest trades which no customers or builders want to take on? Doesn't add up...

When we take our car for MOT we happily pay £45 per hour for labour

even a driving lesson £55 per hour

but plastering some people charge as little as £20 per hour...
With all due respect to plasterers, by no measure (physically, mentally, skill level, overheads, training length/cost) is it one of the hardest trades. That's not to say it isn't a skill which requires graft but it's not at the top.

Even looking at the examples you've given, bare minimum for an MOT station set up is £40k plus the premises overheads (which will be in five figures), plus wages for whoever is doing it. Driving instructor has eye watering insurance, plus the cost of the car, plus wages. A plasterer can earn a living with a couple of hundred quid's worth of tools and a van.
 
With all due respect to plasterers, by no measure (physically, mentally, skill level, overheads, training length/cost) is it one of the hardest trades. That's not to say it isn't a skill which requires graft but it's not at the top.

Even looking at the examples you've given, bare minimum for an MOT station set up is £40k plus the premises overheads (which will be in five figures), plus wages for whoever is doing it. Driving instructor has eye watering insurance, plus the cost of the car, plus wages. A plasterer can earn a living with a couple of hundred quid's worth of tools and a van.

we've 20 sites on
there flying up to quick :frenetico:

full of young joiners
rest are old age geezers lol
20210702_151628.jpg
 
The age thing is definitely a problem on the horizon. Just from observation there seems to be two or three times as many leaving trades than there are starting.

il be honest mate
my young man I have is fuucking useless
has absolutely no brains or stamina
can't think for himself and wants an easy ride


as from Monday his holiday times are over
I need to be firmer with him

feels like I'm gonna break his heart when I tell him he's doing wrong :rayos: :rayos:
 
il be honest mate
my young man I have is fuucking useless
has absolutely no brains or stamina
can't think for himself and wants an easy ride


as from Monday his holiday times are over
I need to be firmer with him

feels like I'm gonna break his heart when I tell him he's doing wrong :rayos: :rayos:
I've given up on the idea of a youngster/apprentice, which is a shame both for me and them really. There's a huge amount of knowledge, information, contacts and mistakes which don't need to be made again, that will retire with me. Not to mention a fully operational profitable business with a good reputation which will cease trading.

Still, on the plus side I shall enjoy watching it all unfold when a generation of influencers, game developers, media studies graduates and nearly great football players suddenly realise they have no clue how to build or fix anything.

disgusted face GIF
 
I've given up on the idea of a youngster/apprentice, which is a shame both for me and them really. There's a huge amount of knowledge, information, contacts and mistakes which don't need to be made again, that will retire with me. Not to mention a fully operational profitable business with a good reputation which will cease trading.

Still, on the plus side I shall enjoy watching it all unfold when a generation of influencers, game developers, media studies graduates and nearly great football players suddenly realise they have no clue how to build or fix anything.

disgusted face GIF

a generation of cuunts basically :risas2:
 
Pretty much, but then I'm fairly confident that there were similar thoughts and conversations in the boozer during the '70s and '80s. They were right then just as we are now. :sisi:

I was telling my brother about the young
lad ....he's looking for 1.

then he reminded me of his days labouring

Neil wheres the angle trowel

Big donegal lad


ITS IN YER FUUUUUUCKING HAND DAAAAAAVE

:risas2: :risas2: :risas2: :risas2:
 
With all due respect to plasterers, by no measure (physically, mentally, skill level, overheads, training length/cost) is it one of the hardest trades. That's not to say it isn't a skill which requires graft but it's not at the top.

Even looking at the examples you've given, bare minimum for an MOT station set up is £40k plus the premises overheads (which will be in five figures), plus wages for whoever is doing it. Driving instructor has eye watering insurance, plus the cost of the car, plus wages. A plasterer can earn a living with a couple of hundred quid's worth of tools and a van.
A plumber once made a similar point to me
 
A plumber once made a similar point to me
It's not a criticism of plasterers, it's just that comparing the rates different trades charge is comparing apples with oranges.

When it happens it always reminds me of the same chat starting in the site canteen, '87 or '88, between a sparky and a Scottish spread. The spread was moaning that the sparkies were getting paid a fortune and turning up at 10:00. There was the usual back and forth, then the sparky got a bit too cocky and said
"Well you should have worked harder at school and then you wouldn't have to now."

Whilst that was probably true, it really wasn't the best idea to actually say it.

"Are ye calling me thick ya c**t?"

and just like that it all kicked off. Tea and sandwiches knocked all over the place, sparkies and spread knocking lumps out of one another, and the Geordie chippy I shared a lift with pulling me off to one side "Leave 'em to it lad."

Simpler happier times. :LOL:
 
I just take it as an average at the end of the year, some projects I win on,some I break even or even lose money, our jobs/projects range from a grand to over a hundred grand. It's when outside factors such as adverse weather which I can't factor in, for instance May this year was one of the wettest for a hundred years, it cost me a fortune in lost revenue, yet I still had all my fixed costs.
do you not do any internal plastering owls, i mean well done doing nothing but rendering in this country with this climate, you would make a fortune down south and a better climate
 
With all due respect to plasterers, by no measure (physically, mentally, skill level, overheads, training length/cost) is it one of the hardest trades. That's not to say it isn't a skill which requires graft but it's not at the top.

Even looking at the examples you've given, bare minimum for an MOT station set up is £40k plus the premises overheads (which will be in five figures), plus wages for whoever is doing it. Driving instructor has eye watering insurance, plus the cost of the car, plus wages. A plasterer can earn a living with a couple of hundred quid's worth of tools and a van.
mate has a scaffolding buisness, he tells me he needs an income of 17,000 quid a week every week just to stand still, thats all his overheads, office staff/ employs a mechanic /scaffolders/rates/electric/fuel/ insurance etc etc etc
tells me it is a worry when he has to much work on and a worry when he has not enough on,
i just could not do it, 17,000 quid a week overheads
 
mate has a scaffolding buisness, he tells me he needs an income of 17,000 quid a week every week just to stand still, thats all his overheads, office staff/ employs a mechanic /scaffolders/rates/electric/fuel/ insurance etc etc etc
tells me it is a worry when he has to much work on and a worry when he has not enough on,
i just could not do it, 17,000 quid a week overheads
Half that then he's telling truth
 
It's not a criticism of plasterers, it's just that comparing the rates different trades charge is comparing apples with oranges.

When it happens it always reminds me of the same chat starting in the site canteen, '87 or '88, between a sparky and a Scottish spread. The spread was moaning that the sparkies were getting paid a fortune and turning up at 10:00. There was the usual back and forth, then the sparky got a bit too cocky and said
"Well you should have worked harder at school and then you wouldn't have to now."

Whilst that was probably true, it really wasn't the best idea to actually say it.

"Are ye calling me thick ya c**t?"

and just like that it all kicked off. Tea and sandwiches knocked all over the place, sparkies and spread knocking lumps out of one another, and the Geordie chippy I shared a lift with pulling me off to one side "Leave 'em to it lad."

Simpler happier times. :LOL:
Any decent site spread is pissing over what a site spark is earning down where I am , Not even close
 
do you not do any internal plastering owls, i mean well done doing nothing but rendering in this country with this climate, you would make a fortune down south and a better climate
I used to, but moved away from internals about 10 years ago, it just became a race to the bottom and margins getting squeezed etc.
I find externals more profitable particularly on domestics as we do leadwork, replacement gutters etc and also gives a bit of variety.
Winters are generally getting milder just seem to be wet and you can get a week of wet weather in July...it slows down In winter, I just tick over.
 
I used to, but moved away from internals about 10 years ago, it just became a race to the bottom and margins getting squeezed etc.
Winters are generally getting milder just seem to be wet and you can get a week of wet weather in July...it slows down In winter, I just tick over.
on holiday in helmsley last year and had a walk one day onto a bank that was being renovated, talked to 2 buiders and they were saying the same at helmsley, winters definately milder and even sutton bank not as blocked as in previous years, going back to helmsley in september, 10 years on the trot
 
mate has a scaffolding buisness, he tells me he needs an income of 17,000 quid a week every week just to stand still, thats all his overheads, office staff/ employs a mechanic /scaffolders/rates/electric/fuel/ insurance etc etc etc
tells me it is a worry when he has to much work on and a worry when he has not enough on,
i just could not do it, 17,000 quid a week overheads
A good pall of mine runs a decent size roofing outfit, he tells me his outgoings are north of 100 grand a month, so you'd think he'd be doing alright in life,yet he's still as tight as a camels arse in a sandstorm...worry is all relative isn't it, a one man band spread can worry about finding work, and putting food on the table.
I'm somewhere in the middle, quite a few lads rely on me for work and money coming in and there's a bit of pressure on that I guess, but it's what Im used to, besides if you owe the bank 10 grand, you've got a problem, if you owe the bank 100 grand, they've got a problem...
 
A good pall of mine runs a decent size roofing outfit, he tells me his outgoings are north of 100 grand a month, so you'd think he'd be doing alright in life,yet he's still as tight as a camels arse in a sandstorm...worry is all relative isn't it, a one man band spread can worry about finding work, and putting food on the table.
I'm somewhere in the middle, quite a few lads rely on me for work and money coming in and there's a bit of pressure on that I guess, but it's what Im used to, besides if you owe the bank 10 grand, you've got a problem, if you owe the bank 100 grand, they've got a problem...


I've finally gave up mate
4 contract phones in this house

all sharing 1 charger :rayos: :ROFLMAO:
 
A good pall of mine runs a decent size roofing outfit, he tells me his outgoings are north of 100 grand a month, so you'd think he'd be doing alright in life,yet he's still as tight as a camels arse in a sandstorm...worry is all relative isn't it, a one man band spread can worry about finding work, and putting food on the table.
I'm somewhere in the middle, quite a few lads rely on me for work and money coming in and there's a bit of pressure on that I guess, but it's what Im used to, besides if you owe the bank 10 grand, you've got a problem, if you owe the bank 100 grand, they've got a problem...
Similar situation for me, find it harder getting decent lads than finding work at the moment
 
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