Starting up weekends?

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I work full time for the council and to be honest I don't earn enough! Since the cutbacks they've stopped all overtime so money's tight! Have any of you ever worked full time and set up a legitimate business working weekends only and can it work? Obviously if things got really busy I'd **** the council off!
 
thats the way most of started i suppose... i worked for a company... great lads also... but i started doing private jobs at weekends for family and friends and my name got known around town, but the problem i found was that i was competing with about 10 others who advertised in the local rags... so prices got drove down... so thats when i decided to set my sights further a field and started working away where the bigger money was.

PS still cant compete with the locals so still travelling
 
Would be hard doing weekends what if customer want full house reskim ? take you twenty weekends? i dont think so.
Ok for the odd room here and there cash in hand but u wont make a business this way.You will not win enough work only working weekends.
To be honest i think to make any plastering business sucseed at the minute involves a lot of luck, there are so many spreads out there.
Id stick to ur crapy council wage till things pick up and count my self as lucky i got a regular job with regular income for the family.
 
whats to stop you subbing the work out for a profit? got any good plastering mates that maybe give you a hand in the past?
 
yeah I started at weekends on me tod... then just started doing 4 days for a firm etc...

you got to do what you got to do mate whatever it takes to provide for the family.

If you get a whole house that needs skimming do what Chris said and do it on the weekend then sub the rest out etc chances are you wont get a whole house you will just get ceilings and small rooms.... (my own experience)

Good luck

Danny
 
I would like to have enough jobs to work weekends, my brother was a seven day a week man, on site during the week privates at weekends.
4 years ago he was booked up solid for three months, now all he's got is his site work and he has to knock his nuts out on day work, as skiming2day said think yourself lucky when you go back to work on the 4th after two weeks holiday with pay
 
I personally think that it's time to look into better financial rewarding jobs at present like pushing trolleys in morrisons!
 
Yeah I have to say I am not in any rush to get back on teh tools full time... The money is still there to be had but I am not in the mood for working my nuts off.

I was told last year by a very old looking man

"Dont retire Tired"
 
Hey Danny
I was out with the dog on the beach and I said morning like you do to this old man and He just said "poverty and old age is the curse of the working class" It just blew me away .
 
well i can be both danny and henry, i was walking in to my local the other day and some blokes were taking away the old cooker still with the tin foil under the grills to catch the fat. our resident pisshead (you know the one who wears the same clothes everyday, smells and lives in the pub 24/7) said to them 'lads before you take that can i have the tinfoil to put on my head and stop the aliens getting me' and yes he was serious
 
well i can be both danny and henry, i was walking in to my local the other day and some blokes were taking away the old cooker still with the tin foil under the grills to catch the fat. our resident pisshead (you know the one who wears the same clothes everyday, smells and lives in the pub 24/7) said to them 'lads before you take that can i have the tinfoil to put on my head and stop the aliens getting me' and yes he was serious

And remember to stuff socks and toothpaste in the gaps round your doors and windows to stop the hands and faces from getting in... :RpS_blink:
 
Thanks for the replies, I understand I can't do full house reskims in a week but as well as being qualified in plastering i'm also a qualified in roofing and solid fuel installation plus very experienced in general building so plenty of strings to my bow so hopefully there should be plenty of work, ie i could board and skim ceilings, full room glue n skims, velux installs, flat roofs, roof repairs ect. just have no life!!!

I'm wasted on the council!!!
 
Roofer im much like u can do many building jobs and to a v good standard too.
But there just isnt the work ( well good work ) out there att he minute and the work that s there its seem like im having to quote cheap to get it.
Personally on some jobs ive done this year ive charged a day rate less than i was earning 5 year ago and thats the truth.
Also down my way people are getting 5 6 7 quotes 2 year ago thed get maybe 2 quotes everyone wants to save money.
Reality is it aint gonna get better and personally i think itsl get worse.
So be great full u got a secure job with pension and holiday pay.
 
hi daz

one thing i said to u is when u first started plastering last year was
get out and move away from barrow its a hell hole u live in
no work. wages are crap, house are rubbish, Unemployment is high
2 up 2 down house is worth only £30,000 to 40,000 max
one good thing about where u live is the is the road out of from it
live some where better, or get away out of the area.
then u will then u will get better jobs and better money... better living
i always said that to u
i not putting u down, just saying how it is from some one who knows .....
 
I've been plastering Alot longer than a year mate and completed my nvq in 2009 Your right about where I live though but with kids settled in school and Mrs a student nurse at the local hospital moving isn't an option at this time!
 
work away roofer.... dont tell me youve never done it? as a young bloke youll p'ss all youre earnings up the wall but as a more 'mature' bloke youll have a lot less to prove and wont mind chillin in front of the telly at night in the digs, besides, it'll give you some 'me' time...
councils / housing associations are still carrying out the upgrades on their properties, theyve got no bleedin choice and the money is miles better working for a contractor on price than for the council direct on a salary or hourly rate... i was making 6-900 regular 1 up and done for 3 most days...
it all got shook up a bit when the coalition got in power and a lot of people went to the wall but the work will still be there when they sort themselves out again...
i wouldnt be surprised if every council in the country is madly spending the last of last years budget even now and properties get added onto the list in chunks, not always in one big hit...
just a thought...
its one of those jobs that you can either do, or you cant, it's not so much about the skill as being prepared, organised and knowing every trick in the book to get the job passed... and having experienced working directly for the council youll know whats expected... and how to make it pay if you were on a price...
 
I've always worked away mate before I took this job in sept 09! I was self employed and made atleast 120 a day but the recession hit and work stopped! Problem was I always worked for the same main contractor and never built up any contacts! I'll keep my eye open for work away but I think I've got stuck in a rut with the "security" of the job working as a council Builder! I've got some serious thinking! Spoke to some of the lads I used to work with and they're clearing £550 after tax on a contract on Wales!!! I think that's what's got me thinking!!!!
 
u said u passed in 2009 ur nvq
but to be a trademan and run ur own bussiness take time and a lot of hard work to build up ur customer base.
and make alot of mistakes doing so.
it took me 4-5 years to get a good customer base now years later i been away 8 months i come back i got work start away...
so u been in it for 5 mins.
ok are u time serve with other plasterers for 2 years or more?
and learn to do the job right?
this is what ur missing by not working with other plasterers and gone straight into work for the council...
and doing other bits
pricing, quotes. invoiceing, how long the job can takes, the do and donts with plastering,
working with a gang of lads u will do bigger jobs and some small ones and learn loads
so like dashing and rendering, k- rend, and plastering whole houses inside and out, tanking and damp proofing.
i think u will need to back track a bit and have a good think where u want to end up at the end of the day or aonther year on and no better off..
i am saying this to daz as i think u could be a good plasterer and run own bussiness one day but there is a right way to go about it.... it not easy i know
 
The work for the council is plastering, we do full house reskims, dashing, rendering, float and set! It ain't just patching! Got spreads who've been on sites for 20 years working along side me and I'm just as fast and quality of finish as them so I know my standard is good! I appreciate what your saying chris but you've got the b&b business aswell as the plastering so capital was never a problem with you! Your a good spread but I'm a builder with experience in lots of areas as well as plastering so when I set up i'll do the lot! Roofing, blockwork, Plastering, fires and chimney work total renovation!
 
b&b? not me mate, I just do general building work... always have, odd bit of welding when it goes sh'te...
running a full blown 'building company' is hard going mate, you'll find you need bodies straight away, and good uns at that, you cant start with muppets...
Thing is, when you can pretty much do everything yourself, and youve got a good spark and a good plumber in your phone that you give all that sort of stuff to... you can top up your profits with what you make off em... and because you know what youre doing, other trades cant take the p'ss..
dont listen to me though mate, I've been 'too cheap' for donkeys years, prolly cos I just get on and get the job done and feel embarrassed about charging people silly money for what is a days work... though that said, always charge the same for a bloke whether he's a qualified plasterer or an 'operative', as far as the customer is concerned its 'man hours on the job'
I dont mind working cheaper for established tradesmen cos theyve done the legwork and got the work, all ive gotta do is turn up and bash it out and keep em informed of any changes...
Ive got a feeling its gonna get better this year anyway, dont ask me why, I just have, something to do with being knocked on your arse and coming back at it stronger yet again and not letting the tw"ts get you down... or maybe I've just got so used to being on my arse that every sh'tty little bit of work I get is appreciated more than it ever was...
 
daz
i set up my plastering and tiling buiness from nothing and started as a plasterers mate i was on £200 aweek
mixing up by hand for to other 2 plasterers and just like anyone, alot of hard work,
there is a right way and a wrong in buiness when working for ur self
i do plumbing jorniry plastering tiling and house, kitchen and bathroom refubs
but i am a still a plasterer and i love it even still now after all those years..
and ye i own a b&b now but not aways did, but i still had to work to pay for it including doing weekends. i was offer u some help in any way or means and i still do.
as for council they are all doing cut backs, barrow have aspent a lot over the last 5 years. i know becoz i work in barrow doing the refurb kitchen and bathrooms i was on the 5 year contract. i also did kendal council work that was not much better, money was good but it was price work!!!! more work u did more u got.
some of us started at 7am and finish at 7 pm 6 days a week
it was full of drugs, houses smell of piss and s**t. even one woman piss her self and had a fit on the dush sheets! what do u do then when u are on price work?????
cant get in to house as there are in bed or drug up, no wages for the day!
guys shooting and smoking drugs in the room or next door
and i had to wipe my feet on the way out of the door to clean then
dont put me wrong there is some house that was clean and nice but i can only remember a hand full
i hated it i seen some sites that i wish i never will see again...
and in barrow they dash with crush sea shells!!! becoz it is cheep, and they wont pay
my bro has 2 houses in barrow that he rents out. y for him bort them i dont know
i spent more time and cost doing it up for him than what he pay for them... what does that say to u!!!
i just saying sometimes u need look in the long term. do u want to bring ur kids up in that kind of area where employment is high and no work, barrow will always be like this.......
or move away to some where better and give ur kids and u a chance of some better in life???
 
I don't work in barrow mate I work for south lakes council in Ulverston, Windermere, bowness, Ambleside ect! When mrs qualifies we will move mate that was always the plan but apart from certain areas it ain't that bad here, I think your confusing it with the Bronx???? Anyway cheers for the advise but I think I know my gameplan from now on!
 
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