Bitter old spreads

Status
Not open for further replies.
timeservedspread

timeservedspread

New Member
Hello to all my fellow spreads,

Seeing as I’m sat on my arse with not much work booked ithought I’d put my views across on the diabolical work situation we are facing.

My plastering history is, at 18 years old i was given an apprenticeshipby a master plasterer and fibrous plasterer who between them probably suppliedme with about 80 years combined knowledge of both trades.

My apprenticeship was around 5 years, I’m now 43 yearsold and I’m just about as f'd off as i could be with the way our trade has beendumbed down into what can only be described as a farce of epic proportions.

I know from reading posts who the real spreaders are andthere is a fair few on here.

I lay the blame for the diabolical mess we are in on theclowns who operate these (get rich quick) courses, churning out completenovices with serious attitude problems?

Half the questions asked on this site are from monkeyswho are undercutting genuine spreads and who have either been on a course orlaboured on a spread, the f'ing cheek is beyond belief.

Do plastering course / go to screwfix and buy tools / getvan and vinyl lettering / = you are now a plastering contractor?

Well I’m sorry but you are most certainly not!

There is a reason we call ourselves "timeserved" tradesmen and that is we served our time through hard labour not af'ing plastering booth in a heated workshop?

If so-called plasterers need direction on how to do thejob they profess to be so good at then we should not be helping them.

They are the same reason we have to work for peanuts andthey are the clowns who price us out of domestic work.

Site work regs and prices are beyond a joke and in thepast when a recession has happened we always had the domestic market to fallback on, but not now.

We need to adopt the same rules as the Americanplasterers have, a British equivalent of The Operative Plasterers' and CementMasons' International Association of the United States and Canada (OPCMIA).

This is the only way to get the chancers out of our tradeand to make site contractors pay the proper rates for what is without doubt thehardest of all trades.

I’m 43 and sat on my arse at home ringing round for workand pricing jobs which i won’t getbecause some "skimmer" (whatever the f'@k that is) is doing it for 50quid a day.

My years in the plastering game have given me; hands thatlook 200 years old and that don’t havemuch blood circulating in them / 2 arthritic shoulders / i also need a new hipand knee within the next 7 years.
Bitter doesn’t even begin to describe how i feel at thisstage of my life?

Rant over, the upmost respect to my fellow "timeserved" spreads

Jonny
 
well said jonny,but dont think its a rant i think it is a honest assessment of the plastering trade ,apprenticeships,and the state of the industry, on numerous occasions on this site i have said that it is going to get worse ,only for fellow plasterers ,and step forward owls for example to disagree with me because fourtanetly they are busy, but believe me next year is going to get much worse and this recession will be with us for at least 3/4 years before there is any significant improvement,as regards length of apprenticeships my grandfather served 7 years appreticeship in plastering, my uncles served 5 years and when i started in 1976 it was 3 years and that was john laing, so you can see the decline over the years to the point where we are today,i have worked for myself for 19 years now but believe me my phone is dead, i actually picked the phone up today to see if it was working, and it was,no enquiries/estimates/jobs nothing, and believe me i see no improvement at all next year, if youre reading this owls no offence.
 
you av just explained me then, didn't no i ad got a twin ,in the same boat mate and 7 years older, so not twins, same prob with the arms mate and you r spot on with everything that you r saying totally agree .
 
Alreet Johnny. welcome marra.........you'll fit in here cos there's loads of grumpy f**k**s on here...................:RpS_thumbup:
 
dont blame the players.. blame the game.....

Everybody wishes apprenticeships where available but they are not....
 
The game is flooded with people who are (or claim to be) plasterers, so the only way ahead is to market yourself more aggressively. Obviously leaving top-class work every time helps, but we also need to be more business-like. I for one never expected to be Self-Employed when I first started but that is the way the industry has moved :RpS_thumbup:
 
I tend to disagree.Times have changed and have you moved with them.Gone are days whwn regualr good work lands on your lap from your old contacts.
Advertising has changed.I am in no doubt you are very very good at plastering.But apart from your old contacts, who else knows that.
Have you tried networking, i have and its very G**, but got me loads of new contacts.Its just one way of getting work, that perhaps you may not of tried, or even herd of.
 
kebab king said:
I tend to disagree.Times have changed and have you moved with them.Gone are days whwn regualr good work lands on your lap from your old contacts.
Advertising has changed.I am in no doubt you are very very good at plastering.But apart from your old contacts, who else knows that.
Have you tried networking, i have and its very G**, but got me loads of new contacts.Its just one way of getting work, that perhaps you may not of tried, or even herd of.
Click to expand...

when you say networking, you mean dogging don't ya !!!
 
Hear what your saying mate thats just the way it is, like the song says "Dont look back anger I hear you say" You have to stay focus and postive winners never quit and quitters never win, tell yourself every day I wont work keep saying it and work will come your way.
 
timeservedspread said:
Hello to all my fellow spreads,

Seeing as I’m sat on my arse with not much work booked ithought I’d put my views across on the diabolical work situation we are facing.well said

My plastering history is, at 18 years old i was given an apprenticeshipby a master plasterer and fibrous plasterer who between them probably suppliedme with about 80 years combined knowledge of both trades.

My apprenticeship was around 5 years, I’m now 43 yearsold and I’m just about as f'd off as i could be with the way our trade has beendumbed down into what can only be described as a farce of epic proportions.

I know from reading posts who the real spreaders are andthere is a fair few on here.

I lay the blame for the diabolical mess we are in on theclowns who operate these (get rich quick) courses, churning out completenovices with serious attitude problems?

Half the questions asked on this site are from monkeyswho are undercutting genuine spreads and who have either been on a course orlaboured on a spread, the f'ing cheek is beyond belief.

Do plastering course / go to screwfix and buy tools / getvan and vinyl lettering / = you are now a plastering contractor?

Well I’m sorry but you are most certainly not!

There is a reason we call ourselves "timeserved" tradesmen and that is we served our time through hard labour not af'ing plastering booth in a heated workshop?

If so-called plasterers need direction on how to do thejob they profess to be so good at then we should not be helping them.

They are the same reason we have to work for peanuts andthey are the clowns who price us out of domestic work.

Site work regs and prices are beyond a joke and in thepast when a recession has happened we always had the domestic market to fallback on, but not now.

We need to adopt the same rules as the Americanplasterers have, a British equivalent of The Operative Plasterers' and CementMasons' International Association of the United States and Canada (OPCMIA).

This is the only way to get the chancers out of our tradeand to make site contractors pay the proper rates for what is without doubt thehardest of all trades.

I’m 43 and sat on my arse at home ringing round for workand pricing jobs which i won’t getbecause some "skimmer" (whatever the f'@k that is) is doing it for 50quid a day.

My years in the plastering game have given me; hands thatlook 200 years old and that don’t havemuch blood circulating in them / 2 arthritic shoulders / i also need a new hipand knee within the next 7 years.
Bitter doesn’t even begin to describe how i feel at thisstage of my life?

Rant over, the upmost respect to my fellow "timeserved" spreads

Jonny
Click to expand...
well said mate
 
must admit met a good lad today he was keen and did what he was told he,s doing an nvq at college never on his phone and was generally interested no sh#t from him but i did tell him get out while you can he was the builders son and now beddy or nick are gonna put the usual G** twist on my post
 
kebab king said:
I tend to disagree.Times have changed and have you moved with them.Gone are days whwn regualr good work lands on your lap from your old contacts.
Advertising has changed.I am in no doubt you are very very good at plastering.But apart from your old contacts, who else knows that.
Have you tried nutworking, i have and its very G**, but got me loads of new contacts.Its just one way of getting work, that perhaps you may not of tried, or even herd of.
Click to expand...

What exactly do you mean by nutworking JJ?? have you turned to marketing sexual favours for contracts big lad?? :RpS_unsure:
 
timedservedspread you must build up a customer base it is no good working as a sub contractor as you end up knowing no one. in other words do not paddle some one elses canoe.
you are 43 years old and not in good health.
i also served a five year apprenticeship
we built our business up in the boom times and now have over one thousand customers to keep as going through the lean times.
try to educate your self in making money in an other field to give yourself an other option when things are slow
 
trev said:
you av just explained me then, didn't no i ad got a twin ,in the same boat mate and 7 years older, so not twins, same prob with the arms mate and you r spot on with everything that you r saying totally agree .
Click to expand...

we must be triplets lol
 
In this day and age,and present economic conditions a tradesman must have not only good trade skills but equally and as important, good business skills to survive.
 
Well, like the Murphys, i'm not bitter. We chose the building trade and as everyone knows the building trade has always been fickle. There's more chancers in the trades than any other kind of work. I've seen fellow timeserved plasterers etc who are crap at the job OR are just not interested, then there's coursers who are very interested and strive to do the job to high standard.

Skimming jobs are the way forward. As we all know site work is a lost cause, so that leaves us with domestics. Lounges, kitchen reskims etc. I agree with Kebaby, marketing is very important. Recommendations are great but not enough to bring regular work.
 
Most bitter spreads that i've met are only bitter because they've got bugger all. They spunked their money away that they earned during the good times and never put anything away for a rainy day.
 
DannyMac said:
They are for us, we've never advertised.
Click to expand...
I second that. All my work is from recommendation and repeat customers. Why waste money on advertising and webshite if you don't need to. And as for networking, i'd rather stick wasps up my arse than stand in a room trying to convince complete strangers to use me.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Share this page

Back
Top