The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: TAB on June 03, 2009, 05:07:15 PM
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So this time last year, I had 10 subs that actually trusted and used all the time.
now, 6 of the 10 have moved out of state.( just found out I lost my hard wood refinisher)
Its not looking good.
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Kalifornication is only going to get worse.
Sorry to read about your subs. The ones you can trust and rely on, must have either found greener pastures, or went out of business. Do you know why?
I have family on Tomales Bay, and friends in Napa. It's probably going to get worse before it gets any better.
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It surprises you that people would willingly leave Kalifornia? ??? ;D
Swoop
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It surprises you that people would willingly leave Kalifornia? ??? ;D
Swoop
No, I think he's more concerned that so many people with reputations for craftsmanship found it necessary to leave Ca.
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lack of work. locally there is PM and some repo stuff. Both of which don't pay shit and it takes a long time to get paided( 30-90 days on average)
most of the people in the greater sacramento area work for the state. They have been laying people off and the others are afraind they are going to lose thier jobs.
Finding a good sub is very, very hard.
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No, I think he's more concerned that so many people with reputations for craftsmanship found it necessary to leave Ca.
Yeah, I understood that, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to poke a little fun.
Swoop
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"Finding a good sub is very, very hard. "
Just because you want it done right doesn't mean you can always do it your self, you NEED to have people you can trust to do things Right, on time and on budget.
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"Finding a good sub is very, very hard. "
Just because you want it done right doesn't mean you can always do it your self, you NEED to have people you can trust to do things Right, on time and on budget.
exactly.
even if you can do it and do it well, its often more cost effective( read that as faster) to have some one that does it every day to do it for you. plastering is a perfect example of this. a good plaster can lay it on smooth and fast. some one that does not do it every day can either be smooth or fast, not both. Not to mention, no matter how good I am, I am still just one guy, I can't be two places at once.
My subs are every thing to my biz. If it was not for me getting several great ones at the very begening, I would have been out of biz years ago.
lossing my floor refinisher hurts, thats one of those trades that takes decades to learn how to do rigth.( the actually sanding down aspect,knowing where to stop is something you learn over decades. making it smooth is easy, making it look like a 100+ year old floor, in good shape is not.)
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"lossing my floor refinisher hurts, thats one of those trades that takes decades to learn how to do rgith.( the actually sanding down aspect, laying the finish is easy)"
And even if YOU can do it right it still one of those things that sucks bad enough youd rather have someone else do it ;D
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actually its not that bad, I do it all the time, when clients just want to "add shine" or want it sanded smooth. its making it look like a old floor that is very hard. if you take too much it looks new, not enough it looks like shit.
roofing is one of those jobs that you don't want to do. Its very easy, but its hard, hot and dangerous work.
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Actually I never minded shingling , rough on the knees though.
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Actually I never minded shingling , rough on the knees though.
try it when you can't get roof top delivery... it will change your mind.
last one I did, the tar paper and comp shingles alone were 8000 lbs. add in the sheeting and I moved something like 11500 lbs up a 40' extention ladder over the corse of 3 days. after that I said never again.
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In my college days, the fastest way to make money was roofing when not in class. Torch down modified roofs, were tough as the heat was bad enough without a blowtorch to make seams.
California cut valleys, with copper, paid by the square, with no laddervator to bring the shingles up. 3 tab, to architectural shingles on a 8 pitch roof with more valley's and returns made me go home feeling beat up on many occasions.
It got me through many school years, but it was flat out brutal.
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try it when you can't get roof top delivery... it will change your mind.
last one I did, the tar paper and comp shingles alone were 8000 lbs. add in the sheeting and I moved something like 11500 lbs up a 40' extention ladder over the corse of 3 days. after that I said never again.
When I was a kid working with my Dad that was the biggest part of my job, toting stuff up the ladder, tar paper and roll roofing were the worst. Ply wood I just pushed up the a head of me.
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That's funny. I just picked up a floor refinisher who is first rate.
I think most of these Californians are coming to Washington State. Thimgs are pretty good up here.
I'll have to ask him if he knows you. ;D
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A'yup, roofing sucks. There ain't nuthin' easy about it.
As far as getting sheets of plywood up onto the roof, if it is just a one story, the cut man can be down below handing the stuff up. That usually goes smoothly enough.
If it is a two story, you're probably better off having the crane that is going to set the trusses pick up a stack of roof sheathing, and stick that inside the exterior walls on the 2nd floor, floor. Then pass the plywood up between trusses.
As far as the subs splitting on you, TAB, I can't say I blame them. Ya gotta go where the money is. Or where you will get taxed less and end up with more money in your pocket.
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As far as the subs splitting on you, TAB, I can't say I blame them. Ya gotta go where the money is. Or where you will get taxed less and end up with more money in your pocket.
Why, Tyler, that sounds downright subversive, almost - dare I use the word - capitalistic? ? ? ?
Admittedly, I am still trying to get my head around the fact that kalifornia's deficit alone is more than most states' budgets. Unreal! And maybe time to take it back?
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Why, Tyler, that sounds downright subversive, almost - dare I use the word - capitalistic? ? ? ?
Admittedly, I am still trying to get my head around the fact that kalifornia's deficit alone is more than most states' budgets. Unreal! And maybe time to take it back?
our econ is higher then most countrys. it use to be ranked 9th, not sure where it is now.
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Tyler, We never had cranes, or trusses for that matter, it was me and the "Old Man", and a load of 2X6's some got cut into rafters some into joists, assembled using HAMMERS ;D
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Now I'm not a carpenter...I don't even play one on TV, but..................
How do you put things together with hammers? I always thought you needed nails as well. ;)
;D
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How do you put things together with hammers? I always thought you needed nails as well. ;)
;D
Hammers are those things they used to use to apply nails, before nail guns ;D
I will note that I was MUCH younger then !
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Some of the prices on these hammers nowadays is outright scarey. :o Titanium heads with aluminum handles. Cha Ching$$
Ya, know TAB I think I would have just rented a laddervator to get that stuff to the roof. Back in the day, I worked for a residential contractor who had 200 Simmons concrete forms. They were the 2 footers by 9 footers. So we reckoned that they each weighed about 108 pounds. Then the guy had all the outside and inside corners and fillers too. One day at this filthy mud hole of a basement job, I alone unloaded 7,000 pounds worth of forms off this guy's trailer and then dropped/spread them out in this hole for the basement.
I think I learned a lesson that day. Never go to work for a guy who has been hurt more on jobsites than you have. That guy doesn't give a crap about his own welfare or safety, so how do you think he is going to treat you?
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We put a new roof on the house a couple of years ago. I thought it was one of the easiest home-improvement projects I'd ever had. All I had to do was write the check when the guys finished and have a cooler full of beer ready for them at the end of the day.
;D
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Your a WISE man Tyler ;D
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on most of the house I work on, there is no room, this house was litterly too the side walk, trying to get a permit to shut down a side walk here is big bucks( about $4 a min) and extremely hard to get.
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in regards to hammers.....
Our gov't once paid a couple hundred dollars a piece for a "Multi-Directional-Impact-Device"
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in regards to hammers.....
Our gov't once paid a couple hundred dollars a piece for a "Multi-Directional-Impact-Device"
Why not? It's not like they were spending their OWN money. ::)
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in regards to hammers.....
Our gov't once paid a couple hundred dollars a piece for a "Multi-Directional-Impact-Device"
think thats bad, look at some of the nonferrus deadblow hammers for used around power plants. a 10 lb hammer is around a grand.
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in regards to hammers.....
Our gov't once paid a couple hundred dollars a piece for a "Multi-Directional-Impact-Device"
think thats bad, look at some of the nonferrus deadblow hammers for used around power plants. a 10 lb hammer is around a grand.
Nuff said