Work suddenly went quiet

[Rich Rule]

It is nice to not have to work flat out in winter, here in Norway.

 

A couple of days a week keeps the cogs turning.  Having days off here and there mean you can enjoy life a bit more.  Snowboarding going for family walks and staying in cabins etc.

 

It can be hard work in the body climbing in Snow and minus temps doing full weeks.  

Might as well try and enjoy the same thing that can cause misery.

 

[jfc]

11 hours ago, Rich Rule said:

It is nice to not have to work flat out in winter, here in Norway.

 

A couple of days a week keeps the cogs turning.  Having days off here and there mean you can enjoy life a bit more.  Snowboarding going for family walks and staying in cabins etc.

 

It can be hard work in the body climbing in Snow and minus temps doing full weeks.  

Might as well try and enjoy the same thing that can cause misery.

 

I hoped to get some skiing in on quiet weeks, but there's very little snow in the mountains at present.

[5thelement]

16 minutes ago, jfc said:

I hoped to get some skiing in on quiet weeks, but there's very little snow in the mountains at present.

It’s not bad near me. ⛷ 

[Clutchy]

Horrendously quiet mid Jan, first time we have ever gone down to filling the next day, luckily never ran out. 

I normally keep lead times down to 2-3 weeks so we can scoop up better paying work but at the moment, filling the diary has become a focus as it will relieve a lot of pressure/stress. Not helped that a 2 week job got postponed at the last minute. 

 

Even subbed 5 days of council tree work 🤢

That was enough to motivate me to get things back on track and be proactive. Probably what was needed as I was getting too comfortable and relying on one customer a little too much. Few weeks ahead now of good work again and a couple of good opportunities lined up. 

[topchippyles]

2 hours ago, Clutchy said:

Horrendously quiet mid Jan, first time we have ever gone down to filling the next day, luckily never ran out. 

I normally keep lead times down to 2-3 weeks so we can scoop up better paying work but at the moment, filling the diary has become a focus as it will relieve a lot of pressure/stress. Not helped that a 2 week job got postponed at the last minute. 

 

Even subbed 5 days of council tree work 🤢

That was enough to motivate me to get things back on track and be proactive. Probably what was needed as I was getting too comfortable and relying on one customer a little too much. Few weeks ahead now of good work again and a couple of good opportunities lined up. 

Happens to the best clutchy 

[william127]

On 08/02/2023 at 16:56, doobin said:

No staff currently, just a hand now and then. I'm preferring to earn £4-500 a day sitting on a mini digger, compact tractor or loader. I might burn £30 worth of diesel in the machine and another £20 in the truck. No stress. Cheap machines, no 13t with tilty here, a Multione is my most expensive thing.

 

Sometimes do the odd £1k quote that takes a day (often spread over two mornings and do something else in the afternoon) All local, no travelling more than ten miles for me. A diverse workload- 50% domestic and 50% farm/commercial/charity/nature reserve

 

I actually found myself enjoying setting and pointing some granite setts the other day- used to hate that kind of work, but when it combines in to a job you make £1k profit on for a day's labour plus a micro digger for 15 minutes (what's that, £1 worth of diesel?!) then it starts to appeal. Especially when the job is five minutes down the road. You can run a load of concrete back to the yard, pick up some materials and take ten for a nice brew and a hot pie. Rather than sending a lad back, wondering why it takes them an hour for such a simple task and being stressed.

 

What's the point in running round like a blue arsed fly keeping multiple jobs going and staff employed when they don't appreciate it and you make maybe £50-100 profit on their wages for the hassle? Especially when we are facing a major slowdown anyhow.

 

I'm starting to realise that being multi skilled (and I mean properly multi skilled) is a blessing if you work on your own and rely upon a wide customer base, but a curse if you try to employ. I've spend years wondering why employees are so thick. It's actually me being thick, and not realising that they are very unlikely to be as good as me on just one task, let alone a dozen skilled trades in their own right.

 

I'll never be short of work with my skillsets, and it's time I relaxed a bit and enjoyed life.

Sounds ideal, I knew you were low staffed but didn't realise you didn't have any.👍👍 Trouble is getting that hand every now and then. Although  my cheif (very) casual helper is now on shift work so he's started  badgering me for days again. 

2 to 3 day jobs are my ideal, win or loose at least you're not tied down to it for weeks. Downside is it takes a lot of enquiries to fill a month....

[doobin]

1 hour ago, william127 said:

Sounds ideal, I knew you were low staffed but didn't realise you didn't have any.👍👍 Trouble is getting that hand every now and then. Although  my cheif (very) casual helper is now on shift work so he's started  badgering me for days again. 

2 to 3 day jobs are my ideal, win or loose at least you're not tied down to it for weeks. Downside is it takes a lot of enquiries to fill a month....

Lovely chilled day yesterday at the local pub. Being brought back to life after three years. A fun easy job, decent day rate and a month of free beer when she reopens.  Plenty of groundworks to do there also. 
 

Rescued a slow worm- warned him up before releasing into a sheltered spot. 

[Mark Bolam]

I cut one in half hand digging a trench the other week.

I was gutted.

Poor little bugger had pretty much made it all through the winter.

[Ty Korrigan]

Although it is quieter here in Brittany, I landed enough local authority nibbly jobs to bolster my agenda.

Fibre optic cable installation brought in some work too.

Looking at the the accepted quotes, few whole tree removals, no multiple tree removals or site clearances, 80% of people are keeping the chip and as for the wood, almost all clients are keeping it except for a load of conifer from a house that heats with pellets and heat pump. I gave that to my work experience lads family.

I've enough space in my agenda to take time out this month to work on our renovation, I've my veg plot to get going and drainage to sort out.

If this continues, I may have yet another glorious long Summer renovating, relaxing at the beach and maybe a bit of travelling around France or Morocco. 

 

[AHPP]

7 minutes ago, Ty Korrigan said:

Although it is quieter here in Brittany, I landed enough local authority nibbly jobs to bolster my agenda.

Fibre optic cable installation brought in some work too.

Looking at the the accepted quotes, few whole tree removals, no multiple tree removals or site clearances, 80% of people are keeping the chip and as for the wood, almost all clients are keeping it except for a load of conifer from a house that heats with pellets and heat pump. I gave that to my work experience lads family.

I've enough space in my agenda to take time out this month to work on our renovation, I've my veg plot to get going and drainage to sort out.

If this continues, I may have yet another glorious long Summer renovating, relaxing at the beach and maybe a bit of travelling around France or Morocco. 

 

Does your Brittany bike have a scabbard for baguettes or are you sufficiently assimilated to carry them in your sweaty armpit? I was riding a friend’s Tricross yesterday. Streetfighter’d with appallingly wide flat bars. A town weapon.