Jobs you wished you never did

[Steve Bullman]

what jobs do you wish you never got involved in and why? I have a couple in mind but i'll wait and hear your stories first

[RPA]

The ones where you flog your arse off to keep people happy for the sake of getting the contract again next year.

 

Then you know what happens next

 

Live, learn and get

[Chris Sheppard]

Mine's a bit long winded but pretty much took the reins on a job (a 350 - 400 tonne thinning ) for (a then) mate after he lost the plot when his missus left him. Seemed to be spending an awful lot of time on site on my own but gave him the benefit of the doubt fo a week or so - Found out he was going to other jobs and in the end I had to keep going just to get some timber out and get paid anything at all.

 

He managed to get himself even worse in a mess by billing the estate for loads of wood that we hadn't even got forwarded out, so I put a bill in to him, took his landrover and 066 hostage (he thought he was being helpful lending them to me!) for a while, eventually got paid for all I could bill for at the time and walked off the job as soon as the cheque cleared. Still owed at least a grand but won't ever see it as the wood's still laid where it was felled.

 

Last I heard his tractor had been re-possessed and he's sold the rest of his gear.

[dazlog]

:bawling:Mines got to be a job i did about ten years or so ago. It was a old railway line, clearing 5 miles of Black thorn, hawthorn and lots of wild rose just for added fun. The job was done in Jan. so it was abit wild.

[3dogs]

working for a guy at the moment keeps adding to the job list and insists hes going to pay us when all the works done. i can smell a rat! hes a right abnoxsious t*#t. will be asking for some payment nxt wk. or work stops!:cussing:

[skyhuck]

Motorway thinings for fountains,10 years+ ago,loads of Hawthorne and Gorse using my Entec chippit 25 petrol chipper on a price for the job not day rate:scared:Ended up making about £100 a day for me,a man and all my kit,you live and learn:heeeelllllooooo:

[treedave]

Mine's got to be a previously topped huge multi stemmed beech, surrounded by root rot fungus on a bank 2' wider than the tree, over two roof tops and a 16th century gatehouse (listed building), so priced to match. He agrees, we pitch up to start and the goal posts start moving, from private job to insurance job, from leave firewood to everything stays inc chip, and the stump has to go!. The first day was topped off by discovering that the top 10-12' of the stems where hollowed by rot.

To shorten the story, it ran over, the insurance haggled and the bloke started denying conversations we had had, 3 months later I got paid, managed to make about £500 (after costs but before tax) and he is now subjected to written contracts and a hefty w*nk*r tax.

 

That kind of thing takes the edge off my trust!

[Jamie]

worked in a manky kitchen. i was regarded as a good KP cos i rinsed the dishes after they came out of the Dishwasher (the rinse cycle was broken). I lasted a week till pay day.

 

The place was called Little Johns in Ayr, it closed down

 

Jamie

[Buzz]

Underpricing scrub clearance work in the early days, i spent 4 weeks working at a loss paying 6 men.

 

Arb cock ups pale into insignigficance compared to that job !

[Andy Collins]

Doing an ancient woodland for the RSPB, slashed down with rain every single day of the job, payment for the job was when the timber was removed from site, no vehicular access during winter months, (damage to woodland floor) or during the nesting season, so left a narrow window for extraction. No vehicles to be in the woods, relied on selling hazel rods to scrape a living thru the whole winter, these had to be carried out of the wood on your back! Tight times indeed.

Still lesson learned, never work for the RSPB.