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A (longish) background history.
My Dad was a builder, carpenter, mason, roofer, concreter, tiler, plasterer and on occasion draughtsman.
He could calculate how to build a house, down to calculating the pitch (steepness)and timbers of a roof. No roof trusses, calculating the entire thing.
He grew up in a rural community, which at that time had no electricity. His parents both worked during the day, and travelled to town once a month for supplies. He and his sister both went to the same school, or they did untill he was about 13/14.
When the report cards came out one year, instead of his report card, his parents got a letter stating that he wouldnt be getting one, as he hadn't attended school. Unbenowenst to them, he had been working on a farm for about a year.
He was told, ok, you can work, but you need to learn a trade.
He got a job (I am not sure in what trade he began) and by the time he was 18, he would maybe only see his boss every couple of months, and was responsible for laying out the foundations etc by himself.
He learned a lot of different trades by, when the work was slow, of being lent out to other trades.
Ever since I can remember, he had worked for himself, no telephone, no advertising, basically only getting work by word of mouth.
He did a variety of jobs, new builds, renovation work, and was flat out all the time.
Now, the CS part.
Being self employed, there is the usual suck that goes along with that. A lot of unpaid time readying materials for jobs, people not paying etc.
There are a few standout ones that I can remember him telling me.
He was working on a quoted job that a mate had won at a buisness outlet. He was working on what he was told to do, and the manager of that establishment came ad told him that he also had to build and install cupboards over here. He finished his work for the day, and when he ran ito his mate that night he mentioned the additional work that he had been told to do. His mate's response was that that wasnt included in the quote, and that the manager was trying to rip him off. When he arrived back at work the next day, he told the manager that the work wasnt included, and that they would hae to pay extra if they wanted it done. The managers response was, "Well, it was worth a try". So basically he had told Dad that is was all authorised, knowing fully that if Dad had done that work that he would have personally been out of pocket for the materials, let alone the time. The kicker - the manager was a pastor at a local church.
When Dad was younger, he was working with this old bloke, they were building a chimmney. Now, the bloke that they were doing the job for as renowned for not paying for work done, or paying extremely late. They were building this chimmney near the end of summer (this is important
)
So, the job was done, they packed up there tools and left. Didnt hear anything from this bloke, didn't get paid either. A couple of months later when the weather got cooler, and the fireplace was a necessity, the old bloke got a call - My fireplace, all the smoke is coming into the room, is not working, I cant see anything wrong- whats happening. Well, that's no good said the old bloke, I reckon that that fireplace will draw (smoke) when I get the draw (paid). So, the old bloke and Dad went back to the fireplace, and got paid.
That is when the old bloke "fixed" the chimmney. He broke the pane of glass that he had built in at the top of the chimmney.
Now, Dad could draw up plans and calculate materials etc. He had some people come to him ant tell him that they wanted him to draw up the plans for a shed, and give them a quote, they really wanted him to build this for them. So, Dad did this, gave it to them, and didnt hear anything back at all. Oh well, win some, loose some.
6 months later, they came back same story.............
6 months later, same story...........
6 months later, same...... different ending. See, what these people didnt realise was that Dad had noticed that just after they came to him, he noticed people building the shed. Always the same people building it just after he gave them the plans and quote.
This time, the people came back really upset. The plans that Dad had given them the last time, the ones with all the measurements on them for all the quantities, the bricks, the lengths of timber for the roof. Every single timber for the roof had been exactly 1 foot short. They had cut up all this timber, and now it was all unusable for the roof.
My Dads response "Wow, it was lucky that I didn't win that quote then - I would have lost money"
When he had drawn up the plans, he had done it correctly, then subtracted 1 foot from the measurements. He said to me later that he didn't mind drawing up the plans for them, but to be lied to constantly about not winning the qoute, and to have his time wasted like that with nothing to show for it. If they had of just asked him for the plans, said that they were going to build it themselves, and paid him for his time for drawing them up, there wouldn't have been any problems
My Dad was a builder, carpenter, mason, roofer, concreter, tiler, plasterer and on occasion draughtsman.
He could calculate how to build a house, down to calculating the pitch (steepness)and timbers of a roof. No roof trusses, calculating the entire thing.
He grew up in a rural community, which at that time had no electricity. His parents both worked during the day, and travelled to town once a month for supplies. He and his sister both went to the same school, or they did untill he was about 13/14.
When the report cards came out one year, instead of his report card, his parents got a letter stating that he wouldnt be getting one, as he hadn't attended school. Unbenowenst to them, he had been working on a farm for about a year.
He was told, ok, you can work, but you need to learn a trade.
He got a job (I am not sure in what trade he began) and by the time he was 18, he would maybe only see his boss every couple of months, and was responsible for laying out the foundations etc by himself.
He learned a lot of different trades by, when the work was slow, of being lent out to other trades.
Ever since I can remember, he had worked for himself, no telephone, no advertising, basically only getting work by word of mouth.
He did a variety of jobs, new builds, renovation work, and was flat out all the time.
Now, the CS part.
Being self employed, there is the usual suck that goes along with that. A lot of unpaid time readying materials for jobs, people not paying etc.
There are a few standout ones that I can remember him telling me.
He was working on a quoted job that a mate had won at a buisness outlet. He was working on what he was told to do, and the manager of that establishment came ad told him that he also had to build and install cupboards over here. He finished his work for the day, and when he ran ito his mate that night he mentioned the additional work that he had been told to do. His mate's response was that that wasnt included in the quote, and that the manager was trying to rip him off. When he arrived back at work the next day, he told the manager that the work wasnt included, and that they would hae to pay extra if they wanted it done. The managers response was, "Well, it was worth a try". So basically he had told Dad that is was all authorised, knowing fully that if Dad had done that work that he would have personally been out of pocket for the materials, let alone the time. The kicker - the manager was a pastor at a local church.
When Dad was younger, he was working with this old bloke, they were building a chimmney. Now, the bloke that they were doing the job for as renowned for not paying for work done, or paying extremely late. They were building this chimmney near the end of summer (this is important
)So, the job was done, they packed up there tools and left. Didnt hear anything from this bloke, didn't get paid either. A couple of months later when the weather got cooler, and the fireplace was a necessity, the old bloke got a call - My fireplace, all the smoke is coming into the room, is not working, I cant see anything wrong- whats happening. Well, that's no good said the old bloke, I reckon that that fireplace will draw (smoke) when I get the draw (paid). So, the old bloke and Dad went back to the fireplace, and got paid.
That is when the old bloke "fixed" the chimmney. He broke the pane of glass that he had built in at the top of the chimmney.
Now, Dad could draw up plans and calculate materials etc. He had some people come to him ant tell him that they wanted him to draw up the plans for a shed, and give them a quote, they really wanted him to build this for them. So, Dad did this, gave it to them, and didnt hear anything back at all. Oh well, win some, loose some.
6 months later, they came back same story.............
6 months later, same story...........
6 months later, same...... different ending. See, what these people didnt realise was that Dad had noticed that just after they came to him, he noticed people building the shed. Always the same people building it just after he gave them the plans and quote.
This time, the people came back really upset. The plans that Dad had given them the last time, the ones with all the measurements on them for all the quantities, the bricks, the lengths of timber for the roof. Every single timber for the roof had been exactly 1 foot short. They had cut up all this timber, and now it was all unusable for the roof.
My Dads response "Wow, it was lucky that I didn't win that quote then - I would have lost money"
When he had drawn up the plans, he had done it correctly, then subtracted 1 foot from the measurements. He said to me later that he didn't mind drawing up the plans for them, but to be lied to constantly about not winning the qoute, and to have his time wasted like that with nothing to show for it. If they had of just asked him for the plans, said that they were going to build it themselves, and paid him for his time for drawing them up, there wouldn't have been any problems
Welcome to CS, awesome story, awesome dad.
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