Singing Pig

hi
well i am going back to finish hanging lining paper and grouting tiles and painting. haven't time to tell you about the fat plumber jammed in the door.

speak soon clottie, my sofa is booked for 'lounge lizarding', wine drinking, choccy eating and never driving further than the end of the road!!!!!!

from this weekend on........getting up three days before xmas and no more

katpoo

look forward to a long chinwag soon katpoo !!

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Clottie the Positive. windswept and interesting !!

"The Lancashire Lady"

I know this is a really old thread but I would be fascinated to know how it all turned out.

 I am a bit of a "girl in a man's world" if you like, I got into IT consultancy in the days when women were not "meant" to be technical, I learned mechanics from various male friends by spending evenings and weekends watching them take their cars and bikes to pieces and put them back together, and when my husband converted our last house (barn conversion) I plagued him unnmercifully about just why pipes attached where to the boiler, why you use different ratios of sand and cement in mixes for different jobs, why electrical circuits have different coloured wires etc etc.  Actually as he was learning himself, having previously been an IT engineer who was very competent at DIY, it was a bit unfair expecting him to educate me - although I was a very competent labourer and I project managed the build so he did not do too badly :)

 I have to say that it is sad but true that unless you sound like you know what you are doing, you will get the little woman treatment from a lot of workmen (not just limited to the building industry - I have also had mechanics try it on when I have taken my car for repair - in fact I have successfully argued a couple of ridiculous bills with garages when they found out I actually knew how many hours' labour a job SHOULD take!!!)  I am lucky in that I find it fascinating and that I had a chance to actually get hands on with our last PPR ( and will with this one too in a month when we finally get our building warrant and we put the extension up!)  A book should give you some basics though - at least enough to be able to understand what is going on.  Never be arfraid to ask WHY something has to be done a certain way, get written quotes (not estimates) if you can, and make sure these guys are well aware that they need to speak to you if they find out for some reason that the job will cost more.  Actually, I have been pleasantly surprised to find that, after their initial shock that I really am interested, most people are happy to explain to you what they are doing.  And if they are not - well, you are the employer, you don't need to have them back :D

 I love to hear about women getting involved in big projects (amybe that's just a reaction to my mother-in-law thinking I should stay home and cook :D ) Good for you, let me know how it went!

hi lindsey - welcome   -  wow this is an old thread   - how some of it turned out

 

Brian the builder turned out to be "Brian the B*stard Builder "  who i virtually had to take to court to get him to finish the job  !!!!

 

and 4 years on i still find bits and pieces that he screwed up on   - a VERY clever con man who would not have known a truthful statement if it had bit him on the bum  !!!    

 

The only reason that i managed to get him to finish off the snaggings was that i had locked his VERY expensive ladders into a flat i owned, and there was no way he was getting them back if he did not complete. 

Because i would not let him inside the flat he could not prove that he had painted it  !!!!  (I called his bluff at this point)

"What decorating Brian ?"

"What do you mean you've left 3 tubs of industrial strength paint in the flat  - how can you have done  - you didn't decorate the flat - you only redecorated   the house ?"

 

if looks could have killed   !!!!!!  - but off he went with his ladders.

 

Apart from doing an absolutely awful job  - the new tenant was meant to move in the week before that christmas but her daughter dropped dead at age 42  - leaving a son and a daughter parentless.   Brian mucked about so much  and caused my tenant so much additional grief and stress, i was really angry with him.   

 

 

re Katpoo ......

 

she got banned from SP about 2  1/2 years ago for being, shall we say, inordinately offensive.......

 

she went into another extensive development project via a JV with another SP member and made an utter dogs dinner of it all and lost money by the bucket ful  - she has not been heard of since

 

 

Hi Clottie,

Nearly fell off my chair laughing at Brian the builder - good thing it has arms :)

 Oh dear shame about Katpoo, sounds like she maybe got in over her head.  I have to stamp on myself constantly to go slowly, I must admit - the caution is inbuilt but I still have to rein in the enthusiasm!

Shame there are so many idiots out there who try to take advantge, bad business sense in the end - my pet hate is architects on that score, they know they have you over a barrel.