Some People Are C**nts

[Lab 10,979]

Been waiting 2 years to see if I can get the 2500 I'm due from a months work I done for a fencing company that I done work for went bust. End of this month was when all the legal shit was ment to be finished up. Not holding my breath. It's a kick in the teeth, especially when it was your own uncle!!!! Caaaaaaannnt!!!!

[WILF 49,815]

This is going to sound odd but IMHO the trouble with most lads is they are dealing in "big firm" numbers but with a "small firm" mentality.

You don't phone up the accounts people at Tesco and chat like you are mates, same as the accounts people at Travis Perkins don't phone you up and chat like you are mates.......its all just black and white business.

 

If you are dealing with big corporations of companies then you have to realise you are in their territory and you have to play by their rules........they are not using their own money they are using the investors money, so IMHO you should be using the banks money, they have no "personal" involvement so you should set the contract up in the same way.

 

Friendship and business can be very awkward bedfellows.

 

An old boy I know used to say "its only ever your own greed that gets you in trouble" and he is spot on, if you cant stand the credit get a deposit or leave well alone no matter how much you may stand to earn

 

I have seen a lad I know send himself skint trying to keep lads going in work but one thing I know for sure, all the weeks when he used his own money to pay them 7 or 8 hundred quid a week will be forgotten in a split second when he finally gos pop and may owe them 50 quid........he will be all the c**ts under the sun bet your bollocks on it.

[dytkos 17,918]

Got done over 20 years ago by a firm of jewish property developers from Manchester.

Doing up an old office building. Total price they paid us would have been 15K, gave us a grand every week after inspecting the work we'd done.

 

Last few weeks matey "went on holiday" or so he said and then they went bust, or so he said.

Did us for £3,600, £500 of which was for some railings we got a subbie to do.

 

Tried for a couple of weeks to get the money but they disappeared off the face of the earth.

Just like all the fittings, doors, slates, velox windows and railings on the building as we still had a key LOL

Still did us for £1800 after we paid for the railings though

 

Cheers, D.

[NEWKID 28,501]

This is going to sound odd but IMHO the trouble with most lads is they are dealing in "big firm" numbers but with a "small firm" mentality.

You don't phone up the accounts people at Tesco and chat like you are mates, same as the accounts people at Travis Perkins don't phone you up and chat like you are mates.......its all just black and white business.

 

If you are dealing with big corporations of companies then you have to realise you are in their territory and you have to play by their rules........they are not using their own money they are using the investors money, so IMHO you should be using the banks money, they have no "personal" involvement so you should set the contract up in the same way.

 

Friendship and business can be very awkward bedfellows.

 

An old boy I know used to say "its only ever your own greed that gets you in trouble" and he is spot on, if you cant stand the credit get a deposit or leave well alone no matter how much you may stand to earn

 

I have seen a lad I know send himself skint trying to keep lads going in work but one thing I know for sure, all the weeks when he used his own money to pay them 7 or 8 hundred quid a week will be forgotten in a split second when he finally gos pop and may owe them 50 quid........he will be all the c**ts under the sun bet your bollocks on it.

I know for sure that was my mistake a few years back, small firm mentality when your dealing with 50- 100 grand contracts.., it cost me and I know ultimately it was my fault...

Lesson learnt and I try and cover my ass as much as possible now, the problem in the buildings is cash flow, if your on 30 day payments that's always stretched out to 45 if they can, then you've paid your labour and materials, they still haven't paid, threatening letter, legal maybe, now your on 60 plus days and the next set of bills are in... And so it goes...

Some people just play the game, you get to know who's who after time and now I've got a steady customer base plus enough work on, your more careful of new customers...

[Ossie n Arch 1,683]

This topic makes me glad i didn't go the self enployed route a while back. Redundency was offered at work in 2000, but the package wasn't enough. I stayed put and iv'e been there 25 years now in total. I may not make my fortune, but I'm doing alright.

[whippet 99 2,613]

 

This is going to sound odd but IMHO the trouble with most lads is they are dealing in "big firm" numbers but with a "small firm" mentality.

You don't phone up the accounts people at Tesco and chat like you are mates, same as the accounts people at Travis Perkins don't phone you up and chat like you are mates.......its all just black and white business.

 

If you are dealing with big corporations of companies then you have to realise you are in their territory and you have to play by their rules........they are not using their own money they are using the investors money, so IMHO you should be using the banks money, they have no "personal" involvement so you should set the contract up in the same way.

 

Friendship and business can be very awkward bedfellows.

 

An old boy I know used to say "its only ever your own greed that gets you in trouble" and he is spot on, if you cant stand the credit get a deposit or leave well alone no matter how much you may stand to earn

 

I have seen a lad I know send himself skint trying to keep lads going in work but one thing I know for sure, all the weeks when he used his own money to pay them 7 or 8 hundred quid a week will be forgotten in a split second when he finally gos pop and may owe them 50 quid........he will be all the c**ts under the sun bet your bollocks on it.

I know for sure that was my mistake a few years back, small firm mentality when your dealing with 50- 100 grand contracts.., it cost me and I know ultimately it was my fault...

Lesson learnt and I try and cover my ass as much as possible now, the problem in the buildings is cash flow, if your on 30 day payments that's always stretched out to 45 if they can, then you've paid your labour and materials, they still haven't paid, threatening letter, legal maybe, now your on 60 plus days and the next set of bills are in... And so it goes...

Some people just play the game, you get to know who's who after time and now I've got a steady customer base plus enough work on, your more careful of new customers...

 

that's business ........waiting two months after invoice payment .........but the men need paying every week.......

when setting out ,...these things need considering......its tough @ the top........

[NEWKID 28,501]

 

 

This is going to sound odd but IMHO the trouble with most lads is they are dealing in "big firm" numbers but with a "small firm" mentality.

You don't phone up the accounts people at Tesco and chat like you are mates, same as the accounts people at Travis Perkins don't phone you up and chat like you are mates.......its all just black and white business.

 

If you are dealing with big corporations of companies then you have to realise you are in their territory and you have to play by their rules........they are not using their own money they are using the investors money, so IMHO you should be using the banks money, they have no "personal" involvement so you should set the contract up in the same way.

 

Friendship and business can be very awkward bedfellows.

 

An old boy I know used to say "its only ever your own greed that gets you in trouble" and he is spot on, if you cant stand the credit get a deposit or leave well alone no matter how much you may stand to earn

 

I have seen a lad I know send himself skint trying to keep lads going in work but one thing I know for sure, all the weeks when he used his own money to pay them 7 or 8 hundred quid a week will be forgotten in a split second when he finally gos pop and may owe them 50 quid........he will be all the c**ts under the sun bet your bollocks on it.

 

I know for sure that was my mistake a few years back, small firm mentality when your dealing with 50- 100 grand contracts.., it cost me and I know ultimately it was my fault...

Lesson learnt and I try and cover my ass as much as possible now, the problem in the buildings is cash flow, if your on 30 day payments that's always stretched out to 45 if they can, then you've paid your labour and materials, they still haven't paid, threatening letter, legal maybe, now your on 60 plus days and the next set of bills are in... And so it goes...

Some people just play the game, you get to know who's who after time and now I've got a steady customer base plus enough work on, your more careful of new customers...

that's business ........waiting two months after invoice payment .........but the men need paying every week.......

when setting out ,...these things need considering......its tough @ the top........

I set up in 98 with my brother, we done 2 years before that learning the trade,

As my old man says self employment is famine and feast lol...

My grandfather and my father ran their own roofing businesses so I guess it was inevitable, we just took a slightly different route...

I do get the game completely, and to be honest I'm not moaning.... My whole point is that some people will go out of their way to kill you, that in my book is a c**ts trick....

[NEWKID 28,501]

This topic makes me glad i didn't go the self enployed route a while back. Redundency was offered at work in 2000, but the package wasn't enough. I stayed put and iv'e been there 25 years now in total. I may not make my fortune, but I'm doing alright.

I know no different mate, although I think your more of a slave to work when it's your own than if your employed...

[WILF 49,815]

It's no fun being a construction contractor, you can't take back labour or materials and as you say lads want paid while you wait a long time for the money.

You reach that funny position as a company where your not small but your not really big either so you have all the small firm worries and none of the big firm benefits ( like a big salary and a team of people to see you get it so you sleep well at night !!)

My pal is the guvnor of what I would call a big firm (97 million a year) and he has none of these type of worries because he knows that his £5 grand is gonna be in the bank at the end of each week and a nice big bonus at the end of each year......if it all went wrong tomorrow no one would be looking to get personal because they have gone way beyond that !

[NEWKID 28,501]

It's no fun being a construction contractor, you can't take back labour or materials and as you say lads want paid while you wait a long time for the money.

You reach that funny position as a company where your not small but your not really big either so you have all the small firm worries and none of the big firm benefits ( like a big salary and a team of people to see you get it so you sleep well at night !!)

My pal is the guvnor of what I would call a big firm (97 million a year) and he has none of these type of worries because he knows that his £5 grand is gonna be in the bank at the end of each week and a nice big bonus at the end of each year......if it all went wrong tomorrow no one would be looking to get personal because they have gone way beyond that !

Tbh Wilf, our firm is bigger now than I expected and probably a bit big for the structure in place... We're working on it though...

Problem is in essence we're site lads, I'm not stupid but I'm not naturally an office type.. I've started to put the right people around us now so it should get easier ( f***ing hope so I'm knackered lol)...

But I've a mate similar to the bloke your talking about ( not so big but set) he said to me a whole back that now he has no everyday worries, he still works everyday but does the work he wants to..

It just depends where you want to get to I suppose...

Edited September 29, 2013 by NEWKID

[whippet 99 2,613]

_{its who you know,.....not what you know,.....}

_{the big companies make some small contractors into millionaires...........fraudsters}

[the_stig 6,614]

 

It's no fun being a construction contractor, you can't take back labour or materials and as you say lads want paid while you wait a long time for the money.

You reach that funny position as a company where your not small but your not really big either so you have all the small firm worries and none of the big firm benefits ( like a big salary and a team of people to see you get it so you sleep well at night !!)

My pal is the guvnor of what I would call a big firm (97 million a year) and he has none of these type of worries because he knows that his £5 grand is gonna be in the bank at the end of each week and a nice big bonus at the end of each year......if it all went wrong tomorrow no one would be looking to get personal because they have gone way beyond that !

Tbh Wilf, our firm is bigger now than I expected and probably a bit big for the structure in place... We're working on it though...

Problem is in essence we're site lads, I'm not stupid but I'm not naturally an office type.. I've started to put the right people around us now so it should get easier ( f*****g hope so I'm knackered lol)...

But I've a mate similar to the bloke your talking about ( not so big but set) he said to me a whole back that now he has no everyday worries, he still works everyday but does the work he wants to..

It just depends where you want to get to I suppose...

 

ran away with me I went from working out the back of a ford capri on my own ---to running 4 vans and 7 lads in 18 months I just ran with it ..

[WILF 49,815]

 

It's no fun being a construction contractor, you can't take back labour or materials and as you say lads want paid while you wait a long time for the money.

You reach that funny position as a company where your not small but your not really big either so you have all the small firm worries and none of the big firm benefits ( like a big salary and a team of people to see you get it so you sleep well at night !!)

My pal is the guvnor of what I would call a big firm (97 million a year) and he has none of these type of worries because he knows that his £5 grand is gonna be in the bank at the end of each week and a nice big bonus at the end of each year......if it all went wrong tomorrow no one would be looking to get personal because they have gone way beyond that !

Tbh Wilf, our firm is bigger now than I expected and probably a bit big for the structure in place... We're working on it though...

Problem is in essence we're site lads, I'm not stupid but I'm not naturally an office type.. I've started to put the right people around us now so it should get easier ( f*****g hope so I'm knackered lol)...

But I've a mate similar to the bloke your talking about ( not so big but set) he said to me a whole back that now he has no everyday worries, he still works everyday but does the work he wants to..

It just depends where you want to get to I suppose...

 

 

Fair one mate, myself I have always been too small minded to become a big firm......it sort of gos with what I do as well because its really only me that can do the important part and a big part of what I do is people dealing with "me"

 

I have a problem with delegating anything because half the time I loose patience and just say "get out the way, let me do it".......plus I am not that driven in that way, I love taking a few quid but I also like the fact I can wake up in the morning and say "I am gonna do such and such" if I feel like it

I had 5 years off when my girls were born which was nice, did about 1 job a month which was enough to keep me going.

I make hay while the sun shines now but I wont be shitting myself if theres nothing in the book for a week or a month or so.......I wont be rich in money but I get to spend loads of time with the family so that will do me

[scothunter 12,609]

Got done over 20 years ago by a firm of jewish property developers from Manchester.

Doing up an old office building. Total price they paid us would have been 15K, gave us a grand every week after inspecting the work we'd done.

 

Last few weeks matey "went on holiday" or so he said and then they went bust, or so he said.

Did us for £3,600, £500 of which was for some railings we got a subbie to do.

 

Tried for a couple of weeks to get the money but they disappeared off the face of the earth.

Just like all the fittings, doors, slates, velox windows and railings on the building as we still had a key LOL

Still did us for £1800 after we paid for the railings though

 

Cheers, D.

all those c**ts should have dissapeared of the earth

[the_stig 6,614]

 

 

It's no fun being a construction contractor, you can't take back labour or materials and as you say lads want paid while you wait a long time for the money.

You reach that funny position as a company where your not small but your not really big either so you have all the small firm worries and none of the big firm benefits ( like a big salary and a team of people to see you get it so you sleep well at night !!)

My pal is the guvnor of what I would call a big firm (97 million a year) and he has none of these type of worries because he knows that his £5 grand is gonna be in the bank at the end of each week and a nice big bonus at the end of each year......if it all went wrong tomorrow no one would be looking to get personal because they have gone way beyond that !

Tbh Wilf, our firm is bigger now than I expected and probably a bit big for the structure in place... We're working on it though...

Problem is in essence we're site lads, I'm not stupid but I'm not naturally an office type.. I've started to put the right people around us now so it should get easier ( f*****g hope so I'm knackered lol)...

But I've a mate similar to the bloke your talking about ( not so big but set) he said to me a whole back that now he has no everyday worries, he still works everyday but does the work he wants to..

It just depends where you want to get to I suppose...

 

 

Fair one mate, myself I have always been too small minded to become a big firm......it sort of gos with what I do as well because its really only me that can do the important part and a big part of what I do is people dealing with "me"

 

I have a problem with delegating anything because half the time I loose patience and just say "get out the way, let me do it".......plus I am not that driven in that way, I love taking a few quid but I also like the fact I can wake up in the morning and say "I am gonna do such and such" if I feel like it

I had 5 years off when my girls were born which was nice, did about 1 job a month which was enough to keep me going.

I make hay while the sun shines now but I wont be shitting myself if theres nothing in the book for a week or a month or so.......I wont be rich in money but I get to spend loads of time with the family so that will do me

 

gives you the freedom if you want it I used to take 2 holidays a year and spent loads of time with my kids when they were young --working for someone else wouldn't have given me the freedom --- I had a good contracts manager who I`d trust my life with and a good gang of lads that I could trust--and that's half the battle .