*
For a few years a few buddies and I would go up to the Boundary Waters for a week canoe trip the second week of May. Being an arborist, this was just as my season was getting into full swing and clients were getting anxious to get their trees pruned. Most of the trees had needed pruning for at least five, and sometimes ten years. The first year we did the trip, I told people that I was going canoeing. Many clients got panicky and wanted to get the work done before I left or wondered when I would return. Too much anxiety…
The next year I tried a ploy. I told my clients that I was going to the Boundary Waters for a week of fishing. “Good luck” “Have fun” “What season’s are open?” “See you when you get back!” The reactions were much more supportive.
Apparently “Fishing” was an acceptable use of recreational time but just plain old canoeing was not allowed. I guess fishing had been raised to a religious experience.
Tom the Tree Guy
Replies
*
Patty, only way to go is a barefoot cruise...for the same amount of money you get a beautiful sailboat, with or without crew/captain, fully stocked with all the yummies (sometimes including crew/captain ;-}), peace and quiet, out of the way coves and diving and stuff, you can sail or sleep, or whatever - no "entertainment director" or obnoxious retired dentists.
Blue, you don't use bannana leaves. Use palm fronds, woven, and installed like big shingles, tying instead of nailing. Bamboo is great, endless oportunities for patterns and framing. But if you are in the tropics, about all you'll need is a roof to keep off the rain, and for the real sissies out there, screening. Otherwise keep a shotgun handy for the 'squitos. Ahh, for the days of skindiving for lobster and cooking on the beach...midnight sails with the dolphins...I'll go now that I am thouroughly homesick...
Stranded in grey Kansas,Lisa
*
I 'm with you Patrick. Although I seldom take more than a couple days in a row off, I often take an hour or two in the middle of the day for myself, or knock off early just because I'm not really interested. I think of these hours as "vacation".
I always have questioned the ideal of putting your nose to the grindstone until you are too worn out to have any fun. I think a lot of that is depression era echoes. My mom was born in 1917 and the depression scarred her. She lived the rest of her life as if "the wolf was at the door". While I respect her work ethic immensely, I sure don't want to work that much. - yb
*The wife and I have been talking a lot about a vacation soon. I am doing a commercial job for a client of mine who owns a travel agency. I usually charge part cash and part trade. so this time i've got 1400 bucks in travel credit to use. I just need to find the time to use it. I would love to go to Europe preferably Siciliy or Italy. I really love to leave the wife at home when I go. Putting up with her sometimes makes me think that working is my vacation.A few years back when I was not thoroughly established or responsible. 1991 and again in 1994 I think, my father and I took a month and a half the first time and two months the next to travel the soutwest United States. We traveled from town to town, state to state, sleeping everywhere from motels to deserts to mountains to forests to valleys to parking lots. One beautiful place in particular we'd have morning coffee from the water of a stream which ran from melting snowcaps (the best I've ever had). This was an oasis between two mountains in the middle of the most dry and barren piece of land you could imagine. These are truly priceless memories.I think the trouble these days is meeting goals we set. We need to bring our business to a certain plateau of sucess or acheivement and no sooner we get there, we've raised the bar so continues the saga. Customers are demanding, deadlines are too soon to come, time is scarce when money is not, money is scarce when time is not. I have done much to pull myself from those 70 hr workweeks. I set aside at least every sunday for my family and myself. It is tough to adjust but I am learning to live with it. I just need to wait for the kids to get a little older before we plan any major family trips though.Pete Draganic
*Get back to work... you've got a new mouth to feed.
*
Just for the discussion,I combined my job and vacation in Japan.I work 60 or 70 hours a week but since things never work quite right here,I can travel around Japan or go to Thailand or Bali or somewhere local with my airmiles that I have accumulated.It's not for everyone but it's mine.Sayonara.
*
Blue,
Love da islands maaan. Watched a crew load trusses onto a small ranch on a Monday and when it was time to pack up and leave a week later they had half of them up and standing...Seven minutes equals seven days in Caribbean time! I should of played a trick on them and set those suckers one evening after they had left!
Live life long maaan!! Near the gonjaa,
J
*Just a minute on that retired, obnoxious dentist remark. Dentists are sensitive, exquisitely trained and talented individuals upon whom the fate of the known universe rests. I rest my case.Dennis
*
Just talked with a friend in the construction business. Seems he felt he deserved a 1 week vacation after two years of 60+ hour weeks.
Seems the help found water in the hole, hole too small, no hole at all, no materials, materials in the wrong place, wrong materials, nails too short, nails too long and the beer not quite cold enough. Geez. This is a great business you guys found.
Dennis
*I'm throwing in the towel and going to work for a big time contractor. He told me I would get two weeks vacation, but I wouldn't have time to use them. When I first started in the business I got vacation when the guy I worked for decided he needed time off. It wasn't always paid, so I quickly learned to explain that while he was gone I could do work, stay busy etc. Then I went on my own and think that paid vacation is a joke. What paid vacation? The only plus is I could take off at the drop of a hat. I also prayed for satellite phones so I could try and fix things from anywhere on earth.As an aside, is it just me or does everyone find that everything needs to be done the week before you leave and "everything" would really take at least a month, but you're hopeful and say sure.I need to be on a plane for at least 2 hours before I accept that it will be there when I return. I have neighbors that take a week off and just hang around the house. I could never do this, there always seems to be something to do.
*Last real vacation was in '96. One full month traveling in England & Ireland. The wife booked the whole shebang because I was too busy.Before we had even departed the airport, I was on the phone with one of my suppliers. Every frigging day--32, to be exact--I made at least 3 phone calls. Because of the 8 hour time difference, I was making my calls at 12 midnight to 2 in the morning, then again at 8 am. In fact, first thing in the morning, before eating breakfast, before kissing the wife, I was on the #$#@*@! phone.This was just to salvage the work I still had. I had put together a very nice string of work for the next 6 months, but because of the stupid vaca--I thought it was only a week or two--, three big jobs couldn't wait for me. Turns out, the day--THE DAY!--I got back into town, one of my employees took it upon himself to give away one of my fat, custom jobs. Seems all my phone calls @2.30/minute didn't amount to much with him.Next time, I threaten the wife, I'll be making all the plans! Even if its a daytrip to the next town.I still am having a hard time laughing about it now. If it weren't for the pictures, I wouldn't believe I was ever there. My wife and daughter still say I wasn't.Hey, man, go ahead, just let it out. You'll feel better.
*I'm not even close to being a work-a-holic ( just ask my wife). I observed a long time ago that banking on i livingafter retirement was for losers (sorry Dad). I watched my dad, a favourite uncle and a brother-in-law all bite the dust before they had a chance to retire and do the stuff they always wanted to do. Granted they were all from a different era. . . "nose to the grindstone" was one of my old mans favourite sayings.My old man struggled with his contracting business, never taking a vaca. seldom a weekend off., all through my youth. He finally packed it in to work for someone else, and worried more about that guys business than the owner did. Then he decides to work one more year after official retirement age, and kacks out from a heart attack.There are times when I work 10/7 but I don't chase enough jobs to make it 10/365. . . who needs it. When you can do so many things yourself you only need so much money to live on.As my elderly neighbour likes to say on practically any occasion:b "F**k 'em if they can't take a joke"
*Probably lost a few jobs or passed up a few bucksduring the summer months to coach and or watchmy kids play ball. Its like that Visa commercialsays, that time spent is priceless.Mike
*Contractors vacation? Now that is an oxymoron.
*I need at least two months off each year! I will go on any vacation anywhere,and anytime! I have employees to handle the situation. And they can go on any vacation anythime too! If I don't have employees, there is even less to stop me from going!Things will work themselves out if you let them.I too, took all the time I needed for my family. Money is only part of one's life's equation. We did without a few things,while I coached soccer. I managed to coach five years at the high school. I would leave the job at noon every day to do my coaching duties!I don't regret not having the first nintendo, and my kids enjoy their growing up years. My daughter is now married and lives with her husband next door. (they were here first). We are still friends, and always have been.I don't think it would have been possible if I spent 80-90 hours each week working (yes I have done that too).If you are working so much that you can't vacation, take a good look at the organization that you have created. Then make the needed changes!Nobody is that important!Oh yeah, I didn't bother to call home when I was away either!Blue
*Somewhere in-between myself. Some businesses have better end points than others. Framing is probably one of them - but I have a feeling you still drive a few nails. I have very few employees now, but at one time had near 30 - full time, full benefits, etc. I made it work, but geez, what a job. Once flew (pilot) back to the business the day after Thanksgiving. It is hard to get the good people together and keep them together. Sounds like you have a good core. Really did this post as a lark after talking with my friend, Tom, a real contractor.Dennis
*Good topic, I'm seriously thinking of travelling all the way across the country and back with my 15 year old son this summer, last year I brought him to the Atlantic coast (his first time seeing an ocean), and promised him this year we'd swim in the Pacific. You're so right, life is for living, some things have to be done, kids don't stay 15 for long... The problem is, I've never been able to take that much time away from work, at the busiest time of year. I can schedule three weeks for the crew, write paycheques in advance, but ultimately it comes down to money: can I afford to lose three weeks pay, plus spend a few thousand... I think some folks in this posting have given me the courage to just do it, the h*ll with the consequences. On the other hand, I need all the advice I can get, if anyone has some wisdom to pass along on how to make sure the business runs itself smoothly while I'm gone...Ross
*Let the business start running by itself while your there!I used to think that I needed to start the decks, and get them squared perfectly. That I had to figure the pine,and build the staitrs, etc.Now i just do whatever isn't done. The rookie seems to manage quite nicely. Why? Because I let him do the stuff while I was there to supervise. i wouldn't butt in when I saw him doing something "not wuite right". I didn't suffocate him, wi9th my knowledge. Most construction jobs aren't that difficult. Blue
*Ross, Blue has the essence of the thing. If your troops and your subs know the schedule and understand what you and your client(s) expect, they may surprise you with how well things go in your absence. Sure, it's gonna cost you a few bucks, but you can make that money back over time and you'll never really miss it. What you can't recover is the time you didn't spend with your son. Go for it, and have a great time!Steve
*Now, you guysi knowyou are supposed to take vacations! It's good for you, your kids, and your wife. I won't go into all the reasons here; ask any woman! ; ) It's not just a contractor thing, either; it seems to be a "man thing." I know - I hear it from my husband all the time! I have begun taking vacations by myself, with my grown daughters, and whatever husband is brave enough to come along. We rent a big beach house, lie around and listen to music and read, eat constantly, and take frequent naps. One year my nearest and dearest came down for a long weekend, but that was a few years ago. *sigh* What's that old joke? Oh, yeah, it's, "Did anyone ever use the epitaph, 'I wish I'd spent more time at work!'" Kudos to you who have learned the valuable lesson of vacation-taking before you dropped dead!Patty
*For a few years a few buddies and I would go up to the Boundary Waters for a week canoe trip the second week of May. Being an arborist, this was just as my season was getting into full swing and clients were getting anxious to get their trees pruned. Most of the trees had needed pruning for at least five, and sometimes ten years. The first year we did the trip, I told people that I was going canoeing. Many clients got panicky and wanted to get the work done before I left or wondered when I would return. Too much anxiety...The next year I tried a ploy. I told my clients that I was going to the Boundary Waters for a week of fishing. "Good luck" "Have fun" "What season's are open?" "See you when you get back!" The reactions were much more supportive.Apparently "Fishing" was an acceptable use of recreational time but just plain old canoeing was not allowed. I guess fishing had been raised to a religious experience.Tom the Tree Guy
*Patty, good for you for taking the vacations "with, or without". That's how I got my wife to fly. i told her I was going, and if I had to give her ticket to some young babe...!She went!I like to schedule the trips for the nasty late winter/early spring time, mainly to get away from MI at the time I am getting sick of winter.I also take time in the middle of summer, during the "prime" building season. Why? Because it's also prime vacationing season up here in MI. Theres nothing like heading "up north" during the heat of the summer.I also take off some time in the fall to duck hunt. My wife is welcome to tag along, but she wuld cry when she saw the ducks making their final landing.To all my non-vacationing friends: Drop what ever you are doing, and schedule a cruise! You'll never be rich anyways, so you might as well be poor, and act rich!My first cruise was just a few years ago, nd now I want to schedule one every winter/spring. Alaska, carribean, africa, spain, you name it, I'll go!Jack, maybe you want to charter a cruise line for that slapfest? Carnival has a couple of nice big boats that could hold all the beers and toys.I'm sure some of the tradesmen wouldn't ever come back, once they set foot on some of those tropical islands. They need skilled labor on most tourist islands. Mostly commercial (hotels, etc).I think I'd be okay at building bamboo huts too! How do you fasten the banana leaves on a 12/12 with an intersecting dodegran?Blue
*Blue, I will forgive you for killing those little birdies (although, I have been known to eat them in restaurants). You sound like you got vacation-taking down pat! I've heard from friends that cruises were great fun, but they never really appealed to me (I hear you have to bathe and dress for dinner) - but maybe it's time to check out the idea! My husband will get on a boat ofi anykind; he served on a sub, and works in a shipyard, so this might be one vacation he would actually take!Uh-oh, Tom... you say you're an arborist? I'm going to get my two questions together right now (tried in Fine Gardening, but they're more given to flowers and plants, it seems)!Patty
*Patty, we cruise the carnival lines. They arn't too stuffy. Bathing is optional. Formal dinners are optional. You can get the same meal in your cabin, or grab the grub off a buffet in your bathing suit.If you like laying around watching a big party, you'll like a cruise. If you like to party, leave your husband home!Blue