Hello All,
I am a new member here and from what I have read it is customary to post an introduction, I will try and keep it short. First construction experience 1975,reroofing a garage with the old man. Except for a brief stint in the army, have been in the trades ever since. Spent the last 10 years in the fire sprinkler industry, figured out the corperate life wasn’t for me and walked away. Now am doing small projects and fix-its, this pays the bills and leaves me with time to enjoy life. Not getting rich ,but sure am alot happier.
Replies
welcome!make sure you fill out youi profile up by your name so we can see where you come from. have fun.
RTC
Edited 3/31/2005 5:33 pm ET by rtc
Thanks,
Hey ex, welcome to breaktime.
You reminded me of something I learned early on from a pipe fitter.
Tip the ladder off to the side before I fold it up.
Hope you enjoy your stay. Keep your eyes open, some have asked opinions on fire suppression and there's always a question on pipe fitting.Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Thanks, my dad told me about tipping the ladder when i was a kid ,i was a little slower back then , took a couple of stiches before I realized the old man was smarter than me :-).
Welcome,
Any good sprinkler stories? Like the flood type.
Plenty, everything from having a guy pull a live head during a repair, to a 4" underground line blowing off as I was putting it under street pressure, 350 gpm at 110 psi makes a heck of fountain. I had to document any and all incidents that occured involving our field crew, with 25 to 30 employees I stayed pretty busy. I will have to change the names to protect the innocent but would be happy to answer any questions.
Welcome to breaktime. Are you still doing sprinklers. The way I see it residential sprinkler systems systems are going to make a few people rich. Any thoughts on that?
The sprinkler industry, especially the residential side is just as cut-throat as any other construction field. The salespeople fall all over themselves to lowball the job,the customer thinks it still costs to much,the installers want more of everything and if it goes sideways it's all the superintendant's ( was me) fault. I actually used to enjoy the job and am still a believer in residential fire sprinklers, I have seen them work and spoken with home owners where fires occured, they complained when we put them in ( code requirement) but after the fire was out they had changed thier mind.
The installation still runs somewhere near $1.00 to $1.50 a sq.ft for new construction double that for a retrofit, the big guys can turn a profit but a small independent is going to be hard pressed to make a living, the cost of liability insurance is out of hand.