Hello all. I’m curious – what is your least favorite part of a job? I’m assuming paperwork and cleanup are pretty common answers, but I’m looking for other things – jobs that are a legit part of the actual building process, but that you put off, try to avoid, really don’t look forward to… Maybe laying out stairs? Sanding floors? Mudding/taping? Fishing wires?
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from the time I clock in, to the time I clock out
I was working in a cabinet shop when the old master retired. He put all his tools out on the bench and offered them for sale. I asked him why he wasn't keeping any. With a big smile, he said," I'm never going to get another ##8%* speck of sawdust on me". This gentleman with so much knowledge and skill only considered the work a job. I think he thoroughly enjoyed it but when it was over, that was it.Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
The parts that require hard #### work
The parts where I cut myself and bleed a lot
The parts where I'm pulling railroad ties out of my fingers and hands
The part where the grout and mortar make my hands ache
The part where my knees are killing me and my knee pads suck
The part where my tools break down at the most inopportune times
There is more, I actually like the paper work; it equates to money$$
Grunge on. http://grungefm.com
Ditto! and don't forget the stench of the rotting floor under the toilet, the black mold in the cabinets and the twit of customer who sits in the doorway and asks question ad nauseum.
I hate when you on the way home and boss calls saying, you got to be back at work at 3am to cover Joe job, because he going on vacation, after laying out a week due to bad back. Well when did you findout about Joe vacation, " About twenty minute ago" well what about my 8 am job, " you got to do that too.
I agree with most of your hates, but at the end of the job when the customer looks at and says "Wow, great job!" it makes all the aches and pains (especially in the arse) not matter. I started my own business in 1977, at one point I billed a ton of money, had 5 full time employees and spent most of my time chasing screw-ups some unskilled, lazy or worthless employee did. I was never good a hiring people so I only had myself to blame. After one of our best years I realized I'd made less money per hour than before I hired anyone. At Christmas that year I gave everyone a $2,000.00 bonus and fired them all. I moved my shop to my house and have never looked back. Today I hate all those things you've mentioned, but in the end I love the challenge, the satisfaction and quietly doing my job making people happy about their choice of a crapper, white or bone.
Were you inside my head today? My bathroom remodel today had all of that!!!
Grunge on. http://grungefm.com
There was an opera singer, I'm thinking that it was Beverly Sills, who, after she retired from opera claimed she never sang in public again (except once to sing "Happy Birthday" to the president). She seemed perfectly happy about that.
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. --James Madison
Fixing other peoples mistakes!
I hate even more when the customer is P/Oed and I have to go and fix someone else's mistakes.
On the bright side, the two guys who were making the a living using crappy details have ventured off to other jobs. One is working for a past employer, and the other is venturing out on his own.
Have fun boys!
If it wasn’t for the Bank Payments,
Interest, Taxes, Wages, and Fuel Costs,
I wouldn’t have to charge you!!
sanding and painting.
I love making structures, and creating, but I think that the most important aspects of making something beautiful are the lines and the details like reveals, tight joints, etc. But sanding and painting are hard for me, I'm not very good so it takes a lot of monotonous (to me) time and discipline to keep myself at it. I'm getting better though.
I'm not all that hot on working with existing drain lines either. I don't know which is worse, nasty drain smell or solvent fumes when you're gluing up 7 pieces of 4" ABS in 2' of run.
zak
"so it goes"
Good question, could make for an interesting thread.
As most of you know, I'm a framer. And for the most part I thoroughly enjoy my job. I couldn't imagine being in brownbagg's position... going to a job I hate day after day.
I love getting the main shell of a house up. The floors, walls, and roof. After the roof sheathing goes down is when I bum out. I don't much like running exterior trim, although we do a ton of it. And I don't like interior knick-knack work like partition walls, strapping, framing chases and fireplaces, stuff like that.
But the thing I hate the most about my job is working from incomplete plans where you're constantly guessing and scaling and trying to read the architect or designer's mind. Especially when it's stuff the could have been included on the plans but just wasn't due to a rush job or low budget drawings. It can be infuriating and can quickly turn 15 minutes of layout into an hour of frustrating trial and error. I lose money, do more work, and get unnecessarily aggravated. It's a lose/lose situation.
Another one that I hate happened yesterday. We ran out of stock at 5pm. Not a big deal, but with another handful of 2x4's and an hour's time we could have saved 2 hours of work this morning. We were already set up and plugging away on interior walls. Now we've got to set back up again, finish the work, break down, and re-set up again for exterior trim when we should've just been digging into the trim first thing this morning. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but all adds up when all you're supplying is labor as a framing sub. All I need is a complete set of plans and the right amount of stock and I'll handle the rest. Muck up one of those two and you're going to piss me right off because now I'm losing money unnecessarily.
Uh-oh. I just remember another one I hate. Tarping. I hate tarping jobs. And similarly.... installing house wrap. Another PIA. Oh yeah... and shoveling snow off the frame and lumber pile.... another real money maker. ;)
my problem is, and gabe had this same question four years ago. no matter what job I go on, i will end of fighting with the super, no matter what the spec book says, he not going to do it. Not going compact the dirt, not going to undercut deep enough, not going to use the right material.Then the concrete crew. going to pour to wet, take too long, wrong mixget back to office, a boss that never been inthe field, only cares about keeping customer happy, keep the money coming end. why are you failing test, why is this report bad. why is the super unhappy.Nine , ten times a day, every day. every weekwhy can you just do your job.
You and I have the same type problem. Working for an azz.
Useless Simpson hangers.
blue
Battling with students to get them to actually show up for the program they volunteered for and are paying for......prepared, so we can go to work. Trying to get them to understand that the industry requires hard work, attendance, punctuality, and follow-through to be successful.Cabinetmaker/college woodworking instructor. Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
Anything to do with wallpaper. So much so that I will not touch it ever again; no hanging, no removing, nothing.
-Norm
Don't know if this is what you're asking for but two situations come to mind.
I notice that I get a little anxious and procrastinate on a part of the job I haven't done before or haven't done in a long time. I always make sure I know what to do but if I haven't done it before, never sure exactly how it will turn out -- haven't done it before. So far all's well that ends well, but I definitely procrastinate getting started on whatever it is, going over it again and again in my mind. Similar if logistics are a problem (like how the heII is the cement truck going to get in here or where the heII are we going to put a dumpster with no room for it) I tend to over think it and not really enjoy it at all.
Only time I really don't like what I do is just those bad day type days. Has nothing to do with what I'm doing. Just the "blahs" every once in a while usually in the middle of winter.
"Let's get crack-a-lackin" --- Adam Carolla
1. Picky customers who stand over my shoulder and offer advice on how to do the work. That's when I'm working on my own.
2. When I work with another guy (I guess I'm considered his sub), I sometimes (many times) seem to know more about how to do it than he does. That's okay, except that he only listens to me about a third of the time.
3. Correcting screw ups by the guy I sometimes work for.
4. Anything involveing crawling around on hands and knees (unless it's the drinking at the end of the day)--like removing staples from old subfloors before re-flooring, or removing mortar from grout lines becasue boss didn't do it the day before while it was still wet. Rubbing dried grout or mortar off of tiles.
The trying to make money part ....
Bruce
Between the mountains and the desert ...
Driving around chasing materials. It would be great if there was someone who I could summon at any hour to go pick something up. be it tools, caulk, hardware, small lots of lumber or some drywall, even lunch. If it could keep me from putting the tools down I would gladly pay a handsome premium for such a service.
Some one with an economy pick up truck could make a nice living
I could do that.
hate to paint, but then DW loves it so it works out OK.
One interesting comment was;
Fixing other peoples mistakes!
I hate even more when the customer is P/Oed and I have to go and fix someone else's mistakes.
Fixing others mistakes or oversights essentially has become 80% of my job now and have come to enjoy many parts of it - mostly high tech electrical stuff on military/space euipment. after 40 years, already made most the mistakes so can spot many when they happen. Kinda feel like an old west gunfighter though, one of these days there is gonna be a problem bigger than me.
I hate apologizing/explaining to my customers why I couldn't keep my promise when it was because my employees were late or they didn't show up that day. I hate having to ask forgiveness for someone elses lack of respect, consideration, ambition, motivation, pride, etc.
I could fire the existing crew and start over but it is always the same and I know because I have fired the whole crew before. It just gives temporary relief.
Chris Calhoun
Blackstone Builders
In no particular order:
1) Baseboard
2) MDF
3) Digging post holes
4) Fastening anything to masonry, or concrete
5) Rock wool insulation
6) Fiberglass insulation
7) Removing old caulking
8) Toilets for any reason other than peeing or dropping a deuce in.
9) Porta Johns(summer is the worst).
10) Joint compound, Tile mastic, grout, and just about anything I have to mix in a 5 gallon bucket.
11) Low life scumbags who work under the table.
Doncha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?
double for me on number 11, triple when most of them dirtbags are collecting unemployment.
Clean up is actually my favorite part of the job. Anything else I do requires thinking or planning ahead.
Tearout and cleanup are parts I use to evaluate what needs to be done and how close to right the job is.
I personnally think any GC should be apart of both of these chores so that he knows what his subs are getting into and what loose ends need to be tidied up, this is so he gets a chance to fix things before the homeowner notices.
ANDYSZ2I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.
Remodeler/Punchout
I'm not a real big fan of sheeting 12/12 roofs, incomplete or geographically wrong blueprints.
My GC's use the same lumber yard and salesman and we always run out of lumber, drives me nuts. Did my own lumber takeoff on the second story of this house and what do you know, we had 4-2x4 precuts leftover. Use those for toe boards on the 12/12 roof this one also has.My Mommy says I'm special.
It would be nice if the politicians would realize that life is not about how much they can steal from another to line their wallets but about dignity for all of America. One day America will pay. We are already outsourcing our jobs and insourcing our professors. Isn't that quite a trade off?
the worst part of the job is when you train someone, train them with a skill that they can use to make a decent living, then they quit. happens to me way to often.
>>the worst part of the job is when you train someone, train them with a skill that they can use to make a decent living, then they quitWhy? You agreed to train him and to pay him a wage when you hired him. In return, he helped you grow your business and enabled you to earn a profit on his labor. He made you money. You gave him a skill. Even trade, methinks.Your problem is you don't understand why the above exchange doesn't consitute your ownership of his very soul.. Your employee didn't bargain for permanent servitude when he agreed to work for you (exchanging his labor for the means to live). Nor did you ever compact with him to provide him lifetime support (permanent paychecks). You were always free to fire him at will. He was always free to walk.. A mutual understanding. It's called liberty. This is what you "hate".
you're totally correct with that line of thinking. 100%
guess i didn't clarify enough. i hire young guys who may or may not have finished high school. usually not. and they usually quit because drugs and framing do not mix. i do have something better to offer them. yes i do hate it when they blow it, quit, and sit home and do nothing except who knows what.
I hate getting bitched at.
My boss is never happy. The owners are never happy. The plant guys are never happy. The customers are never happy.
You can't do things fast enough or cheap enough for anybody. They want things faster and faster until you make a mistake. Then you need to slow down and double-check your work. Then you aren't doing things fast enough again.
The guy who wants a quote thinks quotes are important. After all, if you don't do quotes you don't get jobs.
The guy who wants an order cranked out thinks orders are more important than quotes. After all, he has a house going up NOW. The guys who needs quotes can wait.
The guys who want a small job squeezed in think it's no big deal to re-arrange your schedule to work his job in. But the guys with big jobs think theirs are more important than some other guy's piddly little job.
Commercial customers think their jobs are more important than residential ones, since time is money. But residential customers think that their jobs are more important than commercial jobs. After all, this is a HOME you're building.
Half the calls I get are someone bitching at me about something or another.
The other day I asked a guy if he was aware that I was married. When he asked why, I said I already had someone to bitch at me all the time, and I didn't need his crap.
You can't do things fast enough or cheap enough for anybody. They want things faster and faster until you make a mistake. Then you need to slow down and double-check your work. Then you aren't doing things fast enough again.
Boss,
I hear you brother! A few years ago I let this kind of crap drive me to have panic attacks.
I'm not in that job any more, but while I was there it was people constantly bitching. The managers bitched, the mechanic's bitched, the customer bitched......
Then I made the adjustment.
If I'm going to be wrong every day no matter what,
then I'm going to be wrong in such a way that keeps me healthy!
I followed the rules, did my work well, ( less than 1% come backs ) and turned off the noise. Yeah they still bitched but I quit trying to make every one else happy.
Bill
Paperwprk is #1
Firing anyone is #2
Being tactful with a client who is wrong is #3
#4 would be anything to do with plumbing or mehanical.
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
No 3 has got to be the worst because no matter what they think your feeding them a line of .... and then everything else you do is judged with the same attitude.
PS Or tearing it out doing it there way and then they go yeah your way is definately better put it back!
ANDYSZ2
I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.
Remodeler/Punchout
Edited 4/26/2006 7:52 pm by ANDYSZ2
I like my work; I hate when the super finds a problem and, rather than treating one as a professional, he rants and talks to you as if you were a child. He knows his carpentry, but seems rather limited in management skills!
I hate when someone uses my compound bucket as a porta-potty.
Especially when it's still got mud in it.
Business-wise, I hate having to apologize because my crew is slacking or didn't show up...kinda what OptimusPrime stated...although my super thinks I'm crazy for standing walls with my truck, setting beams alone, and decking roofs by myself--most bosses would go home if they didn't have at least four other guys on site. Not me, I cry for five and then get on with it LOL.
On the actual work, I hate wall bracing (if you can't walk you've got enough braces LOL) and I hate setting beams--we do it by "hand" and most of the time I've got an idiot on the other end who wants to go into the narrowest stud bay in the house!
Echoing what Dieselpig said, the crew leader in me hates when plans are incomplete, incorrect, or ambiguous. That means I spend extra time head-scratching and that if I don't do things the way the plan "intended" I'm left liable to "fix" on my own time.
Yeah other than that, I like my job ;-)Jason Pharez Construction
Framing Contractor
Little hi-jack here fellas, my apologies.
Jason,
If you can line up steady work.... buy a forklift. Period. Let it set those beams, stand those walls, and carry the plywood up to the roof for you. Mine costs me less than a $12/hour man, I don't have to pay W/C insurance on it, it never calls in sick, it never complains, it's a great place to slap my co. name and #, it screams "PRO", it actually saves me money at tax time, it doesn't bum smokes or get tired, and in 4 more years....... I own it.
Just some food for though bro. Finding decent help is the hardest part of the game dude.View Image
I'll second that DP...back when I was going through guys as often as I change my underbritches I bought me a lift...best employee I ever had...
as for me...waking up in the morning is the worst part of my job...I used to love the morning...now, I just feel pain in the shoulder, hands...once I get up and get moving, I'm ok
and painting...dont like it, won't do it
and putting tools away at the end of the day...the system I have in my current rig takes about 30 minutes just to get things organized...of course, in 4 weeks when my new 7x14 trailer arrives, that should speed things up.
also, not having the right tool for the job. Now that I do 90% remodeling, I use about every tool I have...just can't carry them all...unitl my trailer arrives...!
other than that, I love the freedom I have, love watching REAL progress happen before my eyes..like to transform the old and outdated to the new and improved...love the customer reaction to "how fast you can do this" when I feel I left my azz at home that morning...love the reaction of Mrs Me when I get home and she coos at the smell of fresh cut cedar...Love shoping for new tools/products/ideas...love the "brotherhood" the people in our trade share...
yeah...it makes getting up with all my creaky joints worth while...knowledge without experience is just information.... Mark Twain
http://www.cobrajem.com
Having a customer or some know-it-all kid question my technique or tell me how to best do my job.
Dealing with customers who have bucco bucks, and having them snivel about the fair prices you are handing them.
I don't like plumbing, even though I can do it, I don't like to.
Having to re-do hack work
The bumps, cuts & bruises don't get any easier as time moves ahead.
Having Harvey Homeowner want to save himself some pennies by "helping you". (Sometimes it actually works out well)
You guys in business know what I mean when I say I hate it when 5 o'clock comes around. for us it means there's still plenty to do and everyone just wants to forget where they work for the next 16 hours and go home
16 hours, I wish. we get off at 6pm and clock in at 5:30 am so that more like 11 for us.
unless you're in deep doo with the law nobody's got a rope around your neck
and everyone just wants to forget where they work for the next 16 hours and go home
Shoot, and most of "them" were useless at 1600, and won't get back "up to speed" (such as it will be) until 0900 tomorrow, excepting Mondays or Fridays which can be much, much worse.
That being said, some of the clowns who hang around and continue to goof-off after 1700, just so they don't look like the gold-bricking, skiving-off, useless, anti-productives they are, can be a bit worse. ("Yeah, I got this pop-up ad for a free copy of Warcraft, and I been playin' it, but now my 'puter's crashed--is there a problem with the Network?")Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
In a word: "rework"
Never bothers me to do a job...regardless of what it is. But hate to rework something that was already done, but not done "right".
DUM SPIRO SPERO: "While I breathe I hope"
yeah, rework. Spent about an hour yesterday taking apart the lowers on a cabinet we built. HO decided she wanted it moved two feet--that was no prob because the cabinets were on wheels, but Marc decided we should switch the drawer cabinet with the open cabinet, which entailed undoing everything. Now the wheels are too far apart (IMO) to support the middle well. Never have time to do it right, but always have time to do it over. (I said it was too bad we didn't know she wanted it over two feet because then we could have moved the old outlet so it would still be behind the cabinet--Marc said that it was a new outlet that he had installed! Can't move it now because we've already painted the wall (which he scratched a 12" scratch down yesterday while walking by when his pants that had a metal rivet hit the wall!)
- Oil-based primer (or paint for that matter)
- Anything to do with lattice
- Anytime I get subfloor adhesive on my clothing
- Anything requiring a gas-powered demo saw
There have been many complaints about fixing other people's hack work in this thread. I love it!
Yesterday, I demoed a Pergo floor that had been scewed down with drywall screws (in a bathroom, no less!). The underlayment was affixed with roofing nails. Part of the subfloor consisted of tile over an old mortar bed with a 4" hole in it (likely where the old WC was) that went directly to an unheated crawlspace.
The next room over had an unvented gas log fireplace. The gas line was 1/2" flexible copper that was directly (as in touching) behind the baseboard. You can't even dream this stuff up!
Situations like this can give you a good laugh, boost your ego for doing things (mostly) the right way, and the satisfaction that the homeowners won't blow themselves up or fall through the floor after a shower because of what you have fixed.DCS Inc.
"Whaddya mean I hurt your feelings, I didn't know you had any feelings." Dave Mustaine
I forgot one other thing I really hate - The phone call. The phone rings, and a guy says: "We're setting trusses on job #12345, and we're having a problem"In the back of my mind I start thinking: What's wrong now? Did I forget something? Are the spans wrong? The cathedral the wrong size? Wrong heel heights?There's always a short time in there where you wonder if you screwed up bad. It takes some time for me to figure out what the problem is and who I can blame it on. (-:
Women believe if a woman strays, it's because of a lack of affection at home.
Women believe if a man strays, it's because men are scum.
It takes some time for me to figure out what the problem is and who I can blame it on. (-:
Focus only on fixing the problem. You'll be a happier guy. ;-)
Reminds me of a quick story. When I frame, the crew I work with has a running joke that whenever anything is wrong, we blame it on one guy, let's call him Joe, who happens to be the most senior guy just below the boss. Whenever a mistake is found, no matter who did it, everyone says in unison, "blame it on Joe." Really cuts any tension, we all laugh and get on with just fixing it.
"Let's get crack-a-lackin" --- Adam Carolla
"Focus only on fixing the problem."
I do - That was a joke. Hence the smiley face.
Be watchful of all your actions, because somewhere there is always someone who knows what you have done.
>>"I do - That was a joke. Hence the smiley face.
My bad. Actually, Joe told me to post it. Blame it on Joe. ;-)
"Let's get crack-a-lackin" --- Adam Carolla
Edited 4/27/2006 9:09 am ET by philarenewal
I take a simalar tack but we always blame it on the thats working somewhere else.
I had a guy quit recently with a house about 75% done so, of course, he takes the brunt of the current blame. I actually had a guy start to admit a minor oversite yesterday but about halfway through it he realized what he was doing. :-)
Definite tension breaker.
I wonder how Joe felt.
>>"I wonder how Joe felt.
He laughed too. What made it work was he was the most senior on the crew besides the boss, and he was very good, so he could just laugh it off.
"Let's get crack-a-lackin" --- Adam Carolla
Do like the Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources (now the Dept. of Environmental Quality) used to do--blame things on a fictitious employee!
(I once got yelled at by a customer when I worked for a transit authority and she demanded to speak to my boss. I asked a guy in another dept. to be my boss and turned her over to him. Cecil was a real charming Southern gentleman and he sweet talked her and I kept my job (though why I wanted to, in retrospect, is beyond me).
>>"I asked a guy in another dept. to be my boss and turned her over to him.
I knew that sort of stuff happens. You have confirmed my worst fears. ;-)
"Let's get crack-a-lackin" --- Adam Carolla
"Never have time to do it right, but always have time to do it over. "
Dang but I had to chuckle over that line even tho it is, in truth, the cause of distress whenever I encounter that kinda situation.
Sorry bout your joyous cabinet endeavors!DUM SPIRO SPERO: "While I breathe I hope"
But that's how i learned half of what I know
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
ROAR!
jez like you to find the glass half full part of REWORK...
good on ya
now come fix this little problem I got here will ya? I know you'll learn something from it...
;-)DUM SPIRO SPERO: "While I breathe I hope"
painting.
digging anything.
building forms for footings (don't mind pulling the concrete, just setting up and breaking down forms and french drains)
#1 least favorite thing: cutting grass (on properties that have been purchased but not started, the neighbors complain if the grass gets high)
I think George Strait sang a song about you. "I hate everything". DanT
Just now, I'm like BB, except my day bites from when the alarm goes off to until Beer 1 in the evening afterwards <g>.
Realistically, it's the endless filling out of government forms, none of which are the same, or use the same standard, and always seem to increase with no increase in what I'm paid to turn out more dead trees.
I, and the HVAC engineer, already have to meet code-mandated standards, so why we both now have to fill out a form saying we did our jobs is a bit of a PITA.
Oh, well, could be worse.
Punchout. Where I have to unpack & scatter every f***ing tool I own, and every little pack/ box/ sleeve of screws & widgets, just to take care of 4 or 5 "little" items. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!!
Honestly,
I don't know what I don't like yet!
I've done a lot of crappy sh*t for myself and not liked it. But doing it now for somebody else and their money suits me just fine. I spent the better part of yesterday in a 12" crawlspace lugging a jack, posts, hammers, and junk around to prop up part of a house I was putting an overhead beam in to remove an interior wall. The part where the beam was in place and the wall came out was great! The part where I was under the house and had to breathe OUT before I could skootch under that beam line in the ####, insulation, dust and mud was not.
But like I said, it suited me just fine!
But then I'm still young...
I hope to figure out what I don't like to do sometime soon.
Or better yet, what I DO like to do for somebody elses good fair money!
So far, I really like working outside--whatever it is--framing, decks, roofing...
I'd like to hear how you guys came to specialize and what in?
Cheers,
Pat