Today is one of those days you gotta just love …
Woke up to the power off due to 5″ of snow (actually, light slush) on the ground. Broken power lines somewhere upstream. OK so far, except that I can’t make coffee! OK, just leave for work early, and stop in town for some breakfast and go-juice.
Off to the job site (mine). Design has 5 levels of flat roofs with parapet walls, and six internal roof drains. Problem is, framing is about 97% complete, so no roof membrane (just OSB) and no windows or exterior doors. So, two inches of saturated slush is all over the roof (36′ to the ground), and melting and dripping through 3 stories of framing into the crawl space.
I go to the orange box and buy a big squeegee. Get the Sawzall out of the Zircon to cut out the bottom plates that are still in place, so I can squeegee the whole floor. ‘Course, there is still scrap material and cut-offs all over the house, so I have to pick them up out of 1/4″ of water all over the floor so they don’t freeze in place tonight. So I’m wearing a new pair of black, insulated gloves. Turns out the color is not color-fast. So I now have black hands.
Oh yeah, got the Sawzall wet, so I gotta go get the “cordless” saw (the crosscut, pushme pullyou variety) to cut out all the plates.
Oops, getting ahead. I go up to the roof (luckily there is a piece of sheeting yet to be hung, so I can step out on the roof then up to the top level). I start there and squeegee the slush to the parapets, then start to shovel it over the side. Did you know that when a shovel full of slush hits the ground from 35′ that it splatters wet, saturated clay in about an 80′ diameter, including all over the stemwall and OSB below? Oh yeah, still raining/snowing while I’m doing this.
Down to the third floor, then the second. Four hours have elapsed. Man, those self-draining tongues on the OSB flat roof and subfloors sure drain well! It stops raining outside, but it’s just getting going inside!
I go to the first floor, look at the swamp, and just say, “Screw it, I’m outta here.” Came home, and I was too cold, hungry and tired to take a shower. But the power’s back, and the heat is on.
And the best part ??? I get to do it all over again tomorrow!
The High Desert Group LLC
Replies
5 levels of flat roofs in snow country ?
wow.
but just what's so bad about a wet sawzaw?
It'll still run .. just don't stick your tongue on the end of the extension cord ....
Jeff
Buck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
BTW ...
Bruce ...
I love your radio show ... listen and learn all the time!
JeffBuck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
Why I love building...
- Working outside on rainy days
-Working outside on snowy days
- Working in ankle deep mud
- Dead-lines
- Customers who have trouble paying
- Maxed out lines of credit
- Tools and vehicles that break down
- Employees who are sick
- Customers who don't understand the meaning of delays
- Sub-trades who don't show up on the right day
- Banks
- Government
- Pulling a back muscle by just lifting your lunch box
There are others, please add your own.
singleboy,
Bear in mind the following:
1. Schedule all critical work on payday; trust me, all your guys will be there.
2. Never schedule the concrete, and the pump, until the gravel is in place. It will snow, and you will personally have to move 7 yards of gravel all weekend. (DISCLAIMER: Bitter personal experience)
3. Embrace my philosophy: "Get the check; cash the check; do the work." This effectively solves customer payment issues.
4. Customer change orders don't just change the money, they change the schedule. Be ridiculous. "Well, sure I can take care of that, but the hardwood crew needs to have their guy run the flummery agitator through the whole place as soon as the rock is up; they're scheduled, but this delay will encroach on the commitment they have to agitate flummery on Oahu for the next 4 mos, so their guy won't be around. Now, I can call around, but this guy is the best flummery agitator in the Tri-States. Are you OK to take an additional 4 mos for this change?"
I hope this helps.
Whimsically,
skipj
yeah, but for all the downsides, it still beats the hell out of an office and desk doing the same mundane work day after day after day after day....
doesn't it?
Yes.Andy Engel, The Former Accidental Moderator
guess you would know.
ever think about giving up your job and going back into the field? I mean seriously, not at cruch time right before a new issue
Dude, I dont know which is worse, that job you just described, or slowly dying in an office/coffin (think the movie office space) that's me.
I know know, it's only "fun" when it isnt a job.
Sometimes.
There are days when I HATE to be cooped up in here. Like today. Not a bad day outside, and I know rain is coming. And one last field of corn to shell. If I could just get out of here for a few hours we might get finished up today.
Or the first day in the spring when it hits 70°. Or a warm sunny day in the fall.
But then there are the days where it's about 95° in the shade, sunny and and no breeze. That AC feels pretty good. Or when it's cold and windy and spitting rain. Or when it's about 10° out and you have no choice but to do something outside.A true friend is there when you need them. Which is why I prefer enemies, because they pretty much leave you the hell alone
I guess thats why they make John Deere tractors.
Tim Mooney
Flummery Agitator!!!
That is GREAT!!!!!
I gotta remember that one.
I'm Gonna put it on my resume'Mr T
Do not try this at home!
I am an Experienced Professional!
Try twenty yards of stone....
on a weekend of course.
But if I'd had a good agitator for my flumn, it would have been easier.
How about this one - showing up on the agreed date with staging and planks and crew, only to have the owner stagger out of bed at 9AM to ask, "What are you doing here?"..."We'll have to postpone this for about three weeks"
Worked out fine 'cause I had anopther job ready and he paid extra for the change, but my gut still crawls remembering that day..
Excellence is its own reward!
Working inside on perfect days
working 8 days a week
working every trade known to residential construction
requalifying on a wheelbarrow license
tearing out a kitchen that hasn't been cleaned in 2 years
running a new sanitary sewer line thru an old leech field
Do you buy repos too? Sounds very familiar. HMMMM
Tim Mooney
Why clean that kitchen when they know it'll be re-done in a couple of years anyway?
LOL.
Excellence is its own reward!
Done a couple of those... So nasty it had to be gutted.
Even threw out the dishes, stove and refer...
Who ever invented work didn't know how to fish....
Oh the joy of the dirty kitchen, I had a renter once that I had to evict. once they were out and I went in to asses damages, whew(shutter still thinking of it) kitchen was un-freaking-believable. Opened the fridge, maggots came falling out, shut the door quick, duct-taped the damn thing shut and hauled it out ASAP.
Love those kitchen
Doug
Talking about dirty, I don't blame landlords for no pet policies, having seen some ugly situations. Some were so bad that the houses were condemned when "collectors", that kept adding lost/homeless animals and not being able to care for so many properly were found out.
The evaporating check.Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Kitchens don't have anything on dirty baths..
especially those with carpet...
I know. Did one that hadn't been cleaned in...
Well, it hadn't been cleaned!.
Excellence is its own reward!
At least there's a fair side to it.
Fair price.... Then at least double it... Sub out the demo.
EVERYTHING to the dumpster.
Only one house I refused to work on because of the unsanitary conditions.
The other ones I worked on in garbage shape was because of some really sad housekeeping.
The top of the list for nasty belongs to renters..
Who ever invented work didn't know how to fish....
There was a thread here some months ago about rental housing and the question of lowlife renters came up. Somebody (Tim Mooney?) said his rental contract authorized him to visit the properties monthly and check for things like pet damage and permanently clogged toilets. Not much help if a landlord is calling you in to clean up after these people, but if you have any thoughts about getting into rental property yourself, it's something to keep in mind.
Did rental property at one time. (call me slum lord if you will) Unreal what can happen to a place in as little as 6 months. Never again.
To get a call to clean up after renters makes me cringe. Some of the landlords and what they want done, how they think it should be with a nothing budget can leave a lot to be desired too...
Funny thing though I never seem to get called a second time and I've yet to get a bid or guesstimate accepted.
Who ever invented work didn't know how to fish....
I did a bathroom refit once. It seemed the teenage son couldnt hit the inside of the toilet bowl if his life depended on it.
The plumber yanked the old one out, but the place still reeked. Got him to plug up the pipe, but the pong still remained. Finally figgured it out. The offending bit of saturated flooring got zapped out with a sabresaw and booted out to the bin. uggggghhhhhh
The good days though, warm and sunny, not too hot, framing all day with a hamer not a damn nailgun. those were the days.
Wood Hoon
>> ... I've yet to get a bid or guesstimate accepted.
That's what I always tell people who ask how to turn down work they don't want to do. (As opposed to turning down a customer they don't want to work for.) Bid it high. Bid it high enough that you'll be happy to do it if the unthinkable happens and the customer actually accepts your bid.
wife whining for $ for the lumber bill
"Screw it, I'm outta here."
Bruce I know that sentiment, and then you get the phone calls from a shrill whiney customer at 9:00PM when your half asleep on the couch.......my solution, I'm a happy stairman working all by my little lonesome self!
I concur ... when I was a one-man trim show, I felt the same as you. I'm thinking that after this house and the one that goes on the other lot we own, maybe it's back to trim world. Problem is, I get my kicks from using my design background to draw houses, and the next step is to get the design built. Going the high end spec route, I avoid the whiny client, but I'm still left with the grunt work. Maybe I should invest in pork bellies or grain futures.The High Desert Group LLC
---"I get my kicks from using my design background to draw houses, and the next step is to get the design built. Going the high end spec route, I avoid the whiny client, but I'm still left with the grunt work. Maybe I should invest in pork bellies or grain futures."---
Being a farmer, I will say that it is an addiction, so better think hard before getting involved. Farming and especially commodity trading is pure gambling.
As a farmer answered when asked what he would do with all that money he won in the lottery, he said that he was going to pay his debt down and keep farming until all the money was gone.;-)
'Twas purely in jest. I think I'm done with any investment I can't stand on or live in. We lost a major bundle in mutual funds when the market croaked coupla years back. Took most of the remainder out to build 2 houses here. Real estate locally is going up an average of 17% a year, regardless of the economy.
Just as what was left in our accounts started to rebound recently, then the mutual fund scamming issue crops up. Guess where a big portion of our remainig invesments are? Yup ... Putnam, one of the companies right in the middle of the mess.
The High Desert Group LLC
Edited 11/16/2003 12:57:40 PM ET by Bruce Williams
I was also teasing. Seems that you would not have any luck if you didn't have bad luck! Thankfully, things seem to balance out, so your "good luck" time must be around the corner, with a little foresight from you. Of course, that wreck in the markets was really unexpected and caught practically every investor in it.
Been there in a few cattle market wrecks. Ouch! Live and learn.
Interesting about the real estate market being so good and solid. I know that this house I started pricing to build almost six months ago is higher now than it was then.:-(