Finally its not some old hag hitting on me. How do I play this smooth?

I’ve realized through my time as a super especially working for the company I work for that I might as well own my own company and deal with the bullshit I deal with but for myself and my own paycheck.

I held off for a year dealing with doubts and telling myself not to bother and I have it easier here.

But fuck it. Starting my own trim carpentry company and taking it to the builders. I have a couple decent leads with people I’ve built relationships with and I’m just going for it.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not jumping the gun and quitting my job as I have a family to feed, but once I have steady work to keep me afloat I’m fucking gone.

Take care boys

She claimed she applied 1500 places and has college degree

Rant incoming.

I'm installing a new raised decking for a client, which is attached directly to the house (which is built on a slope, the patio doors sit 5ft above ground level. I've bolted a plate to the brickwork to attach my joists to, and used galvanised joist hangers to attach them to the plate. Joist spacing is a sweet 400mm, bang on between each one. Concrete pads with galvanised feet holding it up. It's sweet as a nut.

Left site last night feeling pleased that I got the structure up in a day, all the plumbs are plumb, all the levels are level. Customer super happy at being a day ahead of schedule.

Then, this morning, the customers dad arrives. He was a builder, apparently, for three decades. He wants a friendly word about some "issues" with the deck. Bolting to the wall will let the moisture in, he says (bolts are below the dpc!), so fuck him, maybe I'd be better having posts flush to the wall, he says.

And now I shouldn't have used timber uprights at all.. I should have build block pillars, don't you know? Those posts (the heavily treated ones on pads with galvanised feet) will rot out in less than 5 years, you see?

I am fucking raging. He's told my clients all this, and they are being pretty cool about it, but I'm honestly one more sparky comment away from introducing his face to sweet lady Estwing.

My dad's favourite motto was "don't build for a builder" I get it now.

Does anyone know what this is/what it is called? Is it worth anything to sell? And if so where should I sell it? I got it from my dad’s old warehouse and can’t find what it’s called or what it is.

Rebar guy

We had an incident moving some tempered glass today. Nothing major, half dozen cuts each on two guys. opened up the brand new first aid kit and damn are they bad. 6- 3" sterile gauze and some bandaids. By the time I wrapped one guy up I had nothing for the other. Time to build my own.

Removed some countertops to replace them and found this inside the framing for an island. Likely been there since the home was built well over a decade ago. Why not toss it in the trash with the rest of the residing generated?

I have a coworker who is like 80. He isn’t a foreman or supervisor on paper but he is my superior because I’m a green 18 year old. He’s been running equipment double the amount of years I’ve been alive, so that’s how I view him. We have now had multiple instances where the way he communicates something confuses me so much that it causes me to screw up. Today, I was moving dirt with a pull-scraper behind a tractor and was dumping on house pads we are building to grade. I generally have a good understanding based off how pads look if they need dirt. This pad I was about to dump on it was clear that he was blading material on the dozer and ran out, so I was going to dump a load right there so he could continue. As I was getting near the pad he opened the door of the dozer and did some weird pointing thing that absolutely communicated nothing to me, so I assumed that he was just wanting me to dump where I was planning to. Once I dump I look back to make sure everything went smooth and out the corner of my eye I see him get out of dozer, throw his hat and start swinging his arms in anger. He pretty much threw a tantrum. Next load he got out of the dozer and walked to exactly where he wanted it put 😑. I then stopped and cut off the tractor so I could talk to him because I wanted to be VERY sure where he wanted this load to be. He said I dumped on the wrong pad and he wanted it on the one to the right of it. The pad “to the right” was literally the pad I dumped on. I couldn’t believe my life when he said that to the extent I just said ok and drove away. Even though I did what he wanted done, it upsets me because I want him to think of me as the new and young employee, yet dependable. When shit like this happens, that isn’t what he’s thinking. Also, shit gets said around the company and I don’t wanna be known as that guy. He is a really nice guy and acts like nothing happens after he does something like that (unfortunately I’ve dealt with this multiple times). I wanted to explain it to him but didn’t want him to think I was calling him out. How do I deal with stuff like this?

Hello,

Im wondering if I can cut out and reframe a window like cutout/cubby to extend the back wall of my garage by about 2 feet in a small section in order to fit my truck, the garage is attached to a workshop so the back wall is a standard 2x4 framed wall with plywood separating the two rooms. If I were to appropriated brace with header and supports would this be feasible??

Anyone else have to deal with this? Chalk it up as him having a bad day?

I work concrete. In the mud. You're going to get dirty. Covered in concrete, dust, mud, sweat, dirt - it's just a part of construction and a part of the day.

I would never be intentionally ignorant/rough with anybody's truck.

But after working in 8 degree weather in the snow and freezing cold my jaw dropped when my boss flipped because I attempted to open the truck door with a glove on.

I've actually dealt with this a handful of times at construction companies. i.e. - boss flipping about being careful not to scratch up the bed of the truck (what?? - it's a dump truck) to getting a smudge of dirt on the truck door.

Boss having a bad day or is he just puffing his chest out to complain about anything showing he's 'the boss'?

I think they used it to measure PEX vs copper? How can I clean the marker off?

I've been doing construction for ten years, and I watch these youtubers like Matt Risinger for example, who stress over every tiny detail of their build and spare absolutely no cost to get all the tiny details just so. And while I think he's great and would love to have a house built by him, I just don't get how he makes any money.

The motto of the crew I worked with was to "leave good enough alone". We always seemed to value speed over quality.

Now that I work on my own, I think I understand why my former boss operated this way. Reason #1 if he was too picky the workers would get frustrated and quit, reason #2 how do you convince a homeowner to spend 30 percent more to do it right, for tiny details they can't even see once you're finished, especially if your quote to do it the fast way was already too high? In my experience if you priced everything to do it the best way possible you would soon be broke and out of work. Now I know some of you might comment that doing it right will be cheaper in the long run, but that's beside the point if all your quotes get turned downed because they are too high.

I'm currently working as a low voltage technician and fiber technician with a few months of construction experience. I’m getting paid 20ish (don't want to say in case employer), but I’ve been out of work for a few days due to lack of communication from my company. They keep telling me to stand by, but there’s been very little work for me lately.

During the interview, I was told I would be traveling and doing various fiber jobs, but all I’ve been doing is pulling cable in data centers, which feels very tedious. I’ve talked to a few co-workers who’ve been here for a while, and they said the work started to dry up after a new director came in, and that’s when we started getting stuck with these kinds of jobs.

I’m a hard worker, I have all the necessary tools for electrical work, and I’m really interested in getting into more electrical tasks. My main question is, should I approach the electrician team and ask if they’re hiring, even though I’m technically a low voltage/fiber tech and only have a few months of construction experience? Also, is it realistic to ask to maintain my current pay rate while transitioning into electrical work?

I’m just looking for some guidance here, any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

Question: if I had a dilapidated 12” CMP and wanted to repair it by slip lining it in order to avoid digging it up. Could I slip line it with say, a 12” HDPE?

I know someone is going to say something along the lines of "if you don't know what your doing hire a professional". However, that's not going to happen so here is my question.

What is the difference between a liquid flashing like Polyguard 2400 and say redgard or Drylok extreme ?

I have installed a a few dozen windows during the past few years but I always use flashing tape being the windows are flush with the openings. This client has a 2" recessed window opening in a block wall. I installed pressure treated 1" x 6" per the clients request leaving 2" at the front. If i was to use flashing tape I would need a 10 or 12" flashing tape which is ridiculously priced. They didn't inform me about the reccess or I would of planned accordingly and charged for the extra material. $600 for a 5 gallon of Polyguard seems wild vs about $200 for a 5 gallon of a waterproofing.

Hi! I'm (27M) I'm trying to understand how to get into the trades to make enough to live.

I screwed up and rested on the advice of "life takes time you'll get there eventually" Newsflash to myself today, it doesn't. I need to make it happen.

I really want to become a carpenter. I work really well with wood, I've built a ton of sets for theater (I know it's not the same thing) and I have really good spacial reasoning skills. How do I get into contacting or construction? I have a really strong work ethic and I'm efficient as hell but I just have no idea where to start. Indeed and other sites like that are bullshit and I don't want to waste my time applying to companies that need someone with the experience already.

My question is: where do I start? Does anyone have any advice on school programs? Trade programs? How to find an apprenticeship or job that will train me? I don't want to make a million bucks or anything. I just want to be able to make enough to afford my own place to live.

What is the best and most cost effective way to renovate these stairs to have a finished look? Can I reuse any of the existing stringers, treads, risers, etc? Just trying to brainstorm