Thread: The Last Brick (for the self employed amongst us)

Thats exactly why i work for myself, or subby out. Can't deal with people like that, and hate taking orders, and if they want something changed after i've started or finished it then i sting them good for it, well i am a sparky

I give you a week

Good luck Dawg.
MMM may need a brickie down here if we build.

Dawg, my dear old Dad worked for himself for near on thirty years, had up to 14 employees at one stage, hell, I even did my time with him, then he packed up, moved to Qld and went on the payroll of someone else.

We didn't think he'd last a week working for someone else, and a couple of bosses didn't last but after about three or four employers over a couple of years but a large company heard he was free and grabbed him as the bosses there were from NSW and knew his reputation.
He stayed there till retirement was forced on him with encroaching Parkinsons.

He loved the reduced level of stress and not worrying about chasing money all the time.

Originally Posted by rick130

He loved the reduced level of stress and not worrying about chasing money all the time.

That's what made me walk away from the white collar jobs, and back into the workshop again.
Just do the job, and you don't have to worry about the garbage from the boardroom.

As much as I loved the job at sea, I never wanted to be an officer. I had to become one to continue in the job.
I lasted about 2 1\2 years, and went back to the tools and the lower deck.

Much lower stress levels. Not so accountable to the accounts department.

Originally Posted by rick130

worrying about chasing money all the time.

The worst part of being a small business operator is not getting the work or doing the work but getting the money out of the clients.

An uncle was once told by a knight of the realm that it was his custom to pay his accounts every twelvemonth. Uncles response was that it was his custom to be paid every thirty days and to issue summons if not. And he did.

In my machine shop days I was told by a resident of an up-market suburb that I had a hide pursuing him for a "petty amount" when he owed "many thousands". Towed his sports car away that night and removed the rear end which was the worked area and when he called the wallopers to my shop informed them that the job was not yet finished and was returned for completion and that he needed to put some more money in before I would do more work. Senior Sergeant at Morningside then was a decent bloke and a fellow club member who suggested that some money up front would achieve a happy solution. I had the rear axle for the next two years before the money appeared.

Another small business man of my acquaintance has no qualms whatsoever at using an outlaw motor cycle gang as debt collectors at 25% commission. Says they manage to collect from professional bankrupts like those who infest the building and construction industry without a complaint and in full. Some property damage and the odd injury may occur in the process.

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

The worst part of being a small business operator is not getting the work or doing the work but getting the money out of the clients.

An uncle was once told by a knight of the realm that it was his custom to pay his accounts every twelvemonth. Uncles response was that it was his custom to be paid every thirty days and to issue summons if not. And he did.

In my machine shop days I was told by a resident of an up-market suburb that I had a hide pursuing him for a "petty amount" when he owed "many thousands". Towed his sports car away that night and removed the rear end which was the worked area and when he called the wallopers to my shop informed them that the job was not yet finished and was returned for completion and that he needed to put some more money in before I would do more work. Senior Sergeant at Morningside then was a decent bloke and a fellow club member who suggested that some money up front would achieve a happy solution. I had the rear axle for the next two years before the money appeared.

Another small business man of my acquaintance has no qualms whatsoever at using an outlaw motor cycle gang as debt collectors at 25% commission. Says they manage to collect from professional bankrupts like those who infest the building and construction industry without a complaint and in full. Some property damage and the odd injury may occur in the process.

My experience of the Peerage, is they are broker than you and me mate. They get the old family annuity on the twelvemonth, and for the other eleven the sponge on us.

I introduced the concept of un-work to a bad boss once.
I had been setting up a free standing cantilever lunging yard for a horse trainer. (4 meters high with a radius span of 3 meters). The boss came up mid afternoon and said "I haven't got all your wages this week is that all right?" I said "NO". He walked away.
I shut down the welder, got out the nine inch grinder, and cut every weld I did that day.
The boss heard the noise, came back to the workshop, and asked what I was doing.
I said "NO PAY, NO WORK". I got my pay.

And as for debt recovery. A little old lady once told me, pain is our only true teacher.

That really sucks when they have some goose in a suit on a jobsite trying to bark orders at you.

I find the manager 'suit' types on jobsites think they're much better than you and can be so rude. I had one speak to me like a POS on a jobsite, trying to big-note himself in fromnt of the supervisior, barking orders, etc... of which I followed " I dont' take orders from ******* in suits, so **** off "

As a platerer I don't have to deal with the builders directly in many cases unless they come onto the jobsite but then they can't really tell me what to do anyway (I work for a large platering contractor as a sub-contractor) Usually I just tell them to ring my supervisor and sort it out from there. If they decide to make changes depending on what stage the job is at we don't mind but not at the end like what you're just encounterd, we don't bother and it's up to our contractor to sort it out. We make sure we get paid extra for any alterations.

You did the right thing and I would have done the same too

Trav

i know of a sparkie that too thr meter box out of the wall when not paid after 4 weeks of the job being done wasnt good for the head office of a delfin home not to have power cause they are *****s, still owe me 10k but its a but hard to get paint back off a awall