LeeM Posted 13August, 2019 Report Share Posted 13August, 2019 We've been having trouble with the housing trust across the road from us with them dumping trolleys and gawd knows what else in the median strip. It's pretty obvious in the past 2 years they're...let's say less than model citizens, but they keep to themselves and don't cause us any hassles directly. All of us residents have complained to council and Coles for the trolley problem, as they're usually strewn all over the place, and being one to usually leave it up to others to sort out, I couldnt let it go and now am obsessed with ensuring Coles pick up the trolleys immediately. These trolleys have been there for a month, and the most we counted was 19 and the collection mob have 17 logged calls about them (6 from me) and today they picked them up. Their policy is to only collect empty trolleys, so as I saw the ute n trailer roll up, I thought I'd watch them. Yeah, dump all the crap out of the trolleys and drive off ya muppets! 😡 I took a bunch of photos and emailed them onto the council (who have been great), Coles and the SA Police. Council were here within 5 minutes to clean up, and they have forwarded it on to the collection company who council say are definitley going to send a fine for littering. Is this a way to run a business? Hope the employees get sacked GC9911 and Tips 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niko Posted 14August, 2019 Report Share Posted 14August, 2019 Lee we have an app in Victoria, I'm not sure if it is Australia wide, called SNAP SEND SOLVE, you will find it in the APP STORE. Fantastic app. Used for graffiti, rubbish, shopping trollies, etc etc etc. Photograph the offending item, and continue on with the procedure. It does a sat nav location of the item, and they then send what ever the problem is, off to the relevant authority. I have had great success with it. Once I send the problem off, it is usually fixed within 48 hours. Councils, and utilities including our Vic roads etc. Check it out, hopefully it works in SA too. LeeM and Redracn 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeM Posted 14August, 2019 Report Share Posted 14August, 2019 Cheers @Niko I'll have a look. I'm more impressed that you're using an app 😁 Though now you're prolific in posting on Instagram, I'm not surprised 😁 Just saw our whole street is free from trolleys for the first time in months! Hooray!! Bet that'll last a day or two, but I'll be ontop of it Niko 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niko Posted 14August, 2019 Report Share Posted 14August, 2019 Cheers Lee, I'm actually surprising myself at what I can achieve when I try. LeeM 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeM Posted 14August, 2019 Report Share Posted 14August, 2019 A little time, trial and error is all it takes @Niko 👍 Niko 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niko Posted 14August, 2019 Report Share Posted 14August, 2019 and patience, which is something I don't have a lot off unfortunately LeeM 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeM Posted 14August, 2019 Report Share Posted 14August, 2019 9 minutes ago, Niko said: and patience, which is something I don't have a lot off unfortunately Same. Hence my lack of refitting bolts to my car 🙄 GC9911 and Niko 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9fan Posted 14August, 2019 Report Share Posted 14August, 2019 Just sent two left side rims to be repaired - bloody pothole on main road underpass with nowhere to stop and photo. Traffic ahead so didn't see it until too late and couldn't manoeuvre with a car beside me. Checked rims and seemed alright but at higher speeds started to get vibs - Thanks Vic Roads 🤬 Niko 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3legs Posted 29August, 2019 Report Share Posted 29August, 2019 Sorry but I have to get this of my chest. I've said it before but humans are getting dumber and dumber especially here in Adelaide. I just can't believe what is going on in this city with both drivers and pedestrians. Take this morning for example. I want to turn right onto a major Adelaide road (Port Rd). Port Rd is a 6 lane road divided by an approx 25m medium strip that has joiner roads connecting the 2 sides. Not all joiner roads are controlled by traffic lights. So there I am waiting for traffic to die down to allow me to turn right. I'm stationary with my blinker on. On the other side of the road is a pedestrian waiting to cross. I look at him, he looks at me and I thought great he knows I'm here and I want to turn. So when possible I start to turn but then the bloody f@#kwit decides I'm going to run across the road just as I powering on. I brake and he stops in the middle of the road and I only just avoid him. He starts abusing me. Now normally I would have abused him back (but wait there's more) but I politely point out something extremely obvious to everyone who is not legally blind but that only enrages him further so I thought stuff you and he copped some payback from me. Now you are probably thinking well that's a normal day for me (you) but there were 2 things that made this one a little (read a lot) different. 1/ the guy was in his fifties and should know better but...................... 2/ not 15 feet away from the f@#kwit was a push button controlled pedestrian crossing that had someone waiting to cross. This f@#kwit was not disabled so could have easily walked that 15 feet and used the crossing. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seeing as we are not allowed to kill F@#kwits like this I would love to see the stocks brought back with a huge sign around their neck telling the world how stupid they are. I really hope the F@#kwit is on this forum and is reading this but I doubt the guy has the intelligence to pass his licence test. Here is a link to the actual crossing. https://www.google.com/maps/@-34.879129,138.5329495,3a,79.1y,20.21h,91.41t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sp2W-XtYaUhP6WSVY1py7bA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 The f@#kwit was standing where that little red post is near that empty white sign next to the gum tree. I was turning like the red car is. Sorry. Rant over but I do feel better now😀 LeeM 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TINGY Posted 5September, 2019 Report Share Posted 5September, 2019 On 29/08/2019 at 11:03, 3legs said: Sorry. Rant over but I do feel better now😀 What would have karma was that he got fined for jay walking. i know they are enforcing that law now in NSW. 3legs 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OZ930 Posted 6September, 2019 Report Share Posted 6September, 2019 3 hours ago, TINGY996 said: What would have karma was that he got fined for jay walking. i know they are enforcing that law now in NSW. Are they that desperate for revenue ? They shouldn't have sold all OUR assets then, should they ? Talk about kill the goose that laid the golden egg ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeM Posted 6September, 2019 Report Share Posted 6September, 2019 7 minutes ago, OZ930 said: Are they that desperate for revenue ? Should see it here in Adelaide. For any trucks speeding by more than 10kph coming down the freeway into the city is a $25,000 fine to the trucking company if they don't cough up who was driving at the time. If they do, the driver gets $1300 fine and 6 demerits plus loss of license. So in other words he's out of a job. Saw on the news last night one bloke or company has racked up $250,000 in fines 😲 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevepGT3 Posted 6September, 2019 Report Share Posted 6September, 2019 On 29/08/2019 at 11:03, 3legs said: Sorry but I have to get this of my chest. I've said it before but humans are getting dumber and dumber especially here in Adelaide. I just can't believe what is going on in this city with both drivers and pedestrians. Take this morning for example. I want to turn right onto a major Adelaide road (Port Rd). Port Rd is a 6 lane road divided by an approx 25m medium strip that has joiner roads connecting the 2 sides. Not all joiner roads are controlled by traffic lights. So there I am waiting for traffic to die down to allow me to turn right. I'm stationary with my blinker on. On the other side of the road is a pedestrian waiting to cross. I look at him, he looks at me and I thought great he knows I'm here and I want to turn. So when possible I start to turn but then the bloody f@#kwit decides I'm going to run across the road just as I powering on. I brake and he stops in the middle of the road and I only just avoid him. He starts abusing me. Now normally I would have abused him back (but wait there's more) but I politely point out something extremely obvious to everyone who is not legally blind but that only enrages him further so I thought stuff you and he copped some payback from me. Now you are probably thinking well that's a normal day for me (you) but there were 2 things that made this one a little (read a lot) different. 1/ the guy was in his fifties and should know better but...................... 2/ not 15 feet away from the f@#kwit was a push button controlled pedestrian crossing that had someone waiting to cross. This f@#kwit was not disabled so could have easily walked that 15 feet and used the crossing. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seeing as we are not allowed to kill F@#kwits like this I would love to see the stocks brought back with a huge sign around their neck telling the world how stupid they are. I really hope the F@#kwit is on this forum and is reading this but I doubt the guy has the intelligence to pass his licence test. Here is a link to the actual crossing. https://www.google.com/maps/@-34.879129,138.5329495,3a,79.1y,20.21h,91.41t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sp2W-XtYaUhP6WSVY1py7bA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 The f@#kwit was standing where that little red post is near that empty white sign next to the gum tree. I was turning like the red car is. Sorry. Rant over but I do feel better now😀 should have run him over 3legs 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeM Posted 6September, 2019 Report Share Posted 6September, 2019 Been having a very up n down time with work lately, as the building industry is all over the place and a lack of work across many trades. I've been copping it with plenty of days off and losing $3000-4000 a month from who I contract to, yet have been looking for other work to take up the slack to no avail. I did a job a couple of weeks ago, and the site supervisor wasnt overly happy with one (ONE) shelf I installed and sent a pic to the manager which is fair enough, though on Thursday the manager (I use that term as loosely as possible, as he is an idiot that has never installed or done anything remotely close to what I have been doing for 14 years) got the sooks on and pulled me in the office. They had already changed the shelf (I put a screw just through the surface from underneath and just cracked the melamine, not protruding by more than 0.5mm) and they go on and on about quality etc. They then say they're back charging me $240 for time and travel at $80/hr (I get $40/hr for travel) and I got a little annoyed that I didnt have the chance to rectify it. Anyway...I've had issues with this so called manager, who is the bosses sons best mate, for 2 years, as his f..k ups are monumental that cost me and the company loads of time and money (hows making 40 mirror doors incorrectly and having to buy all new glass sound in ONE job!). We've had words before, as I don't take shit from anyone, and even his best mate says he's hopeless "But he's a nice guy", yet he still has a job and is never charged for anything. I've installed hundreds of robes and shelving units into homes that obviously weren't built using a level or square, and used my expertise to produce a good product for the housing company and the mob I contract to. In 2 years, I've been pulled up 3 times (THREE) for inferior work on one shelf or similar, yet because I do have a mouth on me and speak my mind usually out of frustration and to ensure we get a smooth sailing job, the so called manager called me yesterday afternoon to say I no longer have any work, and I am now unemployed 🙄 The boss (owners son) didnt even have the balls to call me himself, and gets his little sidekick to do it, as that's what sort of bloke he is. Pathetic! He's one of those people who hear one thing, twist it around then tell everyone a completely different story when he doesnt know any facts. And he calls himself an ex installer when he's installed 2 kitchens that have needed major rework to rectify his dodgy work. What's that saying 'Those who criticize, supervise!' Stick to your office job mate. I was going to leave soon anyway (others have done so already due to lack of money and the f..k ups), as I'm changing vocations due to being bored with the job and have been training on.and off with another company who are awaiting a big contract to fire up. I've been raped financially for the work we do as contractors, and dealing with these business owners who are ALL the same in this industry of wardrobe and kitchen installations...a.k.a ASSHOLES which has got me to the point of no return. That, and at 53 the job is very physical when you're carrying 2700 x 1200 mirror doors upstairs most days, and holding 3200 x 445 melamine boards over your head without scratching walls and having the site supervisor telling you to be careful! 😡 I'm over it, and having got the arse is probably a blessing in disguise as my missus said, which will force me to act sooner than later and not have to put up with these morons that run these types of businesses. I'm all for helping people, always have been in life and I always put others first to ensure they're happy even at my expense, yet when you are consistently treated like shit, paid f..k all for the work you do which costs you money for materials, screws, tools, fuel etc, its only a matter if time before you snap, and that's what they've now done to me. I've busted my arse for them, yet this is how they treat me? If that's how you all run a business, then in a nutshell, you're an asshole! Sure you need to make a profit to keep the doors open, I have no qualms about that, yet don't bite the hand that feeds you, as you'll soon find out that your doors will slam shut when the core people who do keep you in business desert you. Rant over...Anyone in SA need a reliable, hard working 53 year old on a temp basis? brian in buddina, WB997.2GTS and Niko 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niko Posted 7September, 2019 Report Share Posted 7September, 2019 That's a bugger mate. Hopefully one door closes...and you know the rest. Good luck with it all.. LeeM 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OZ930 Posted 7September, 2019 Report Share Posted 7September, 2019 Your wife is right (dammit). Sometimes you just need a nudge to move onto something better. +1 what Niko said. Good luck. LeeM 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeM Posted 7September, 2019 Report Share Posted 7September, 2019 Cheers fellas. Onward and upwards as they say! 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WB997.2GTS Posted 7September, 2019 Report Share Posted 7September, 2019 All the best Lee, another door will open. Also send a copy of the rant to the owner and see what response you receive, you have nothing to loose. Warren LeeM 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coastr Posted 7September, 2019 Report Share Posted 7September, 2019 I hear so many stories about how people treat each other in the construction business and it never seems healthy. I assume there are groups of people that work together and enjoy it, but must be hard to find them. One of the best guys I know that has done work for me ended up learning every single trade himself and built complete houses solo, just hiring in people like crane operators as needed. I talked to him about it and he said he just found it easier to learn new trades than to find reliable people to work with. He wasn't a perfect tiler or painter but he hangs a mean door and sure got jobs done quickly - I get why he worked that way. Anyway sometimes we need a push to get us onto new things and opportunity is always there for people who are looking. Don't give up in the inevitable dark day or two in the weeks ahead. Sometimes a good walk or drive to clear the head is just the ticket. LeeM 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crsedge Posted 7September, 2019 Report Share Posted 7September, 2019 Sorry to hear that Lee, wishing you all the best! Craig LeeM 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeM Posted 7September, 2019 Report Share Posted 7September, 2019 Cheers, I very much appreciate your thoughts and wishes. @Coastr Its rife in this industry mate. I hear it every other day from every trade, and 9/10 it's the building boss or developers who hold the 'I'm an asshole' badge of distinction. All I ask is that people be fair, pay accordingly and we all get along. If not, good luck, and I hope you go out of business...soon! I'm not a ticketed tradesman, and fell into this job as a wardrobe installer by chance. I was a forklift driver at Mitsubishi for 15 years, got a good redundancy package and sat on my arse for 18 months, yet the time came and I needed a job. A mate was an installer and said he'd teach me even though I'd never even held a jigsaw before, yet a month later I was on my own and installing, and earning more money in a week than I could even think about without selling drugs! I've learnt a LOT in the past 15 years which has taught me to believe in myself and have a go at anything, as what's the worst can happen? You mess up, you fix it or learn to pay someone who knows what they're doing! I even built my own perfectly square and level 7 x 5m pergola with decking by watching YouTube and researching DIY pages online. I do HATE painting though, that sucks. As I mentioned above, I've had enough of the bullshit attached to this job, and it is time for a change in life. Last night was the happiest I have been in months, so even though we are losing a lot of cash at the moment, I'm sure it will work out and I'll be happier knowing that I dont have to work for/with idiots who have no clue what they're doing. Their time is coming from what I have been told by various site supervisors, as them having 4 full time service guys that are always flat out fixing f..k ups says a lot about their processes. That, and another company is already cutting their lunch installing trial kitchens. @WB997.2GTS Mate, yesterday arvo I was keen to drive down to the office and throw a few punches and a tirade of abuse, yet that's not going to do me any good. They can't be told and nor will they listen, so I'm just going to forget all about them and move on. Cheers again for your thoughts 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tips Posted 7September, 2019 Report Share Posted 7September, 2019 1 hour ago, LeeM said: so I'm just going to forget all about them and move on. Keep your dignity Lee as in my book whilst it feels good it’s only your own brand that gets damaged. As you know it’s amazing where people turn up in the future. I know each city is different however I’m struggling to find a tiler in Syd to do 40sqm of tiling. Out of 6 Tiler’s I called and messaged only 3 called back and two turned up to quote and the be is available. I get frustrated that so many tradies don’t even call back. we have tried to get small jobs done at out town house block and as always job too small no one calls back or they quote themselves off the job. Whilst you can put up an add on gumtree, Fb etc a S uggestion might be to hit airtasker and hipages to see if any small jobs that suit your skills are on offer from joe public so you can cut out the management later? Also suggest have a chat with some local realestate agencies to see if they have need for odd jobs etc as they do turn over tradies regularly and types of jobs vary. Best of luck and having been in the position of job hiatus myself it’s about staying active in the market and catching up with people in your network as it’s amazing what is around when u have people looking out for you as well as time to look and think clearly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeM Posted 7September, 2019 Report Share Posted 7September, 2019 @Tips Cheers mate, good advice I appreciate I hear all the time of trades not getting back to the clients, or outpricing themselves, yet those guys are usually the ones who will have a cry bout a lack of work. I recently quoted someone for 3 robes as a cashie after I saw their quotes from 3 different companies, I bettered them all by a good margin yet the client asked if I can do it cheaper than that? Well no actually, and I've left them be. Ofcourse they call back with their counter offer of "Can you do it for this much?" Again, no, sorry. I've had that for so many years I now expect it when I do a quote, yet I stick to my guns now, and if people don't like it, then that's their problem. It works both ways with clients and business owners trying to play the "I'm so broke" card when they drive a Ferrari or whatever and live in a wanky suburb, so I'm not entirely stupid to know they CAN afford it, but choose to not want to pay. Same thing with builders/developers in that they want to maximise profits and don't care how they achieve that, which is usually at the expense of those who have the experience to provide such a task. In all honesty (and this may offend some viewers), the main reason people are doing it tough in this industry is the imported workers doing big jobs for bugger all money. I know one crew of ten painters who are on $8-10 per hour and they work 10 hours a day for one imported bloke who is ripping them off blind, yet the large and very well known Australian home building company don't care, as they're making more money and getting the job done. One solo painter who is very good at his job recently told me he has to buy all of his paint from one Dulux supplier. No Bunnings or Mitre 10, not even a sub branch of Dulux. He pays top dollar for paint, and for every sale that every painter puts through their warehouse, the 'large building company' also receives 10% commission. When some houses take $3000 worth of paint to complete, thats a lot of money being handed back to the builder! Now I ask you, does that bode well for the average bloke just trying to earn a living? All in all, the company I have trained with recently doing waterproofing and silicone gap filling (I'm very experienced in the latter) have contracts now and lined up, so it's just a matter of time before my ball starts rolling again. In the meantime, I wish to offer a little advice to those who want jobs done around home but don't want to spend much. Do you pay top dollar for your Porsche to be tuned and serviced/repaired, or do you have 'Joe Bloggs back yard enterprises' 'Have a go' at it and hope for the best? The same goes for building trades. If it's cheap, it's usually shit, so a $5000 job will not be done for $500 just because you don't want to pay that much, and tradies don't want to work for $20/hour. Same goes for employers. If you want good trades, PAY THEM ACCORDINGLY or do it yourself. If the company I contracted to are reading this...Go .... yourselves! There, I feel better now 3legs, WB997.2GTS and Tips 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwoHeadsTas Posted 7September, 2019 Report Share Posted 7September, 2019 44 minutes ago, LeeM said: @Tips Cheers mate, good advice I appreciate I hear all the time of trades not getting back to the clients, or outpricing themselves, yet those guys are usually the ones who will have a cry bout a lack of work. I recently quoted someone for 3 robes as a cashie after I saw their quotes from 3 different companies, I bettered them all by a good margin yet the client asked if I can do it cheaper than that? Well no actually, and I've left them be. Ofcourse they call back with their counter offer of "Can you do it for this much?" Again, no, sorry. I've had that for so many years I now expect it when I do a quote, yet I stick to my guns now, and if people don't like it, then that's their problem. It works both ways with clients and business owners trying to play the "I'm so broke" card when they drive a Ferrari or whatever and live in a wanky suburb, so I'm not entirely stupid to know they CAN afford it, but choose to not want to pay. Same thing with builders/developers in that they want to maximise profits and don't care how they achieve that, which is usually at the expense of those who have the experience to provide such a task. In all honesty (and this may offend some viewers), the main reason people are doing it tough in this industry is the imported workers doing big jobs for bugger all money. I know one crew of ten painters who are on $8-10 per hour and they work 10 hours a day for one imported bloke who is ripping them off blind, yet the large and very well known Australian home building company don't care, as they're making more money and getting the job done. One solo painter who is very good at his job recently told me he has to buy all of his paint from one Dulux supplier. No Bunnings or Mitre 10, not even a sub branch of Dulux. He pays top dollar for paint, and for every sale that every painter puts through their warehouse, the 'large building company' also receives 10% commission. When some houses take $3000 worth of paint to complete, thats a lot of money being handed back to the builder! Now I ask you, does that bode well for the average bloke just trying to earn a living? All in all, the company I have trained with recently doing waterproofing and silicone gap filling (I'm very experienced in the latter) have contracts now and lined up, so it's just a matter of time before my ball starts rolling again. In the meantime, I wish to offer a little advice to those who want jobs done around home but don't want to spend much. Do you pay top dollar for your Porsche to be tuned and serviced/repaired, or do you have 'Joe Bloggs back yard enterprises' 'Have a go' at it and hope for the best? The same goes for building trades. If it's cheap, it's usually shit, so a $5000 job will not be done for $500 just because you don't want to pay that much, and tradies don't want to work for $20/hour. Same goes for employers. If you want good trades, PAY THEM ACCORDINGLY or do it yourself. If the company I contracted to are reading this...Go .... yourselves! There, I feel better now I work a day a week as bean counter for a building company that is mainly in the industrial / commercial space, and we are happy to pay and engage genuine subcontractors such as Lee who do great work. We pay all our staff above award wages, pay their super, cover them with industry LSL etc, are training 4 apprentices and generally don't engage labourers or TAs etc on a contract basis - we take them on as employees. We aren't large enough to have brickies, plumbers & concreters on staff - we engage them as genuine subcontractors, as they have their own businesses and work for many other builders and the general public. As we work for several multi-national industrial companies (in the steel and aluminium smelting industries) we have proper WHS , accreditation and other proper systems in place to meet their requirements. These systems flow on to all the work we do - the commercial (building a supermarket at present for example) and the occasional domestic work. Whilst we haven't struck much of an issue with the "imported" workers that Lee has, our issue is other builders trying to move into our space who use "sham contractors" as the ATO refers to them - they pay contractors who work solely for them, have to supply their own vehicle (which has the company signage on it!!), don't pay super or w/c insurance, and don't pay them much more than we pay our guys as employees, so these companies can cost their labour at 75% of what we have to. The only thing that is playing out is that the main competitor company is now starting to burn a few bridges through shoddy work that isn't delivered on time. One customer had us both doing work for them have now said they will work with us exclusively in future, so karma does play out sometimes. Lee, if you want to move to Tassie, I'm sure I can get you a job with us!! Otherwise, good luck with your next move and I hope it all goes well!!!! 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LeeM Posted 7September, 2019 Report Share Posted 7September, 2019 @TwoHeadsTas Before I even got to the last paragraph, I asked the missus if she wants to move to Tassie! 😁 She said no unfortunately 👎 Cheers mate 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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