Thinking of turning DIY into income?

[manatbandq]

From the Telegraph:

First there were Polish plumbers and nannies, now Britain should prepare for an influx of Polish painters and decorators.

B&Q, the largest do-it-yourself chain, said yesterday that it was considering recruiting "thousands and thousands" of painters and decorators from Poland.

The move is part of its push into offering services, rather than simply selling tools and materials, as it battles to stem falling profits at its retail business.

The company already offers to install kitchens and bathrooms. However, in the past few weeks it has started testing a decorating and painting service.

Ian Cheshire, the chief executive of B&Q, said he would eventually like to offer the service across all its 322 stores. One of the biggest stumbling blocks to rolling out the service nationally is a lack of available workers.

MBQ

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

They still have to pay them the going rate. Why all Polish though?

[Tim S]

From my experience of Poles, possibly because they are quite "compatible" with the English in temperament. The ones I've come across are quiet, civil, intelligent and get on with the job. Excellent attributes if you want a workforce to send round to Granny Smith's to do a paint job.

And I dare say you could offer less than the going rate in the UK in exchange for a long term guaranteed contract - a little of our money goes a long way in Poland and some of the Eastern European folks come here with specific objectives, eg: earn enough money to buy a new house/flat back home, or put son/daughter through University.

These people aren't daft and doubtless they are worried about being fleeced by gangmasters, so it would be attractive to work directly for a big established company.

Just my opinion.

Tim

[Weatherlawyer]

So people will vote to stop them unless the governmevt steps in. The term Polish refers to the less savoury eastern European citizenry. It's a clearing station.

Who wants Russians or Serbians or for that matter any of them? It's a silly idea and I wouldn't pay too much attention to that sort of thing.

Everyone knows that once they get in they are free to work for whomsover they wish to under the same rules. And there is no way you can check a qualification like kitchen fitting.

If a team of foreigners could be assembled how many of them would be fluent enough Englsh speakers to be team leaders and fitter supervisors?

It's one thing to offer semi skilled as and when to foreigners to fill ranks in sevices such as bus driving. It's quite another to send a team out to something that could be a potentially difficult job such as the above.

A number of trades might need to be covered in a kitchen and everyone is going to be different.. I am not saying they couldn't do it. My experience of foreigners is that they are as competent as any.

Or is It just the scale or the hooplah the Telegraph has got hold of?

[Alex]

They can't stop them as Poland is within the EU, thus Polish citizens can enter and work in the UK as they like.

Alex.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I do.

Make a change from irritable grumps like you.

Judging by the ones I have seen, about 95%.

Oh you little englander!

[The Natural Philosopher]

And weatherlawyer can f*ck off to poland and sit on the dole there if he likes too.

[Andy Hall]

There's some nice EU handouts for projects in Warsaw at the moment, so that shouldn't be an issue. Jobs for anybody from road diggers to management consulting firm parasites.

Still.... as long as it's not to build another Palace of Culture & Science, people should be reasonably happy - they can go to Tesco, M&S and even Carrefour for their sustenance.

[Guy King]

The message from "Weatherlawyer" contains these words:

All the Poles I've met (and when I lived in West London it was hard not to) have been hard working pleasant stable people. On the whole a good influence on British culture.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Is he that qualified?

[Owain]

But if all the workers are Polish anyway, why would the supervisors need English?

It's not to speak to the customers, because we all know that customers and tradespeople speak a different language whereby a feature niche for the washing machine gets translated into noggins and reducing tees.

And kitchen units etc come with pictorial instructions.

I recon anyone who wants a supervisory job in the construction industry in Britain had better get themselves off to Polish, Romanian, etc, evening classes pronto.

And where's Stefek these days?

Owain

[Andy Hall]

To work for McKinsey? Oh, I would think so....

[John Rumm]

Yup, was just thinking that! One of the most literate and entertaining writers on the group, sadly missed!

[Andy Hall]

I'll drop him an email sometime....

[Weatherlawyer]

I'm qualified enough to tell you that the wall to which you wanted to fix a baton but had no idea how to, would more than likely be uneven. But that would not have been discovered till I got on site to do the job and found out you were an idiot.

I'd love to overhear a discussion on the subject with you and a Serbian gangster masquerading as a Polish joiner sorting that one out you unedifying specimen of useless accoustic resilience.

[Chris Bacon]

What about the baton, though? They're only about 12" long, so it shouldn't matter.

[Chris Bacon]

But that is because our govt. lets them, not because the "EU" lets them; most european countries do not allow general labour access.

[Derek ^]

A business contact in Sweden just had his house internally redecorated by a Polish gang.

They sent 2 decorators who worked 12 hour days, that's like having a single decorator working 24 hrs/day. So the job was over and done with

3x faster than with a local Swedish decorator, and the bill was 60% less. The quality was equal and the minor snags were fixed immediately they were pointed out.

DG

[mogga]

But think of the economy...

[daddyfreddy]

And presumably workers from other countries come round and p*ss in your sink?

Hmm..not a real fan of generalisations but if you told our European neighbours the English were quiet and civil, they'd laugh their heads off. As for getting on with the job, I see little evidence of that as well.

I'd say it's more about the mentality of an 'immigrant' worker, rather than where they are from. I'm sure the English who worked in Germany were far more conscientious than the guys back home.