Tradesmen's mess!

Yes. They were going to start charging vans (and 4x4s and people carriers), which would have been a disaster, but they pulled back from that. Not only would it have cost 50 quid a load to dispose of commercially, but you need to buy tickets of ten from the centre of town (not the tip). They have thoughtfully made every single parking space in town have a height restriction preventing a van parking. When you get hold of these tickets, they may only be used during office hours at the tip, which would require me to take holiday at work to deliver the stuff. The result of all this would be that the entire surrounding countryside would have been the new "Civic Amenity Site".

'Twould have taken a lot more than a skip. I'd say around 3 large ones, at around 120 quid a piece, although much of it was hardcore and green waste, which may have attracted a discount.

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle
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Yes, working for the council! Not, in this area at least, single tradesmen doing the odd job for the council. The contractors are working full time on council business. To all intents and purposes they are council workers.

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

:-)

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

You have time to do it. and you have enough cash to run a vehicle to do it. That's neither time not cash poor.

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

Yes, but I couldn't afford to pay to have it disposed commercially, so it certainly isn't cash rich. I had to take several days off work to do it, which I can't do regularly.

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle

I wonder whether all of this was carefully contrived to make you use the bus to the "City Centre" to go and get the tickets.:-)

You could always go the Bracknell one - a little further in distance but as long as you avoid peak times, generally very little queuing time.

.andy

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Reply to
Andy Hall

Bracknell started enforcing a height limit a few years ago. Has this been removed? The Reading tip is still OK. All the signs saying they were going to enforce height restrictions disappeared just before the supposed 1st Jan start date. The Reading tip is pretty close for me and the queues aren't particularly bad, I find. On the bank holiday weekend, it was empty. Probably everyone too terrified to attempt to use it!

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle

There still is. However, it's not a problem. If I go there with the Land Rover, that is over the barrier limit but they have a liftable barrier at the side from the road which runs down to the bottom which they will open. On one occasion, I was asked if it was trade waste, but that's all.

Strange. I've found it OK on a weekday (generally go there if I'm going to B&Q for anything) but last time at a weekend saw the queue backed up to the main road. Probably would have taken an hour.....

.andy

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Reply to
Andy Hall

Do you have your CAT boot on when you drive this?

Reply to
IMM

No, it doesn't have a boot.

.andy

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Reply to
Andy Hall

Weekends are the worst time, but the longest queue I've been in for the last couple of months was back to the sewage works entrance. It takes about 20 minutes or so from there. Most of the time the queue has been just short of the hardcore entrance, which is about 2 minutes wait.

The best time to go is around 7pm. Always deserted then, although they sometimes close off half the bins.

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle

OK, I didn't realise that there was a separate hardcore entrance.

Useful tip about the time. I tend to go to the DIY sheds at about 6-7pm, especially on a Saturday it's very quiet and no uncontrolled kids running around.

.andy

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Reply to
Andy Hall

Do they really? I ask in a fairly interested way cos its possible I will be offered work I can't refuse in London. On second thoughts, maybe not

Anna ~~ Anna Kettle, Suffolk, England |""""| ~ Plaster conservation and lime plaster repair / ^^ \ // Freehand modelling in lime: overmantels, pargeting etc |____|

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Reply to
Anna Kettle

Not only that but I have drilled lots of holes in my brown bin and turned it into a wormery instead.

A candidate for deportation at least, I'd say

Anna ~~ Anna Kettle, Suffolk, England |""""| ~ Plaster conservation and lime plaster repair / ^^ \ // Freehand modelling in lime: overmantels, pargeting etc |____|

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Reply to
Anna Kettle

Nothing goes into our brown bin which worms would be interested in ...

Mary

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Reply to
Mary Fisher

If we do any job in London we ask about on-site parking. If there isn't any we don't do it.

But we don't have ambition - except to avoid London :-)

Mary

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

OK, so charge an hourly rate plus travelling time.

It's entirely reasonable to offer hourly rates plus an estimate of how many hours it will take to do a job. A couple of years back I had some joinery work done of a type and in a location that I couldn't tackle myself at the time. I found a time served carpenter (near to retirement) who specialised in this type of work. He came well recommended and did a superb job. However, he did live an hour away, so we agreed one hourly rate for the working time and a slightly lower one for the travelling. He estimated the time and came somewhat inside it. As he pointed out, had he quoted a fixed price, he would have sandbagged it in case of unexpected problems.

If I was getting fairly generic work done, then I probably would look for a fixed price, but for specialised work I think that either approach is reasonable.

Are there many people around able to do what you do, Anna - both restoration and the creative stuff?

People are paying for a skill for this, and while it doesn't mean an excuse for ripping off, there's no need to sell yourself short either.

.andy

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Reply to
Andy Hall

London is a large place, and different boroughs (and parts of them) have different restrictions. The one here is for only one hour a day (11.30-12.30) in the resident's parking area, so many tradesmen take their break then. Or you can purchase visitor's tickets for a quid a day.

The hours above sounds to me like parking on a main road - not something the majority of tradesmen would have to do.

Reply to
Dave Plowman

This would be only for the very highest status medium rise "Mansion flat" blocks in St. John's Wood.

In general for five flats or less the management is informal and owner/occupied managed. Parking may well not be off street. No lifts.

6-24 flats in the block. Management is formally organized but often one or two of the residents (who are interested) make all the running. Parking may be off street but jealously gaurded with marked bays etc. Possibly there may be designated visitor bays. Problems can occur if one of the 'active' people is late middle-age early retired with little to do except 'uphold the neighbourhood' all trades are essentially baddies unless working for _them_ on the common areas. 25-100 flats. Managed by professionals usually based at long established Estate Agents. No one on site, however there may be people as above who upon site of any vehicle they don't know will phone up the Management to check what is happening. Parking usually off site but possibly with a permit system inforce, infrequently but very agressivly applied. E.g. ACE parking services £80+VAT clamp release. Lifts in modern blocks. 100+ flats. Managed as above with 1+ 'caretakers'/"porters" on site (in fancy dress at the top end of the market). Typically one staff member per 100 flats. Everything is doen according to very strict rules. Parking may well be off street according to strict rules. Lifts are precious to them. CCTV everywhere.
Reply to
Ed Sirett

And its quite possible that is where my sort of work would come from cos when asked to quote for London work I think up a 'f*ck off' price. It would be very galling to not only have my quote accepted but also to not make a profit cos the expenses have gone through the roof

That makes sense

Only one other that I can think of, though I expect there are a few more lurking in the undergrowth. Once people with my sort of skills get established they don't need to advertise so unless they go to something like the Building Limes Forum conference I might not know that they exist.

I must point out though that I have never been asked to do a job where both skill sets are needed at once and there are plenty more people out there who can do either one or the other

Apart from the creations of Tracey Emin & co creative work is always underpaid. I count myself lucky on that front cos I have a trade skill too so I can charge plasterers rates for my creative work

Anna

~~ Anna Kettle, Suffolk, England |""""| ~ Plaster conservation and lime plaster repair / ^^ \ // Freehand modelling in lime: overmantels, pargeting etc |____|

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Reply to
Anna Kettle

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