Forced direction change
Discussion
All,
Been kitchen and bathroom fitting for years. Own company doing ok, manufacture quite a bit of stuff for ourselves to fit.
Long story short, I need to change direction.
I have a LWB Transit, an 18ft Ifor Williams and a huge fully kitted out woodshop.
Anyone got any bright ideas about what to make/sell/transport in the wood area?
Anyone got any contacts in the filming Ind for scenery? A mate has suggested accoustic boxes tailored to a venue? Anyone know anything about it?
Ideas appreciated.
ETA Surrey/Sussex/Kent borders
Been kitchen and bathroom fitting for years. Own company doing ok, manufacture quite a bit of stuff for ourselves to fit.
Long story short, I need to change direction.
I have a LWB Transit, an 18ft Ifor Williams and a huge fully kitted out woodshop.
Anyone got any bright ideas about what to make/sell/transport in the wood area?
Anyone got any contacts in the filming Ind for scenery? A mate has suggested accoustic boxes tailored to a venue? Anyone know anything about it?
Ideas appreciated.
ETA Surrey/Sussex/Kent borders
), especially ones which require little or no planning permission.Some good ideas cheers. My Auntie has a static down at Camber. Mmmmmm.....
He emptied his van and left. NEVER trust a Pole.
Between us we do everything but this year I've been taking on big complicated jobs and we've been getting slower and more fed up. It's not the direction I wanted to go in so I'm using this as a positive to change what I do. The work ahead will obviously be pushed back while I try to wade through it and a couple of them will no doubt have to be cancelled as there's no chance of doing them on my own.
singlecoil said:
The title says forced direction change, but you don't explain what the force is. Is it economic forces, lack of orders?
Sorry, after 5 years My right hand Man, brother, best Mate came to work Wednesday Morning with the words 'sorry My Friend but I'm leaving you'. Now? In the middle of a job? Yep. The utter C**T.He emptied his van and left. NEVER trust a Pole.
Between us we do everything but this year I've been taking on big complicated jobs and we've been getting slower and more fed up. It's not the direction I wanted to go in so I'm using this as a positive to change what I do. The work ahead will obviously be pushed back while I try to wade through it and a couple of them will no doubt have to be cancelled as there's no chance of doing them on my own.
No to both Mate. I took him on as a labourer, no english, no skills but he wanted to learn so I taught him everything. He was self employed and I never asked him to invest in the business.
I couldn't face doing that again and I'm usually too fussy to take on somebody who 'thinks' they know what they're doing.
So, different direction needed. My ideal would be to stay in the workshop allday making stuff but I'd need to find a way to make it profitable.
I couldn't face doing that again and I'm usually too fussy to take on somebody who 'thinks' they know what they're doing.
So, different direction needed. My ideal would be to stay in the workshop allday making stuff but I'd need to find a way to make it profitable.
A mate of mine started off (about 10 years ago), and was trained, and finally ended up as, what you'd call a 'Building Site' chippy.
Most of his work over the years was 1st and 2nd fix stuff on new builds. Other than that, he did manage to get involved in a huge local shopping centre build, and another big job putting a nice, custom wood roof over a Cathedral Refectory.
He's a right lazy bugger, but quite sharp when he wants to be bothered, and good with his hands. Outside of work, he occasionally knocks up some pretty impressive, crafty bits of chippying in his own workshop. But only now and again - as I said, his default setting is 'sofa + TV'.
Anyway, he and I are fortunate enough to live in a rich, prosperous, South Coast city (Winchester) where therein lie a lot of very wealthy people, living in old, 'telephone-number' price houses, that often contain a lot of wood fixtures and fittings - from library panelling, to ornate front doors and bay windows.
He's carved out a good, niche living for himself, by leafletting said properties, and getting the occasional call from someone wanting top-quality wood work.
He goes round, quotes a price (which is usually, to my mind, ridiculous and stratospheric) and often wins the job.
Then he might spend 5, 6 or 7 days working his ass off doing the job, and then get paid (usually in cash!) what many people might consider a good two or three month's salary.
He'll then spend a couple of weeks dossing about, until the next 'big payday' job comes around, that he can be bothered to go and do.
His leaflets and sales patter give the impression to clients that he's some hugely-qualified, time served and detailed wood joiner of some repute, that is one of only a few that can be trusted with the finest oak panneling or listed building exterior finishing.
In reality he's a 'chippy' with a good line in banter...however, as far as I know, he's not had a disgruntled client yet! As he says in his own words 'it's all bits of wood, innit?!'
Maybe something like that might be worth considering?
Most of his work over the years was 1st and 2nd fix stuff on new builds. Other than that, he did manage to get involved in a huge local shopping centre build, and another big job putting a nice, custom wood roof over a Cathedral Refectory.
He's a right lazy bugger, but quite sharp when he wants to be bothered, and good with his hands. Outside of work, he occasionally knocks up some pretty impressive, crafty bits of chippying in his own workshop. But only now and again - as I said, his default setting is 'sofa + TV'.
Anyway, he and I are fortunate enough to live in a rich, prosperous, South Coast city (Winchester) where therein lie a lot of very wealthy people, living in old, 'telephone-number' price houses, that often contain a lot of wood fixtures and fittings - from library panelling, to ornate front doors and bay windows.
He's carved out a good, niche living for himself, by leafletting said properties, and getting the occasional call from someone wanting top-quality wood work.
He goes round, quotes a price (which is usually, to my mind, ridiculous and stratospheric) and often wins the job.
Then he might spend 5, 6 or 7 days working his ass off doing the job, and then get paid (usually in cash!) what many people might consider a good two or three month's salary.
He'll then spend a couple of weeks dossing about, until the next 'big payday' job comes around, that he can be bothered to go and do.
His leaflets and sales patter give the impression to clients that he's some hugely-qualified, time served and detailed wood joiner of some repute, that is one of only a few that can be trusted with the finest oak panneling or listed building exterior finishing.
In reality he's a 'chippy' with a good line in banter...however, as far as I know, he's not had a disgruntled client yet! As he says in his own words 'it's all bits of wood, innit?!'
Maybe something like that might be worth considering?
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