Doldrums in construction

[pursy]

How are you guys in construction finding it? We are based in the West Mids and my boys are spending hours sat at the quarry waiting for loads. We here rumours that the muckshifting firms down Gloucester and Bristol are parking up their trucks and laying off the drivers

[sammy dog]

south wales is dead no work for muck trucks quarries very quiet
cant even sell trucks nobody wants them

[MADBAZ]

Father in law and both Brother in laws are ground workers, their gangs (3) got laid off last friday, first time all three have been off at once and for so long

[Mackem]

Same on steel in Rotherham, gone deathly quiet this week, several trucks parked up drivers told to take holiday. Shut down is not until next month.

[Wheel Nut]

My mate works as a site agent for Persimmon. He looks a worried man as his wife has just lost her job through ill health.
Ray is finishing up this week and they dont know if they will be called back to work

[pursy]

When Longbridge finished with about 3000 jobs lost it was headline news for weeks but these lay offs in the construction industry must be far in excess of that.Baggeridge brick are meant to be laying 150 off in October at Kidderminster and we heard yesterday that our local Kingspan factory will shed 60 jobs. The trouble is the construction industry is about the last one we have that employs a mass of people. Bid our PM then Chancellor say about an end to boom and bust?
Wheres all the dole money going to come from?

[biggusdickusgb]

its bad in all sectors of the building game at the moment,
i'm having a ceiling artexed on wednesday for £80, last year i was quoted £120.
this is a guy i've known for 25 years, he's bloody good (he used to do all the artexing for the plastering gang i worked for)
while he was here having a brew, i asked for a quote for coving and artexing the living room ceiling, its a fairly big area to cover and was expecting the usual sharp intake of breath, as only builders and mechanics can do.
£150 and he supplies all materials, i nearly dropped my brew and he's got that job as well.
when i last did my own house about 10 years ago it was £150 then and i'd already done my own coving

[limeyphil]

Diversify.
It's a bad businessman who can't.
I spend a lot of time getting new work for my boss. I make him change his trailers to suit the work.
I'm making a killing.

[jimmy2loads]

Diversify.
It's a bad businessman who can't.
I spend a lot of time getting new work for my boss. I make him change his trailers to suit the work.
I'm making a killing.

Im not sure that you can diversify with an 8 wheel tipper

[limeyphil]

So you can't diversify with a tipper.?

Try a SITA or county council waste contract. Or the hotel and guest house association to offer a service cheaper than they pay to the local authority. There's always the scrap shifting work.
The list is endless.
Try a magazine called "materials recycling week" just to get your imagination working.

[hammer]

So you can't diversify with a tipper.?

Try a SITA or county council waste contract. Or the hotel and guest house association to offer a service cheaper than they pay to the local authority. There's always the scrap shifting work.
The list is endless.
Try a magazine called "materials recycling week" just to get your imagination working.

1. How do you load the waste onto the tipper from hotels and guest houses?
2. What scrap shifting work? Give an example for us un-imaginative souls.
3. Also, if you want to work for the council you must fill in a massive application form detailing your health & safety policy etc which 'one man and his tipper' don't have to hand. Also, our local council you get a window to apply to be a council contractor. If you miss this, you have to wait a whole year to apply again.

[pursy]

The problem with these insulated tippers they are made to carry stone and tarmac, the arches and easy sheet get damaged so easily on other work. The trucks in our Quarry have been stood for about 3/4s of the day again and 4 of them are Hansons own ,their drivers are on a little bit better money than the rest and they dont know how to run em on a shoestring either

[hammer]

So you can't diversify with a tipper.?

Try a SITA or county council waste contract. Or the hotel and guest house association to offer a service cheaper than they pay to the local authority. There's always the scrap shifting work.
The list is endless.
Try a magazine called "materials recycling week" just to get your imagination working.

1. How do you load the waste onto the tipper from hotels and guest houses?
2. What scrap shifting work? Give an example for us un-imaginative souls.
3. Also, if you want to work for the council you must fill in a massive application form detailing your health & safety policy etc which 'one man and his tipper' don't have to hand. Also, our local council you get a window to apply to be a council contractor. If you miss this, you have to wait a whole year to apply again.

Any answers to my questions yet?

[fuse]

what about this then.look forward to the SILLY WTD, you work flat out but start to turn work down to keep to your avrage 48 hours on your first seventeen weeks ,why not err ninteen weeks ,never mind thats another story, then hey presto no work and you cant even make your 48 hour average poa,s dont make me laugh ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

[tonyb70]

Pursy

I'm shunting at kingspan,and were down to 40 loads some days,it should be a 100 everyday this time of year.
Kingspan are after 64 redundancies,and i can see my nightshift shunting being knocked on the head aswell.
I might be lucky and get offered driving(but the money is crap) or i might be made redundant aswell.
Anyone know of any jobs in the south shropshire area???

Tony b

[hammer]

Taylor Woodrow shed 900 jobs on Tuesday and apparently Barretts are cutting 1,000 in the next few days. Nobody round here is building houses, although there are a few jobs building industrial units etc.

[Stanley Mitchell]

According to our local paper, MARSHALLS are closing their Sawley [Nr Long Eaton] plant.

100 jobs to go, they cite the usual corparate crap, basically, they can now supply from less factories, because their order book has shrunk

The knock on effect will be considerable to all sectors of the local economy IMO..........................

[Wheel Nut]

According to our local paper, MARSHALLS are closing their Sawley [Nr Long Eaton] plant.

100 jobs to go, they cite the usual corparate crap, basically, they can now supply from less factories, because their order book has shrunk

The knock on effect will be considerable to all sectors of the local economy IMO..........................

That will be a shock for them lads who left DHL to work there. Although DHL are still looking for drivers.

[limeyphil]

So you can't diversify with a tipper.?

Try a SITA or county council waste contract. Or the hotel and guest house association to offer a service cheaper than they pay to the local authority. There's always the scrap shifting work.
The list is endless.
Try a magazine called "materials recycling week" just to get your imagination working.

1. How do you load the waste onto the tipper from hotels and guest houses?
2. What scrap shifting work? Give an example for us un-imaginative souls.
3. Also, if you want to work for the council you must fill in a massive application form detailing your health & safety policy etc which 'one man and his tipper' don't have to hand. Also, our local council you get a window to apply to be a council contractor. If you miss this, you have to wait a whole year to apply again.

1) Handball.
2) The scrap price is sky high, Get in touch with Nortons Liverpool for a bulk price. Go to your local scrap yards and see what price you can offer them.
3) You could go to your local council office and see if you can offer emergency work. Storm damage etc. Offer your drivers as cover in the winter for gritting. Small skip hire firms who run 7.5 tonners could use you as you will get a better price at the tip than him as he will be on the minimum charge a lot of the time and not getting full benefit of price per ton.

[evvo]

I wouldnt want to shift scrap with a insulted alloy tipper not unless you want to rebody the lorry within the week as Scrap will rip it to pieces, & disregarding that a low sided tipper would not allow you to get enough tonnage on anyway.

[pursy]

Paulb, Biffa were advertising for drivers at Craven Arms and waste must be a growing industry at the moment.

[tonyb70]

Paulb, Biffa were advertising for drivers at Craven Arms and waste must be a growing industry at the moment.

I gave them a ring this morning.but all they do is send an application form out.If they just give a bit of info over the phone (like hours,wages etc)it might save them a stamp.
I know what i need to earn every week.If they paid a bit better up at britpart i'd go there.But i don't think the 15years i did with them from school counts for anything as i left about 7 years ago,and i'd have to start all over again.
I am waiting for a call about something else aswell.i'll have to wait and see what turns up,
64 redundancies are being made in the factory.So i can see me being surplus to reqirements as a second shunter.

Tonyb

[Stanley Mitchell]

Paulb, Biffa were advertising for drivers at Craven Arms and waste must be a growing industry at the moment.

Funnily enough, even the waste is getting a bit QT, I do a bit of Landfill / ejecter trailer work, and it ain`t as busy as it should be.

From what i can gather, the cost to dump in a landfill is getting too expensive, and the need to recycle is getting more important, hence, there is less loads going to landfill.

Needs must, me thinks..................

[limeyphil]

I wouldnt want to shift scrap with a insulted alloy tipper not unless you want to rebody the lorry within the week as Scrap will rip it to pieces, & disregarding that a low sided tipper would not allow you to get enough tonnage on anyway.

Frag and swarfe wont do any harm.

[hammer]

So you can't diversify with a tipper.?

Try a SITA or county council waste contract. Or the hotel and guest house association to offer a service cheaper than they pay to the local authority. There's always the scrap shifting work.
The list is endless.
Try a magazine called "materials recycling week" just to get your imagination working.

1. How do you load the waste onto the tipper from hotels and guest houses?
2. What scrap shifting work? Give an example for us un-imaginative souls.
3. Also, if you want to work for the council you must fill in a massive application form detailing your health & safety policy etc which 'one man and his tipper' don't have to hand. Also, our local council you get a window to apply to be a council contractor. If you miss this, you have to wait a whole year to apply again.

1) Handball.
2) The scrap price is sky high, Get in touch with Nortons Liverpool for a bulk price. Go to your local scrap yards and see what price you can offer them.
3) You could go to your local council office and see if you can offer emergency work. Storm damage etc. Offer your drivers as cover in the winter for gritting. Small skip hire firms who run 7.5 tonners could use you as you will get a better price at the tip than him as he will be on the minimum charge a lot of the time and not getting full benefit of price per ton.

1.) Its gonna take some time to handball fill a tipper with hotel waste. Also, assuming the hotel will be chucking out their waste in dribs and drabs where are they gonna put it before I collect it? A skip perhaps?
2.) In common with what others have said, scrap will damage an insulated tipper. Although you could take smaller bits its often difficult to know what the load will be like till you get there - one of the reasons I dislike muckshifting.
3.) I take your point r.e. emergency work for the council but I am pretty sure that you will still need all the paperwork etc. As for gritting, there is a long queue of council lads that want that work because they pay them for being 'on call' and it is good money for em'.
The skips is an interesting idea, although I think you'd find similar problems with body damage etc.

[limeyphil]

Hammer,

With regard to the hotel waste.
A mate of mine set up in Blackpool collecting waste from hotels 2-3 times per week. Blackpool borough council charged by the bag, So he did the same. The council only collected once a week and that was in the season.
He offered a better service at a much cheaper price.
He didn't know if it would work out but he took a chance and hasn't looked back.

[evvo]

I understand what you are trying to say limeyphil but on a tarmac spec tipper you still wont get enough tonnage on to make it worth while, you would at least need an 8 wheel bulker to get enough weight on & even frag still wont do an alloy tipper a lot of good.

[Wheel Nut]

Roger Bullivant are in the local paper because they have cut the overtime and working a basic 40 hours. It was only a month ago they said that claims of 150 job losses were rubbish.

[Wheel Nut]

The impact of the crunch on brick makers intensified this week as Hanson, the sector’s largest firm, axed 149 jobs and announced that it is to close two plants.

It is understood that Hanson is also reviewing its concrete operations in a move that is likely to mean the closure of its concrete block business.

The brick plants to be mothballed are in Steerforth, near Barnsley, and at Measham in Leicestershire. Seventy-six jobs will go at Barnsley and 50 will be lost at Measham.

Although the Measham plant was scheduled for closure anyway, the company said it had brought the date forward. Hanson is building a £30m factory to replace Measham but it will not provide jobs for all of its workers.

Hanson also announced 23 redundancies at a brickworks in Peterborough in Cambridgeshire.

A spokesperson said: “It’s simply the slump in housebuilding. The knock-on effect is really biting. We’ve got so much stock on the ground right now we simply cannot produce anymore.”

Hanson has closed several factories in the past six months, as have its rivals. Wienerberger, the third-largest brickmaker in the UK, has mothballed two plants.

[pursy]

We work for a Hanson quarry and Tarmac and Ennstone are cutting the job to ribbons our rep says they cant do it for the money. Its funny really our nearest Tarmac and Ennstone quarries are on short working hours but our place is still paying a bit of overtime although I cant see it lasting. Hearing of plenty of cancelled 8 wheelers about so anybody with the confidence and money can update quite easily at the mo