What Was/Were the Worst Job(s) You've Had?

[Paulie]

It's a huge OSHA fine for not wearing a harness on a roof. Lots of guys don't but if the company gets dinged, there goes the profits. It's one of the last jobs I would want, ain't no shade up there and very repetitive work. I need a variety.

All my work is on the jersey shore on the barrier islands. No one I know has ever seen an OSHA official poking around. Nobody around here uses harnesses. No one wears hard hats. If they ever saw some of the ladder and platform setups I've done just to get to a certain area id be out of business.

 

[Swagger]

For the last time: roofing is fucking easy!! A blind Irishman could pitch a roof in a thunderstorm.

Roofing is the one thing I can't stand. I'm not real big on 3 story high steep pitches especially when it's windy. And it's one of the trades around here that you get undercut on by cheap competition because any idiot can do a roof so there's tons of companies. unless you can bang them out super quick you're not making enough money. I don't want to have to run around like an idiot on a roof job I like to take my time and not die.

OK, fair enough, but you work on small residential jobs whereas I contract on large commercial projects where we work to strict deadlines where financial penalties are incurred if you overrun. Admittedly, I don't have much experience of roofing (although I know how to do it), but from the experience I do have and from what I've seen there seems to be very little complex work. The carpenters built the roof's timber carcass (fitting the Velux and dormer windows as and when), then roofers go up and lay felt, attach battens and fix tiles or slate.

 

[Paulie]

For the last time: roofing is fucking easy!! A blind Irishman could pitch a roof in a thunderstorm.

If you are on a big crew with all the power equipment, and in a mild climate. But a 2 or 3 man crew in Alabama is tough as shit. 100+ degrees, 90% humidity, and everything carried up by hand? Not so much fun for the blind irishman.

Besides, its not just whether the work is hard. I loved working as a lineman, and that is physically tougher than roofing.

Back in the days of steam, sure, but building a roof in today's world is a piece of piss. Wall plate: check. Fre-fabricated trusses and architectural timber: check. Paslode nailers: check. Pre-cut battens: check. Synthetic felting: check. All-terrain telehandler: check. The only 'difficult' part of roofing is clipping tiles.

My experience was in the mid 80s. And I wasn't talking about building a roof. Just tearing off the old shingles and putting on new ones. Bundles of shingles are a bitch to carry up the ladder.

And, like I said, it isn't just the difficulty. I worked harder as a lineman than I ever did roofing. The job just sucked ass.

These days you can usually get the supply house to deliver the materials with a boom lift on the truck and they'll place it right up on the roof where you want it. can't really do plywood sheets but you can at least knock out the shingles and that's a huge bonus.

Provided the boom truck can reach without driving on the lawn. But yeah, things have gotten better, I'm sure.

Yeah there can be obstacles that either prevent it or at least make it more difficult. Sometimes they can only reach the very front peak and you'll just have to form a conveyor belt with a couple guys and carry the bundles off the pallet to all your placement points. But that's still WAT better than humping them up a ladder

 

[G.T.]

For the last time: roofing is fucking easy!! A blind Irishman could pitch a roof in a thunderstorm.

Roofing is the one thing I can't stand. I'm not real big on 3 story high steep pitches especially when it's windy. And it's one of the trades around here that you get undercut on by cheap competition because any idiot can do a roof so there's tons of companies. unless you can bang them out super quick you're not making enough money. I don't want to have to run around like an idiot on a roof job I like to take my time and not die.

OK, fair enough, but you work on small residential jobs whereas I contract on large commercial projects where we work to strict deadlines where financial penalties are incurred if you overrun. Admittedly, I don't have much experience of roofing (although I know how to do it), but from the experience I do have and from what I've seen there seems to be very little complex work. The carpenters built the roof's timber carcass (fitting the Velux and dormer windows as and when), then roofers go up and lay felt, attach battens and fix tiles or slate.

Its hot and youre handling tar. 2 plus 2

 

[danielpalos]

It has always been a learning experience.

I now hope temp. agency chics can help me improve my client relations, diversity, and stress management in a team oriented environment skills. I may need a lot of practice.

 

[Paulie]

For the last time: roofing is fucking easy!! A blind Irishman could pitch a roof in a thunderstorm.

Roofing is the one thing I can't stand. I'm not real big on 3 story high steep pitches especially when it's windy. And it's one of the trades around here that you get undercut on by cheap competition because any idiot can do a roof so there's tons of companies. unless you can bang them out super quick you're not making enough money. I don't want to have to run around like an idiot on a roof job I like to take my time and not die.

OK, fair enough, but you work on small residential jobs whereas I contract on large commercial projects where we work to strict deadlines where financial penalties are incurred if you overrun. Admittedly, I don't have much experience of roofing (although I know how to do it), but from the experience I do have and from what I've seen there seems to be very little complex work. The carpenters built the roof's timber carcass (fitting the Velux and dormer windows as and when), then roofers go up and lay felt, attach battens and fix tiles or slate.

Yeah it's pretty simply really. But one stupid fuck up and you'll have leak points. Not starting your tar paper at the low point and over lapping upwards.. I've seen guys place vent boots incorrectly where the shingles were overlapping the flange at the low point instead of vice versa. That's a leak waiting to happen.

It's easy work but people that actually so it for a living still fuck it up.

 

[Paulie]

The roofs that REALLY suck are the rubber torch down roofs. It's so awesome torching down black rubber in the middle of the summer. It's awesome ripping all the old material off beforehand too.

 

[Paulie]

I work harder than my guys do too. Everyday there's work I'm out there working my ass off. But at least when I do it in working for the amount of money I'm willing to actually work that hard for and no one is barking orders at me. I'll work as hard as I need to as long as I'm the boss.

 

[Swagger]

Difficult/complex jobs and trades in construction are as follows:

Bricklaying, carpentry (1st and 2nd fix), plumbing, electrical, scaffolding, steel erecting, civil engineering, structual engineering, architecture and surveying.

Jobs in construction that any cunt can do:

Demolition, groundworks, machine driving, plastering, painting and, last but no least, roofing.

 

[WinterBorn]

Difficult/complex jobs and trades in construction are as follows:

Bricklaying, carpentry (1st and 2nd fix), plumbing, electrical, scaffolding, steel erecting, civil engineering, structual engineering, architecture and surveying.

Jobs in construction that any cunt can do:

Demolition, groundworks, machine driving, plastering, painting and, last but no least, roofing.

The more skilled the job the more difficult. I'd still put line work up there with the toughest. Hanging strand and fiber in an easement in the mountains will kick you ass. But I'd still do it if my knees would hold up. No more hooking poles for me.

 

[Swagger]

I work harder than my guys do too. Everyday there's work I'm out there working my ass off. But at least when I do it in working for the amount of money I'm willing to actually work that hard for and no one is barking orders at me. I'll work as hard as I need to as long as I'm the boss.

Cool, and I respect that, but some of the benefits of running large crews is that the cashflow from developers is more consistent (once the retention orders have expired), work comes to you and you can take young men who have displayed that they work hard and want to learn off the hod (in my case), put a trowel in their hand and teach them a trade. I've just taken a couple of hardworking pups called Spencer and Morgan off the hod and put them on the line laying bricks. I've got a proper little band of trainees and teaching them or overseeing their progression under my foremen and experienced hands is one of the great pleasures that can be taken from being the contractor. True, I win at the end of the day because their pay is cut in return for learning a trade and they still have to bump out bricks and blocks in the morning, but they all enjoy their work tenfold because of what they get to do in the late morning and early afternoon: take part in the build.

 

[Iceweasel]

It's a huge OSHA fine for not wearing a harness on a roof. Lots of guys don't but if the company gets dinged, there goes the profits. It's one of the last jobs I would want, ain't no shade up there and very repetitive work. I need a variety.

All my work is on the jersey shore on the barrier islands. No one I know has ever seen an OSHA official poking around. Nobody around here uses harnesses. No one wears hard hats. If they ever saw some of the ladder and platform setups I've done just to get to a certain area id be out of business.

Could be. I am a member of a contractor forum and yep, they do get visits. Some, well maybe many, OSHA fines are bs but they can do it. Maybe the union guys paid them off?

 

[Iceweasel]

For the last time: roofing is fucking easy!! A blind Irishman could pitch a roof in a thunderstorm.

If you are on a big crew with all the power equipment, and in a mild climate. But a 2 or 3 man crew in Alabama is tough as shit. 100+ degrees, 90% humidity, and everything carried up by hand? Not so much fun for the blind irishman.

Besides, its not just whether the work is hard. I loved working as a lineman, and that is physically tougher than roofing.

Back in the days of steam, sure, but building a roof in today's world is a piece of piss. Wall plate: check. Fre-fabricated trusses and architectural timber: check. Paslode nailers: check. Pre-cut battens: check. Synthetic felting: check. All-terrain telehandler: check. The only 'difficult' part of roofing is clipping tiles.

The construction crew does that in this country. It's part of building a house. Roofers do the shingles, tile, metal or shake.

 

[Paulie]

It's a huge OSHA fine for not wearing a harness on a roof. Lots of guys don't but if the company gets dinged, there goes the profits. It's one of the last jobs I would want, ain't no shade up there and very repetitive work. I need a variety.

All my work is on the jersey shore on the barrier islands. No one I know has ever seen an OSHA official poking around. Nobody around here uses harnesses. No one wears hard hats. If they ever saw some of the ladder and platform setups I've done just to get to a certain area id be out of business.

Could be. I am a member of a contractor forum and yep, they do get visits. Some, well maybe many, OSHA fines are bs but they can do it. Maybe the union guys paid them off?

There's no Union on the islands other than the large scale industrial projects. Except for Atlantic city which is pretty much all Union everywhere.

 

[Paulie]

Difficult/complex jobs and trades in construction are as follows:

Bricklaying, carpentry (1st and 2nd fix), plumbing, electrical, scaffolding, steel erecting, civil engineering, structual engineering, architecture and surveying.

Jobs in construction that any cunt can do:

Demolition, groundworks, machine driving, plastering, painting and, last but no least, roofing.

I disagree that any idiot can paint. That's my main business and a bad painter makes a great construction project look like shit in the end. And just about everyone is a bad painter.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

While not my paying job, the worst work I have done is roofing. Starting out we had little and doing your own work made great sense. Today when I hear the morons in Congress talk about raising the age for social security, I know they are idiots who never worked in their lives. Work real work would kill the talking heads. People should work in life before telling others what's best.

Whilst I agree with the latter part of your post, seriously? Roofing is a piece of piss if you aren't afraid of heights; and being above everyone else means you can smoke as many spliffs as you like without worrying about being caught by the site agent. Good money, too.

Oh I disagree.
The heat...man the heat...we worked from about 6am till lunch, then came back sometimes about 7pm -dark.
Roofing is horrible on your knees and back

Who were you subcontracting for, the Romans?

Me

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Detailing cars at a used car lot when I was sixteen.
Did that for a couple of weeks until I found something better.
And blowing insulation in attics during the summer when I was fifteen.
Ungodly hot in an attic in August in Texas,and I couldnt quit because the guy was a friend of my fathers and he would have been pissed for making him look bad.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Difficult/complex jobs and trades in construction are as follows:

Bricklaying, carpentry (1st and 2nd fix), plumbing, electrical, scaffolding, steel erecting, civil engineering, structual engineering, architecture and surveying.

Jobs in construction that any cunt can do:

Demolition, groundworks, machine driving, plastering, painting and, last but no least, roofing.

I disagree that any idiot can paint. That's my main business and a bad painter makes a great construction project look like shit in the end. And just about everyone is a bad painter.

To do a proper paint job is a severe pain in the ass.
The wife wanted me to paint the interior and I told her okay you do the guest bedroom and I'll do the rest...she never finished it and agreed it was way harder than she thought it'd be.
The painting crew showed up a few days later.

 

[Paulie]

A lot of knowledge and technique goes into a good paint job. Untrained painters will have wavy cut lines that look like shit, the walls will flash and have roller lines from improper rolling, and he trim will have brush strokes showing that are going in all kinds of different directions.

And once it's all painted on and dried, you can't just paint over it again cover up the imperfections. They need to be repaired with joint compound, putty, etc. you fuck your trim up once and you're pretty much stuck with shitty looking trim

 

[Judicial review]

I have been self employed my whole life. Worked for aflac for 1 year then started kirby. Been doing that ever since.