Are you busy?

[Last Plumber]

No, not yet, still in my 50s, - just become more lazy. :grin:
I just don't want any large jobs or jobs likely to be stressful anymore unless in my terms.
Jobs that only last a few hours or a couple of days suffice and less bother with getting money quick recently.

Stress is a killer, everyone needs to watch that one.
Hard to get a nice balance at times though

 

[Ray Stafford]

Was wondering if it is just me or does work/enquiries go up a ton going from summer to winter?

Overall, the per-day demand is approx 20% larger from late Sept to about Easter than it is in the late spring and summer. Obviously the overall market is less in December on a monthly basis, but the per-day figures are the highest of the year, once you factor out the holiday period.

In the domestic heating game, that 20% is probably more like 25% to 30%. However, the effect is more than simply workload.

Imagine a game of musical chairs with 100 players, and 105 chairs. This is the situation in the summer - there are 105 plumbers for every 100 customers, so the latter can afford to shop around and beat down prices.

Now imagine the same game of musical chairs with 110 players and still the same 105 chairs. Now the customer has a real risk that he may end up without a chair (plumber) and all the inconvenience that brings. This changes mindsets.

The leverage that shortage brings is much greater than the simple increase in business. Its the ability to pick and chose, to turn down the rubbish work, and to enforce rate increases.

 

[Best]

Stress is a killer, everyone needs to watch that one.
Hard to get a nice balance at times though

Yes, I blame stress on causing all sorts of illnesses. And we all can get accustomed to stress build up and not realise it.
I used to work silly hours, some hard, some easy, but it was unwise.
I can honestly say I am very happy with life at moment.

 

[Last Plumber]

Yes, I blame stress on causing all sorts of illnesses. And we all can get accustomed to stress build up and not realise it.
I used to work silly hours, some hard, some easy, but it was unwise.
I can honestly say I am very happy with life at moment.

A wise man by the sound of it. Creeps up on you doesn't it !

 

[townfanjon]

A wise man by the sound of it. Creeps up on you doesn't it !

You have it there mate ...... Stress does " creep " up , I have been crap for about 6/8 weeks now , people can look at you and laugh when you tell them , unless they have it too, you get a totaly different response then .

 

[rpm]

You have it there mate ...... Stress does " creep " up , I have been crap for about 6/8 weeks now , people can look at you and laugh when you tell them , unless they have it too, you get a totaly different response then .

2yrs back I was just tired all the time even though I was sleeping soundly 8hrs every night, had little interest in the job and food & drinks didn`t taste great, went to the docs and found blood pressure was very very high and other stuff going on so don`t just put it down to tiredness!

 

[Ray Stafford]

There is a difference between stress and hard work.

A good definition of "stress" is pressure that you can't do anything to solve.

Pressure that can be solved by hard work is fine. Get stuck in, get the job done, and don't forget to invoice what you are worth. No-one ever drowned in sweat.

Pressure that can't be solved by hard work is when stress causes a problem, and may need you to approach life from a different angle. Merely throwing hard work at that sort of problem just makes you tired as well as stressed. It probably also upsets family life, relationships etc.

 

[Stanios]

I know we are meant to be recovering from recession, there is much more migrant labour about etc . What on earth was it like before the recession, before the migrants and more importantly before the internet? Surely the stories of plumbers making 100k a year have some truth in them? Come on guys, spill

 

[MarkAqua]

I'm lucky as I dont suffer from stress, I have suffered depression before and it was the worst time in my life, this was down to personal matters not work related.

I have never really let the job get to me like that, partly because I always feel as though I am doing everything I can, so I dont think there is more I can do to make it better?

I am a mechanical foreman for a company running multi million£ jobs and i am lucky to say I am yet to bring my work home with me, it stays on site. It's also the same with my own business, i feel as though i do everything i can possibly do to make it work and keep things running, if it breaks down then so be it.

Although i do get accused of being horizontal by some people. so maybe that's just the way i am? I run a good job and make the company profit and repeat business so that will do for me..

 

[hammers4spanner]

Not had much at all in the way of boiler changes but lots of servicing and breakdowns as well as the usual plumbing stuff .
Been offered some shop fitting stuff as well so may give that a whirl again.