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Is there an age to start winding down on the physical side ?

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powervan man

I work on my own and will be 50 next year ,and was thinking recently while fitting a full heating system how knackering it can be ,and what other plumbers think about taking on smaller jobs as they get older ? Or do most just take on any job to keep paying the bills and slogg it out till retirement age ,i might add that at the moment i can't afford to pick and choose my work.
 
I don't know how some blokes do it all the time, I did a full heat with a mate in three days and it nearly killed me. I only normally do service and repair and fit radiators. I take my hat off to people who do this day in day out and can see how it would take its toll on your body.

But I suppose as long as you can do it and its not majorly affecting your health then stick at it especially if like you say you cant (just like the rest of us) cant pick and choose your work.

The bloke who taught me stopped doing installs at 35 as his knees where knackered but he would still be doing it now if they wasn't.
 
I should have wound down at 7.30 this morning rather than carrying that 50kg unvented cylinder up the stairs on my own. Mate of mine is 58 and now picks and chooses what he does. Looking forward to stopping the oil combi installs, the 180kg+ combis don't like moving about too much and my youngests (17) skateboard won't last forever.

As I get older (43 now) I will look at organising a pair of hands for an hour or two when things get too heavy!
 
I started winding down at 16 when i started my apprenticeship !!!!!

have been installing pretty much for 20 years now commercial and domestic and to be honest i have never been more fed up with this trade ,looking more to the gas servicing/breakdowns now and jobbing work if i can get it . Done all the heat packs in a day malarky big wedge but does your head in with all the regs now i personally think its becoming a mugs game.
 
Not taking on full system upgrades, new installs,e.g. lugging old boiler and rads cylinder,out of property and loading new ones in lifting carpets ,floorboards etc .By the way before anyone mentions it i don't want an apprentice .
 
The body will tell you. With the experience you have gained, you will look at work and think say three hours work. Five hours latter your still there. Debating whether to come back tomorrow to finish it or work on a bit. Even the small jobbing work requires humping gear and gas bottles about. Its a good game in your prime, age is an enemy. Good Luck
 
What you need to do is forward plan as I did,at the age of about 25 got my self 10 or 11 mistresses and got into the habit of making love to them all every night,now,I am getting older and work seems more tiring ,can just cut down on the love making,thus it does not effect my work,job sorted !!!!

:34:



imho

ps have no knee problems as they wore away years ago
 
full installs are hard work ,i still do them with my mate,but we plod on ,plenty of tea,
we try and concentrate on boiler repairs ,cp12 work,
i,m 45,my mates 59 ,i ,ve got 5 yrs to pay off mortage then plan to do 2/3 days a week take it easy ,my kids have grown up and now and pay keep,dont think i,ll stop ,just really chosey want work i do
 
I'm 33 and I feel it more now than I did 5 years ago....which is scary as I can't retire for a long time....very long, I don't have a pension!!!!!!

Some days my knees feel like someone has thrashed them with a cane....I really must stop going to that *** dungeon.

Seriously though they do...the trouble with age is it creeps up on you....but just put all that well earned experience to good use.....the tea drinking and BS'ing experience I mean.
 
My right knee is starting to become a problem, Iam only 32. I have plans on getting off the tools in 10yrs.
 
I'm actually 32 too. 33 next month.

Glad its not just me.

I don't want to get off the tools in 10 years. What would I do? Build the business up enough to be a 'boss man'?

Shuffling bits of paper and ordering people about are ok if you like that thing. I hate it. I do like drinking tea and chewing the cud though, so if I could find a job doing that...perhaps I'll become a vicar.
 
i dont have knees anymore..........i slipped with the axe damn you ideals i knew you would get your revenge:15:
 
I'd retire today if I had enough money.... Oh to win the lottery!

I work with a friend whose now 60 and still at it, poor devil. A font of knowledge but what a way to be still earning a living, lifting boilers up into lofts........
 
Chirpy ol thread this one!!

He might not thank you for it, but at 60, there's a reason he's still fit enough to be lifting boilers up into lofts, and that's probably as he's never stopped doing it.....

Or I could just be looking at it with a glass half full attitude.
 
From my early 30's I knew the pace was taking it's toll, got out off installation ... 10 years later was when i decided to get out of the pressure of being employed! 5 years after that I took the dive into self employment! then back into installation"!!!! sheeeeeseh!!

Wouldn't go back if you paid me"!!!
 
The grandfather of my kids is batting past 70 now. He is a civil eng who worked for Thames Water and was on the design team that created and built the flood barriers, invented the safety valves to prevent flashback where they collect methane from treatment plants (can't remember exactly what they are, it was a long time since he told me about them), it's his design that abrogated the usage of tanks installed on high buildings for pressure by sinking pumps into ground wells connected by the ring mains around London, he based on the same principles of electricital charge, he's Gase Safe reg, NICEIC qual'd. And now he's in his twilight years he's coaching tennis every Sunday, badminton, squash and teaches jive at other times also.
It's quite a CV. So I guess it all depends on your outlook.
 
I find I'm lying down on the job frequently.

Would be quite a cushy life if I wasn't bending my elbows the wrong way while trying to fit those bleedin' bath taps.

Only jobs I find really tiring are tiling, painting and working above shoulder height for any length of time - exhausts me whereas running up and downstairs and out to the van and back I can do all day long.

(Just in my 40's ... one year till the biggy!)
 
Thats better a positive spin on the matter.

Oh and Diamond, I secured my first Mortgage today. About 6 hours ago infact. So I better graft for the next 30 years to pay that off.

and Kimou - you probably want to tap your kids grandfather (your father in law I presume) for some money. He must have loads the clever clogs.
 
We should have a camp fire and beans in abundance just for the ambiance!!!! lol
 
ROFLMAO "Dannypipe" .. Quality satire!! hehe! ... It was 25 yrs when I started ... 30 now eh? .. lol
 
Kimou said:
The grandfather of my kids is batting past 70 now. He is a civil eng who worked for Thames Water and was on the design team that created and built the flood barriers, invented the safety valves to prevent flashback where they collect methane from treatment plants (can't remember exactly what they are, it was a long time since he told me about them), it's his design that abrogated the usage of tanks installed on high buildings for pressure by sinking pumps into ground wells connected by the ring mains around London, he based on the same principles of electricital charge, he's Gase Safe reg, NICEIC qual'd. And now he's in his twilight years he's coaching tennis every Sunday, badminton, squash and teaches jive at other times also.
It's quite a CV. So I guess it all depends on your outlook.
Click to expand...


Can we get him in team GB for the Olympics in something? anything?
 
Danny, I don't want money. I want to go into business with him. But you think he moves past "yes, ok"? His approach is so lackadaisacal it's frustrating. I'll do all the blinking work, I don't mind. His company has been established about 35 years ago but is dormant. Even got the Silver Jubilee status and all that. I got the gift of the gab with clients of any status. They trust me it seems, all my life I appear knowledgeable about a huge scope of things and articulate well enough, I think. So I'm a good frontman. My energy and enthusiasm is raring. But I'm just faced with procrastination. So I'm trying to do it on my own. It's not easy though.
 
Winding down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Huh you must be joking, Old plumbers never die, they just smell that way coz of the boss white and hemp!!!!!!!!
 
my uncles still at it although after his stroke last year he is now slowing down and getting picky to the jobs he takes on, he's 76 now.
i was up on a roof with him a few months ago putting some caps on the chimney pots and he was re-pointing it. took him 3 days in the wind though.lol.
 
REDSAW said:
my uncles still at it although after his stroke last year he is now slowing down and getting picky to the jobs he takes on, he's 76 now.
i was up on a roof with him a few months ago putting some caps on the chimney pots and he was re-pointing it. took him 3 days in the wind though.lol.
Click to expand...

My old man is the same 3 years ago on his 70th birthday he started digging the footings on his extension 6m x 9m hes got an old mini digger and a small dumper at the bottom of his garden, and there he was digging 1.5m footings with a garden spade and a wheel barrow so I asked the silly old sod why he wasnt using the machine and his answer was he didnt want to ruin his lawn!!!!
 
It certainly takes its toll on your body fellas. I was 60 in january and been doing this job for over 40 years now. Knees crack like a goodun and ime going in for a hip replacement tomorrow.Was so glad when they stopped using cast iron heat exchangers and boilers became half the weight but you need the money so you press on all the time saying to yourself there must be an easier way to earn a living. Having said that now and again you get a job which gives you pride in your work and satisfaction.I think if you are a registered gas engineer who keeps up with changing technology and has pride in their work you can be proud of your job. That reminds me my ACS runs out end of the year and after a summer of no work you begin to wonder if it is all worth it! The only alternative I can think of is standing in B&Q in an orange coat so it will be back to the training centre for one more time.
 
Happy 6-0, Hydrotherm.
So must've and been involved when it was a craft. I never tire of hearing anecdotes and stories from you guys. I'm a tad envious, but really inwardly relieved about not carrying cast iron baths on my own, lugging 40kg bags of cement, mixing asbestos and risks of lead poisoning as an occupational hazard etc... Times would have changed for the better I can appreciate that, but I don't think anyone would exchange the journey of how we got to now. Must be good memories. Priceless.
 
Kimou said:
Happy 6-0, Hydrotherm.
So must've and been involved when it was a craft. I never tire of hearing anecdotes and stories from you guys. I'm a tad envious, but really inwardly relieved about not carrying cast iron baths on my own, lugging 40kg bags of cement, mixing asbestos and risks of lead poisoning as an occupational hazard etc... Times would have changed for the better I can appreciate that, but I don't think anyone would exchange the journey of how we got to now. Must be good memories. Priceless.
Click to expand...

You dunno what yer missin especially if you was a loveslave then!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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