Do British Tradesmen still have pride in their work?

[User00035]

i do bathrooms and kitchens for a living ,done loads of wetrooms .the problem with theses company's is that they dont do it all the sub out the plumbing ,then the electrics ,then the tiling ,then the plastering .even the painting ect .bottom line is there are to many people involved ,and they all blame each other .i do the lot myself ,and have a very good customer base . the other problem is people will go for the lowest quote ,then moan when they get a crap job .

The company I did a bit of work for did everything themselves but someone else surveyed and priced the job. It's another variation on the same problem though - too many differing interest involved when it should be the customer dealing direct with the contractor.

I've built houses and run the job on my own as a bricklayer, using trusted subbies I've worked with before for the other trades and it's worked liked clockwork. But it's one person in charge, one person dealing with the customer, one person organising the site. And a customer who doesn't keep moving the goal posts and who trusts me to get on with it. That's what you need for a smooth job.

 

[Bavarianbrit]

We work in Both imperial Feet and inch’s and Roman Catholic on site! Often it is easier to use imperial over metric and at other times we use metric. Or even both at the same time eg 3 ft and 2 mm .

when I worked in France it totally
****ed up the frogs when I gave them my tape measure to use the looks were priceless.
Reiver

I worked in France as a draughtsman 1979 and they had a protractor in the office with 400 degrees on it, was it Napoleons fault?

 

[tattie]

Bavarianbrit,
I use metric and imperial for the reasons finch and others gave, it makes sense.

Also when I was serving my time in 1980 the boss worked in feet and inches and Davy the lad who's time was out when I started worked in metric, so there were a lot of numbers going around in my head.

Cheers

 

[Sonicdmb73]

Why are tradesmen still talking in obsolete measurements? My apprenticeship was in inches/1/8ths & thous then the car design world in the late 60"s went over to the American 100ths of an inch rather than fractions.
Finally in the 80"s everyone (except the UK/US end users) went over to metric, even American cars are so designed and built.
Carpenters are still living in the last century it seems to me. Kitchen units are 60cms ffs.
Anyone up for a few furlongs walk down to the pub for a yard of ale?

What’s obsolete?
Ply OSB etc is in 4’x8’ sheets. Timber while supplied by the meter is cut to the imperial machined sizes ie 4”x2” less what they plane off generally an 1/8”
Doors are 2’ 2’6” 2’9” apart from the odd metric one they’re imperial.
I went to school after we supposed went metric. Even then we used imperial measurements, pounds, ounces, miles, pints.
We talk about how many miles per gallon our cars do. Go to the pub for a pint, I could go on.
The construction industry is not and never will be solely metric or imperial.
Some things are easier and make more sense in one or the other.

 

[Stalker62]

The construction industry is not and never will be solely metric or imperial.

Typical.
Give people an inch and they will take a kilometer.

 

[Freeforester]

What’s obsolete?
Ply OSB etc is in 4’x8’ sheets. Timber while supplied by the meter is cut to the imperial machined sizes ie 4”x2” less what they plane off generally an 1/8”
Doors are 2’ 2’6” 2’9” apart from the odd metric one they’re imperial.
I went to school after we supposed went metric. Even then we used imperial measurements, pounds, ounces, miles, pints.
We talk about how many miles per gallon our cars do. Go to the pub for a pint, I could go on.
The construction industry is not and never will be solely metric or imperial.
Some things are easier and make more sense in one or the other.

For more than fifty years leather hides have been sold in thickness stated in millimetres or one quarter part thereof , but nonetheless by the hide area size by the square foot thereof!

I don't know if they'll ever go 'the full 8.37metres'...

 

[shakey jake]

i hate tape measures with both on, cant find a metric tape.

 

[reiver]

i hate tape measures with both on, cant find a metric tape.

Plenty of metric only tape measures about .
From cheap £ ones to the £30+ Milwaukee or Stanley .You can also get tapes just in imperial as well .
When I was severing my apprenticeship a lot used a wooden Folding ruler and just used them as a gauge when cutting No numbers required
The old joke of I have 12” but I don’t use it as a rule springs to mind .

 

[VSS]

i hate tape measures with both on, cant find a metric tape.

Why would you want a metric only tape measure? The more options on a tape the better, imo. Chop and change between metric and imperial depending on what's most appropriate at the time.

 

[Sonicdmb73]

Plenty of metric only tape measures about .
From cheap £ ones to the £30+ Milwaukee or Stanley .You can also get tapes just in imperial as well .
When I was severing my apprenticeship a lot used a wooden Folding ruler and just used them as a gauge when cutting No numbers required
The old joke of I have 12” but I don’t use it as a rule springs to mind .

I will tell you a tail from my father’s apprenticeship. He was a builder and the local joiner was retiring. Long story short he bought the business and the training he needed.
Wilf the old joiner bless him was a bit of a hoarder. So having a sort out my Dad asked why Wilf had two very small window frames. “Don’t throw them they’re a reminder” “Of what?”
“Not to make windows with a two foot rule, when you measured them with the three foot”.

Why would you want a metric only tape measure? The more options on a tape the better, imo. Chop and change between metric and imperial depending on what's most appropriate at the time.

Measuring pipe work accurately is vastly improved with a metric only (or inches only) tape. Or checking for square across diagonals.
Joinery on the other hand I will use an imperial/metric tape

 

[shakey jake]

Why would you want a metric only tape measure? The more options on a tape the better, imo. Chop and change between metric and imperial depending on what's most appropriate at the time.

when trying to measure in tight small spaces, i find metric second nature the inches get on my tits, fine for rough measure but for me metric all the way, except most bullets and load data, and beer, and distance, and eggs but other than that im completely 6 foot 5, 16 stone of metric!!

 

[User00035]

I'd like a tape measure that doesn't wear out one end all the time. Just thrown an expensive 8m Fisco away. First three three feet (900 mm) was rusted out and illegible. Other end was brand new.

 

[Bavarianbrit]

Yet here in Germany the metal pipe water fittings are all in half, 3 quarters, one inch or one and a quarter inch (zoll). Daft world eh!

 

[reiver]

Yet here in Germany the metal pipe water fittings are all in half, 3 quarters, one inch or one and a quarter inch (zoll). Daft world eh!

Probably due to Britain and the US helping rebuild Germany after the war!! And supplying the materials.
If it had been the other way round we would all be using metric Now and speaking Deutsch !!

 

[woody]

I have just come off my roof, taking off loose ridge tiles and repointing and securing, extensive is only 4 yrs old, I only dared to 4 can't reach the others without scaling onto roof from ladders, not worth the risk, concrete/mortar they used is just crumbling and falling off the roof. So it looks like roof will need redoing by a roofing person not a general builder (I use that term loosely)

 

[kennyc]

Yet here in Germany the metal pipe water fittings are all in half, 3 quarters, one inch or one and a quarter inch (zoll). Daft world eh!

until reletively recently we always bought iron pipe in 3 or 6m lengths of 3/4" 1" etc copper has been metric for well over 45 years, except in AC use where the size of the US market pretty much sets the pipe size.
personally I use whichever is nearest to the length I want, when I did my apprenticeship we only used metric, at school it was mostly Imperial, on site back to Imperial ,so go figure
PS I work in Meters and millimeters, none of those funky centipede thingies !

 

[Norfolk Horn]

I have just come off my roof, taking off loose ridge tiles and repointing and securing, extensive is only 4 yrs old, I only dared to 4 can't reach the others without scaling onto roof from ladders, not worth the risk, concrete/mortar they used is just crumbling and falling off the roof. So it looks like roof will need redoing by a roofing person not a general builder (I use that term loosely)

If it's a new property you should have recourse against the builder in the first instance or there indemnity provider, a body like the NHBC.
I would guess that they used the mortar provided for brickwork so not the correct spec for roof work

 

[woody]

If it's a new property you should have recourse against the builder in the first instance or there indemnity provider, a body like the NHBC.
I would guess that they used the mortar provided for brickwork so not the correct spec for roof work

Not a new build early 1900's cottage, yes, they used same mortar for brickwork as roofwork.

 

[Norfolk Horn]

Not a new build early 1900's cottage, yes, they used same mortar for brickwork as roofwork.

Not enough cement or lime in the mix then or fairy liquid

 

[Sonicdmb73]

until reletively recently we always bought iron pipe in 3 or 6m lengths of 3/4" 1" etc copper has been metric for well over 45 years, except in AC use where the size of the US market pretty much sets the pipe size.
personally I use whichever is nearest to the length I want, when I did my apprenticeship we only used metric, at school it was mostly Imperial, on site back to Imperial ,so go figure
PS I work in Meters and millimeters, none of those funky centipede thingies !

I have had numerous arguments with my wife who insists on using cm. I think I am finally getting through that it’s either 1.2m or 1200mm never ever 120cm.

I amongst other things fit as a subby water treatment equipment. Some of the kit is built with metric pipe but threaded fittings are usually BSPT British Standard Plumbing Tapered. Steam pipe is imperial so are any threads. Washing machines dishwasher garden tap all 3/4” fittings.
It’s funny you mention the US market dictates AC pipe work, as that’s one reason we still use 8’x4’ sheets. Bloody nightmare that plasterboard is metric though. My Father was cutting 20mm off the 8’x4’s so the timber framed building they were prefabricating in the workshop would fit together.
It’s funny I measure concrete tarmac and stone by the square or cubic meter.
If I am working with timber I tend to work in inches.
I have been building a new metal gate and fence for my Father today in mm’s.