Training to be a Plant Fitter.....

[Cheneyjawa]

So, what seems to feel like in a previous life I trained to be a Plant Fitter in an industry my Dad has worked in for many years, indeed he’d had his own Plant Business for years and even reached the echelons of being sent to Cairo in Egypt to set up JCB’s first Middle East JCB Dealership......

As a family we followed and at the tender age of 10 spent 2 unforgettable years in Egypt......

A good number of years later (having hung onto his coat tails!) I had an insatiable appetite to become a Plant Fitter, luckily he pulled a few strings and I was very lucky to get an Apprenticeship with a Construction company in Birmingham called RM Douglas Construction (very well known in its day as a major road/motorway builder, plant hire, concrete, transport etc etc...)

Luckily for me they really valued their apprentices , it was a fantastic place to work on what was initially I think a YTS (youth training scheme) and even better they put me through college to be a Plant Fitter....

With the complete lack of any dedicated colleges for training I was again lucky that Stafford offered such a course and I was duly sent up there, fully paid for the first year, Tamworth to Stafford and return every day......

After the first year the cost of travelling seemed costly to the company so lodging in Stafford it was and the investiture into manhood begun, drinking mainly, girls, going out and then more drinking!!, year two at Stafford was unbelievable....

However year three took a downward turn, Stafford was no more and the company decided to send us to the dreaded CITB Bircham Newton Construction College , it was a dreaded hell hole in the middle of nowhere, very different from Stafford

Anyway I passed all my exams and qualified as a fully Fledged Plant fitter spending the next 10 years in a brilliant industry with some brilliant people......

Alas in the meantime my old man had set up an exhibition company as that was apparently where there was a couple of quid to be made, reluctantly I packed up my tools and we started building exhibition stands, an industry mainly full of wan**s!....

But my days in the plant industry I will never forget, an industry that was full of the most genuine people.....

Hopefully it is still like that today........

 

[JD450A]

But my days in the plant industry I will never forget, an industry that was full of the most genuine people.....

Hopefully it is still like that today........

Oh how wonderfully naive you are

 

[Richard Hunton]

I think we covered this in a thread I previously started, mainly about finning

 

[Cheneyjawa]

Oh how wonderfully naive you are

Obviousy changed then, shame.......

 

[Cheneyjawa]

Oh how wonderfully naive you are

.....actually maybe the whole world is just full of wank**s now then

 

[JD450A]

Obviously changed then..........


Obviousy changed then, shame.......

It is.

In a bit of a foul mood tonight with it all..... Industry is full of undercutting tossers and managers whom like money in envelopes from blokes that are happy to buy work. Engineers and others who make decisions are often fkn clueless and the clients often aren't any better.... Don't get me wrong there are plenty of fantastic lads on the ground, and I have a collection of victims in my phone book whom I can talk to for hours (just got off the phone to Taylor and then a Plant Engineer I know)....


Your probably right the world is likely full of wan**rs now... Quite depressing really.

 

[Richard Hunton]

It is.

In a bit of a foul mood tonight with it all..... Industry is full of undercutting tossers and managers whom like money in envelopes from blokes that are happy to buy work. Engineers and others who make decisions are often fkn clueless and the clients often aren't any better.... Don't get me wrong there are plenty of fantastic lads on the ground, and I have a collection of victims in my phone book whom I can talk to for hours (just got off the phone to Taylor and then a Plant Engineer I know)....


Your probably right the world is likely full of wan**rs now... Quite depressing really.

You should be 20 born in the 60s
I've buggered about for 3 months with a multi million pound firm that want me to put the infrastructure in for 4 self build plots 500k each.
Put a price in..... 3hrs with the architect later , we need your best rate, we'll give you your minimum rate and if u do it in 6 weeks we will give you a bonus, dickheads.

Managed to agree a half decent rate and time scale waiting on a start date..... Passed the site the other day and theres a local plant hire firm that sometimes put drivers on, at it.

Couldn't even be fooooooked to ring and say sorry Rich we've given it to someone else

 

[GazCro]

Very few care anymore or have any pride in what their doing. Just do the bare minimum of their job to get paid. Doesn't help those trying to do a decent job. I'm lucky in that I work in a small radius of home so most of my work is either repeat customers of word of mouth.

 

[Richard Hunton]

Very few care anymore or have any pride in what their doing. Just do the bare minimum of their job to get paid. Doesn't help those trying to do a decent job. I'm lucky in that I work in a small radius of home so most of my work is either repeat customers of word of mouth.

This job came to me by was of a very successful friend of mine who highly recommended me.

Still wasn't good enough

 

[GazCro]

This job came to me by was of a very successful friend of mine who highly recommended me.

Still wasn't good enough

If they couldn't/ wouldn't wait or whatever reason they didn't get you to do it they weren't worth working for is how i look at it. Obviously not ideal if you were relying on it.

 

[Richard Hunton]

If they couldn't/ wouldn't wait or whatever reason they didn't get you to do it they weren't worth working for is how i look at it. Obviously not ideal if you were relying on it.

I was, I was ready to mobilise, still waiting on the call.........

Had another one booked in, start this particular Monday, the Thursday before I received a text, sorry we are exploring other avenues with this project.

80k down the drain by text message

 

[pettsy]

It’s not just the plant hire game. I’m in Plumbing and heating and there’s always someone ready to undercut you, and think they’re the boys because they’re so busy.

 

[Lancs Lad]

It is.

In a bit of a foul mood tonight with it all..... Industry is full of undercutting tossers and managers whom like money in envelopes from blokes that are happy to buy work. Engineers and others who make decisions are often fkn clueless and the clients often aren't any better.... Don't get me wrong there are plenty of fantastic lads on the ground, and I have a collection of victims in my phone book whom I can talk to for hours (just got off the phone to Taylor and then a Plant Engineer I know)....


Your probably right the world is likely full of wan**rs now... Quite depressing really.

Can't help but agree... sick of this whole I want it the cheapest price and want it now culture..and now the I can't work coz im scared of covid and yet I'm on the beach/pub now.
This Grenfell thing is an example imo ...let's piss about cut corners do a s**t job for the cheapest price ....now the s**t hits the fan let's see how good the lawyers are..but I guess brown envelopes and liquidation will save the day... Rant over.

 

[GazCro]

It’s not just the plant hire game. I’m in Plumbing and heating and there’s always someone ready to undercut you, and think they’re the boys because they’re so busy.

Thing is technology is meant to make it easier and increase quality but at the same time it allows anybody to get away with doing a job to a certain extent. As a time served plumber myself combi boilers and plastic pipe have made anyone and everyone a plumbing and heating engineer.

 

[Canal Navvy]

This Grenfell thing is an example imo ...let's piss about cut corners do a s**t job for the cheapest price ....now the s**t hits the fan let's see how good the lawyers are..but I guess brown envelopes and liquidation will save the day... Rant over.

Hits the nail on the head. Worst thing is that the procurement process encourages a worse job for a higher price . In the Grenfell case it only got noticed due to a tragic fire caused by multiple failures, it would have only taken one person at any stage to have done their job properly for it to have been only a minor event !!

 

[Cheneyjawa]

I’m afraid the world is on a slippery slope with this culture of ‘best price wins...’

It would be interesting to know how it actually came about because it wasn’t prevalent 20 odd years ago, that was a time of good supplier/customer relationships, loyalty, allegiance and confidence that you as a supplier would do a good job without question and your customer understood that and paid you accordingly.

That culture has mostly gone down the shi**er these days, customers don’t give a monkeys who does the job as long as ‘they’ say they can do it and they’re the cheapest, then when it all goes tits up the supplier don’t get paid, they go bust, move in, set up a week later under a different name and get back into the pool they go....

 

[GazCro]

I’m afraid the world is on a slippery slope with this culture of ‘best price wins...’

It would be interesting to know how it actually came about because it wasn’t prevalent 20 odd years ago, that was a time of good supplier/customer relationships, loyalty, allegiance and confidence that you as a supplier would do a good job without question and your customer understood that and paid you accordingly.

That culture has mostly gone down the shi**er these days, customers don’t give a monkeys who does the job as long as ‘they’ say they can do it and they’re the cheapest, then when it all goes tits up the supplier don’t get paid, they go bust, move in, set up a week later under a different name and get back into the pool they go....

Most bigger jobs are ran by people with qualifications rather than experience now and that's the issue. The man with the qualification won't be told by the old fella who's been there and done it so the experienced man retires and the real world knowledge goes with him. Whenever i dig any founds out I'll hardcore area and at least a path width around building rather than leaving a quagmire. What many don't realise at first is that saves the customer money ever day from then on despite me being initially maybe slightly dearer. But nobody cares.

 

[Cheneyjawa]

Most bigger jobs are ran by people with qualifications rather than experience now and that's the issue. The man with the qualification won't be told by the old fella who's been there and done it so the experienced man retires and the real world knowledge goes with him. Whenever i dig any founds out I'll hardcore area and at least a path width around building rather than leaving a quagmire. What many don't realise at first is that saves the customer money ever day from then on despite me being initially maybe slightly dearer. But nobody cares.

I was going to say as much and point my finger at Uni Graduates and whilst it’s a good thing people are going to Uni they’re coming out with their degrees with no experience straight into positions of being able to call the shots. That’s never right in a million years.....

 

[doobin]

It’s not a good thing so many are going to uni. It waters down qualifications and is a waste of time for probably more than half who go.

 

[pettsy]

All it means is “my paperwork says you’re doing it wrong” despite having no real life experience of what they’re talking about.