Day in the Life of a screeder
Blink and You Miss It — Then the Client Won’t Pay 😂
A new client asked me to pour his commercial concrete crossover.
This company was huge, operating across several countries, and I’d heard he was looking for a new contractor.
I thought, this could be my opportunity to get in.
He told me to do it on Friday so it could cure over the weekend.
It was 40 MPa concrete — some of the best concrete there is to screed.
So I told the boys, “We need to do a bloody good job here. We might get future work out of this.”
To be honest, I didn’t really need to say that as I have a top crew 
We were there at 6:30 AM — fourof us.
Four trucks arrived quickly because they were only four minutes away.
Each truck was completely in and done in four minutes all fenced off done 
Believe it or not, we were finished and gone by 7:00 AM.
We had another job with concrete already on its way.
Now, concrete is all governed by temperature.
As long as you understand how temperature affects each grade of concrete, you can pretty much read what’s going to happen from miles away.
By 1130  I knew it should be ready.
I sent one of the men back with a machine.
He machined the crossover, finished it beautifully with a broom finish, roped the job off and came back to the other floor.
Lovely job.
I thought, surely this is going to lead to more work.
I put the invoice in.
Then the client rings me.
“No way am I paying that.”
I said, “Why not?”
His answer?
“You were only there for 20 minutes!”
😂
He couldn’t see that four blokes, four trucks and years of experience can make things look easy.its not 
To top it off, I’d actually given him a discount because I wanted his future work.
I did eventually get paid.
But looking back…
That should have been an omen for what was coming.

I’m honestly just ranting because this stuff drives me crazy.
For example, today I’m trying to figure out what diverter we’re using for a shower so I can start running the PEX. I ask what diverter we’re using and I get “we’ll just get a shower fixture from Home Depot.”
Okay… which one? What finish? Gold? Bronze? Black? Chrome? The customer is the one picking all of that out.
“Oh, I don’t know.”
Then later I get a call asking if we’re putting a shower pan in or doing a mortar bed.
And I’m just thinking, how are we figuring this out now? Shouldn’t we know this before we’re at the point where I’m trying to run the plumbing?
Then he asks me if I looked at the plans. No, because the plans are awful. The measurements are wrong, there’s stuff missing, and there are things on the plans that don’t line up with what the customer actually wants. I’m not going to look at them for one specific detail and assume they’re accurate when they’ve been wrong about so many other things.
Then I remember the customer specifically told me they wanted tile on the bottom of the shower and even asked me if a certain tile would be good for the shower floor.
So now we have to call the customer and figure out what they actually want.
And this is basically how everything goes.
What tile are we using? Don’t know.
What fixtures are we using? Don’t know.
What finish? Don’t know.
What are we doing for the shower floor? Don’t know, check the plans.
The plans say something different? Let me call the customer.
At one point I even suggested that we make an Excel sheet for every job with every finish and detail the customer wants. Tile, plumbing fixtures, fixture finishes, flooring, paint colors, shower details, basically everything. That way there’s one place everyone can look and know exactly what the customer chose.
My boss says, “Yeah, we already do that.”
Okay, great. Where is it?
I ask the project manager where it is.
We don’t have one.
So apparently we “already do that,” except we don’t actually do it.
And that’s the part that really frustrates me. I’m not even just complaining about the problem. I’m trying to think of ways to make it easier and more organized, and it feels like there’s always some reason why we can’t actually implement anything.
It just seems like we’re constantly making decisions on the fly. We’re figuring out what the customer wants while we’re already in the middle of doing the work.
And then if you ask a question because you need information to actually do the job, there’s almost this passive-aggressive attitude like you’re the problem for asking.
I’m not asking because I don’t know how to do the work. I’m asking because I need to know what we’re actually building.
Maybe I’m expecting too much, but I honestly don’t understand how you can run a remodeling company this way.
Is this just normal in residential remodeling, or is the company I work for unusually disorganized?

I made a calculation mistake while converting the volume of water for a batch of concrete. I have placed the concrete yesterday with a water to cement ratio of 0.3. Intended w/c ratio is 0.4. I used a super plasticizer and had proper flowing concrete. The forms have been removed and no porosity/honeycomb voids are to be seen.

However, I'm worried if there is/will be any cracks due to autogenous shrinkage of concrete. is there anything I can do now, or should I demolish this batch and redo the concrete?

These osb sub floors have gotten wet during construction of this shed, do you think these will need cutting out and replacing?

I got referred to a very large dock remodel. The main dock is 8’ wide and 435’ long. There are multiple finger docks 4’ wide and 24-40’ long.

Scope of work-

remove nineteen (19) existing dock boxes and cleats. Remove / dispose of the existing decking / nailers on the 8' x 435' main dock, four (4) 4' x 40', three (3) 4' × 36', two (2) 4' × 24' finger piers, 39' x 36' (12' x 36' & 27' × 36') triangle finger pier and one (1) 4' x 4' set of stairs. Disposal to be done off-site. New Decking / Nailers Furnish crew, equipment and all materials to install new 2" x 4" treated wood nailers and 2" x 8" treated wood decking on the 8' × 435' main dock, four (4) 4' x 40°, three (3) 4' × 36', two (2) 4' x 24' finger piers and 39' × 36' (12' x 36' & 27' x 36') triangle finger pier. Install a new 4' x 4' set of stairs in the same location. New decking and stairs to match the existing design. Electrical and plumbing are not included. Includes: • 2" x 4" Treated Wood Nailers • 2" x 8" Treated Wood Decking • 4" x 4" Treated Wood Posts - Stairs 2" x 2" x 3' Treated Wood Spindles • Nineteen (19) - Dock Box Bump Outs

The 2x4 nailers need to be through bolted every 3’ to the steel beams, and then I will attach my 2x8s to the nailers. It will all be screwed. There are 3 beams running the length of the 8’ wide dock, and 2 beams on all of the finger docks.

It’s obviously a lot of demo and a lot of back and fourth. I build a lot of decks, but haven’t done dock work. I’m figuring 3 guys 4 weeks. Material works out to about $28,000.

The association has gotten one other quote from a large company at around 120k. I’m figuring close to $98,000.

I charge around $100/hr and the guys I pull in for help would be around $70/hr each.

How would you price it?

Is this common or a major hack job? Don't think its supporting anything load wise but still.. im an hvac tech so idk if thats what you are supposed to be doing but my guess is not

Hey guys! I’ve worked as a labourer for a while now, tried to always work my hardest and be inquisitive. However, no matter what I do I’ve never got past the labourer stage. I’m finding no companies willing to take me on for anything other than labouring and I’ve found myself spending my days hauling things around, digging and cleaning on low wages as I’m unskilled.

I’ve bought my own tools including power tools, I have always been reliable and on time, in the end last week I emailed every carpentry company within 30 miles of where I live and I only got 2 replies, both saying they have nothing available.

The main two things I’ve been told are
A) Apprentices just aren’t worth having in the UK as it’s too expensive and we don’t have enough time
B) Just train up and go from labourer to multi trader (which is hard when I seem to always be tidying, feels like they actually just want me to keep being a labourer)

Just wondering if it’s genuinely a difficult time for building companies , or if I’m not seeing that maybe people just see me as untrainable.

Happy for any advice, sorry and thank you :)

We’re installing a Schluter KERDI shower system and one of my colleagues put screws through the KERDI-DRAIN bonding flange, as shown in the photo.
He apparently assumed the small holes around the flange were intended for fastening it down. We’ve since confirmed that they are not supposed to be used for screws.
The problem is that we didn’t discover this until after the KERDI collar/membrane had already been installed over the flange with thinset, so the screws are now underneath the waterproofing.
Obviously we want to correct this properly before tile goes down.
For anyone experienced with Schluter/KERDI systems, what should we do at this point?

The Cow Incident
Off at 6:30am, concrete due at 7:30. Small house floor today — four trucks maybe a balance.
Only three trucks turned up, so there was a bit of barrowing involved, but the standard pour went well. By 9:30am we were cleaned up and off to another house floor.
The second floor was a breeze — 20 cube straight out of the truck, easy in. I left the boys there to finish up and headed back to check on the first floor.
About 1pm I get back.
Well, well, well.
To my absolute shock, there are cow footprints stamped all through my freshly poured slab.
A bloody cow had walked right across my freshly poured floor.
Now I had to laugh, but then I started looking around.
The house was being built on about two acres of what was basically a farm paddock, so there were cows around.
But here’s the strange part.
The slab was 400mm off the ground.
How the hell did a cow get up onto it?
I fixed all the damage up, which took a bit of effort, and got it ready for the power float.
Another floor finished and looking great.
But I’ve always wondered how that bloody cow managed to get up there in the first place.
I never saw it happen.
And I’m still not sure I believe what I saw.
🐄🤣

hi hello im currently looking into the trades. im not quite sure what this might be. i tried google and it gave me Ai source. maybe some one with experience can explain to me what this career path might be like? any advice i'd highly appreciate it !

Question for the traveling equipment operators. How does one go about getting a job on a traveling crew? I’m a dozer guy looking to get into traveling work (finish grade, rough grade, slope work) and always hear about tracking jobs that pay well. Any advice form the old heads where to look for these jobs? TIA

I know State Farm has been in the news a lot recently with all the stuff coming out about denied claims and internal pressure to keep payouts low. I'm just wondering has anyone here in Texas actually dealt with them firsthand?

Have you had a claim denied flat out? Or did they come back with an offer that was way lower than what it should have been?

I haven't filed anything yet, but I'm seeing so many stories online and it's got me worried. Just trying to get a feel for what people are actually experiencing on the ground in TX.

Recently picked up a pair of 10877s to replace a pair of wingshooters ive been wearing. I didnt get the right size last time and being insulated they were too narrow and jacked my feet up got a bunion that looks like a cherry tomato and even tho the 877s fight right and arnt squeezing my toes this break in is rough

I figured this is a great starting point. We work directly with a company called 1884 and they are doing a huge project that involves replacing 7000 square miles of power lines. I'm trying to become a ground-man and eventually a lineman. Has anyone successfully done this in southern Oregon and what steps do I need to take to get a job as a ground-man?

Which type of construction is the worst/hardest on your body and dangerous to work for? Water & Sewer, heavy highway, building, combination?

Just hoping some of yall will share your numbers, if you are doing the work what number are you going after in residential? On the commercial side i could rely on my subs to aim for around $1000/guy/day , but this isnt a 2 million dollar commercial job, also do you split profits with friends if your running a job they brought you that they help you do? Deduct overhead first then split profits? Give a percentage?

Looking to get scrap metal from construction sites. Anyone have a position that could grant me access?

Thanks!