WELCOME TO MY BLOG
AN INTRODUCTION TO MANARA FROM THE BLOG AUTHOR.
Audio version below on You Tube
Welcome to Manara Construction and Interiors Blog, number 1.
I am a former Construction Director however, been out the Business for over 10 years, I worked for Developers, Businesses and Residential clients generally throughout the South East of England, I worked on projects upto £2million.
I have decided to join Manara Construction and Interiors and re entered into Construction, having recently experienced the abhorrent standard of workmanship, reliability and general consideration for the overriding objective of the project.
I recently managed a project for a friend and I was appalled at the complete lack of consideration from tradespersons and subcontractors, This was a small project to include a residential extension, loft conversion, new heating, electrics, large patio doors, hard and soft landscaping, what we in the trade describe as “house bashing”, this basically meant, walls being taken out, some new back in, completely gutting the house ready for new installations.
During the project, I experienced suppliers going bust, sub contractors steal other tradesman tools, thankfully there was no valuables left in the property, Sub Contractors turn up as and when they feel, Subcontractor’s have complete lack of respect for new installations of other subcontractors and general finishes. I think the subcontractor we employed are so unlucky, I think I counted about 6 family members had died and this was a 4 month project, about 50 sickness days, 5 or so flat tyres, countless wife or baby sick, car accidents to name just a few of the many elaborate excuses.
Some of these excuses maybe true however, I would suggest the lion share is “hog Wash”. The problem with this, if you plan a weeks work and you have interface work with say 3 different trades during that week, if someone does not turn up, it puts everyone else out of cinque and you cant always find the trades that do arrive other work and then they start getting upset as potentially they lose a day’s money for themselves and or there team.
Ironically, when running a Project its so important that moral onsite is good, because when you have unhappy men on site, they start dragging other men down with them, and trust me site workers can be far worse than a women’s coffee morning or a Donald Trump debate, I have witnessed this many times over the years.
What then happens on site cleanliness starts to slip and accidents start to happen as the site turns into a “fuck you” or “fuck it” mentality.
This is where its important to know your team and develop good relations and also not only maintain control of the site with authority but also you act like a Mother Hen, someone to revert to, I have always found being an arsehole on site does not always work, in fact it can be very counter productive in most instances as in the current climate where good tradesman are very busy and will simply walk off a job site.
The increase in materials since I was in Construction is truly shocking, I was gob smacked at how much materials cost now and they are still increasing, Labour Costs have of course risen also but not at the rate of materials.
Since starting this Project, I got talking to some old friends in the industry, builders merchants, contractors and subcontractors to get a general feel for the Industry and decided to get back into the industry as I have allot of experience in construction and refurbishment, Manara are primarily going to target work within the South East of England.
I am going to write this blog on past and present experiences and give you some food for thought when preparing for any Project you are planning from design stages, right through to completion, I shall point out red flags and areas of concern and how I dealt with them or obtained advice myself.
I hope you enjoy the blog.
Warm regards
Brad
p.s I am dyslexic and have a rubbish sense of humour , but here is a joke for the road.
Did you hear about the first restaurant to open on the moon?……………
It had great food, but no atmosphere, LOL!
