[window pain]

my mates a roofer when someone rings him to fix a roof tile for example, he charges 40 quid to come out and put his ladder up after that its 30 quid plus materials per hour. a typical day he would ring me to give him a hand he would load his van with all the materials he will need. first job roof with 3 tiles missing,ladder up tiles on in 15 minutes ladder down back on van, thats 70 quid thank you plus reciept for their insurance company. next job felt roof torch on felt overlay takes 1 hour @15 quid per square metre, thats 150quid thank you roll of felt cost 20quid.   on to next job rebed and repoint ridge tiles 2 buckets of mortar i and half hours later ladders back on van thats 150 pounds thankyou. last job repair leaking gutter joint thats 40 quid thank you. thats 410 quid minus 30 pounds for materials plus 10 quid for fuel  andlast but not least 70quid for me leaving for himandhe has the cheek to say to me he is fed up with roofing theres no money in it he says.

[reah]

Wow
never thought of being a roofer.

[Fast 1 *]

Its all very well if you got bundles of work.There is good money in the building trade.The bloke i used to work for is minted,he takes on large projects,new builds etc.But he is constantly stressed out.On the other side of the coin is my mate mick,who takes home £100 a day working for a company bricklaying.He works hard all day for that.To make it in building means constantly seeking new work,forking large amounts on materials,the chance of being knocked for your money,and at times stress.Windows are easy,and you can earn a few quid out of it if you make the effort.

[window pain]

hi fast one what you say is very correct, in the roofing game you make money one day the next 2 days it pes down with rain. when its averaged out you makea decent wage but you wont get rich, also you spend time going to give estimates to time wasters who are a bit vague about what they want and when the get an idea of what its going to cost them they fob you off saying they will be in touch.   

[reah]

sounds like window cleaning

[DaveWilkinson]

also you spend time going to give estimates to time wasters who are a bit vague about what they want and when the get an idea of what its going to cost them they fob you off saying they will be in touch.   

OOooo yuk thought you were going to use the F word,

4 letter word beginning with F ......FREE

I have been in the building trades for years and the only well off contractors are those that employ alot of staff ect. You can make good money roofing and alot of other trades too but it really is ups and downs and only averages out at slightly better than average income.

I used to give an hourly rate over the phone and a guestimate as to how long it would take, but they would be billed for time on site. I never did free estimates, if I did I would of spent all day everyday running around doing them earning nothing.