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Becoming A Subby


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I was home at 11:30am today and had plenty of rest if that makes you feel any better?

not really as it means nowt,back in the day id leave home at midnight to get to work for 8am then work till 8/9pm you cant do it now

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It's rough with the smooth. Site work is usually 7am till 7pm at the very latest, staying in hotels and home early on Friday (you'll find most electricians work these hours too)

so you say but post 13 says otherwise,we all like to push it but the buck stops with someone whos allowing it

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Just don't step into a shop refit on a night shift, you'll be on the phone to hse in minutes lol.

Honestly, it's just been a hard week, not always like this. The project we're on is one that can not fail and its not a building site either, nor is it working at height.

Edited by SentryAlertSystems
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Just don't step into a shop refit on a night shift, you'll be on the phone to hse in minutes lol.

Honestly, it's just been a hard week, not always like this. The project we're on is one that can not fail and its not a building site either, nor is it working at height.

worked in many a refit i like going home to my family if its not safe walk off

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Ā 

My week so far as a subbie.

Left house at 3:30am monday, drive to Birmingham, start work at 5:30am finish at 17:00, three hour drive home, leave at 5am the next day to go to Staines, work until 18:30, two hour drive to Birmingham, stay away for night, on site at 5:30am, finish at 17:30, three hour drive home, 5am this morning, back to Staines, then over to Southampton for the afternoon, Southampton tomorrow and again on Saturday.

Picking up callouts in between, emailing constantly all day, staying on top of the other five large installs we have finishing in the next two weeks, fighting with site contractors, fighting for the hours on jobs, fighting to get equipment sent out correctly to every site, fighting for payment on time, fighting an over stressed monitoring station/tech support to get everything commissioned correctly, the battle goes on and on and on.

Actually a good week as I've been home two nights out of three.

There are two types of subbies, ones which float around on average day rate, picking up jobs from medium size companies, easier life in some respects but has the risk of being picked up or dropped when needed and you're actually not much better off for all of your troubles in the long run.

Then you have subbies which are in it to make it into a buisiness. To be this kind of sub-contractor you have to have the experience and the right contacts right from the word go. It's no good just doing 6 years of install and expecting to know every aspect of running a project and co managing a contract at the same time as installing it and dealing with the rest of the shizz. You have to go over and above what's expected, you need to position yourself so that you're invaluable and can't be easily replaced and get on contracts which normal day to day engineers can't cope with.

Or you could be lucky like me and partner up with someone who is already well established.

Reckon your mad, there's not a hope in hell i would do the above, dont get me wrong i can work long hours (as i did today)But **** all that, and it's for the benefit of someone else.

I really can't be ar**** with it anymore.

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Guys, you're taking this way out of proportion hahaha, I've been slacking most of the week and on double days, cheer up God damn it!! lol.

weve all done it subby or not,ive done it in this game for years and thought feeling run down and dizzy was the norm,cut right back and i now realise how ill i really felt all for a bit of extra cash which in hindsight was all going on tax

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weve all done it subby or not,ive done it in this game for years and thought feeling run down and dizzy was the norm,cut right back and i now realise how ill i really felt all for a bit of extra cash which in hindsight was all going on tax

Not trying to be a hero, just giving a little insight to the stresses of being a sub and getting regular work coming in.

I'm no fool and I have no interest working like this forever but for now we are building and keeping a grip on the contracts we manage. I'd like to be managing installs and over-seeing projects in the future, I understand that smashing jobs like this isn't sustainable forever.

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Not trying to be a hero, just giving a little insight to the stresses of being a sub and getting regular work coming in.

I'm no fool and I have no interest working like this forever but for now we are building and keeping a grip on the contracts we manage. I'd like to be managing installs and over-seeing projects in the future, I understand that smashing jobs like this isn't sustainable forever.

but thats the pressure of being a sub,its on fixed price so you have to cane it sometimes to get it in on time,as its public i wont go into the rights and wrongs of that but its been said in previous posts

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As a subby you are managing other people's contracts, that adds zilch to your long term business. Work smarter not harder, and let me know what roads you use so I can avoid them for when you fall asleep at the wheel.

Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.


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