Mid-Week Wind! ....Or, Kiteboarders Anonymous

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OliverG
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Mid-Week Wind! ....Or, Kiteboarders Anonymous

Post by OliverG » Tue Mar 30, 2004 9:36 pm

Looks like some mid-week wind is coming up! The last week seemed really long having almost no wind. If I wasn't self-employed doing this:
http://www.sidewallshingling.com
and this:
http://www.bayareashingleco.com, I'd be at best a marginally suitable employee and at worst, fired, as I take way too much time off chasing wind. It's worst when it turns out there is no wind, and I've left for nothing.

But I must say the best jobs I do are those where the clients are gone all day, so they don't really know when I leave.

If I'm working on a job for a contractor and there's other workers there, or even worse, the homeowners, it gets a little trickier. I don't want them to think I always leave early because I'm lazy or have a drinking problem or anything, but am reluctant to tell them the real reason. It's usually something like, "I have to go get more materials." Or, "I have to deliver some shingles."

Perhaps it should just be, "I have to go kiteboarding."

What do you think? Any suggestions? Surely others have experience with this? Any help would be appreciated.

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bdawg
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flight risk?

Post by bdawg » Wed Mar 31, 2004 2:37 pm

Ollie I checked out your site and you do good work. I have a question though. Is this business just you or do you have employees? I feel that if it was just you and you left your jobsite chasing wind wouldn't it basically take longer to finish the job? I am thinking if I hired you I would hate it if my contractor was taking longer then he had to.
In your defense if you maintained good contact with the people you are working with that is always better. Do you bid a job and tell them that it will take 2 weeks before you even start, when you can do it in one week no problem? Then that way they are expecting 2 weeks of their house in shambles and etc. Or if you know it is going to be an epic day out on the water I think it would be nice to tell whoever is hiring you that you can't make it that day because you are under the weather, kid is sick, car problems etc.
I don't know Ollie that is my opinion. I don't own my own biz so I am no expert or anything like that.

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charlie
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lie

Post by charlie » Wed Mar 31, 2004 7:32 pm

ollie
my boss knows i am ajunkie for the wind.
when i walk into his office he says o is it windy?
are you going sailing?
so i say fess up so you dont have to remenber your lie
charlie

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OliverG
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Post by OliverG » Wed Mar 31, 2004 8:00 pm

Yes, honesty is the best policy. It is just me doing the work, so yes, conceivably the job may take *slightly* longer. I get on pretty well on a personal level with most all of my clients, and I usually do fess up so they know what's up. I do maintain a good work ethic, so the job doesn't suffer too much. For instance, I like to get to the job by 7:30am, and I usually leave at about 3pm if there's decent prospects for wind. So that's still usually about 7 hours in on the job as I take little time for a morning coffee break and lunch.

Luckily, I'm pretty much always busy and have work scheduled. I think the main thing is to maintain a professional standard and kick ass when I'm on the job, so if my days are 6 1/2 - 7 hours, little is lost.

Yeah baby, today I got some wind though.....

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