| |
Posted in Bricklaying, Carpentry & Joinery, Cleaning Services, Disposals & Waste Removal, Electrical Work, Gardening & Landscaping, General Building, Handyman Services, Kitchen Fitting, Locksmith, Moving Homes & Hauliers, Other Craftsman Services, Painting & Decorating, Planning & Consulting, Plastering & Drywall, Plumbing, Heating & Gas, Roofing, Gutters & Drainage, Tiling & Flooring, Window & Door Fitting on Oct 16
 The insurance company Aviva recently conducted a survey amongst their clients which dispelled the myth that “White Van Man” was no more than an urban thug.
Tradesmen in London are the smartest, sexiest and most successful drivers on the road their research showed, with over 70% having an interest in politics and current affairs.
Smart Tradesmen in London
Over half of the white van drivers surveyed said that they regularly read books, compared to one-in-ten sports car owners.
Sexy Tradesmen in London
Most of the white van drivers questioned responded that they like to keep themselves in shape and pursued some form of outdoor leisure activity.
Successful Tradesmen in London
Half of all van drivers were the boss of their own business, as compared to 83% of sports car drivers who work for someone else.
Nigel Bartram, motoring expert at Aviva, who carried out the survey, said: “It’s great to prove what we already knew – van drivers are switched on and enterprising! Gone are the days of the traditional white van man stereotype. What our research shows is that van drivers are entrepreneurial and responsible. This is why we have tailored direct motor insurance to cater for the 21st century van driver.”
With half of van drivers opting to fix household appliances when they break rather than ask for help, they are also the handiest to have at home. After a hard day’s work, a tradesman in London is more likely to catch a news bulletin or documentary than anything else on the box and, out of all drivers questioned, is the least likely to watch reality TV.
Sofeminine.co.uk added a female perspective to the results of the survey with the comment that “A white van driver may not be so likely to have a degree, but he has a big package” – So much for stereotypes!
For a deeper look into the psyche of a white van driver tradesman in London, visit the Social Issue Research Centre web site, who produced a quite eye-opening and humorous insight into this social phenomenon, and concluded that in order to change their image, tradesmen in London should paint their vans a different colour!
Tags: Find a Tradesman in London, insurance, Research, Social Issues, Survey, Tradesmen´s Directory, transit van, Van Driver
Posted in Bricklaying, Carpentry & Joinery, Cleaning Services, Disposals & Waste Removal, Electrical Work, Gardening & Landscaping, General Building, Handyman Services, Kitchen Fitting, Locksmith, Moving Homes & Hauliers, Other Craftsman Services, Painting & Decorating, Planning & Consulting, Plastering & Drywall, Plumbing, Heating & Gas, Roofing, Gutters & Drainage, Tiling & Flooring, Window & Door Fitting | Comments Off
Posted in Bricklaying, Carpentry & Joinery, Cleaning Services, Disposals & Waste Removal, Electrical Work, Gardening & Landscaping, General Building, Handyman Services, Kitchen Fitting, Locksmith, Moving Homes & Hauliers, News, Other Craftsman Services, Painting & Decorating, Planning & Consulting, Plastering & Drywall, Plumbing, Heating & Gas, Roofing, Gutters & Drainage, Tiling & Flooring, Window & Door Fitting on Oct 16
 The cost of DIY bodge-ups according to the Clydesdale Bank Research from the Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks has revealed that bodged DIY jobs in the home cost homeowners £235 million to put right last year.
The recent survey was conducted amongst two thousand of the banks´ customers and showed that over a quarter had experienced a DIY disaster within the past twelve months.
With one in ten respondents having to pay up to £500 to get their mistakes fixed, a spokesman for the Clydesdale Bank commented that while DIY may be a great way to save money, it is important to have the correct tools and right set of skills to avoid a job around the home becoming a very expensive exercise.
The bank estimates that nearly 5 million people across the country ended up paying for DIY mistakes after they attempted to do DIY jobs such as decorating, plumbing or gardening. Instead of wishing you had never started a job that is ultimately going to cost you a lot of money, why not consult Mr Skill´s Tradesmen’s Directory and benefit from the financial advantages of using a London tradesman.
Tags: decorating, DIY, Find a Tradesman in London, fix, Home Improvements, Home Maintenance, Mr Skill, Plumbing, tools, Tradesmen´s Directory
Posted in Bricklaying, Carpentry & Joinery, Cleaning Services, Disposals & Waste Removal, Electrical Work, Gardening & Landscaping, General Building, Handyman Services, Kitchen Fitting, Locksmith, Moving Homes & Hauliers, News, Other Craftsman Services, Painting & Decorating, Planning & Consulting, Plastering & Drywall, Plumbing, Heating & Gas, Roofing, Gutters & Drainage, Tiling & Flooring, Window & Door Fitting | Comments Off
 Depending on which source of history you choose to quote from, the phrase “Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics” is either attributed to Benjamin Disraeli, Mark Twain or Leonard H Courtney (later president of the Royal Statistical Society), but as far as builders in London are concerned, there seems to be no accurate guide to what contractors get paid these days.
A report by Hays Construction which is quoted on the builder.co.uk web site, states that average pay in London has decreased by 8% with almost one in five companies reducing the pay of their staff, whereas Construction News Insight produced their own report showing a 0.4% pay increase amongst London builders.
Writing in Construction News, former Bank of England monetary policy committee member David Blanchflower said: “The official UK construction employment data remain a puzzle. It may well be that many of the construction jobs were held by workers from Eastern Europe who have now returned home. Many of these workers were not covered in the official counts and if so then the decline in employment may well be understated.”
In contrast to Mr Blanchflower´s words, the Office of National Statistics reported that for the year ended 31st March 2010, 234.000 jobs were lost in the construction industry. Maybe the Eastern Europeans could not make head or tail of the figures either!
Tags: builder, conditions, Construction, contractor, Find a Builder in London, London, pay, statistics
Posted in Bricklaying, Carpentry & Joinery, Electrical Work, General Building, Handyman Services, Painting & Decorating, Plastering & Drywall, Roofing, Gutters & Drainage | Comments Off
Posted in Bricklaying, Carpentry & Joinery, Electrical Work, General Building, Handyman Services, Plastering & Drywall, Plumbing, Heating & Gas, Roofing, Gutters & Drainage, Tiling & Flooring, Window & Door Fitting on Sep 15
 According to research conducted by Saga Personal Finance, more than a third of UK homeowners over 50 say that their homes are in need of repair, and an alarming one in seven state that they cannot afford to fix their problems.
London appears to be the worst hit area, with 42% of respondents from the capital saying that their houses needing some sort of repair, with the most common complaints being inadequate roofing, blocked gutters, and failed central heating systems – jobs that the elderly are unable to do themselves and need a handyman in London to perform.
The findings disclose that as many as one in five women over 50 living on their own are forced to let their homes deteriorate as they cannot afford to make the necessary repairs, whilst over half have to reluctantly dig into savings, as their pensions are inadequate to cover the cost of home maintenance.
Although Saga Personal Finance suggest that the way forward for these London homeowners is to take out equity release on their homes, we would suggest that anybody requiring a home roofing repair or central heating service done before the winter sets in should use the “Post-a-Job” facility at the top of the page to attract quotes from tradesmen in London and get the best deal to prevent your London home from falling apart.
Tags: Central Heating, find a Heating Engineer in London, Find a Roofer in London, find a tradesmen, Guttering, Guttering & Drainage, Heating Engineers, Home Maintenance, home repairs, Roofing, tradesmen london, tradesmen quotes
Posted in Bricklaying, Carpentry & Joinery, Electrical Work, General Building, Handyman Services, Plastering & Drywall, Plumbing, Heating & Gas, Roofing, Gutters & Drainage, Tiling & Flooring, Window & Door Fitting | Comments Off
 The NCC (National Construction College) is urging scaffold inspectors who qualified prior to May 2007 to retrain. Scaffold inspectors play a vital role in the health and safety of roofers in London and local builders in London, and the Health & Safety Executive offer a scaffold checklist for all tradesmen in London who work on roofs and upper floors of buildings in the capital.
The new Scaffold Inspection Training Scheme (SITS) is endorsed by the Construction Industry Scaffolders Record Scheme (CISRS) and leads to the new CISRS competence card for scaffold inspection. The new qualification aims to raise standards within the industry by providing a uniform approach to qualifying scaffold inspectors, therefore ensuring the safety of all local tradesmen in London. It has been welcomed by the industry, which has the highest proportion of reported injuries caused by falls from a height, which account for 17% of accidents compared with 8% in other industries (source: Health and Safety Executive).
NCC Access Manager, Allen Robertson, said: “Each year construction workers and members of the public are injured as a result of inadequate scaffolding. That’s why it is essential that the industry has qualified competent inspectors to ensure scaffolding remains structurally sound while in use.”
“SITS will provide the industry with a scheme that has both the quality and the rigour to provide competent scaffold inspectors. It will help improve safety whilst reducing business costs as a result of poorly constructed or poorly maintained scaffold. We encourage scaffold inspectors to book onto one of our courses now to ensure they obtain the new qualification to inspect.”
Those attending the training are required to have some awareness and prior experience of scaffold structures. Each course will include legislation and technical guidance on areas such as tubes, boards and fittings, scaffolding terminology, practical inspection and reports.
The new course must be delivered at a CISRS approved centre, such as the National Construction College, which is the largest construction training provider in Europe. Delivered by CISRS approved instructors, the course is available at a range of venues and locations throughout the UK. The course may also be delivered on company premises, subject to meeting scheme criteria. The College offers a wide range of scaffolding and access courses for local builders in London throughout their careers, including Scaffolding Part 1 and 2, Scaffold Safety Inspection, Experienced Worker Practical Assessment and NVQ Level 2 and 3 Practical Assessment.
As the direct training division of ConstructionSkills, NCC offers outstanding training to young apprentices and adult students for a wide range of specialist courses, which are delivered by experienced instructors at first class training facilities. The College’s venues throughout the country provide training for up to 30,000 people per year. For more information about the Scaffold Inspection Training Scheme, CISRS card or other training courses available at NCC please call 0344 994 4433 or visit www.nationalconstructioncollege.co.uk.
Tags: Construction Safety, dangerous building sites, Find a Builder in London, Find a Roofer in London, general building, Health and Safety Executive., Roofing, safety standards, scaffolding, training
Posted in Bricklaying, General Building, Roofing, Gutters & Drainage | Comments Off
Posted in Bricklaying on Jul 26
 Fly Ash is one of the residues generated in the combustion of coal and whereas it was previously released into the atmosphere, environmental regulations now insist that it is deposited in landfills or recycled wherever possible. Previous attempts to use fly ash in construction met with problems when the bricks came into contact with excessive moisture and expanded. However recent technological advances have allowed for greater pressurisation of fly ash and water in the manufacturing process to create more resilient bricks – a process which also reduces mercury pollution and means that the bricks are 20% cheaper to produce in comparison with traditional bricks.
The American Brick Industry Association has refuted claims by leading Fly-Ash brick manufacturer, Calstar Products, that bricks fabricated from fly/ash mixtures “meets or exceeds the requirements of ASTM C216 Grade SW, severe weathering, suitable for face brick in severe and freeze-thaw conditions.”
The mass production of bricks made from fly ash is claimed to be an environmentally responsible alternative to traditionally manufactured clay bricks by the Wisconsin company, however the BIA notes that the FLB bricks contain “volatile organic compounds or other toxic materials that have been a large source of indoor air pollution from paints, varnishes, and other traditional internal wall finishes.”
Although the use of fly ash in the UK construction industry has been mostly limited to concrete building blocks and the inner skins of cavity walls due to their natural insulating qualities, fly ash bricks are yet to compete with clay bricks as the material of choice over concerns about potential dioxin contamination.
As one contributor to the Landscape Online web site commented, “A bricklayer wants to know when he breaks a brick with his trowel or hammer that he is not releasing a dust of higher toxicity then a clay brick”
If you would like to find out more about other ways you can make your property more environmentally friendly, please use the site search facility for “environmental products” or discuss your requirements with one of the recommended tradesmen listed in our tradesmen’s directory.
Tags: bricklayer, clay, Construction, economy, environment, Fly Ash Bricks, Insulation, landfills, pollution, recycling, toxic dust, trowel
Posted in Bricklaying | Comments Off
|
Subscribe to our RSS Feed
