Frustration hit boiling point today LOL

[Gravel Rat]

I haven't had a day off in 21 days because I'am in the middle of building a dumping flat for my truck and working my regular job. I think I pizzed my brother off he made dinner but I was so tired and cranky I was pretty snarly when he asked if I was staying for dinner.

Up at 4am for work work 7.5 hours then go work on my deck for 3.5-4 hours do that for 4 days then my shift changes I work 4 afternoons I don't work on my deck then 4 days off I work on my deck plus doing some welding jobs for my brother because he is recovering from a injury.

Today I was so tired trying to weld standing on a plastic milk crate stepped the wrong way bam on my back on a concrete floor just missing a chop saw sitting on the floor. I got back up and started welding again while little things just annoying the heck out of me. I started making mistakes and said thats it I'am done for the day. Now I know why I quit welding as trade don't know how my brother can do it full time. Hot sparks down the ear, burning hair on my head, hot sparks down my shirt. Burned my finger the other day nice blister on it. Haven't had a burn yet where the blood cools the slag from burning any farther.

Stress at my regular job is slowly getting more stressfull. It is the shift work I'am really getting tired of along with other problems. The worst part I'am getting the same stress symptoms that the guy I replaced had and the other employees have :cry:

Find out that management is trying to cheap out on extra help we require during the summer season figuring one person can do the job of two. More and more paper work piled on us and more stuff to point all the blame on us if something goes wrong. Seems like the company is taking more deductions off our pay checks for benefits. A 2200 a month take home paycheck isn't enough. With the cost of living getting higher it is to the point you have to work two jobs to make enough money.

The real kick to the groin :laugh: one of the managers asked me today why I drive a large truck I said it is my second job. He said ya you guys don't make much money not surprised you need two jobs try get us a raise not a chance :rolleyes:

Trying to get my deck done before my hollidays start in mid May so I can have enough time to take the current deck off the truck and get the new one mounted. I may not have the hydraulics mounted but atleast the deck will be on the truck and I can keep using the truck as it is my daily driver.

I'am sure hoping once I get this deck done I can pick up some easy landscaping jobs this summer. I really need to get some extra money coming in. See if anybody wants to do anything in their yards. With things getting so expensive people are not willing to buy topsoil when its 50 dollars or more a yard then you have delivery on top of that. I have to charge atleast 100 dollars to make it profitable for me to travel to the supplier pick up 4 yards it is 5 bucks a gallon for diesel fuel.

I will have 2500 invested into this dump deck still cheaper doing it myself than paying 8 grand for a supplier to do the job. A basic flatdeck that doesn't dump from a body manufacturer is 7000.

If I don't end up with a heart attack from the job stress I can try get my trucking/landscaping business going again and work 30 days a month. I will do it if I can break the 60 grand mark.

No pictures I don't have a digital camera plus I don't have time to stop and take pictures. I forgotten how much work it is to build a flatdeck.

[Dirt Digger2]

damn GR you write long posts...im going to have to read this when i can see straight....1 week of college left this semester until i get to 60 hour weeks and no fun besides slinging dirt (rather do that anyway)...gotta celebrate sometimes

[Scag48]

Hey man, that's life. I quit my restaurant job a week and a half ago, but I've been working non stop one way or another for a week straight and it will continue for the next 6 weeks. I'll be training 40 hours a week and helping out on weekends 25-30 hours there as well. Halfway through a 40 hour HAZMAT course right now that we're required to take, tough class. 10 hours a day sitting in a classroom, difficult to stay focused.

[stuvecorp]

I am not the greatest welder but for me I like to do welding/fab work, I think it is the way some relate to golf. Gravel Rat, for $50 per yard I will start trucking black dirt to you.:clapping:

[RockSet N' Grade]

Did I hear someone complaining? Sounds just like one of my normal days......6 and sometimes 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. Job "stress"....hello? anyone home?. "Easy" jobs? WTF is that about? My wife still pulls 32 hr shifts with little to no sleep and then goes to her "regular" job......funny, I have yet to hear her complain after all these years.....It is not unusual for us to work into the wee hours where darkness meets day light working on our iron........get up and do it again!! Groveling Rot, grow a pair and have some gratitude....

[Dirt Digger2]

1 guy to do a 2 man job?....ha, i get sent out to do a 3 man job by myself...21 days without a day off? I go the entire summer with only a few days "off"...between operating, farming, and driving...its all just part of the way you live your life, if you don't like it then don't do it

atleast you have money rolling in...theres a lot of guys out there that complain less and still can't find work..haha

[AWJ Services]

Welcome too the real world.
Thank god you are not an actual contributing member too society that has responsibilities.
I see a normal day that I would be proud of and makes me feel complete.:waving:

[crab]

well not much more to that rock set & company,did somebody make a broken nail joke?,that dear rat is why you have keyboard calleses & no money.:canadaflag::confused::confused::cry:

[Sunscaper]

G.R. don't ever join the USMC.

[bobcat_ron]

GR, did you also remember to file your income tax?!!??!

[ksss]

G.R. don't ever join the USMC.


He doesn't have near the fortitude for that.

[bobcat_ron]

Nor the "manly" looks!!!

[qps]

GR....man you are thick...haven't you learned yet that your talking to mostly small business owners that typically work 12-15 hrs daily, and weekends??? it's called doing what you gotta do to get the job done....I don't mean to pick on you...but your barking up the wrong tree in here for any sympathy...my advice is to quit setting yourself up for a a$$ kicking...unless your talking to msrops:laugh:..he thinks your the greatest thing since sliced bread....

[bobcatuser]

GR, If you can get $50 yd for topsoil why not buy from the mainland for $6 yd and truck it over. 4 axle transfer truck $250 for the ferry. 5 hrs @$120 hr=$600(to Seachelt). 40yds@$6yd=$240 Cost per yard $27.25. You could backhaul ¾” clear crush from one of the quarries if the numbers work. I know of several companies hauling gravel from the valley and Squamish into Vancouver.

[stuvecorp]

GR, If you can get $50 yd for topsoil why not buy from the mainland for $6 yd and truck it over. 4 axle transfer truck $250 for the ferry. 5 hrs @$120 hr=$600(to Seachelt). 40yds@$6yd=$240 Cost per yard $27.25. You could backhaul ¾” clear crush from one of the quarries if the numbers work. I know of several companies hauling gravel from the valley and Squamish into Vancouver.

Last year a contractor was telling me that black dirt/topsoil was going for $20 yard plus delivery(he was a couple hours north), I spent the next week trying to figure out how to make it work. Black dirt there and boulders back to this area but there just wasn't enough demand. It was fun to try, channeling my inner Kramer/Neuman.

[Gravel Rat]

I paid my income taxes it was something like 7 grand this year it was around 16 grand in deductions off my wages. You want a job with benefits you pay half of them.

The reason why I'am at the gov't job it is steady and when we go into a recession ie after 2010 Olympics I will have a job. I did have a laugh today I read a economist opinion in one of the news papers. He said the USA economy is in the toilet so why should the rest of the world give a crap. They figure the Canadian dollar will be 1.10 US which is even better it makes it cheap for us Canadians to buy cheap stuff in the USA and have them mailed.

Working on the deck today after work slowly getting there. It is getting the brain working again. It is like riding a bike you learn it all back again. I have been welding for 17 years. I was taught welding at a early age by welders with 20-40 years experience. One welder started when welding rods didn't have flux. At one time my familly had 10 guys welding at our shop.

I will have to see how much work I will get hauling small loads of soil and gravel. Topsoil is really expensive in areas like mine because you have to truck it from the Fraser Valley. When you have to truck topsoil that adds costs. The supplier has to pay 1200 dollars trucking for a truck and transfer (40 yards). The soil produced locally is dredged out of swampy areas so its pretty sour stuff good for growing a lawn but no good for flowers etc.

One job I was on we screened thousand yards maybe more of topsoil it was nice and brown but it wasn't that great.

Truck rate for a F-450 sized truck is 70 dollars per hour. Your not going to get a tandem axle truck delivering 1 to 4 yards of topsoil without a minimum charge of 200 bucks. My minimum charge to run to the supplier will be 100 dollars. If I'am in the area then I will charge 1 hour trucking 70 dollars.

When diesel fuel spikes to 5.50-6.00 dollars a gallon this summer I don't care my truck rate will go to 80-90 dollars per hour. Tandem axle rate will be over 150 dollars per hour.

What I'am hoping is when I'am working at my regular job I can go do some deliveries before or after work. If I can make a extra hundred a day it will make a difference. Do a quick 1 1/4 hour round trip to the soil supplier and deliver it to the customer for cash money. I have one landscaper that I know will get me to pick up soil for him because his truck is worn out it struggles to pack 2 yards of topsoil. I also know landscapers that just have P/U trucks that will probably get me to deliver soil for them.

It is putting me in a slightly better mood working on my deck and hopefully making some money this year. Like I said I will be happy if I make the 60 grand mark this year. It is disgusting only making 40 grand a year you can make more collecting welfare. With todays cost of living in Canada a 40 grand a year job is poverty level.

[stuvecorp]

For 40 grand I would live in my shipping container and sell black dirt for cash.:dancing:

[Chilehead]

1 guy to do a 2 man job?....ha, i get sent out to do a 3 man job by myself...21 days without a day off? I go the entire summer with only a few days "off"...between operating, farming, and driving...its all just part of the way you live your life, if you don't like it then don't do it

atleast you have money rolling in...theres a lot of guys out there that complain less and still can't find work..haha

How true indeed. As of late, I have been working 16-18 hour shifts, 6 days a week. Sundays are supposed to be my "off" day, but they aren't really because that I usually get caught up on administrative duties (i.e. paper work), and chores around the house. I also have to use Sunday to review/tweak the coming week's schedule and call back any customers ahead of time so my days are planned with no hangups. It's called LIFE, man. I am very grateful to have such an abundance of work--it allows me to take a 3-month sabbatical in winter.payup

[bobcatuser]

For 40 grand I would live in my shipping container and sell black dirt for cash.:dancing:

Now that’s funny!! I almost fell over laughing when I read that.:drinkup:

[ksss]

Now that’s funny!! I almost fell over laughing when I read that.:drinkup:



Ditto, good way to start the day.

[iron peddler]

are you just now living what the U.S. contractors have been doing for years? the economy has always sucked...sometimes it has just sucked less than now.....i have been telling guys for years to charge more....they were all afraid they would loose contacts...i told them the bottom feeders will drop out and the only guys left will be the ones that had the balls to charge enough to pay themselves and for their equipment....good luck gravel rat, maybe you should spend less time reading economists' opinions. these are the same guys that said to get arm loans so you could buy more house than you can afford....go ahead and buy stuff from the US..i am sure our postage will go up again to offset your dollar.

[RockSet N' Grade]

If past performance is any indication to future actions.......I suspect there will be another full page regurgatation here shortly saying the same old same old......still waiting.........

[ksss]

are you just now living what the U.S. contractors have been doing for years? the economy has always sucked...sometimes it has just sucked less than now.....i have been telling guys for years to charge more....they were all afraid they would loose contacts...i told them the bottom feeders will drop out and the only guys left will be the ones that had the balls to charge enough to pay themselves and for their equipment....good luck gravel rat, maybe you should spend less time reading economists' opinions. these are the same guys that said to get arm loans so you could buy more house than you can afford....go ahead and buy stuff from the US..i am sure our postage will go up again to offset your dollar.




There is a lot of truth in that. There are guys digging foundations here for under a dollar a square foot. Don't ask me why.

[RockSet N' Grade]

Ksss.......why? :)