Homes From Hell Thread

I'd like to see what homes you guys had to deal with that were a huge PIA. I'll have after pictures of this one later. This was all 32' ladder work and to make matters worse none of the working surfaces were flat. We had to constantly adjust the ladder feet or switch the ladder foot to the other side. Some areas allowed us to use the standoff attachment and others did not.

I factored in a half days labor for two guys and it took 1.5 days. We did three 4' wreaths, links on the peaks, garland on the railing, and pure white c7's to fill in the gaps between the links. I was the guy on the ladder doing the dangerous work.

I don't know if any of you guys have ever passed on doing a home because it was too dangerous but I would never dare to send my guys out to do this home without me.

 

we work here in the ozark mountains, it is pretty rare to have a flat job. but some are easier than others. I was just talking about man hours in the sales thread, and I have jobs that have nearly the same amount of product that take twice or 3 times as long to install. but all the other overhead cost time of loading, unloading, billing, warehouse space cost, etc, is about the same. I do charge more for more treacherous and time consuming locations.

 

These pictures were part of my posting but somehow disappeared.

 

Here you go, instead of moving the ladder every few feet.
http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&rlz=&q=ladder+jacks

 

The runs of gutter where scaffolding would work were the easy part. It was the peaks that were a beech. If you had a business to scale where you could justify a lift this would be a great place to use it.

I also picked up a church client and we had to put a 72" wreath about 36' up an arch over their doorway. Picture to follow later.

 

This one kicked my Azz..20 foot from ground to gutters for most of the house up down up down, move through the landscaping, through the trees. It was one of the first ones I did when I got into this business so it was a little challenging but got it done. It was great, I needed something...ring the door bell and ask the Butler..LOL

 

Greenbay better you then me on that aluminum ladder.

 

Plantscapes - it looks like the driveway has easy access to a large majority of the lit roof line. I would have brought in a lift. The rental fee is quickly covered by the reduction in labor time. All the moving of ladders and climbing up and down quickly adds up. Never mind the wear and tear on my body from climbing up and down will materials and tools and standing on the rungs. I love using a platform lift where we can load it and go up with a good amount of materials. Even if your lighting the sides away from the driveway, the lift would make such quick work of that large section.

The only problem I see guys having with lifts is that they don't go large enough. For example they have a 24' roof line and only get a 30' unit, which doesn't leave them with enough reach and they have to continually move the lift around.

It's probably different down there. Up here the lifts in the 40' range are mostly rented to painters. So at this time of year, demand is pretty low for them and you can pick them up for a few days or weeks pretty cheap. I actually have a good rental company that lets me keep one at my shop through the winter, the agreement this year is for Nov 1st - Mar 31st. I pay them $100 a month right now, then in March they'll charge me according to the total hours I put on it. All in all I will pay about the same as they normally would charge for 2 weeks rental, but I have the benefit of having it at my disposal as soon as I need it.

Just thought that may be something you may want to look into with your area rental houses. Abut like I said above, it may be completely different down there were lighting services are more common, as well as the weather being different and you having a longer painting season.

 

I've checked into the lift for all the different sizes. The only problem spot for this house is that you can't get to the front of it. I have a church with a wreath that goes up about 36' as well. I'm going to seriously check out the lift for next year. I'm probably looking at about $200-$250.

 

Here is a shot of my customers home with everything up. It took about 6.75 man hours to get everything down. I had two LL's that partially came loose due to high winds. I had put a double layer of duct tape on the roof in the spots where the roof clips went. This helped the clips bite much more firmly.

On removal the duct tape on the top of the roof had already started to bake to the roof. Next year I stick the tape to it's self to avoid the problem. Has anyone else done LL's on metal roofs? This was my second house.