Work work work almost every year christmas comes around and suddenly no work.
No matter how many time you try to schedule work there is always something getting in the way, this year I had 4 house builds in the works and one by one they decide spring would be better ,sure when every man and his mother suddenly wants things done before they arrive at the cottage for the summer.

What kills me is do they not think what are we going to do all winter to pay bills, or even get by Christmas.
It's not that they don't have the money, they just don't think we can work in the winter and do not want drive up here in the winter to check progress.


Yes I know there is some work going on, not all of us are out of work but over the 36 years I have been doing this it happen quite often.
I am so tired of scraping by some winters, and for what ,I do quality workmanship I have extensive experience in all aspects of the trade.

I find myself looking at having to drive to the city to work if I can,t hook up with work soon.
I do have some work coming up but that is in the air could go after the holidays or before but not solid.

I can tell you that this will be my last winter here in muskoka moving south where work is on going and I do not have to look at my family at Christmas and say sorry.

Kijiji under cutting adds

This type of under cutting is so detrimental to the construction trade it make me wonder wtf goes through these people's minds.
In contracting there are expenses that go with the trade that determine how we cost out jobs.

We all have family to support as well gas , tools, advertising and of course our employees so when you take this out at the end of the week what we have left should show a good reason to stay in business.
This is how we gage our rates for different trades, and these rate will differ as to subcontract work or directly to the client.
You find out average for each trade in Ontario or elsewhere on the Internet.

Yes there will always be some under cutting buy substandard builders or maybe some young guns new to the trade that have not gained their winds yet but what's going on right now on Kijiji is just criminal.
Even at best for subcontract work the cost to lay flooring should be $1.50s' but there are guy advertising to do it for under a dollar and this is to the client.
This is just nuts direct to client should not go below $2.50s' I have never gone below $3.00s' and most jobs are $5.00s' so to those out there doing this you are just hurting yourself think of the money you can make if just stick the going rate .

This type of low balling is going on across the board and no one wins it makes it harder for everyone to make a living.
Then there is the homeowners if you believe  that you are saving money buy engaging in employing these low ball contractors guess again it has been my experience that the workmanship will be substandard and thy calling them back all I can say is good luck.

Remember this the joy at getting a great price is greatly diminish by the bad workmanship.
You can never stop homeowners for searching out the best price but check on line as to what should be the average cost and if you are quoted under that than start to wonder.

Good contractor need to charge what they charge to do a good job and stay in business so if you need them again they will be there.

Job hunting the winter

Well that time of the year where I find myself looking through Kijiji adds for work and it bewildered me at what I see.
Yes there is a lot of job offering for southern Ont. And some sound like good jobs but I still have to wonder.
When looking at these job listing you can see just as many people looking for work as is looking for employees which beg the question why.

You see if you need a job then answer the adds and apply for that job.
Is it that these people do not have the skills they say they have or are the jobs that are listed do not pay or are just not the right fit.
I do believe that a little of both may exist but for the guys looking for work it just may be that they have worked for so many people that they have burned out there area .
So finding work is now a chore.

One of the hardest things when looking for work is if you have been self employed for a long time many employer do not want to hire you for the simple fact that as soon as work starts to pick up in spring you are gone just like that.
Another problem is that you simply are over educated for almost all jobs and what the employer does not want is someone showing him how to do his job egos run high when it comes to contracting.

The best we can do is stick to looking for what we can find be it hourly or subcontracts

Mike Holmes

So here we go again it does not matter how many time you explain to people that tv is most fiction and there only to sell you something, they just don't get it.
Now mike Holmes with his I am better than everyone mouths off saying that 70% of builders in Canada are bad and 10% are ugly. Keep in mind that this guy could not make it as a contractor, he was nearly bankrupt working for another contractor when he started the show.

To this day you can still find things wrong with the work done on his show but yet we are all wrong.
Then look at the other shows on HGTV mistakes everywhere on one show they let home owners bury live wires in the wall behind cabinets.

On these shows they should have to post a disclaimer saying that everything you see is not quite to code and not done right, hire a professional contractors to do your home renos.

These shows do more harm than good filling home owner minds with the idea that there can do it.
Next there will be shows on doing your own dental work or brain surgery,
This madness needs to stop do the job you train for and hire someone to do what you did not.

Winter ready your home

Here we go again heading into yet another winter, is your home ready, have you done all you can to keep the cold out and the heat in.
Just taking the time to caulk all your windows and around all vents.
Will help but if you want to save money then you will need to check your foundation in the basement mack sure that the rim is insulated and plastic covered.

Using can foam to fill in large holes and spaces will help as well. You should check to make sure your attic hatch has weather stripping you can also check to see if your attic insulation is up to par it should be 18" deep.
Adding insulation can be done buy add Batts or renting blower and doing it yourself, if you hire a company they will make sure it is done right and add venting if needed.

This is a good time to have your heating system checked and serviced.
If your home is older it could be that you can look at having spray from install to fill in the cavities of your walls.
Your windows might need to be replaced if there are not thermal Payne.

Some homes might need to be stripped on the outside then you can strap the outside spray foam and and siding to get the desired insulation value.
There are many ways to make your home ready for winter these were just a few remember that the more you do to stop heat loss the more money you save and warmer you stay.

VICF Foundation

VICF foundations the only way to go with 50% faster than brick ICF and 0 to 10% waste.
the install will run much smother with metal channel attached to the footing then you install corner post and level and secure.
with VICF you install one side first then when one side is finished you can install re bar if needed and also electrical and plumbing .
finally you set in the other side and brace the corners and the wall on the inside only every 10 '.

when ordering this product it is cut to fit and goes up so fast and is stronger than block ICF so less bracing is needed
www.custom1contracting.com

well it been a week or so so since my last post just so wraped up with my website and work.

so I am building a 12 plex out of shipping containers, thats right shipping containers.

we stake them together and on top of each other then frame inside walls .

we them add a roof and clad the outside with siding .

as it turns out this way of building save about a 1/3 off the cost to build .

so check out the photos and drop me a line or coment let me konw what you think.