Posts
487
Joined
3/15/2009
Location
Valentine, AZ
US
Who else having to completely change your job / goals/ plans and do something completely different, or at least not "the plan for 2020".
I live on Route 66 and was trying to get my gift shop off the ground. With no travel, no tourist.
Now trying to embrace the digital world. YouTube channel, diy ebook.
Curious to hear if anyone else is having to do a complete 180. Thanks.
I live on Route 66 and was trying to get my gift shop off the ground. With no travel, no tourist.
Now trying to embrace the digital world. YouTube channel, diy ebook.
Curious to hear if anyone else is having to do a complete 180. Thanks.
I pretty much live on YT, watch it more than i do TV, from SuperCars, car rebuilds to lifestyle channels. The latest one i have gotten into is this couple sailing around the world on their boat, pretty fascinating stuff, a 12 month tour turned into 10 years at sea.
Fortunately for me, the remodeling business has been as busy as ever and luckily the supplies were readily available. I feel for you guys that had jobs/businesses/careers affected. Best of luck moving forward 👍
23 years of it in the field has me busted up a bit. Unfortunately, construction is all I know. With this Covid stuff going on, I saw how unpredictable it could be. I’d hate to deal with another round of it closing construction and everything else down again. However, I think going back to school for something else is in my future. Most of the office guys (project managers, engineers and, superintendents) at my company were able to work straight through it. I sat at home for six weeks. Fought for unemployment for five.
I enjoy drawing schematics, and prints to scale. I’m often the guy who has to redline a set of plans for changes made to the original set. Believe it or not, a lot of drawings I deal with are garbage. Tough to interpret, understand, or drawn without an overlay of the other trades to prevent conflicts in regards to routing or elevations. Learning AutoCad is something I’m interested in but, know nothing about.
Hopefully, actually being a plumber gives me an advantage over guys who have never stepped onto a job site.
That said, getting back to the thread topic, I’ve had it in my head for a little while that I really don’t want to work for anyone else much longer. A caveat to that would be working under someone who I can truly gain a lot of knowledge and experience from because that’s as valuable as money in my eyes, but as far as just working a regular job I’m already getting to the point of being over it. I don’t believe in the path of working for a company, building your retirement, and really having jack shit to show for it all in the end. I was already thinking this way before Covid, but seeing how fast everything can change and how easily our government can manipulate our financial system has really left me with no faith in the “traditional” method of retirement. 3DP Moto is somewhat of my introduction to business and marketing, I don’t think it will really ever grow into being my main source of income but when the time comes or the idea strikes I don’t want to be caught with my pants down having no idea how to start or run a business. If nothing else I’m viewing 2020 as a major opportunity, while everyone else is treading water I’m trying to invest in myself as much as I can.
As for racing this year, I did a complete 180 pivot and decided to take all the money I would have spend racing and put it toward building a new open class race bike. It’s going to serve as a bit of a learning experience as well, I’m getting more proficient with the TIG welder but my tubing bending and notching skills are basically nonexistent, so I’ll have a long way to go building this frame. Wish me luck I’m gonna need all of it I can get
The Shop
I did residential plumbing my first 7 years. I should rephrase my original comment to 22 years in the plumbing trade. 7 residential, 15 in commercial. The problem with working for yourself comes down to builders paying their bills.
I’ve had four friends lose their businesses because builders weren’t paying. All of them planned for several years getting shops started. Completed the jobs and builders refused to pay and it took a lien to get finally payed a few months later. Other builders close their doors and started another company to avoid paying. Happens more often then you’d expect.
One issue I’m currently dealing with are jobs that are unable to move forward due to the drawings and needing questions answered. I encountered a problem with roof drains. I have a set height on a for a tie in point but, due to structural and elevation issues I cannot hit that point. I have a 4” line that runs across the building. If I offset down below the trusses in the way, I’m below my height I need to hit. Right at my starting elevation I have a structural cross brace centered with my line that can’t move. I have minimal space to work with. This is going to be a RFI or request for information. It’ll take at least a month for the engineers to come back with an answer.
Originally, this was an 8” line that ran across the building.
After running 146’ across the overhead, this line was only
6’ 8” off the ground.
It’s a new storage building with spaces having a wall height of 8’.
The solution was switching this line from the third floor, to to the sixth floor which has a higher ceiling height. Only now the problem is dealing with structural stuff in the way and more elevation issues. This first change took a month and a half to end up where it is. A new RFI getting turned in means at least another month. So, two and a half months later, the job is incomplete. Incomplete job means no money for the company. In the meantime, supply houses need payed, employees need payed not to mention the overhead of the company. There’s a lot of moving pieces and unfortunately, it only takes a couple of engineers who do not know what their doing to really screw you. Any form of construction nowadays is really cutthroat.
Another side of residential, is crawl spaces. Working on your knees under a house or crawling is what contributed to the arthritis I already have building up in mine.
Sorry for the long winded message. I just figured giving a couple examples of what I’ve seen and am currently dealing with would shine some light on why I’ve refrained from going out on my own.
It’s a good good trade. Just a very, very tough one.
But I will give you a tip: CLR (Center line Radius of die) x Degree of bend x .0175 will give you material used in that bend. I use this a lot to cut once to maximize material, so to not waste.
Example: Say i'm using 1in material in chassis, before bend I have a 15in - 45° bend then - 5in. My die is 3in CLR. So math says: 2.36in will be used in the bend. Just add the diameter of the material to all you numbers for your notches. I would cut my piece 23.36in.
---------------------------------------------
As to the original poster. The only 180 I've done is stop paying extra on my house. We had a two to three year plan to get out of debt completely. But with all this shit going on, we held off.
But to me that is the key to life, get debt free and your income needs are greatly reduced and the freedom to pursue a new adventure in business and work opens up my friends.
(Frezno Smooth quote)
I believe a lot of it is most go right from school to design work without actually getting their hands dirty and having no idea how to put it together. Your field experience would be very valuable if you ever jumped to the other side.
We slowed a bit as we have some government funded projects that went into limbo, but I’m still working full hours. Fortunately our client base is pretty diverse.
“WHATCHA WANT ME TO DO BOSS?” My biggest fear of dealing with a school came true after I got my license a few years back. First job I did was a remodel of a physics lab building at a college. The engineer/architect was fresh out of school. 3/4 of the cores needing drilled on the second floor were on top of beams. Then, on the first floor the plumbing run was exceedingly long, I had to offset below a beam and the trunk line now dove into the office space below the grid ceiling. PERFECT!!!! I told them they needed to add a chase in the office space. They fought over ideas for a month. Then built the chase.
It’s amazing how much profit gets lost during these periods of time when trying to find solutions for prints with a bad design. Many jobs often go negative. As the foreman, you can only cost a company so much money before it’s you under the microscope of scrutiny.
In our defense, a lot of times its brought to an architects attention and goes in the “yeah yeah yeah” file. Them when the RFI comes in it’s “hey engineer why didn't you tell us.“
That and “why do we need a furring? Why cant we mount that sink direct to the block wall?”
For those above working on paying off their homes, keep plugging away because it's definitely worth it. It is an amazing feeling to not owe anything to anyone, especially in times like these.
Learning more about online and digital aspects of business. Going all in on video, (YouTube, social media) and just finished writing an ebook (diy tube bender plans).
I appreciate everyone posting and sharing their experiences.
Post a reply to: Pandemic Pivot??