Before christmas a neighbour of people who we were doing a big job asked me to do some work for them. He basically needed the front steps turned into a concrete ramp so he could get his wife in and out in a wheelchair. So we did it, despite it being in another town thats a pain in the backside to get to. So didnt really make a great deal out of it, but the soft touch in me kicked in with his wife being in a wheel chair.
The job was complicated by the fact that the front garden is small, on a slope and the front door is directly next to the garage door.
He then phones me up a few weeks later to say it needs something doing to it as im struggling with the wheelchair up and down it. SO i go back to the town thats a pain in the arse to get to and have a look. They are selling the house so it needs to be temporary. I point out that even if we took the ramp to the other side of the road it still wouldnt have a great change to the gradient due to teh natural slop of the hill the house is built on. So i suggest we build a wooden ramp in sections that goes across teh front of the garage. That way he take it up and remove it so the garage isnt blocked and the gradient is reduced as it is going across the slope. Great idea he says.
SO we go back today, with the materials to do it.
Oh can you make the area in front of the door bigger so i can turn the wheelchair. That means removing part of a rockery. How about building a wooden deck in front of the door i suggest, so it all blends in? Good idea, can you make it 6 inches bigger than the step is now? Oh and can it be flush with the door cill so there is no step over it. SO off we go and get the frame built, but because of that i have to go and get some more materials.
In the meantime Mr arsehole neighbour who knows evertything, comes out and has a go at one of my guys, saying we are doing it all wrong. By the time i get back he is perched on the halfbuilt deck with the wheelchair, trying to prove his point. After ive told him to get off it, i politley but firmly tell the client, that i will build it whatever size he wants, but just tell me the BLOODY SIZE!!!! So we agree on that.
Job done. Out he comes to look at it. All the tools packed away, happy days. Very nice job, very pleased. Oh hang on how do i get the dustbin out? What dustbin i ask. He then goes inside and tries to open the side panel of the glazed front door which opens from the inside to reveal a small store cupboard. Of course its 10mm lower than the front door and hits the decking. WHY DIDNT YOU TELL ME THAT WAS THERE!!!!
SO out come the tools again, and we have to carfully butcher the last two pieces of decking we have left to lower them so the door opens.
WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY do i do little jobs like these?
They are always the ones that are the pain in the arse. We finished a large job in the morning and the clients were absolutley over the moon, put us all in a good mood. AFter mr inept and mr nosey bloody neighbour we were fit to kill!
Rant over.....i feel better now.......wheres the tablets dear......can i have my injection now nurse..................why cant i have anything sharp......
The job was complicated by the fact that the front garden is small, on a slope and the front door is directly next to the garage door.
He then phones me up a few weeks later to say it needs something doing to it as im struggling with the wheelchair up and down it. SO i go back to the town thats a pain in the arse to get to and have a look. They are selling the house so it needs to be temporary. I point out that even if we took the ramp to the other side of the road it still wouldnt have a great change to the gradient due to teh natural slop of the hill the house is built on. So i suggest we build a wooden ramp in sections that goes across teh front of the garage. That way he take it up and remove it so the garage isnt blocked and the gradient is reduced as it is going across the slope. Great idea he says.
SO we go back today, with the materials to do it.
Oh can you make the area in front of the door bigger so i can turn the wheelchair. That means removing part of a rockery. How about building a wooden deck in front of the door i suggest, so it all blends in? Good idea, can you make it 6 inches bigger than the step is now? Oh and can it be flush with the door cill so there is no step over it. SO off we go and get the frame built, but because of that i have to go and get some more materials.
In the meantime Mr arsehole neighbour who knows evertything, comes out and has a go at one of my guys, saying we are doing it all wrong. By the time i get back he is perched on the halfbuilt deck with the wheelchair, trying to prove his point. After ive told him to get off it, i politley but firmly tell the client, that i will build it whatever size he wants, but just tell me the BLOODY SIZE!!!! So we agree on that.
Job done. Out he comes to look at it. All the tools packed away, happy days. Very nice job, very pleased. Oh hang on how do i get the dustbin out? What dustbin i ask. He then goes inside and tries to open the side panel of the glazed front door which opens from the inside to reveal a small store cupboard. Of course its 10mm lower than the front door and hits the decking. WHY DIDNT YOU TELL ME THAT WAS THERE!!!!
SO out come the tools again, and we have to carfully butcher the last two pieces of decking we have left to lower them so the door opens.
WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY do i do little jobs like these?
They are always the ones that are the pain in the arse. We finished a large job in the morning and the clients were absolutley over the moon, put us all in a good mood. AFter mr inept and mr nosey bloody neighbour we were fit to kill!
Rant over.....i feel better now.......wheres the tablets dear......can i have my injection now nurse..................why cant i have anything sharp......
