Setting up a register of free tradesmen for the struggling elderly

barbarawright

Don't most councils keep this sort of list and also do a basic means-test? The one I work for certainly does.

freezspirit

In principal this is a great idea. You see the TV programmes where trained professions offer their skill for free and large companies offer materials/appliances for free but would they do this if there was no camera in their face.


I've seen materials (pallets of bricks) being destroyed on a building site and good timber be burnt rather than be removed and stored for a later job as it was cheaper to pay the couple of hours labour cost compared to the collection/return/storage fees.


Another example a decorator friend was subcontracted by a housing association, each job was allocated a certain quantity of tins of paint, it didn't matter if it was a big room or a small room it was same amount of tins. So according to the Housing Association they had been used for the job and therefore counted as waste, he was told to take them to the recycle centre. First time he did thinking the paint would then go to a community scheme or charity but they went into a skip as non recyclable materials. It appeared that they had a set quotes when ordering materials from select companies. So after that he would leave open tins with the tenants for touch ups but would put the remaining whole tins of paint in his garage instead and after a couple of months it piled up. He didn't renew his contract as he felt guilty for the over estimation of materials, cost and time constraints he was put under for the jobs. A lot of the time he was told to do the least amount of coats when he felt the walls needed another one or two. He decided to go back to being independent and if he had a client that was clearly in need or felt was low income he used the paint that was in his garage for the jobs and only charged for labour.