It's one on top of two wherever you go. So put down the horde,
clean off the trout, and grab a brow because is he the Brickies
on site from Fixed Radio. We're dropping knowledge, hin tips and big name
guests from the trade, just hopefully not the bricks. This is the Bricklayan
Show from Fixed Radio. Welcome to the Bricklaying Show with Fixed Radio. I'm
your host, Izzy the Bricky, and on today's episode, I'll be talking
about a bad organization on jobs and how it slows us down. Today I'm
gonna be joined by some familiar faces we've had on this show before. If
you missed my first episode, go check it out because all of the guests
joining me today have already introduced themselves for you. Enjoy the show properly brick
in it Fixed Radio, The Bricklaying Show with Izzy the Bricky. Joining me
now is Ash Mahoney. Welcome back, Ash. How are you mate?
I'm good mate. How are you with you? Or yeah? Really good?
Thank you? Really good? How important is it to make sure that
your sites are properly organized massively? You know it's a heavy wage bill.
We've got a team of ten on which you know the wage billy is very
heavy and it's it's very very important to make sure that well they're there for
there might hours they're doing nothing but laying bricks and blocks bask and keeping the
jobs moving. Yeah, now, is that you behind that organization? Are
you trying to make all these phone calls making sure that the bricks are on
time? If you've got ready mixed more so, you've got your more to
there, You've got your scaffold lifts going on? Are you making all these
phone calls? Have you got one bricklayer in charge of each job if that
makes sense? Yeah, So we've got a group chat on what's that from
the lads need anything now? Looked like in there are for any emails after
which needs to be sent. And then obviously there's lads on start as well.
I know you know glades very well for twelve months now is an absolute
star lot when it comes to things that and as well we've got Nick and
all who who's also any other jobs and he does the back and forth and
with what's needed. Yeah. So I've got a good team that basically everyone
gets involved with the planning and preparation and everyone knows what they need that'll come
through and tell me, or they'll go through to the you know whoever we're
doing the job for as well. You know, yeah, no, that
well, that's brilliant. That's what it's all about. A bit of teamwork
and things like that. On the flip side, what if your found slows
you down the most on site, what's stopping you from producing your work?
Well? As as everyone knows, this first half of this year, it's
been so wet. It's been an out there and it's that's the biggest thing,
gold thing. It's just a weather. Yeah, this started this first
six months of this year. I can't remember a year which I've been you
know, look back through our books of our wages and things out and the
lads have last so much time just to whether yeah we always it's an edit,
you know, No, it's it's so hard on like on the topic
of weather, if you can or how do you try to predict or where
do you try and put the lads when you know we've got bad weather coming?
How you try trying to organize your jobs so you think, oh,
the weather won't affect him so much here, so I might put them on
them on a different job. Are you trying to sort that areas. Really
we look on obviously on the weather apps and because we've got different different salts
or the other places. It was in milton Kens last week. We've got
a job up in Evashon which is an hour in another direction. We've got
another job in an hour in another direction. We've got one starting too,
which is really local to or So it's basically just you know, if we've
had Ryan on one job and we've all gone to another job as a round
or die, so that's where it's and I guess that's the job. That's
a good thing. I guess about having multiple jobs on the go. If
the weather's bad somewhere, you go, right, it's eight o'clock, now
we'll get there for nine o'clock. We'll still have seven hours of laying.
We should be able to still cover our money and make a bit ourselves.
So I guess that's quite good. Absolutely. And then you know, any
internal job you've had on the goal, we've we've done some lift shaffways as
well, which when it was hammering down we all just be on there and
got it up out of the way. Yeah, that's still work and things
out. So I've always got something somewhere and a sign I was brought up
from my dad, which is a very good sign. A lot of it
lives would listen to as well, and it's a sign of there's always something
to do no matter what. As long as you're open, you always have
a look around. Yeah, if you're not made of sugar, you can
still do certain things in the rye to get yourself aheader. When it stopped
hining bicyclu well that's it, I mean, you can still load that.
I remember a few weeks ago outloading out and the pouring rain, iufload my
van up to go and get a load of squint bricks made or something.
I remember I was recording it for YouTube and people were like, why are
you working in the rain. You know, just go home. I'd be
in the pub. It's like, well, I still need to load those
bricks out and I still need to go take them to go get made,
so I may still do it in the rain. Yeah, get home,
and you know what I mean, just crack on that. You know,
only you're only getting a bit wet. Don't matter, does it? Yeah,
that's it. Yeah. I mean I remember as a kid, I
said to my dad, who was loading out in the Rhine, and I
said, a load night and the Rhine anyway. And that's what I've got
to rind you, m George Son. And that sign stuck with me from
then onwards, and I thought, you know what fair plight to the man.
He's showing me that no matter what, you can always get stuff done.
Yeah, and you know he said, you ain't got to go home
and lose money. There's there's always something somewhere to get on with bicycle in
preparation and that's all He's done really well in the trade and it's rubbed off
on me and hopefully bought. Time we get to his age, I'll end
up having what he's got talking, you know, because he smashed it bicycler.
Yeah, brilliant. It's it's brilliant that you've had such a such a
stronger in flight someone influence of that much. Yeah. I know you speak
about him a lot, and he is a brilliant tradesman as well. Enty
so something you really look about it now fifty eight years of age and every
morning, as you know, I live next door to my dad lot,
you know, and every morning or hearing twenty bass, it's blaring off of
the road and his band without bile on the dock every single day. Bless
him. Well, you've mentioned earlier that you've got you've got ten people working
for you now, and you've got like, you know, quite a big
staff. How far ahead are you booking working? Um, To be honest
with you, always not if you tell me where I'm going to be in
six months time. I haven't got a club a lot to leave it open.
I know that I've always had worked. My regulars are always you know,
a couple of extensions off every builder every now and then, you know
so, and then unless something big starts, which is going to be running
for a very decent time, it's just I don't a lot to keep my
doory opened. I see it because you know, Lord, for instance,
when I went down to Milton Keys that come in last minute and I was
like, before you know, I'll get it in. I'll juggle it in
the door out the dory out a little bit longer, um, you know.
And again you can't forecast too far ahead anyway. Really, you can
start except but you get it well a couple of weeks around, it's gonn
have a massive knock on effect. And you're only going to end up you
know, replanning and stuff that. So I just a lot to keep it
open basically. And yeah, you know the regulars that I have coming through
and know it's always going to be worked for them, and so I'm probably
I'm probably saying I'm booked up on average free that's especially ten people looking for
you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely, you know, but you
know it challenge is very quick. Every day, you know, you could
get a phone. I remember a couple of years ago, I was really
quite I'd had any work and then one phone call off one of my regulars
and I was, I was, I had a job which one friteen months,
yeah, garden in Milton Keynes as well, the hundred and forty thousand
brick wall, and I was really quartan about that phone call and bomb there
we go. We was on that bath out of our thirteen months plus.
That's minting it. That's a Brittnay stream. That job it was my It
was phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal. Thank you so much for speaking to us today.
I really appreciate it and I will be seeing you compete in the super
Trial event for Brittlair Social Club very soon in summer winter absolutely mat Yeah.
August seventeenth, we are down at our college in I'm not too sure exactly
where it is a not it's down south and yeah making on another I think
it's far as other trowels or fantastic bricklayers. But the yeah, there's only
very there only one British looking forward to it. Fantastic Ash. Thank you
so much for your time today and I'll speak to you Ray so mate good
Man is the Caton Brother Thanks Radio The Bricklaying Show podcast with is He the
Bricky? Joining me for another chat is Darcy Richards. Darcy. On this
episode, I'm talking about how bad organization on site and weather it can slow
us all down. What's your experience been with this so being slow down and
things like that. The weather obviously it's just notoriously bad in England you'll know.
But um, the worst part is um sometimes you can't even work when
it's too hot. It's like my dad always says, it's like Goldilocks Porridge,
like mortar is because you have to have the more death right and on
a on a wet day it's too money and on a hot day it goes
off too quickly. So we really are battling all weather conditions in England.
You know, I have not quite a few days work because I've actually lost
more days because it's been too hot. Surprisingly really when I work with my
dad and rubbers. My dad absolutely hated the heat, but so he refuses
to go to work when it's like more than like twenty eight degrees. But
yeah, it's really hard when you don't have any shelter. And obviously we're
British, so we just burned. So SI you've got no shelter, your
muck's going off instantly, your bricks are will dry. You haven't got a
hose pipon like the O want to take tubs or for water and sometimes it's
just not worth it, you know, for didiago that you're going to go
through. Yeah, we're constantly open to the elements, aren't we getting threshed?
M Absolutely? Yeah, it doesn't anything. And it's harder in the
summer it's too hot. It's harder in the winter two cols. Then your
bricks are frozen, then they're wear the nightmare. Yeah, it's always terrible.
Into it or just a quick one on that topic. How did you
get on in Australia. Obviously you've been Britley in Australia as well. Have
you found brittle in over there? Because it's very hot over there, you
know what it was relatively like. Sundays were absolutely astronomously hot. But I
thought that my blood was actually boiling. It was so horrifically hot. You
had just have to What they do on site is they have cold water fountains
and they have sun cream on site, and you have to wear massive hats
and you have to keep yourself covered. You wouldn't you wouldn't walk around.
Well, some people walk around with the tops off, but usually keep yourself
covered up as much as possible and you just stay hydrated that you drink so
much water. But yeah, the muck actually was actually so surprised it didn't
go off as quickly as I thought it would. But most of the time
we're laying concrete blocks, and as you know, if your muck's gone off
a little bit, it's actually better because then they don't think what you do
to make sure that you're properly prepared before you start work on site. So
how are you preparing either your job site, how are you preparing your flank
you're going to be working on. What do you do to make sure that
the work gets done quite smoothly? So are you talking about like weather conditions
wise? I'm like kind of getting that making sure like your spots are elevated
as well as weather as well. Let's say, like it's like a really
hot day, you want to make sure your spots away and things like that,
having your bricks raised up just so you're not bending down all the time,
like making sure there's no ankle breakers, you know, you know what
I mean, Like, how are you preparing your walls to make sure you
can get this brick work done as quickly as possible? So, um,
basically we've we've actually got this new thing that my new bosses started doing.
It's really cool. Um. So he's cut up like a palette into like
four so he carries around these like like four mini bits of pallets with him
which we put our brickstacks on. And then I've got these lovely new spot
boards and stands as well, which are working perfectly because they muck doesn't dry
out half as much as it would do on a bit of flywood. And
then what we do is usually if it's actually a hot day and we've got
a hose on site. We will hose down the bricks that we're using beforehand,
because they just lay so much nicer when they're a little bit damp rather
than um too dry. And yeah, basically, if if it's going to
be dusty, we will just hose everything. It was two dry up,
We'll just hose everything damp. Yeah, just make and a thing gets so
perfect. Yeah, pretty much. And then you know, if we're going
to have some showers, obviously we get our brick jackets on um. But
in terms of stopping the muc from and where, I just don't think there's
anything that can spot that. If it's going to rain. It's going to
rain, isn't it. Yeah, that's it. Well, Darcy, thank
you so much for joining me once again today. I really appreciate it.
You take care of yourself and I'll speak to you very soon, no worry.
Thank you Bye. This is the Bricklaying Show from Fixed Radio. Joining
me is Harrison, better known as the bench in Bricky on TikTok with just
over twenty thousand follow us. Harrison a bad organization and whether can really slow
us down in the trade. What do you find the main reasons what are
slowing you down on site? It could be anything. It could be whether
it could be organization, What's something what really slows you and your gang down?
I can write a book on this subject. Well. Obviously we work
on site under different principal contract contractors, so a responsible sort of for material
ordering, lintels, locked brick, et cetera. And when they're not on
top of that, we're the ones that sort of falls back on. Fully
enough, today I've had this act exact situation where the wrong lin tools have
been ordered, run out of briquettes as well. Really, so I can't
get it. I can't get a joycelift finished literally because they haven't kept on
top of ordering. Wow, yeah, that's how I didn't. It slows
ff one down, slows all, it slows every single trade down as well.
Doesn't just slow you down? Yeah? So that's it? Yeah,
yeah, definitely. Well, leading on from that, how do you find
working with other trades such as joined us trying to get your Joyce lift on?
Do they often let you down? Or do other people cause you delays
on sites such as you know you join us putting your roof lift on and
things like that um fair in general. In my experience, the trades do
work particularly well on the sites I've been on, but we try and sort
of build decent relationships between us and we you know, we trying to avoid
that situation. So yeah, yeah, the riggers we on top of us
when we when we're and then ready for the chippies. And yeah, that's
not sort of the issues that slow us down. No, no, well
that's good in't it. Especially you just mentioned like building somewhat of a relationship
with other trades people. I know I've worked in the past on site and
one of the foreman or the bricklawn foreman I was working for, fell out
with all of the join us, so we were always last to get all
of our lifts and things like that, and it's just a nightmare. You're
better off just giving them a little drink or something and saying come on,
mate, hurry up. Absolutely, we're all trying to achieve the same end
goal. So if you work together, you've got to get that quicker bit
of teamwork. Don't don't arm anyone. Now we're coming into summer. Now,
do you remember last year we had that heat wave? Didn't we It
was killer? Did I can't forget it. And did you find working in
that? Mate? It was brutal night and I think I knocked off about
it was. I mean my memory is sort of fading on it now.
But we were only talking about this today actually, But it was on thirty
five degrees on site at some points, and you know I had apprentices going
down with heat strokes. It's yeah, it is a tough working environment.
It's dead. Didn't you mentioned? Obviously you work on a site, so
everyone's got to be in their correct ppe. Do they allow shorts and t
shirts or are they strict on trous or some things like that. Luckily,
on this float we're on now, shorts are okay. You know I have
worked through summers on jobs where bull trousers, goggles and that it becomes a
different ball game. Yeah, that's just killer. Into I mean, there's
so many things already holding us back, so we may as well at least
get the sun to our skin and try not to be too warm while we're
thrashing our body. Easy. Yeah, that's it, Harrison, Thank you
so much for joining me today. I really appreciate it. Just to quit
one before you do go, where can people find you? So they can
find me on TikTok. They can find me under the name benchtioned Bricky,
and they can also find me under the same target name on Instagram, sand
perfect. Thank you so much mate, our speech, You're very soon,
lovely, thank you for having me. Thanks Radio The Bricklaying Show podcast with
is He the Bricky joining me now? Is Ash Francis from the Bricklayers Social
Club. Now, as you have some experience in commercial a bricklaying, so
what example can you give us of where bad organization has really hindered one of
your jobs or you've experienced a job that has really struggled with organization. So
well, hello is he for a start? So yeah, I mean I'll
give you like a little insight. So I work in commercial brickwork. I'd
manage brickwork packages. Give you an example of poor organization typically comes from the
main contractor so tier one contractors. They the way they normally work their systems
is they want everyone to get their job done at the same time or with
very small time frames, and then they're very unrealistic targets. They all work
by by programs and there's not a lot of room forever. So what do
they not take into account certain things? Yeah? Yeah, so I mean
if wee, for example, if it starts raining and you lose a day,
you lose two days. Although it's kind of inclement weather, it's an
act of God, there's nothing you can do. They still don't factor in
that there's going to be bad weather. Now, if you're working on a
domestic job, you would just literally say we've got two days off. We'll
see you with a couple of days time or hooever's clip. It doesn't work
like that. It all has to be marked down, recorded reasoning. Why,
photo evidence there's a lot more stringent. Try and take photos of the
rain. But to show that, you have to complete things called program reports.
Right, okay, a week, on a weekly posed basis, I'd
have to do a drop line on a program. On the program, it
would tell me how how much work I've achieved. If my my drop line
is working in line with the date provide on the program, and it'll leave
slipped forward or slip backwards depending on progress or weather, and that I have
to make note of that, and I have to deliver that report every week
to my contracts managers and like the side managers of the main contractors to demonstrate
reasonings why the programs behind and that could be because of weather. Right,
Okay, then well what's a good rule of thumb then to make sure that
you stay organized. I'm governed by a program nine times out of ten.
But it's all about people management. Managing your programs. They're your time frames,
and then you're working your men to work around or your women around them.
Yeah, and then from that liaison movier QS ensuring that materials on site
at the correct times. Do you always want to be working at least two
or three weeks ahead of yourself. That's one of the key things that I
try to do is you've got to be forward thinking. You've got to be
thinking what's capping next week, what's happening the week after that? Will I
need four bricklayers next week because I've got this amount of brickwork. Will I
need these sunduries for this section of brickwork. Will I need to get the
mastick man in to start doing movement joints? All these kinds of things.
You've got to be forward thinking constantly, and that's that's how you keep your
work force working efficiently to ensure that your job is still making money. Otherwise
you could have twenty bricklayers doing the work of four bricklayers. Yeah, no,
no, I know exactly what you're saying. Actually, the people management,
it's all people management. Yeah, and looking ahead. Yeah no,
definitely. Well, Luckily for me, all I've got to do is manage
one person. How many people are you managing? So the most I've ever
had at one given time was about thirty five bricklayers. I had the lowest.
I've just had a lot of missilf in the laborer. It's nice Normally
when it gets towards the end of a job, I would like a champion
start doing some snakes and stuff. That's brilliant. Nice, that sounds well.
Just because you're on the commercial side of things, do you have I
don't know if it's really relevant to you, but it could be if you
ever do private things, do you have any like tips, tricks, or
any advice on predicting site delays or how to avoid them yourself? If you
is doing an extension, how would you try and avoid any sort of delays
that you may overcome? May see? Do you know the honest arts to
that is experience and it's trying to walk, not run. If you're pricing
up jobs and you're not too sure, you've got to ask the question.
You've got to put it out there and start and do some research or whatever,
because it's going to cost you thousand if you get it wrong. I've
done I've made the mistakes some of the conversations about the the bricklayers in the
past, they've lost tens of thousands. Yeah, scary and't it. You
can't predict the weather. You've got the weather, the apps and stuff.
Yeah, no, no, exactly delays. What all I'd recommended for delays
and stuff like that job is just record it constantly. Especially in my world
in commercial it takes keep taking photos right down in a diary what's happened every
day, so you can you can always look back on that diary in a
year two years time. So, actually, remember being on a job and
I had that delay? How do I deal with it? How can I
do it differently? Yeah, you have to face that problem again. Having
a sight of diary will help you keep that information and always give something to
refer back to, and it will also support you in any way if if
you did come to a dispute or something. You could say, well,
I've got a diary here, and in the diary on this day and that
day you said that was going to have the electricians and plumber finished their first
fix. I can come in and do some links or something like domestic job,
but make your plumbers didn't turn up, so now I've had to find
work for two additional days, etc. And you've got all that evidence there
that will support your case. Yeah, no, brilliant, Ash. Thank
you so much for all of the information you've just provided us, and I
really appreciate it. How can people contact you or get in touch with you?
Have you got any socials? Yeah, so we're on Instagram, we're
on LinkedIn, and we've got a website which is Brickly Social club dot com.
Fantastic. Most everything's pretty much free. We do have a membership section
which offers a lot of great benefits of discounts to members, including free tickets
for Super Trowl. Yeah, but we'll touch on that another day. Fantastic,
Ash. Thank you so much. Really appreciate speaking to you, and
I'll see you at Super Trowl. BIS Radio the Builders station. Thank you
so much for listening. You can find those of other great podcast about the
trade and construction at fixedradio dot co dot uk. You can tune into Fix
Radio on DAB across the UK. There's some amazing music, conversation and chances
to win some awesome prizes. SAD