WEBVTT

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The Carpentry Show with Robin Clevitt,
powered by Festal's new innovative eighteen volt cordless

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range from drills to sores including dust
extraction, all powered by eighteen volt batteries.

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Discover more at festal dot co dot
UK. Welcome to the Carpentry Show

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with Festal. I'm your host Robin
Clevitt. Now the nights have drawn in

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and the weather has become a challenge, I thought we should talk about the

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final weeks of the year and our
approach to work in during the winter months.

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So joining me will be two carpenters
that have experience working on site so

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they can discuss this and more.
Fix Radio time to crack on. I'm

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Robin Clevitt on the Carpentry Show and
joining me once again is Max Lee from

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Pitch Perfect to discuss our approach to
working in the final few weeks of the

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year. Max, you and the
team from Pitch Perfect joined me in the

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studio earlier this year and I really
enjoyed that, so thank you so much

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for coming back on. So how
of the months following been for you guys,

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and what have you been working on? Yeah, so the months following

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they've been good, we've been we've
been busy. We've you know, got

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some new clients and then obviously also
had a nice steady stream of work from

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our existing clients. Started a few
bigger projects, a few like new builds

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and stuff like that that are ongoing. So yeah, we've had We've had

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a nice mixture of work, a
lot of cut and pitched roofs, a

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lot of structural carpentry, and then
also a few other things we've been doing

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as well, a couple of garden
rooms which which have been enjoyable as well.

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Yeah, it's a great variation what
you guys are doing. I mean,

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you know, we've spoke before about
you know, your strengths, which

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is basically big carpentry. You know
you good second fixes as well, but

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you love your first fix. You're
a bit like me in that respect.

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So you talked a bit about new
builds there. So are you doing first

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and second fixed packages? N So
the packages we're doing at the moment for

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both of the new bills we've started
are both for existing clients. So the

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packages we're doing and they vary,
but it's basically like that, all the

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structural stuff, so we'll go in
and do the flaws and the floor in.

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Then the brickwork will go up and
then we'll come in and do the

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roof. We don't. We do
it Like I said, we do a

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little bit of second fix, but
it's not normally tying. We offer as

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a package on the new builds.
Yeah, it's a good idea to stay

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focused on what you like. So
we're approaching the final weeks of the year.

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Okay, So looking at all of
twenty twenty three, how has the

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year been for Pitch Perfect business wise
compared to twenty twenty two. I think

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I think as a company and as
a group, we've we've went from strength

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to strength. It's been a really
good year for us. We've had good

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development and it's been you know,
a steady, a steady year. We've

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been growing nicely. We've been you
know, increasing our customer base and brand

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awareness hopefully. And yeah, I
think we're on the right track. And

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it's just about you know, steady
growth and not running before you can walk,

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you know, inequality, high and
good staff, etc. Yeah,

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And they're so true. Those things
are absolutely absolutely key to running a business,

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aren't they. So what's your approach
to working around Christmas? As it's

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literally around the corner when we you
down tools and what have you got booked

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in for twenty twenty three, So
when it comes to Christmas, we normally

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break up the Friday before Christmas and
then we go back in after the new

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year, so it normally works out
we have sort of two weeks off,

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which is about right. It's enough
to have a rest and then sort of

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after two weeks you're looking forward to
getting back into the swing of things and

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back into routine. So that's normally
sort of how we structure things around Christmas.

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With regards to twenty twenty four,
we've got a lot of work booked

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in similar to what we've just spoke
about. We've got loads of structural stuff,

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roofs again, a few new building
in the pipeline. We're offering the

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first six package. So more of
the same really, which is what we

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enjoy and we do it a lot, so we like to think we're pretty

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good at it, and you know, and when you do things a lot,

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you get assicient and you know you
can you can complete working, you

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know, quickly, but also to
a good standard. So it's nice to

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you know, do do similar stuff
and get pretty good at it. Yeah,

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because you spoke when you're in the
studio about you know, you set

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up your little teams and you'll go
off. Sometimes you'll all come together,

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so you're quite well positioned to,
as you say, get in and out

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quick or spend a couple of weeks
doing the job between a few of you,

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so you can actually take on more
work like that, can't you.

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Yeah, it varies. It's strange
for us. Some weeks or some months

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we've spread thin, and then other
weeks we've got you know, bigger projects

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on and we've got more of the
teams on one job. It comes down

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to really what there is to do
and often space. You know, this

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is a small job. You can
only have so many people there before it

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gets unproductive, you know, just
by like not having the room to work

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and stumbling over each other all the
time and stuff like that. Yeah,

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no, that's so true. So
what changes, if any, are you

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guys going to make your approach in
twenty twenty four? Business wise? I

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think the next sort of step for
us would be starting to offer some more

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turnkey projects alongside what we do now, but potentially going down the route we're

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offering some more turnky stuff, So
taking it from you know, start to

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finish, whether that be lofts or
small extensions I spoke about earlier. We

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started doing some garden rooms and stuff, so that is the element of that

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there. So it's more of the
same, but they're also starting to just

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diversify a little bit, thinking about
growth and how we can sort of find

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new streams of work that we still
want to do and enjoy doing. So

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I think that's probably the next step
for us at the moment. That's sort

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of on the horizon. It sounds
it sounds all good. Just remind me

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how old you are again, Max, if you don't mind me asking,

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I'm twenty three on Saturday, and
do you know what for a twenty three

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year old, the way you talk
about business and you know, it's unbelievable.

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I'm telling you, I wouldn't mind
betting that any business which has you

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in it you just have. Do
you have a real interest in business?

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Is this what it is? Do
you like the whole thing? That's yeah,

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that's where my passion is. I
love it. But you know it's

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not all me. We've got we've
got a good team and we've got Lim

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and James with the other two directors. So you know, it's a team

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effort. I can't take all the
credit, no, but I do think

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you speak such good sense and a
real good spokesman for Pitch Perfect. Must

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say hello to all the guys,
wish them a happy Christmas. It's not

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too early to wish happy Christmas yet, is it? Definitely not. It's

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never too early. Get a Christmas
songs on exactly all right, Max,

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thank you so much for joining me
once again the Carpentry Show on Fixed Radio.

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This is the Carpentry Show, and
joining me now is Richard Wagner.

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Richard, you join me in this
udo earlier this year to discuss your experiences

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in our trade and the woodworking classes
you teach. So how has business been

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for you since then and what have
you been up to professionally. Well,

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it's nice to be back. Thanks
for having me, Robin. I've you

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know, I've had a really busy
year actually, and we've had loads of

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students through the door coming to do
classes at the River Shop, so that's

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been really great. We've loved having
that and done a few side projects as

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well, which has been nice.
So taking on little bits and bobs,

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you know, pet projects just for
fun. Yeah, I've been following you

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on socials and I like the variation
of stuff. I especially like the one

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that you talked about the festal sustainers
and about you know, it was the

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way you bought that across to me, I was thinking, yeah, actually

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that is a pretty good storage situation. Was that when you're out on site?

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Was that one of your site jobs
you're talking about. Yeah, So

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what I've what I've kind of just
grabbed really been realizing, is first all,

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first all, just these sort of
unsung heroes of organization and even their

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all. This sustainer system I think
it's called the I don't know, the

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original sustainer version one or something is
only now being adopted by companies like Makida

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and Matabo. Yeah, they're early
adopt early adopters, and they could really

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see the benefits. So yeah,
I saw you out on site. You

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had all your sustainers, and it
it made me think, actually, they

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stuck in the corner and they're just
so perfectly neat and tidy. So talking

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about your experiences working on site during
the winter months in previous years, so

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what have you found the most challenging
about, say, working in the winter

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months. Well, there's a quote
I really like. And it might sound,

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it might come across as a little
bit corny, but there's no such

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thing as bad weather, just inappropriate
clothing. It's true when it's just unbearably

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hot and you don't want to move
and every you know, everything is put

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down. The worst thing you can
do is talk about how hot it is,

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right, and it just makes it
so much harder to to when it.

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So it all comes down to just
mindset. And in the summer,

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you know, in the summer that's
relevant. In the winter, it's a

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little bit harder to just put it
down to mindset. But the more you

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focus on the negatives, the harder
it's going to be for you. So

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pragmatically, you know, good footwear, good socks, take a bit of

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extra time and make a thermos of
the hot drink which is good for morale

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throughout the day, and enjoy it
where you know, we're lucky to get

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fresh air during the day and not
be blocked down by computer screens. It's

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so true. And I often when
people ask me the same question after and

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say, well, actually, when
I'm at work, I'm fine because my

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mind is get up in the morning
straight out. I want to beat the

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traffic. I want to get to
work, I want to have a hot

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drink, I want to see if
the guys are all good, and before

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you know it, you're you don't. I don't even feel the cold yet.

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At the weekend, Becky will say
to me, let's have a nice

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walk around the lake. So we'll
get up, get dressed, walk around

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the lake, and in about half
an hour, I'm feeling cold. It's

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just because I'm going at a different
pace. I'm used to a completely different

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pace when I'm at work, and
it's all, as you say, you

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just get into the zone. I
don't even feel the cold. So you

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talked about the anecdote about saying there's
no such thing as bad weather. It's

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bad clothing, so boots and socks. But is there anything or any other

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tips that you have to stay warm
if you're working outside, especially if you're

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doing something where you have to stand
still for a long time to mark something

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out, set something out before you
start doing cutting and fixing for example.

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Yeah, of course, I mean
movement is key, isn't it, And

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so if that's not on your side, you know, just look after your

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extremity, you know, get a
good hat on, get a neck buff

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on. Those are really popular once
upon a time, the you know the

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buffs, you know, Yeah,
just look after your extremities. Nice nice

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gloves you're like, you know,
have gloves around. I swear it's all

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about It's all about your feet.
If you've got you know, warm socks,

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dry socks in the van and your
feet get wet, get get your

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feet dry. You know, there's
nothing more detrimental to morale than wet feet.

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Yeah. And the other fatal thing
I always find is if you end

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up find yourself sitting in the van
for any reason. Let's say you've got

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to make a phone call and you
put come in the van, turn the

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heater on, and before you know, you think, I don't want to

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get back out. So that's fatal. I always say, stay outside.

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So okay, let's talk about twenty
twenty four Richard. You've talked about,

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you know, the River Shop,
and i'd imagine that's going really well.

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So do you have any plans or
changes that you're going to make professionally in

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twenty twenty four. Well, yeah, we're we're actually growing our workshop,

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so we're going to be kind of
doubling our footprint. In February, where

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our workshop will will double in size. So that's pretty cool, and I'm

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really keen to launch more courses,
and I think we're in a position now

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where the syllabus that we have that's
live is really good. It's really popular,

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and people are coming to classes and
leaving good feedback on those classes.

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Where I have an itch that needs
to be scratched is that we're not offering

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enough, and I want to offer
a carpentry one on one joinery one on

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one where you can come and just
do a short class on routing and we

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just get you around two or three
different routers of different sizes, using a

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couple different types of cutters, and
doing a few different basic exercises on using

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a router and getting familiar with one. Those classes don't necessarily leave you with

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a finished product at the end that
you can take home and show your friends.

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But I think those those courses will
will be of enormous benefit to people

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that are are kind of thinking of, Okay, how do I improve?

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So that's kind of that's kind of
where my mind at is. You know,

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routing, drilling, sawing, finishing, even as simple as fastening.

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We have a lot to learn and
we have a lot to master. How

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do we fasten something? How do
I drill into brick? How do I

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drill into breezeblock? Amazing? How
do I fix the plaster board? How

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do I fix the ply with I
think that you're really onto something, and

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the fact that you're already established as
well before anyone here listening things, I'm

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going to do that. I know
that you've taken a long time to set

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your place up, establish yourself,
and I just think that actually the router

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one is perfect because whether you're a
tradesman who has never done that work before

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once to buy self a router,
I think it's really important. I learned

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from a book. I mean with
routers. There was a when I was

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in my early twenties, when I've
got my first router, there was a

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00:14:09.399 --> 00:14:13.559
guy was pretty famous, so I
forget his name now he's passed away,

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unfortunately, but he was a router
expert and he was really well known for

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it in the industry. Used to
go to all the trade shows and I

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got his book and I read everything
and I learned so much. So what

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you're talking about is brilliant. Yeah, thanks, well, hopefully hopefully can

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come make a guest appearance, right, I'd love it, I really would

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anyway talking to that. I'll see
you soon, I'm sure. So thank

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you so much for joining me once
again, and we'll catch up with you

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next year. The Carpentry Show Monday
from three and catch up anytime at fixradio

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dot co dot UK the builders station
FIGX Radio. You're listening to The Carpentry

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Show with Festal. I'm Robin Klevitt
talking about the approach to working in our

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trade during the winter months. So
a question that I asked a bit earlier

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on in the show was how much
time do we at Christmas? I asked

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Max and he talked about finishing on
the last friday before and going back into

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the new year. And that's pretty
traditional that if you ask me what's happened

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during my career, most sites will
say we're going to work up to the

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Friday and we're going to lock up
and we're not going to open again until

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say after the bank hology in the
new year, so the second third or

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whatever. So that's pretty typical for
the building trade. So the question of

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how much time should we take off
now that's sometimes dictated to us. For

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example, the sitle shut or a
client will say I don't. I really

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don't want anyone in my house until
after the new year. So it's pretty

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much forced upon us. And I
think that's a good thing because as self

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employed trades people or businesses, we
tend to not take enough time. I

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know that you might be thinking,
well, you can't afford to take eight,

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nine, ten days off without having
any money coming in because the bills

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are still going to be there.
And Christmas is a really expensive time of

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the year. You know, We've
got not just the fuel to heat our

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homes, we've got obviously buying presents
and food and all the rest of all

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the nice things that we should be
doing. So it is a stressful time

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for trades people, I really do. I never underestimate that because hanging over

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us in January is obviously got to
pay our tax, so our self assessment,

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and that has to be paid by
the end of January, so all

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the way through January, lucky,
it's a long month and we can hopefully

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get ourselves back into work, you
know, and earn enough to cover the

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tax and all of the expense of
Christmas. So I think that we should

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take it as much time as we
can off. When I was a lot

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younger. We did used to go
in between Christmas and New Year. There

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was always a couple of days there
still is that we go in. But

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actually, while we're talking about there, let's not forget all of the people

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who can't take time off over Christmas, especially the medical staff, nurses,

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doctors, people in public services.
So, yeah, if you happen to

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have a loved one or you are
in that sort of world, you're listening

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to the carpentry show, which I
would be happy that you did. Yeah,

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good luck to you all and thank
you for what you do. Okay,

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So what kind of work should we
avoid taking on during the colder and

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stormy a month's Well, in an
ideal world, you'd work inside, wouldn't

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you. But we're not in an
ideal world, and very often we'll take

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on what fits in with our schedule. So if you're finishing the job and

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you've got a job come up,
and it's another roof construction job, you

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think, well, I've not got
a lot else to do. I'm going

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to go and do it. I
suppose my thing there is, if you

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can pick and choose, you'd obviously
choose the inside work because you're not going

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to get rained off potentially and you
get you know, you can use lighting

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inside easier than you can outside.
You can get full shift in, so

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I would say, obviously try to
do the inside stuff. But sometimes it

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can be really dry in December October
this year is apparently one of the wettest

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we've had on record. Normally you'd
think you could still be doing a little

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bit of outside work in October.
So, you know, you just don't

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know. In our climate anymore,
we're on something like four different jet streams

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that meet over the UK and give
us exactly what they want when they want.

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So yep, it's very hard to
predict. So with Christmas coming,

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what kind of bonuses or gifts could
we give our employees coworkers and Subby's okay,

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like a little morale booster to start
off twenty twenty four on the right

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foot. Well, yeah, in
the idea, wor'd be nice to just

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hand out loads of cash, say
he is a bit of extra and all

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the rest of it. And I
think that some people do do that.

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Or even if it's given a paid
day off, say oh you know you

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have a day off, surprise them
instead of finishing on the Friday, say

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nope, we're finishing on the Thursday. I'm going to pay you for the

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week. There's so many different ways
of doing it. A hamper something like

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that, or something for their partners. So quite often I've been working for

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people and then they give me a
gift, but it's not for me,

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it's for my wife. And I
always find that really really nice as well,

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a little bit of a morale booster. And go out and have a

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beer as well. Try to get
out when you're all finished on that afternoon,

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have a few beers reminisce and I
always think that's quite useful as well.

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And rest, okay, make sure
you rest. Lastly, my top

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tip for working on site during winter
well, try to keep warm. As

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we said earlier in the show,
keep warm, keep dry, make sure

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you lock your stuff up, don't
lose anything because when it's getting darker,

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I've actually left stuff outside because I've
been putting it away. It's all of

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a sudden got dark. Come back
in the morning and I've still got a

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tool outside in the dark, and
I think, oh, I must have

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missed that. So yeah, make
sure you look out for that. Anyway,

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down Tools with Trevor rich Is quickly
approaching from four pm, so I'll

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be back to wrap up today's show
on Fix Radio, the builder station Fix

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Radio. So that's about it for
today's Carpentry show with me Robin Clevett.

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And I've just been sitting here thinking
to myself, actually, yeah, we're

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talking about the weather here in the
UK, and yes it can be cold,

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but very rarely is it any lower
than minus five or something like that.

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I know, if you're listening in
the Highlands of Scotland, yes you

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can have some really big extremes up
there and so yes, but where I

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am concentrated down in the south,
he's like the Riviera compared to up there,

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so yes, we only get sort
of you know, we don't get

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that many frosts anymore. And I
know down in the West Countries there are

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some parts of the West Country in
Cornwall that apparently don't have a frost.

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So if you're from that area,
let me know if that's the case,

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because I always find that interesting.
So while I was away a couple of

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weeks ago in Austria, I was
in Austria, Germany and Lichenstein. I

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was lucky enough to meet a guy
called Joe Canning aka the Canadian carpenter on

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Instagram, so if you follow him, you'll know who exactly who he is.

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He's a bit of an icon when
it comes to carpentry. And I

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said to him while I was having
a chat with him, so tell me

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about what it's like working in Canada
in the winter, and he said that

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quite often it will be minus forty. And when he described what the conditions

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of trying to actually operate in minus
forty, keeping the tools going, even

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keeping the wagon going, the van
going, it was really something. So

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we have nothing to worry about.
In fact, he laughed when I said

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to him where he gets down to
about minus five and he says, oh,

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we're still in shorts and T shirts
when it's like that, So yeah,

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we don't have it have it that
bad. And if you don't follow

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him, it's worth going to look
at Joe Canning so he's Canadian carpenter and

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tell him I sent you. Tell
him I said to say hello, because

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he is a really good guy worth
watching, okay, or listening to.

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So you can hear this show again
from ten pm right here on Fix Radio

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00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:36.079
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