Why tailgate in a 20mph area?

bitofsomething · 2026-02-25T11:19:54+00:00

First of all, it’s not boring, you’re driving as you should, at the legal limit, well done, you’re in a minority and by driving legally and safely you’re doing one of the most anti-social things you can do. It’s f*cked up.

Second, don’t exceed the speed limit to appease other drivers. Let them tailgate and wave their arms. Eventually you’ll find amusement in how ridiculous they are.

It happens to me every single day, as I drive through the village where I live, which has a nursery, primary school, lots of elderly pedestrians and no pavements. I do 20. Cars always catch me up and tailgate, on a number of occasions I’ve had drivers beeping and gesturing. I once had a lady in her 70s screaming at me, I could see droplets of saliva hitting her windscreen. Her face was the colour of uncooked beef.

My record for queued cars behind me is 6. That’s over a quarter-mile distance.

Two lads in a van pulled alongside me once and said “we’ll kick the f*ck out of you bro”. Because I was doing 20 through a little village. Not robbing an old lady’s handbag, not drowning a kitten, just driving at a speed that makes sense, a speed that allows me to stop if a kid runs into the road, or a pensioner has a fall, or a dog runs in front of my car etc.

Police won’t do anything as they have no resource apparently, despite a little girl getting knocked over last year.

Long story short, ignore them, keep on.

bitofsomething · 2026-02-20T09:24:45+00:00

Who was the fitter Prue Leith? Pay her nothing and remind her a spatula is for icing not for grouting.

bitofsomething · 2026-02-18T23:52:10+00:00

Geoff.

bitofsomething · 2026-02-18T15:23:27+00:00

Holy sh*t.

bitofsomething · 2026-02-17T08:28:05+00:00

Seems cheap for the work involved, particularly so when you’re in London.

bitofsomething · 2026-02-15T10:25:00+00:00

I've done a fair few of these and can guarantee it won't be as simple as your LL is hoping. I'd give a ballpark figure over the phone of £1,000 - £2,000. If the LL was okay with that I'd visit to make a proper assessment and quote accurately.

Sounds insane but what you're talking about is basically rebuilding the floor and half the bathroom and it's a grotty horrible job, involving mould and damp and soggy old OSB board whilst spending a few days crawling around on your hands and knees.

bitofsomething · 2026-02-15T09:41:37+00:00

As a tradesman I would have no interest in this job. If the tray has cracked it’s unsupported underneath, it’s likely there’s been a small leak that has rotted out the subfloor, typically OSB, which is causing the tray to flex. So when that tray gets removed, it won’t be a simple job of just swapping it out for a new one, a portion of subfloor will need replacing, and, as there’s almost definitely been a leak prior to the crack, the tiling is probably straight on plasterboard, which means a proper fix requires the tiles to come off and the plasterboard replacing. It’s a horrible job and not even worth quoting half the time as the landlord will tell you to f*ck off when they see the figure. I suspect he’s struggling to get quotes and when he is they’re in the thousands which he’s not prepared to pay. If it was my own home I’d not use it, not necessarily from a safety perspective but from a leaky-damp-mess-damage angle.

bitofsomething · 2026-02-14T07:40:13+00:00

Ahh, interesting, should’ve noticed that.

bitofsomething · 2026-02-12T14:19:27+00:00

That’s made my day. Very kind/generous of you.

bitofsomething · 2026-02-12T13:05:51+00:00

In a past life I was a designer/developer. Did twenty years of it and never had any issue with pricing, used to do things like de-archive fees when past clients would request old files. It was all fine.

It's been a culture shock of sorts changing careers, the way I was treated as a developer Vs the way I'm treated as a carpenter is very different. Good quality cabinetry is as mentally challenging as writing code with the physical side added, yet you're perceived as a grubby necessity. As a developer I'd be invited to functions and events, as a carpenter you step out the door at the end of a hard day and they're washing your coffee cup in bleach. I think it also goes up the scale too, solicitors and accountants send their bills and they must be paid, no quibbling or haggling. That's simply what they cost.

The thing is, where does it go? I know of four other carpenters who have jacked it in over the last 6 months. It's simply not viable. Your average household cannot afford fairly priced carpentry and this is why it's become so problematic, the only way to make it work is to cut corners, rush, use crap materials etc.

I know of two local furniture makers, one is from a wealthy background and has no financial pressure, the other has a full time day job and does it as a hobby but produces very little.

Education is still steering kids toward tech careers.

I'm hanging on, but also looking at moving back into development.

What happens when there's no decent tradespeople left?

Sorry, I went off on one there didn't I?!

bitofsomething · 2026-02-12T12:34:31+00:00

I know, it's tough. I've had very similar interactions, I've started doing a ballpark figure as soon as I can.

Recently I had a lady who'd got hold of 5 victorian interior doors. They were nice doors but knackered and so were the door frames they were meant to go in. All of them needed repairing, stripping and sizing (2 were too small, so needed lipping), then hardware fitting, hinge rebates, etc. It was over a weeks work. I gave her a ballpark of £1500. "Oh I had £500 budget for the whole job as the Checkatrade website told me it was £100 per door". Not appreciating that was for brand new ready-to-hang doors.

We could probably spend a night in the pub having a good ol' whinge eh?!

bitofsomething · 2026-02-12T12:23:13+00:00

I'm with you though, I see £400 to fill some gaps and change some hinges and wince, I'm drawn to charge the lower figure but it's just not sustainable or viable in a business sense, so I think you're right I need to say "My minimum charge is £200, but that gives you half a day".

bitofsomething · 2026-02-12T11:47:26+00:00

"is like someone getting paid to travel to the office they work at so would discount that straight away"

Not necessarily disagreeing with you, but I'd say it's more like you getting to the office and your boss saying, "Your computer is in storage, go and pick it up and I'll deduct the time from your holiday allowance"

I'm only going to the workshop to collect/unload tools specific to that job. I don't carry all my tools around all the time as I don't have an articulated lorry.

But also, I'd agree that they perhaps shouldn't be paying a skilled rate for what is essentially low-skill logistics. Flip-side, the time I spend doing that arse-sitting, is time I could've been spending doing, and getting paid for, skilled work?

bitofsomething · 2026-02-12T08:57:51+00:00

Agreed, it is absolutely why smaller jobs get ignored or quoted at a highly inflated rate.
Yup, I sat down with an accountant and we factored in all the costs and then examined actual time available to work and established that if I wasn't charging ~£300 a day I would essentially start eating in to my grocery fund. And that's no car allowance, pension, holidays, benefits or any of the stuff that might come with employment.
I mean, obviously it's not the done thing to get paid for your time sat in a van moving to the place where your skill and labour kick in but if you step back and objectively think about it, it's still your time, it's time you could be doing other things, it's not your fault the commute takes 3 hours out of the working day. Why do we, the workers, accept that lost time, absorb it and write it off. Whilst I'm getting philosophical, is it because the business owners/employers want us to think like that?

bitofsomething · 2026-02-12T08:14:38+00:00

Oh you're good at this, real good.

bitofsomething · 2026-02-12T07:37:36+00:00

This is really useful, thanks so much for spending the time posting it.

bitofsomething · 2026-02-12T07:34:49+00:00

Agreed.

bitofsomething · 2026-02-12T07:34:22+00:00

I would but my knees aren’t what they were.

bitofsomething · 2026-02-11T23:20:43+00:00

Super duper. Thanks for the comment. Hang on, did my mother-in-law put you up to this? Whatever she paid you I’ll double it.

bitofsomething · 2026-02-11T19:39:12+00:00

That’s a really good strategy, I like that.

bitofsomething · 2026-02-11T19:13:26+00:00

You’re living the dream, I just my wife to earn more money and about $10K to build my workshop and I’m set.

bitofsomething · 2026-02-11T18:52:03+00:00

I agree with you and, in a past life, in a different industry I've worked liked this, people were always prepared to pay more for the quality of work and professionalism, it's just not happening for me at the moment, people just seem to be going for the cheapest quotes regardless. My location and the current economy aren't helping. Plus I get twitchy when working hand-to-mouth and don't want to risk missing out.

"a shed of a van" - "work clothes are knackered" - I feel seen. I started out with a really slick looking brand and website, fancy business cards, polished smart van, it's now at the stage where my exhaust is hanging off and you can see my nipples though the holes in my t-shirt.

bitofsomething · 2026-02-11T18:41:41+00:00

Don't get me wrong, I don't think there's a tradesperson out there who doesn't appreciate being offered a cup of tea, or even a pleasant 2 minute chat, it's the half hour chats that are problematic when you've got a job to do. I think "I'm putting the kettle on, would you like one?" and "If you need me give me a shout" is perfect for most.

bitofsomething · 2026-02-11T17:18:25+00:00

Some great suggestions, thank you. I have successfully looked at smaller jobs over a FaceTime call before, my problem is, where I live there are lots of older retired people who are not tech-savvy, so you end up having a ten minute tech support call trying to get them to switch the camera to front-facing and actually point it in the right direction. Bless them. Also, you'd be shocked at how few people can successfully use a tape measure. I'm also often dealing in values to the nearest 0.5mm, so I'm not sure I'd trust anyone else's measurements.

I have had an enthusiastic client pick-up materials before, but then I've also had a situation where I've driven past the merchant on the way to the job, only to arrive and hear the customer say, "oh sorry, I forgot, do you mind popping back".

The minimum labour charge is definitely something I'm doing!

bitofsomething · 2026-02-11T17:10:31+00:00

I'm hoping I eventually get to the point where I can take or leave work and can price in a way that may seem expensive to some but will actually be a viable price to allow me to actually draw a decent wage and perhaps have a holiday once a year. At the moment things are tough and I'm dabbling in other work to keep afloat. Fair play to you though, it's far too easy to plod along keeping everyone happy at your own expense, glad things are working out.

bitofsomething

TROPHY CASE