Brew Making Kit

[jonny round boy]

A while a go I bought one of the limited edition black Festool systainers, and was a bit unsure what to do with it. My original plan was to transfer my T12 drill into it & make some kind of drill/centrotec set combo, but I couldn't figure out the details.

Instead, I thought I'd put together a drinks set for a full rip-out/kitchen install I'm starting tomorrow, so last week I bought a few bits. I had an hour or so spare this morning, and two plain foam inserts, so put this together:

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There's a small travel kettle, a small Thermos for milk, containers for tea bags, coffee & sugar, a nice big mug, and a few spoons. I picked up the Thermos, kettle, and plastic containers for around 15 quid, which wasn't too bad. The foam is actually for the classic systainers, but fitted ok. I may get some T-Loc foam at some point & do a slightly more professional job, but it will do for now!

 

[jmbfestool]

Good if you regularly have Tee/Coffee on the job!   I would be sticking Soup in there!   Only ever have Tea if the clients make it even then I normally ask for water only.

Saying that just recently worked on a Job  had DeanSocial helping also!    Pretty much forced Tea and lots of biscuits onto us.  Even asked us for another cup of Tea after just passing over a fresh cup of Tea to us!  Also had jug of squash for us!    If it wasnt for the Biscuits for dipping I would just be on the squash!

3 breaks a day!   [scared] I normally only have one break!  Plus payed us more money than asked for!    

Need more clients like that!  

 

[joiner1970]

Yeah I've never really been one for tea at work, I prefer soup in winter and water in summer. You get weird looks from clients when you refuse a cup of tea

 

[jonny round boy]

No, can't do without a good brew every couple of hours. I don't generally have a break, just have it whilst working.

 

[Paul G]

I must admit, when I saw the thread title I though someone was making beer in systainers  [big grin]

 

[3PedalMINI]

I must admit, when I saw the thread title I though someone was making beer in systainers  [big grin]

+1  [big grin]

 

[Brice Burrell]

You Brit's and your tea.  [big grin]

 

[Paul G]

I must admit, when I saw the thread title I though someone was making beer in systainers  [big grin]

+1  [big grin]

That would be my favorite systainer at quitting time

 

[Guilliaume woodworks]

Anything in a black festool systainer is cool!  I wish they would bring those back, I missed my chance getting my hands on one.

 

[Tinker]

I had about seven guys working for me.  I had four of them working on a fairly large job that really had no complications.  I had layed it out and gone over the requirements with my foreman and one other who was experienced.  I had the other three with me on a job about twenty miles away. I was checking the job about every other day and things seemed to be going smoothly and pretty much on schedule, so i was not concerned.  That same crew had worked several other jobs for me without a hitch. 

About a week into the job, i found out the owner was giving the crew coffee every morning before they started and a couple of times every morning.  he was bringing out beer a couple of times every afternoon.  I gave orders to my men to accept no more than one short coffee break in the mornings.  If they wanted to take that one break before starting work, it was fine, but then no more later in the morning.  I then called the owner with basically the same directions.

"Oh, they are such a fine crew and blah/blah and blah blah,..." I insisted and made a specific point of NO BEER breaks.  I found out the coffee and beer supply was continued when i sent my billing at end of job.  The man, and i use the term rather loosely, had kept track of every break and the cost to him for every drop of coffee and beer for the entire job.  by his estimate, he must have kept the supply coming at a very steady clip.  I was quite certain my guys had not spent any where near as much time drinking and sitting as the guy was billing me for with his rather extravegant  deduction, as the job had been completed as drawn, on time and under budget.  By the time i found out about the deduction, i had already fired six of my men (for an unrelated problem elsewhere that ended up really costing me).  i checked around and found out the guy had pulled the same stunt on several other contractors on the job at the same time.  The same problem and handled the same way.  we all confronted him at the same time, face to face with the threat to haul him into court.  He ended up paying close, but not quite, what he owed us.  From then on, i have never allowed my crews to take breaks supplied by owners unless i really know the person. and even then, with very strict limitations. [ban]
Tinker

 

[andyman]

Maybe worth writing something on future estimates that covers tea etc supplied by the client at no financial cost to the contractor

 

[Deansocial]

Tea is a must on jobs. As for deducting money for the cost of drinks I would just laugh at them

 

[jmbfestool]

Tea is a must on jobs. As for deducting money for the cost of drinks I would just laugh at them

Same here!  Tell them where to go if some one played that trick on me!!

 

[RC]

When I had a major renovation done at my house I had this extremely fine old boy come in and do all the wet spaces and tiling.

Without thinking twice about it I of course invited him to take breaks and tea/coffee/lemonade/lunch whenever we were taking breaks ourselves (we were doing the easy stuff like sanding walls & painting them, putting in network cabling & new electrical cables into the concrete walls). On Fridays I would throw a few beers at him to take home after the day was done. All was well.

When it came time to pay the bills I was SHOCKED to see that this chap had done deductions to his time bill for every break he had taken with us!

I had to ask him to redo the whole billing without the deductions since we invited him to have those breaks we're paying for them. (he was doing the job for us on time & material basis)

Long story short - we still stop to chat at the supermarket if we happen to bump into each other and have a good laugh.

 

[Tinker]

When I had a major renovation done at my house I had this extremely fine old boy come in and do all the wet spaces and tiling.

Without thinking twice about it I of course invited him to take breaks and tea/coffee/lemonade/lunch whenever we were taking breaks ourselves (we were doing the easy stuff like sanding walls & painting them, putting in network cabling & new electrical cables into the concrete walls). On Fridays I would throw a few beers at him to take home after the day was done. All was well.

When it came time to pay the bills I was SHOCKED to see that this chap had done deductions to his time bill for every break he had taken with us!

I had to ask him to redo the whole billing without the deductions since we invited him to have those breaks we're paying for them. (he was doing the job for us on time & material basis)

Long story short - we still stop to chat at the supermarket if we happen to bump into each other and have a good laugh.

Reiska, That's the way it should be.
Tinker

 

[jmbfestool]

When I had a major renovation done at my house I had this extremely fine old boy come in and do all the wet spaces and tiling.

Without thinking twice about it I of course invited him to take breaks and tea/coffee/lemonade/lunch whenever we were taking breaks ourselves (we were doing the easy stuff like sanding walls & painting them, putting in network cabling & new electrical cables into the concrete walls). On Fridays I would throw a few beers at him to take home after the day was done. All was well.

When it came time to pay the bills I was SHOCKED to see that this chap had done deductions to his time bill for every break he had taken with us!

I had to ask him to redo the whole billing without the deductions since we invited him to have those breaks we're paying for them. (he was doing the job for us on time & material basis)

Long story short - we still stop to chat at the supermarket if we happen to bump into each other and have a good laugh.

I'm bad at that!  Normally when the client talks to me alot and it stops me working. If I think it has added few hours or so onto the job time I don't charge them extra hours.  It takes two to tango!  But I do find it difficult to say let me crack on working gotta stop talking now!  I gotta admit I do talk to much on jobs!   

Saying that this job I was working on could consist of 2hours+ a day talking and Deansocial was on the job with me so two of us it added up the hours like. 

  Yet I had my other mate Dan helping who doesn't talk much just gets on with the job.  The client asked Dean if he was charging same rate as us because he didnt talk enough he didnt believe he was worth as much.  [scared]. 

  DeanSocial is a naughty one for talking alot arnt ya Dean!!

 

[Tinker]

I have a couple of customers who come out too chat quite often.  Sometimes i have a lot to tell them about how i am doing things, or they just want to chat.  I basically charge hourly rates according to what I am doing and what i am doing it with.  When the customer has a chat with me, I check my watch and deduct the time.  If the talk is about more technical subject and how they want to do something different, i often do not deduct the entire chat time.  I try to be fair to both of us.  Some of my customers i have been working with for over 30 years.  (not bad record being only 39) But i am working mostly alone now, and the people I have left on the books are the people i have most enjoyed working with. i have one lady who comes out regularly and we might talk for an hour.  Those days, i don't make much money, but do have interesting conversations. 
Tinker