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Work being done up the road. One of those castle of scaffolding over the top jobbies. The blokes* doing it seem unable to talk at level not below 500dB. They're standing right next to one another.
What music can I put on my Bluetooth speaker to override their crappy Capital Radio box and inane lad lad lad bantz?
*lads lads lads
You're lucky....the scaffolders on the house next door to mine were talking loudly about....shudder.....eBikes!
A recent experience with a couple of scaffold crews suggests they might be a bit stimulated on something stronger than caffeine………………..
They’re much louder now the all use cordless torque wrenches as opposed to a good old wrench. Even Bloomin tube monkeys gone electric
We had a bunch in to do our house recently - twice actually for two separate jobs, frustratingly. They were loud when throwing poles around and clanging during the erection (oo-er) but the dismantling at 7.30 on a saturday morning was really quiet. They didn't shout at each other, they worked really quickly and efficiently and did a great job. If anyone needs good scaffolders around the Marple area, I can highly recommend Mapole Scaffolding.
The blokes* doing it seem unable to talk at level not below 500dB. They’re standing right next to one another.
What music can I put on my Bluetooth speaker to override their crappy Capital Radio box and inane lad lad lad bantz?
*lads lads lads
Sometimes I wish I were in a job like that - they always look like they're having a lot more fun at work than I am! 🙂
Probs getting paid more too!
The best way to deal with scaffolders is to grab the ringleader get him in a headlock and rub your knuckles on the top of his head, this is the only way to gain their respect.
They're all geezas innit
And you rarely see a fat one. Must be the strongest trade as they spend all day lifting weights
As above, they’re heavy on gak.
Advice from a late uncle who was high up in Murphys: never get in a fight with scaffolders.
As previously mentioned, scaffolders are unique. Best advice: let the Wookiees win & live another day.
Sometimes I wish I were in a job like that – they always look like they’re having a lot more fun at work than I am
Reminds me of something a friend who worked in an office said to me once about my job in the print trade.
He said he sometimes wished he could spend all day "laughing at farts".
I should have been offended, but still laugh at it something like 30 years later 😂
An old friend of mine is a scaffolder offshore.
He broke his back at work a few years back. He's Ok and back at work now.
I did a basic scaffolding course at work a few years back, it's quite satisfying. However the speed at which they can work at is quite amazing. Not sure how long it takes to get that quick?
I deal with scaffolding companies all over the country ....... They freely admit they're a "unique" breed.
Getting them to use an app that will make their lives much easier is like herding cats!
Yep, you don't mess with scaff lads, the hardest and most mental of all the trades.
Rough as a badgers bum, hard as nails and strong as oxen.
You're a brave man who asks them to turn the tunes down.
never get in a fight with scaffolders
And never **** over a skip company / "waste management" company
I had scaffolding up recently for the second time in a year. First lot just the Brixton briefcase, second lot a lad sang very loudly, almost operatic. Quite pleasant and amusing in equal measure. I now need a bit of chimney work and am slightly dreading a repeat (as well as the expense).
Rough as a badgers bum, hard as nails and strong as oxen.
I have always considered that scaffolders are only about 80% human, which probably explains why I generally feel very comfortable in their company.
IME scaffolders are the easiest going trade, partly no doubt because they are rarely reliant on other trades - they come, they see, they scaffold, they go home.
Never mess with an industry where they created a ratchet, hammer and stabby podger - all combined into one tool.....
They're loud because their tubes are steel. If they used composites they'd be much quieter. Or slightly more realistically, if you snuck on the site and plugged their tubes with expanding foam that would quieten them down a bit.
Its nearly the weekend and the poor things are excited. In my Uni days i worked on sites for student cash and all that clanging of pudlocks and steel collars made them a little deaf. We used to have to test the scaffold while they were still on site - talk about a death stare.
In a very similar vein, Frankie Boyle on Bin Men
What music can I put on my Bluetooth speaker to override their crappy Capital Radio box and inane lad lad lad bantz?
Quite a few scaffolders I've known over the years must have good insulation, imagine the kwikstage on a wet Feb morning
Some seem to take long holidays 6 months sometimes 9 , not very exotic sunny places eg the big hotel near the M8 Glasgow or maybe head up to Perth gateway to the Highlands or if your lucky the castle just outside Dundee
It's a surprisingly common stereotype that scaffolders are all coked up.
I've had some round my gaff this week. The first pair were great - one wanted his coffee as strong as possible, but was still very chilled, friendly to chat to, and careful round our stuff. He was probably in his 40's.
The second pair, a few days later... they were 20-somethings and even though it was 8am, if you told me they'd had a cheeky line in the van beforehand (parked on the kerb, on the corner of a T junction) I would not have questioned it!
Terrifying, and you get the impression that the rules (all rules) just don't apply to them - which molly meter maid is going to be brave enough to ticket the flatbed?
Saw a nice viral video the other day of a customer who'd not paid his scaffolders, so they put up a small selection of poles around his car until he transferred them the cash. It seemed relatively civilised given their reputation.
If the two scaffolders I know are representative, they are likey coked up...
never get in a fight with scaffolders.
Always discuss things one standard tube length apart and if your job requires a tie, wear a clip on.
7.30 on a saturday morning
blimey that's a late start, but then I guess they probably have to have a brew with 17 sugars before starting properly.
round here (in Germany) they'll start working at 1 nanosecond past 7am, which doesn't stop them preparing to start working before then.
it's the guys digging up the road to put new pipes in that are the noisy ones right now, who need to shout to each other 100m further along the street.
In Building Site Deathmatch the real ones to avoid were the hod-carriers they worked all day in a very physical job and not a half day as scaffolders did (job and knock). Just the scaffolders worked in gangs.
I did a basic scaffolding course at work a few years back, it’s quite satisfying. However the speed at which they can work at is quite amazing. Not sure how long it takes to get that quick?
You start low, and build up, I guess....
DrP
It’s a surprisingly common stereotype that scaffolders are all coked up
I think they get thrown off site if they don’t have sufficient stimulants show up on random drug tests.
I’d often see them stop by the garage near our old yard at daft times in the morning, at least one would have a can of Tennants Super on the go.
They certainly are a special breed! It’s truly frightening some of the work they have to do.
One job one particularly hot summer (when I was still on construction sites) we decided to wear shorts. Site agent said put on trousers or go home. I told him I will put trousers on after he’s told the scaffolders to do the same. We spent the summer in shorts.
An empty vessel makes the most noise as my old man used to say.
@pook must be a Sheffield thing, loads round here think that everyone wants to hear them
When I was working in the arches painting cars we had an issue with some non payers.
One of the friendly scaffolders behind us who we used to paint their stolen scaffolding for offered to kill them for £2000.
This was the early 90s, so probably a bit more now.
They boys who put up my scaffolding don't drink, "why would I put that into my body?" Definitely on Pantani's favourite marching powder though.
I’ve a mate who is a scaffolder.
Lovely guy. He is also a single speeder and rides Enduros on a steel hardtail, sends gaps and is as fast AF. Has a nice beer bottle top stem cap.
Was funny when he rode his single speed to one of the hospitals I work at. Not the normal mode of transport.
They had to put five storeys of scaffolding up a mental health unit. He said they were all a bit wary of looking through the windows.
mick_r
Full Member
Never mess with an industry where they created a ratchet, hammer and stabby podger – all combined into one tool…..
And some posters are made by king dick tools.
Most of the scaffs I've worked with are as wide as they are tall with hands like shovels.
I'm a rope tech so a job stealing bastard. I've laboured for them and lumping 21ft tubes around all day and passing them up lifts is tough going.
My experience also relates to minimal f++ks given to their H&S.
Rule 1 was never upset the pole swingers .
Rule 2 was never go drinking with them.
They do like stimulating energy drinks ***
How do you get rid scaffold when job is complete ?
Over month they have been storing scaffold at my place....can't communicate with them.
Job paid for as well 🙁
Wondering whether to take it down myself 😉
They're not all loud
Gotta say, the scaffolders on site certainly never did the substance abuse, if they did they'd be out on their arse. Definitely rough though, you always made sure you went for a morning shite either before or well after their smoko. Had a couple make their way into ops, mental but good guys.
the dismantling at 7.30 on a saturday morning was really quiet. They didn’t shout at each other, they worked really quickly and efficiently and did a great job.
Suprised nobody has stopped to enlighten you.
What do you think they were up to the night before?
Why do you think they wanted to be quiet?
There you go...
I work in the building trade and can confirm Scaffolders are a different breed. They graft though!
This thread is making me want to become a scaffolder
I’d not last an hour in that profession. When we had our house done they were openly discussing what c**t the boss was and what they’d do him if he got aggro. Scared the (middle class) life out of me.
openly discussing....
And that is precisely why I feel far less comfortable in middle-class company - I have to constantly mind my Ps and Qs and can't relax and just be myself, it's like being in a social straightjacket.
that profession
LOL It's a trade not a profession 🙂
Actually to go back to the op. Some people just like to be loud. One of the pipe fitters I worked with some years ago, everytime he put a set of stilsons down, he'd make a point of letting go a couple of cm above the floor.
Same with the pipe and gas bottles we were shifting.
I swear it was extra effort to make the extra noise.
why I feel far less comfortable in middle-class company
You can adapt, I did.
Over month they have been storing scaffold at my place….
I'm afraid the only way is to call them up and pretend to be someone from the next street over, saying you want some scaffold up.
It'll be annoying for your unfortunate victim, but that's just how it works these days
Just to counter , I passed a scaffolding flatbed recently on the tail board the usual yellow and white warning chevrons but the sign said " Person's at work " non binary shizz seems to be infiltrating the unlikeliest places these days 🤔
LOL It’s a trade not a profession 🙂
No it isn’t, doesn’t take 4 years to become a scaffolder. I’m not telling any of them that mind.
In Building Site Deathmatch the real ones to avoid were the hod-carriers
Did a stint of it many years ago when hundredweight bags of cement were still a thing. Keeping a muscular physique without ever entering a gym was easy and I could eat and drink whatever I liked without gaining weight! A bit of friendly competition with over-stacked hods was a thing. Having the sand delivered right next to the end of the scaffold run meant you could jump off the end of the lift to get down faster! A full plasterers hod was quite an unwieldly beast for the uninitiated.
I can confirm a night on the lash with scaffold contractors is indeed a heavy night.
Having said that the hardest graft I can remember was humping double thickness solid (yeah not the hollow lightweight ones) concrete blocks by hand, ****ing ball busters! Followed by handballing oak railway sleepers on my shoulder all day, the wets ones were slippy as **** and weighed more! Barrowing concrete for big flooring jobs where there was no concrete pump was hard graft as it has to be fluted in sharpish.
Was always amazed by the little Irish guys who seemed to be on every site. Could drink like fish, a few at lunch, straight on it after work, nearly every night, back in work bang at it never late or off. Some of them even had wives, god knows how when they were in the pub six nights out of seven!
if you snuck on the site and plugged their tubes with expanding foam that would quieten them down a bit.
Would sausages work?
@scaffpolice on Instagram is a trove of scaffolders' japes.
Some of them even had wives, god knows how when they were in the pub six nights out of seven!
Have you never seen an Irish wife go fetch her man from the pub? Tis a sight to behold, the torrent of verbal abuse and slaps the alcohol docile and compliant man twice her size receives 😃
Roofers are worse. Absolute animals😂
We've been in a new build for a couple of years and we've watched the houses around us be built and I've been rating the different trades as they've come and gone.
The roofers were by far the worst, closely followed by the roughcasters.
Liam williams (Welsh full back/wing) was a scaffolder pre pro rugby - lean, wiry, strong as ****
Liam williams (Welsh full back/wing) was a scaffolder pre pro rugby – lean, wiry, strong as ****
Also a complete nutter - hence his nickname "loopy Liam" or just "loopy"
Have you never seen an Irish wife go fetch her man from the pub? Tis a sight to behold, the torrent of verbal abuse and slaps the alcohol docile and compliant man twice her size receives
Is the 1950's we're talking about as very few Irish still work on the buildings now? Very few I know. We're one of the best educated in Europe so unless the wife is fetching her husband from an IT department I'm not sure this happens today.
I'd imagine that might be the same long ago on the ship building in Glasgow and Newcastle.
There were still plenty of Irish working on London building sites in the 1980s
Noise cancelling headphones. Might work but perhaps better for drone sounds than transients.
What music can I put on my Bluetooth speaker to override their crappy Capital Radio box and inane lad lad lad bantz?
Pretty much any Black Metal, or for a bit more sophistication, Ghost, Tool, maybe some Public Enemy, or NWA, Oceans of Slumber, The Hu, Hanabie, Wardruna, Dead Sara.
And remember, everything louder than everything else!
My experience also relates to minimal f++ks given to their H&S.
Yeah, well, anything that involves working higher than a metre off the ground can do one!
s the 1950’s we’re talking about as very few Irish still work on the buildings now?
Not the fifties. Still a few stragglers knocking about into the nineties! There was only ever a couple/few on a site the odd site agent/reformed alcoholic!
The systematic dismantling of collective bargaining, the rise of management contractors/corporatisation saw a mass exodus of experienced workers to greener pastures. The cost of training had already been transferred onto the individual, with employers bearing none of the costs. The labour shortages were reported by the UK press as lazy, apathetic youth who didn't want do the hard work and would rather collect benefits. How times have changed!
There were still plenty of Irish working on London building sites in the 1980s
In the noughties there were still loads of Irish and Irish descent chaps patching and laying roads in the London area. They were always one of the better groups to visit doing H&S consulting.
My son-in-law is a project manager for some big prestige London office re-furbs. Any trade other than Scaffolders and Roofers gets sent off site if not wearing PPE and conforming to H&S. Strangely, nobody seems to notice those two.
To be fair , I don’t think I’ve ever seen a scaff not wearing a hi viz on site.
As for roofers , they are in a league of their own 😂
One of my sons worked with a local roofing company for a year before uni. He's quite a big lad and funny company, which is why I think they kept him on as he doesn't like heights, and would crawl round the rooves (I do like heights. Fixed a dormer this spring climbing out the window made safeish by old climbing gear).
He started as a vegan, ended the year at least a stone heavier and very familiar with the Weatherspoons breakfast menu and with a lot of funny stories.
s the 1950’s we’re talking about as very few Irish still work on the buildings now?
I shared a house with a bunch of Dubliners in the late 80s, early 90s. Somebody behind a bar in Surrey made a comment about not expecting trouble when we all walked in and got the reply that every one of them was a doctor or middle management, what sort of trouble were they expecting 😀
, what sort of trouble were they expecting 😀
the worst sort. Taking the piss out of the wine list, complaints about being Chablis treated. Shudder.
How do you get rid scaffold when job is complete ?
Over month they have been storing scaffold at my place….can’t communicate with them.
Job paid for as well
There's your problem, never pay in full until they've taken it down.
As for roofers , they are in a league of their own
Rules for roofers as I learned were:
i. Working on the roof no need for helmet
ii. Trainers can be worn on the roof but not if using the disc cutter
iii. Crossing the site, helmet, hi-vis and boots will be worn.
Failure to follow this last rule and you wear it everywhere or go home.
Worked very well and was introduced elsewhere during my days as a peripatetic H&S advisor.
The scaffolders in Singapore dry docks are primarily Indian doing 6.5 days a week, 18 to a dorm, 6m -2yr stints. Their H&S was fine, the scaffolding was always exactly in the way of the job, and every other job in the vicinity but I didn't hear a peep out of them most of the time.
The riggers*, welders and hydraulic trades elf and safety on the other hand had drowned the elf.
*Climbing on a 4t piece of machinery suspended from a crane 20m above the dry dock floor with no harness to hook up a chain block made my toes curl.