nice one sassenach at last some straight talking with no cow poo.save some bricks for me,i cannot wait to get my hands on some.

marcus

I've just learnt something. Is it true that in WA they build with brick - double cavity - and not brick veneer?

Why? So the houses are not all crap after all?

by the way im a brummie too .But sure no problems ,we are doing commercial work now ,so the continuity of work is good . I am doing one in menora at the moment [500000]bricks ,and there is another starting the 27 sept in kingsley and that one has 1.2 million ,so there is heaps to lay .Most of the team is british so you will fit in well .Just remeber 86mm guage witha bed and mark it on you level and tape and your laughing .

anyone laying bricks in the mandura area? if so whats the crack similar to above ?cheers

Its amazing how often you are told that it is great work somewhere else and when you get there its not that good.

In England people appear to think that England is the worst place in the world.

So they move to another country and find out the truth that England is in fact one of the best places in the world. I loved my holidays in France and thought the life style was so much better than England so when I had the opportunity to work there for 2 years, it was like living in a communist country. The state is involved in everything, i found Germany the same.

Is it the same in Aus. ?

Where are you in Norfolk? Pm me.

Is it really that good in Perth at the moment? I'm north of Brisbane and scraping in just over a bag of sand a week. Ain't no mug on the trowel either. Started with a new bloke last week, he said "Are you up to Australian standards?" To which I started pissing meself, which sort of got us off on the wrong foot!!!! I lasted till 10.30am and then walked off, after so long of working for meself going back to working for people and being talked too like youv'e just picked up a trowel ain't easy!!
What happens if theres a slump in Perth? I've heard theres not that much else around Perth, so if it goes quiet then everyone suffers? I'm currently going through the extremely drawn out process of applying for my licence so I can work for myself. Anyone else done it and how long does it take?
Cheers

I used to get asked that quite a lot "are you up to Australian standards?"
I smile and tell them I wasn't when I got here but I'm slowly dragging myself down to them.

Lost count of the times I've had to bit my lip
I've found the aussie tradies are usually quite good at just one aspect of their profession but don't seem to have the allround ability of us foreigners.
For example: none of the guys on that last course I did knew what colours electrical flex conductors are (because they don't change plugs), can't begin to imagine what state they'd end up in if they had to do a central heating installation in the uk, with being expected to plaster, wire and plumb out and do the gasfitting etc.

if i was you i wouldnt waste your time anymore and get yourself over to the west ,and we dont have any of that licence bullshit like the rest of the states .Licensing only applys to plumbers ,sparkies ,and people who want to be builders .

After being here for 15 years i have found the west aussie bricklayer in general to be better than the average brit that comes here .They tend to be quicker ,neater ,and better at the their trade knowledge .
I am a brit myself but if a had a straight out choice between a team of aussies and a team of brits ,i would have a team of ausssies as they dont seem to drama queen it so much .

Yea, and they (Brits) don't last very long in the outback either.
I've seen it! There is often a pool to see how long they last.
Aussies always are going to take the piss. They don't take as many breaks, etc.
Different country, different rules.

I worked for the same company as Sean in the U.K I was the plumbing department secretary later job coordinator. I've found that there's a huge difference here in what individual trades are skilled at. In the U.K I could send a plumber out to a job to change a boiler and he could do the complete change. Here the plumber needs every trade to help him fit a simple hot water system. A chippie a sparkie and a plasterer all need to help doing their own individual little bit.
One thing that I've found so amusing is the amount of blokes it takes to put a tiled roof on here. In the U.K I would send 2 roofers and a labourer they would do the complete job in a couple of days, here a bloke comes out to do the sarking and the lats he goes away and another bloke comes out with a labourer to fix the valley's then another bloke and a labourer arrive to tile the roof, they only do the straight bits as another bloke comes on his own to do the cuts up the valley's lastly yet another bloke comes out and beds all of the ridge and hip tiles. Each one won't do anything that should have been done by the previous bloke or would be done by the next.
No doubt each one is highly skilled at his own little piece but if the surf's good and the sarking bloke goes surfing the rest of his mates have to stay home or go surfing with him.
The plasterboard guys are the same, one gang does the hanging another does the setting and a third do the cornicing. That's probably why houses take so long to build as trades tend to specialise so much more here if one cog breaks the rest stop working until a replacement is found. I don't see much of a difference in actual standards, brickies here are just as messy as the U.K only here they seem to acid wash the walls at the end of a job to make it look neater, that didn't happen a lot in the U.K usually only if a wall was caught in a downpour I'd have to send a bloke out to wash it.
One thing that is unilateral is the tradies love of winding each other up, workplace banter is just the same here as the U.K. & practical jokes abound.

I think the average brit is reasonable at his trade and can diversify ,but because of the rules and regs here in regards to cross trading ,guys tend to stick to their particular skill .
In regards to the mess ,it is especially bad at the moment because there is so much work around ,some of the guys working on my site ,WILL NOT be working when things tighten up ,there is slapdash work going on at the moment and at times its hard to keep on top of it ,but at the moment us subbies are just putting up with the shite ,but once it tighten they are all for the dole queue.
When i came ove in 1991 the standard of brickwork here was very good and the teams i was working with where very quick and tidy .I personally want it to quieten down a bit so i can get decent tradies .

hi there what type of qualifation do you need for building would nvq level 2,3 and nvq in capentry and joinery gets us a visa to work?????