Stair treads again

[JIMMIEM]

I am, the food is good.
Treads are all fit. I brought em home to get the stain put on Friday night. I wanted the stain to be plenty dry so I could start coating them with the water based finish Monday.
I will make the end cuts and minor adjustments on the risers one at a time as I proceed.

Good is an understatement.....the food looks great....not many places give you a grilled hamburger bun these days.
OK, time to level with us....are you the homeowner?

 

[Floorist]

Good is an understatement.....the food looks great....not many places give you a grilled hamburger bun these days.
OK, time to level with us....are you the homeowner?

I've known him for years. He's not the homeowner. But customers have always fed him.

 

[JIMMIEM]

I've known him for years. He's not the homeowner. But customers have always fed him.

Sounds like a guy that has been doing home repair work for the homeowners in the development where I live. He's been working here continually for years. Homeowners feed him, invite him to parties, pick him up and drive him home when necessary. I mentioned this to him and he told me that he sends Christmas cards to the contractor who built most of the houses here...his way of thanking the contractor for providing a place to work.

 

[DarisMulkin]

In the 60's I worked in Minnesota in the farming area. It was just a given you would be fed when working in someone's home. Let me tell you those farmers eat very good. So did we. One lady fixed 27 pork chops for her and the 2 of us plus all the trimmings. She said "you don't get up from the table until all that is gone." Of coarse we couldn't eat it all but we tried.

Daris

 

[Floorist]

Highup works for some of the same customers that his grandfather worked for.

 

[highup]

Good is an understatement.....the food looks great....not many places give you a grilled hamburger bun these days.
OK, time to level with us....are you the homeowner?

It's where I live and how long I've lived here. I've lived in the same place my entire life. I'm approaching 57 and born in 57................... wow, I guess the next one is a special one.
I have been blessed with some fantastic customers over the years.......... they aren't customers when I get done with em. They become friends for life, even if we only see each other at the grocery store. I have been asked to stay for dinner, or have had customers fix me lunch more times than I can begin to count. I'm 6'3 and 215, so it's not because they feel like I'm starving myself. I like making sure my jobs get 110% attention to detail and my customers appreciate that.
I don't do much commercial work because it's mentally unrewarding unless you enjoy counting your square yards per hour accomplishments and like reminiscing over your top ten biggest jobs and wear the memories like a badge. Commercial money can be pretty good, but I am a detail guy, and that's a total waste for commercial work.

Here's how my today went. Yesterdays repair job was more than I could get done, so I rescheduled so I can get better prepared for what I saw the job needed.

Next I went to look at a carpet repair and it looked like a waste of time......... you know, patching in a 4' by 14' piece of 12 year old carpet leftovers to fix some bad stains in a bedroom. ( New homeowner wanted to move in)
I tried to persuade my new 'potential' customer that there might be shading and wear issues where the repair was done. I was concerned about the placement of the repair seam locations and how bad the worn and faded areas might look like. She wanted em fixed anyway.

Today, I came over and "gotter did" it was more labor intensive than I estimated to them but I held to my estimate anyway. They were gone when I did the repair.
This repair location was 3 houses down from another old time client (friend) of mine. We hug every time we bump into each other down town................ don't get any ideas, shes 91.
Anyhow, I have re carpeted her home 2 times in 30 years and done a few other smaller things.
Her husband passed way about 6 months ago. He was an engineer. Even tho this is "just" a customer, I felt I should have made it to his funeral. I know she would have appreciated that. I was just too busy and it didn't fit in to my time line. I was feeling bad that I didn't even send her a card............ hey it's a just a 'customer', right?

OK, so I am doing this carpet repair, and I'm 3 houses down from her, so as I finished up, I call her and say "this is Randy, your carpet guy. What are you up to?" (It's 4:30pm)
She said come on up. Her son was there, and he's close to my age.
We had almost a 2 hr long chat, and I got the same "Beer or Seagram's" greeting when I got to the door as I did when I worked at their place. When I did work for them, 5 O'clock always meant time to stop work, and have a beer with nuts and pretzels as we watched the news.
Anyway, it was a great visit with her. She was looking more frail than her usual strong and domineering self.
(They owned a local metal fabrication business)
Her memory is obviously slipping since our last visit. I think the loss of her husband has had quite an impact on her.
Anyhow, the visit was great, and I left felling good, and I could tell that she was glad that I stopped by. So today ended up on a good note.

I got 5 or 6 blocks away and my phone rang. I pulled over to answer. That carpet repair I just finished 2 hours ago? ...............the customer had stopped by and did an inspection. She called me a bunch of names.
...like artist, miracle worker and used words like invisible, unbelievable.
Doncha just hate it when customers yell at ya?
So today, I didn't get no dinner, but a beer and some cashews were close enough.

 

[highup]

Highup works for some of the same customers that his grandfather worked for.

Less and less of em these days, Rusty......... they are getting older and disappearing too.
On a bright note tho, they have kids.

 

[highup]

In the 60's I worked in Minnesota in the farming area. It was just a given you would be fed when working in someone's home. Let me tell you those farmers eat very good. So did we. One lady fixed 27 pork chops for her and the 2 of us plus all the trimmings. She said "you don't get up from the table until all that is gone." Of coarse we couldn't eat it all but we tried.

Daris

WalMart doesn't ever do that with their employee's do they?

 

[JIMMIEM]

WalMart doesn't ever do that with their employee's do they?

Yes they do....for the executives.

Sounds like you have a very nice career and are the exception to the rule and perception of contractors in general. Could sure use a guy like you around here. Your work ethic and attention to detail are a rare commodity these days.

 

[JIMMIEM]

It's where I live and how long I've lived here. I've lived in the same place my entire life. I'm approaching 57 and born in 57................... wow, I guess the next one is a special one.
I have been blessed with some fantastic customers over the years.......... they aren't customers when I get done with em. They become friends for life, even if we only see each other at the grocery store. I have been asked to stay for dinner, or have had customers fix me lunch more times than I can begin to count. I'm 6'3 and 215, so it's not because they feel like I'm starving myself. I like making sure my jobs get 110% attention to detail and my customers appreciate that.
I don't do much commercial work because it's mentally unrewarding unless you enjoy counting your square yards per hour accomplishments and like reminiscing over your top ten biggest jobs and wear the memories like a badge. Commercial money can be pretty good, but I am a detail guy, and that's a total waste for commercial work.

Here's how my today went. Yesterdays repair job was more than I could get done, so I rescheduled so I can get better prepared for what I saw the job needed.

Next I went to look at a carpet repair and it looked like a waste of time......... you know, patching in a 4' by 14' piece of 12 year old carpet leftovers to fix some bad stains in a bedroom. ( New homeowner wanted to move in)
I tried to persuade my new 'potential' customer that there might be shading and wear issues where the repair was done. I was concerned about the placement of the repair seam locations and how bad the worn and faded areas might look like. She wanted em fixed anyway.

Today, I came over and "gotter did" it was more labor intensive than I estimated to them but I held to my estimate anyway. They were gone when I did the repair.
This repair location was 3 houses down from another old time client (friend) of mine. We hug every time we bump into each other down town................ don't get any ideas, shes 91.
Anyhow, I have re carpeted her home 2 times in 30 years and done a few other smaller things.
Her husband passed way about 6 months ago. He was an engineer. Even tho this is "just" a customer, I felt I should have made it to his funeral. I know she would have appreciated that. I was just too busy and it didn't fit in to my time line. I was feeling bad that I didn't even send her a card............ hey it's a just a 'customer', right?

OK, so I am doing this carpet repair, and I'm 3 houses down from her, so as I finished up, I call her and say "this is Randy, your carpet guy. What are you up to?" (It's 4:30pm)
She said come on up. Her son was there, and he's close to my age.
We had almost a 2 hr long chat, and I got the same "Beer or Seagram's" greeting when I got to the door as I did when I worked at their place. When I did work for them, 5 O'clock always meant time to stop work, and have a beer with nuts and pretzels as we watched the news.
Anyway, it was a great visit with her. She was looking more frail than her usual strong and domineering self.
(They owned a local metal fabrication business)
Her memory is obviously slipping since our last visit. I think the loss of her husband has had quite an impact on her.
Anyhow, the visit was great, and I left felling good, and I could tell that she was glad that I stopped by. So today ended up on a good note.

I got 5 or 6 blocks away and my phone rang. I pulled over to answer. That carpet repair I just finished 2 hours ago? ...............the customer had stopped by and did an inspection. She called me a bunch of names.
...like artist, miracle worker and used words like invisible, unbelievable.
Doncha just hate it when customers yell at ya?
So today, I didn't get no dinner, but a beer and some cashews were close enough.

Do I have this right? 6'3" = highup. I often wonder how people come up with their user name. For a while I was thinking that you were from a mountainous part of the country then when you mentioned your height the light came on and I had an AHA moment....or am I totally wrong?

 

[Ernesto]

Uh hummmm, hate to interupt but are we finished the stair treads yet?

I'd like to see if I can count the ply's on the edge.

 

[Floorist]

Uh hummmm, hate to interupt but are we finished the stair treads yet?

I'd like to see if I can count the ply's on the edge.

Only one more year. Hey a guy has got to eat.

 

[highup]

Do I have this right? 6'3" = highup. I often wonder how people come up with their user name. For a while I was thinking that you were from a mountainous part of the country then when you mentioned your height the light came on and I had an AHA moment....or am I totally wrong?

I don't think of myself as tall.
............I do however notice that other people are shorter than me. Naw, highup became my name here because Lowdown was my name on another site. I wanted to reside here in disguise. Lowdown originated because I have a lowered Chevy pickup. I just did a reversal of that other name as my name on this forum. Nothing to do with my height.

 

[highup]

Uh hummmm, hate to interupt but are we finished the stair treads yet?

I'd like to see if I can count the ply's on the edge.

Nope, I'm putting coats 3 and 4 on the material tomorrow. I'll start slappin' em in Wednesday if the homeowner doesn't point me in a different direction.

 

[Ernesto]

I just bid a solid prefinished, dark stained stranded bamboo stair tread job. They bought them from LL after the home owner tried to pin nail the flooring and nosing to the stairs with no glue, plus he used pieces of overlap nosings. His daughter almost killed herself falling down them when one nosing let loose.

But these POS are not routed out so they hang over the riser. sigh. Gonna have to make some sharp cuts on those risers which are the flooring. Geez, hope they like $125 bucks a piece.

Oh, the bottom one has 45' degree angles on the edges. grrrr

 

[Nick]

I have a foyer , Steps, hall, and a large room to do . The wood is 5" from lowes .
I pinned it last week and couldn't even get a reading . the lady want's it in now . Forget about trying to explain acclamation to her .

 

[Ernesto]

Nick, storage and shipment of wood ie; proper packaging to contain MC is a big issue down here I'm dealing with on installs and inspections.

 

[Nick]

I have no problem with a known manufacture, But this crap came from Lowes .
Doing it for a contractor who bought it . Seams like the only wood i get below 6% is maple . I have to go there tomorrow and take readings , and explain why i can't install it yet . If they give me a hard time I'm just going to tell them to go on craigslist a get a trunk slammer and call me for the Inspection.

 

[Ernesto]

I have no problem with a known manufacture, But this crap came from Lowes .
Doing it for a contractor who bought it . Seams like the only wood i get below 6% is maple . I have to go there tomorrow and take readings , and explain why i can't install it yet . If they give me a hard time I'm just going to tell them to go on craigslist a get a trunk slammer and call me for the Inspection.

Being a CL'ister I resent that, err I resemble that description. Lol

 

[Nick]