It's official, I've turned into a wuss

JeffreyCH

What a f***in day. One of my roofers got tossed in jail last night. So I figured since I didn't really have any notice to find another guy to replace him I would just go tear off myself. After all it was only 10 square no biggie, holy shiz was I wrong. Confused

Here I thought I was in pretty good shape, ummmm nope, guess not Very Happy

I can barely type, I hurt from head to toe. This morning my roofing foreman was like WTF??? YOUR going to tear off, I was like hell yeah I used to do it all the time......well F*** that, never ever again, I'm going back to being the guy that rides around in the truck and screws off all day. Laughing

Oh well, my foreman and the other laborer sure thought it was funny.

Dragonlady8 · Black Widow Joined: 27 Aug 2004 Posts: 9198

I think it's a fantastic you got your ass kicked. Management bean counters should get their arses into the worker bee level work every 3-6mos so that they really know what's going on in the real world. Wink

JeffreyCH · Posted: Mar 24, 2009 3:51 pm Post subject:

To true to true

I usually end up "filling in" 5-6 times during the season, but for the most part it's on the siding, or painting crews Cool

my roofing crew is awesome, well....except when one of go to jail Confused

itch · Posted: Mar 24, 2009 4:18 pm Post subject:

<------ clapping at the fact you gave it a go.

Laughing at your pain !!!!!!!!!!
I see your from Lincoln what do you hear about Duncan Aviation, I work for them here in Battle Creek it would good to hear any scuttle not from the HR dept.
ITCH

JeffreyCH · Posted: Mar 24, 2009 6:30 pm Post subject:

itch, One of my best friends works at Duncan as a cabinet maker, his hours have been cut, and he really avoids the subject of work. I'll hit him up for what he hears.

As for the pain, meh....nothing a hot shower and a couple beers didn't fix. It hasn't been that long out of the trenches for me, I started this company with an old truck and a hand full of tools. I still do all interior and custom work myself, but roofing...nah....I think I'm gonna give them guys a raise Cool

Aubs · Motorboat Queen Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 9167

If you're in pain today, then tomorrow and the day after are going to be even worse!

I remember when we had to re-do the roof on my parents house. In August. Was quite the experience.

wakeboarderdave1 · Posted: Mar 24, 2009 7:34 pm Post subject:

My neighbor and I roofed my dads house a few summers ago. I don't remember how large it was, but it took about 2.5 days to tear off and then put new shingles down. I thought tearing off was the easy part. It was my first time doing anything like it and I will never be doing it again. Also factor in that I didn't wear a shirt and I got fried crisp.

JeffreyCH · Posted: Mar 24, 2009 7:42 pm Post subject:

HAHA yeah tomorrow is gonna suck, i had a ton of crap to do today....now I have two tons of crap to do tomorrow. The good news is my guys outa jail.....so yay I don't have to clean that frickin mess up Razz

TnR6Rida · Posted: Mar 24, 2009 8:19 pm Post subject:

wakeboarderdave1, Its a lot easier if its hot.

wakeboarderdave1 · Posted: Mar 24, 2009 8:51 pm Post subject:

Tyler T · Posted: Mar 24, 2009 8:52 pm Post subject:

I was an apprentice roofer throughout college for a commercial contractor. Not that I needed it, but that experience was the single best motivator to finish my degree.

kdip · Posted: Mar 24, 2009 9:45 pm Post subject:

We did my house a couple summers ago. Got heat stroke and I was out of commission for a while

J_DOGG · Posted: Mar 25, 2009 3:37 am Post subject:

I wish my boss would sit at my desk for a day - good job mate!

Lop · Posted: Mar 25, 2009 4:28 am Post subject:

Dragonlady8, Hey! I clawed my way up to middle mamangement for a reason, lol

Commodore · Ladies Man Joined: 20 Jun 2005 Posts: 11636

JeffreyCH, I feel ya man. I'm management now, but still make a point of getting down to my staff's level to show them I know what I'm talking about, and am just as capable as they are. It also helps them to know that I understand.

And this quells the comments, "without me he'll be SOL". Wrong, I can cover while I find plenty of people willing to work. Mr. Green

nmballa

pet575 · Posted: Mar 25, 2009 8:38 am Post subject:

I spent 2 summers doing roofing work during college/law school. No better motivator when school seemed like a PITA. A tear-off on a hot day is one of the hardest things I've done. Was hard in cold weather, too, though because the shingles would break up instead of staying together and peeling off like they do when it is hot out. I was in GREAT shape by the end of each summer.

ontrider · Ladies Man Joined: 30 Jul 2003 Posts: 16491 City: Russia

This is all great reading considering I have to re-do a large roof this summer. Neutral

Hollywood · Posted: Mar 25, 2009 8:45 am Post subject:

We had our roor redone last month, when I left in the morning there was still 2" of snow on it. Confused

Sinkoumn · Posted: Mar 25, 2009 8:47 am Post subject:

Ahah, to think people used to do that without air powered nail guns Confused

Commodore · Ladies Man Joined: 20 Jun 2005 Posts: 11636

boardordie · Posted: Mar 25, 2009 9:36 am Post subject:

Lop · Posted: Mar 25, 2009 10:05 am Post subject:

yeah, we did my grandpa's roof 2 years ago, decent size house. It really is not that big of a deal unless you go all out like you do it daily

ontrider · Ladies Man Joined: 30 Jul 2003 Posts: 16491 City: Russia

boardordie, thanks. I'll have to check that out for sure, should save some time. The roof is in sections and I did 1/3 of it last summer, kind of a repair job and the materials were like 300 bucks. Got a quote from a local contractor to redo the whole roof and they wanted $14,000 Rolling Eyes

So yeah... I"m gonna do it myself.

JeffR · Addict Joined: 07 Apr 2006 Posts: 608 City: Victoria, BC

ontrider, get a requote, I can guarantee you they will have gone way down in price compared to last summer, when the construction industry was at its peak

ontrider · Ladies Man Joined: 30 Jul 2003 Posts: 16491 City: Russia

JeffR, this was recently. One for 14K one for 10.5K

I'm doing it myself anyway, cause I'm not a big Taco Bell Chalupa like JeffreyCH. Laughing

Dragonlady8 · Black Widow Joined: 27 Aug 2004 Posts: 9198

Just remember to put up trampolines or safety net around the perimeter of your house so you have something to save you from falling Laughing

JeffR · Addict Joined: 07 Apr 2006 Posts: 608 City: Victoria, BC

Dragonlady8, too late Laughing

Tyler T · Posted: Mar 25, 2009 7:28 pm Post subject:

ontrider,

Just hireJeffreyCH. Where the hell do you live and how big is your roof? Contractors around here are crazy hungry for work.

JeffreyCH · Posted: Mar 26, 2009 3:17 am Post subject:

Whoa yeah this morning was ruff, I was pretty slow gettin outta the rack at 7am, felt like I'd been beat all over with hammers Laughing

the good news is I signed 14k in contracts for the first week in June, hauled materials for tomorrows gig, and got the insurance company to approve my back bill, all before noon. Cool

So YAY all crews are busy going into summer. I even helped clean up this afternoon. no better cure for a sore bod then workin that shiz out.

For those of you that have been through this, I agree it is a great motivator. It makes what I normally do seem so much easier. However working with the guys, and not being afraid to do the hard stuff gains me a lot of respect from my employee's. I guess it's one of the reasons that I'm considered one of the better contractors to work for, that and I pay better then most of my competition.

Ontrider, as for doing it yourself, as a professional I would advise against it. Not so much in the tear off, but putting the shingles back on. It can be tricky, especially if the roof is cut up, or going around chimney's, vent pipes, ect. When Haugy said pace yourself, that is really the key, and a few other things, water, lot's of it, start very early in the morning, don't tear off more then you can paper before the end of the day, leaving an open roof overnight is bad poopy. I would suggest getting more bids, I tell my potential customers to get at least 3, and in your case where there is a 4k difference, I'd get a couple more.

A few things to look at when getting a roof bid, make sure the contract states how many square the roof is (a square is 10'x10') if you can, measure it yourself before getting bids. The steeper a roof is, the more it cost's to get it done due to added time for safety rigging, more layers to tear off also cost's more. The average around here for a single layer 4/12 pitch is 250 a square, an average house is around 20 square, so for that it would be 5k.

If ya need any technical advice after you get into it, hit me up, I'd be happy to help any way I can.

ontrider · Ladies Man Joined: 30 Jul 2003 Posts: 16491 City: Russia

Tyler T, I don't know... it's not that big, it's a rental house and it's probably average size. It's probably because it's in cottage country near the lake, they spot suckers from the city and just figure they'll pay whatever they ask for, and a lot of people do.

JeffreyCH, thanks for the offer, I may have questions down the lin. And yes, I will definitely be starting EARLY in the morning. Did that last time and it was still ridiculously hot even by 9:00am

pet575 · Posted: Mar 26, 2009 7:47 am Post subject:

Holy chit, they have machines to tear off? We always used a couple of pitchforks and flat snow shovels. I would've KILLED to have a machine. Evil or Very Mad

JeffreyCH · Posted: Mar 26, 2009 8:03 am Post subject:

Tyler T · Posted: Mar 26, 2009 6:07 pm Post subject:

ontrider, are the contractors having to travel a long distance to get to your house? Even so, that still seems unreasonable.

ontrider · Ladies Man Joined: 30 Jul 2003 Posts: 16491 City: Russia

Tyler T, yeah, probably like 20 minutes. Rolling Eyes

This is a cheap house, but the area around it is pretty expensive, our neighbours are all like 1 Mil+ houses on the lake, so basically the contractors come along and see dollar signs all over these people and a lot will pay because they don't know any better, they don't care or who knows why.