Thinking of turning DIY into income?
manat...@hotmail.com
First there were Polish plumbers and nannies, now Britain should
prepare for an influx of Polish painters and decorators.
B&Q, the largest do-it-yourself chain, said yesterday that it was
considering recruiting "thousands and thousands" of painters and
decorators from Poland.
The move is part of its push into offering services, rather than simply
selling tools and materials, as it battles to stem falling profits at
its retail business.
The company already offers to install kitchens and bathrooms. However,
in the past few weeks it has started testing a decorating and painting
service.
Ian Cheshire, the chief executive of B&Q, said he would eventually like
to offer the service across all its 322 stores. One of the biggest
stumbling blocks to rolling out the service nationally is a lack of
available workers.
MBQ
The3rd Earl Of Derby
They still have to pay them the going rate.
Why all Polish though?
--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite
Tim S
>
> They still have to pay them the going rate.
> Why all Polish though?
From my experience of Poles, possibly because they are quite "compatible"
with the English in temperament. The ones I've come across are quiet, civil,
intelligent and get on with the job. Excellent attributes if you want a
workforce to send round to Granny Smith's to do a paint job.
And I dare say you could offer less than the going rate in the UK in
exchange for a long term guaranteed contract - a little of our money goes a
long way in Poland and some of the Eastern European folks come here with
specific objectives, eg: earn enough money to buy a new house/flat back
home, or put son/daughter through University.
These people aren't daft and doubtless they are worried about being fleeced
by gangmasters, so it would be attractive to work directly for a big
established company.
Just my opinion.
Tim
Weatherlawyer
The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
>
> Why all Polish though?
>
term Polish refers to the less savoury eastern European citizenry. It's
a clearing station.
Who wants Russians or Serbians or for that matter any of them? It's a
silly idea and I wouldn't pay too much attention to that sort of thing.
Everyone knows that once they get in they are free to work for
whomsover they wish to under the same rules. And there is no way you
can check a qualification like kitchen fitting.
If a team of foreigners could be assembled how many of them would be
fluent enough Englsh speakers to be team leaders and fitter
supervisors?
It's one thing to offer semi skilled as and when to foreigners to fill
ranks in sevices such as bus driving. It's quite another to send a team
out to something that could be a potentially difficult job such as the
above.
A number of trades might need to be covered in a kitchen and everyone
is going to be different.. I am not saying they couldn't do it. My
experience of foreigners is that they are as competent as any.
Or is It just the scale or the hooplah the Telegraph has got hold of?
Alex
> So people will vote to stop them unless the governmevt steps in. The
> term Polish refers to the less savoury eastern European citizenry. It's
> a clearing station.
They can't stop them as Poland is within the EU, thus Polish citizens
can enter and work in the UK as they like.
Alex.
The Natural Philosopher
> The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
>> They still have to pay them the going rate.
>> Why all Polish though?
>>
> So people will vote to stop them unless the governmevt steps in. The
> term Polish refers to the less savoury eastern European citizenry. It's
> a clearing station.
>
> Who wants Russians or Serbians or for that matter any of them?
I do.
Make a change from irritable grumps like you.
> It's a
> silly idea and I wouldn't pay too much attention to that sort of thing.
>
> Everyone knows that once they get in they are free to work for
> whomsover they wish to under the same rules. And there is no way you
> can check a qualification like kitchen fitting.
>
> If a team of foreigners could be assembled how many of them would be
> fluent enough Englsh speakers to be team leaders and fitter
> supervisors?
Judging by the ones I have seen, about 95%.
>
> It's one thing to offer semi skilled as and when to foreigners to fill
> ranks in sevices such as bus driving. It's quite another to send a team
> out to something that could be a potentially difficult job such as the
> above.
>
Oh you little englander!
The Natural Philosopher
likes too.
Andy Hall
wrote:
There's some nice EU handouts for projects in Warsaw at the moment, so
that shouldn't be an issue. Jobs for anybody from road diggers to
management consulting firm parasites.
Still.... as long as it's not to build another Palace of Culture &
Science, people should be reasonably happy - they can go to Tesco, M&S
and even Carrefour for their sustenance.
--
.andy
Guy King
from "Weatherlawyer" <Weathe...@gmail.com> contains these words:
> So people will vote to stop them unless the governmevt steps in. The
> term Polish refers to the less savoury eastern European citizenry. It's
> a clearing station.
All the Poles I've met (and when I lived in West London it was hard not
to) have been hard working pleasant stable people. On the whole a good
influence on British culture.
--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
The Natural Philosopher
> On Wed, 22 Mar 2006 12:30:29 +0000, The Natural Philosopher <a@b.c>
> wrote:
>
>> Alex wrote:
>>> Weatherlawyer wrote:
>>>> So people will vote to stop them unless the governmevt steps in. The
>>>> term Polish refers to the less savoury eastern European citizenry. It's
>>>> a clearing station.
>>> They can't stop them as Poland is within the EU, thus Polish citizens
>>> can enter and work in the UK as they like.
>>>
>>> Alex.
>> And weatherlawyer can fuck off to poland and sit on the dole there if he
>> likes too.
>
>
> There's some nice EU handouts for projects in Warsaw at the moment, so
> that shouldn't be an issue. Jobs for anybody from road diggers to
> management consulting firm parasites.
>
Owain
> If a team of foreigners could be assembled how many of them would be
> fluent enough Englsh speakers to be team leaders and fitter
> supervisors?
But if all the workers are Polish anyway, why would the supervisors need
English?
It's not to speak to the customers, because we all know that customers
and tradespeople speak a different language whereby a feature niche for
the washing machine gets translated into noggins and reducing tees.
And kitchen units etc come with pictorial instructions.
I recon anyone who wants a supervisory job in the construction industry
in Britain had better get themselves off to Polish, Romanian, etc,
evening classes pronto.
And where's Stefek these days?
Owain
Andy Hall
wrote:
To work for McKinsey? Oh, I would think so....
--
.andy
John Rumm
> And where's Stefek these days?
Yup, was just thinking that! One of the most literate and entertaining
writers on the group, sadly missed!
--
Cheers,
John.
/=================================================================\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
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| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\=================================================================/
Andy Hall
<see.my.s...@nowhere.null> wrote:
>Owain wrote:
>
>> And where's Stefek these days?
>
>Yup, was just thinking that! One of the most literate and entertaining
>writers on the group, sadly missed!
I'll drop him an email sometime....
--
.andy
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Weatherlawyer
The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>
> Is he that qualified?
>
I'm qualified enough to tell you that the wall to which you wanted to
fix a baton but had no idea how to, would more than likely be uneven.
But that would not have been discovered till I got on site to do the
job and found out you were an idiot.
I'd love to overhear a discussion on the subject with you and a Serbian
gangster masquerading as a Polish joiner sorting that one out you
unedifying specimen of useless accoustic resilience.
Mark
The Natural Philosopher <a@b.c> wrote in message
news:11430305...@echo.uk.clara.net...
My brother employs a Polish carpenter and a plasterer both are excellent
craftsmen and if I had to have a neighbour, I would much prefer either of
them to a whinging twat like Y.K.Who.
-- -
/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQEAYABgAAD/2wBDAAUDBAQEAwUEBAQFBQUGBwwIBwcHBw8LCwkMEQ8SEhEP
ERETFhwXExQaFRERGCEYGh0dHx8fExciJCIeJBweHx7/
Derek ^
A business contact in Sweden just had his house internally
redecorated by a Polish gang.
They sent 2 decorators who worked 12 hour days, that's like having a
single decorator working 24 hrs/day. So the job was over and done with
3x faster than with a local Swedish decorator, and the bill was 60%
less. The quality was equal and the minor snags were fixed immediately
they were pointed out.
DG
mogga
But think of the economy...
--
Get money off vouchers for everything
http://www.moneyoffvouchers.co.uk
daddy...@gmail.com
Tim S wrote:
> The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
>
> >
> > They still have to pay them the going rate.
> > Why all Polish though?
>
> From my experience of Poles, possibly because they are quite "compatible"
> with the English in temperament. The ones I've come across are quiet, civil,
> intelligent and get on with the job. Excellent attributes if you want a
> workforce to send round to Granny Smith's to do a paint job.
And presumably workers from other countries come round and p*ss in your
sink?
Hmm..not a real fan of generalisations but if you told our European
neighbours the English were quiet and civil, they'd laugh their heads
off.
As for getting on with the job, I see little evidence of that as well.
I'd say it's more about the mentality of an 'immigrant' worker, rather
than where they are from. I'm sure the English who worked in Germany
were far more conscientious than the guys back home.
Tim S
>
> Tim S wrote:
>> The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
>>
>> >
>> > They still have to pay them the going rate.
>> > Why all Polish though?
>>
>> From my experience of Poles, possibly because they are quite "compatible"
>> with the English in temperament. The ones I've come across are quiet,
>> civil, intelligent and get on with the job. Excellent attributes if you
>> want a workforce to send round to Granny Smith's to do a paint job.
>
>
> And presumably workers from other countries come round and p*ss in your
> sink?
Amazing deductive leap there.
>
> Hmm..not a real fan of generalisations but if you told our European
> neighbours the English were quiet and civil, they'd laugh their heads
> off.
> As for getting on with the job, I see little evidence of that as well.
I will admit that was badly worded - what I should have said is something
more like: their temperament is compatible with local expectations of a
"good tradesman".
> I'd say it's more about the mentality of an 'immigrant' worker, rather
> than where they are from. I'm sure the English who worked in Germany
> were far more conscientious than the guys back home.
That's quite possibly a contributing factor. But I think generalisations are
quite valid based on averages. When I travelled across the Baltics nearly
10 years ago, the difference in the typical temperament of Estonians,
Latvians and Lithuanians was marked. All perfectly friendly - but the
Estonians were definately a quieter bunch and the Lithuanians reminded me
of Italians in many ways.
And of course it is an avergage view - plenty of variance.
Tim
smar...@gmx.co.uk
"reverse" auction on ebay when you want decorating etc. done on your
house. The lowest i.e. winning bidders who do the work are invariably
Eastern Europeans who do an excelent job.
Derek ^
wrote:
>>They sent 2 decorators who worked 12 hour days, that's like having a
>>single decorator working 24 hrs/day. So the job was over and done with
>>3x faster than with a local Swedish decorator, and the bill was 60%
>>less. The quality was equal and the minor snags were fixed immediately
>>they were pointed out.
>>
>
>But think of the economy...
>
It's *Hard* to think of the economy when a native (UK) tradesman
wants Ł200/ day for *cash* (Leeds, not Hampstead Heath or Notting
hill) )to remove frosted glass panels from your Loo/Bedroom doors and
replace with plywood, as happened to us 4 weeks ago.
If I'd known I'd have gone to Poland and broight a joiner back with
me, it would still have been cheaper.
DG
The Natural Philosopher
> The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>> Is he that qualified?
>>
> I'm qualified enough to tell you that the wall to which you wanted to
> fix a baton
Batten. Unless you are a policeman.
> but had no idea how to, would more than likely be uneven.
Why would it be uneven?
> But that would not have been discovered till I got on site to do the
> job and found out you were an idiot.
Whereas its easy enough to tell that you are one without even moving
from my desk..
>
> I'd love to overhear a discussion on the subject with you and a Serbian
> gangster masquerading as a Polish joiner sorting that one out you
> unedifying specimen of useless accoustic resilience.
>
I think you missed a comma out.
You probably voted Nu Laber as well.
Tim S
> You probably voted Nu Laber as well.
Someone must have done, although no-one seems to want to
admit it!
Tim
Weatherlawyer
The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>
> Why would it be uneven?
>
intelligence. (Had you any, you'd realise the difficulty of that
enormity.)
*******
Someone give him a swipe around the lughole with a wet sock will you?
Chris Bacon
> I'm qualified enough to tell you that the wall to which you wanted to
> fix a baton but had no idea how to, would more than likely be uneven.
What about the baton, though? They're only about 12" long, so
it shouldn't matter.
Chris Bacon
But that is because our govt. lets them, not because the "EU" lets
them; most european countries do not allow general labour access.