Martin the Builder (or Marty to you and me)

30 November 1999

OK, I’m not going to beat around the bush – I don’t exactly agree with this whole “blog” thing. In my humble opinion, it is usually just a chance for someone to have a rant about nothing in particular, and who really cares what some individual from the middle of London is doing with their lives? So why this then? Well, my lovely wife in all her wisdom is pretty much forcing me to write down my thoughts. She says it is cathartic – I don’t even know what that means. She is fed up with me bending her ear with everything I want, no need to say each day and she reckons a blog is the way to go.

The problem is that I work alone (get out the violins!) as a builder. Some people will describe me as a handyman or a jack of all trades, but I find that demeaning. It implies that I do everything half-arsed. Not so. I do everything to a standard which keeps me employed and these days that means you really have to know your stuff. Word of mouth is my employer.

Anyway – I work alone and this means that mostly I don’t have anyone to talk to for most of my day. So this little blog will be my way of offloading. I am also guessing that other builders out there are feeling the same as me about certain issues and stresses, which only we can appreciate.

Money is probably the biggest problem for most of us. Getting paid, waiting for cheques to clear, slow bank transfers – all this sort of stuff does my head in. The client says the money has left their account 2 days ago and it is hanging about in some halfway house making interest for someone. But not for me!! Meanwhile I have to buy materials and pay the mortgage and the wife is breathing down my neck for the kids shoes. This happens pretty much every month.

Oh and try to call the bank and you are in for 30 minutes of wasted effort. All you really want to do is speak to your own account manager, but the number of your branch just doesn’t exist any more. I know they have phones there though – I have seen them using them…

My wife, Claire (a very special lady to put up with me!) always said to me to do what makes you happy and being a self employed builder is better than working in an office. But I don’t think she quite realised how much of a grumpy bugger I would become. If we could just get the banking system sorted, I am sure the rest of my life would simplify overnight.

So I am one for structure – being a builder, that makes sense. No point in starting a project without knowing where you are going with it. So each week I will be giving you just a little insight into a particular topic which has annoyed me over the week. Who knows, I might even come to a conclusion which is helpful to everyone. Don’t think I am just a moaner though. Far from it. If I find anything worth agreeing with I am happy to say. It just doesn’t happen that often…