Council with a sense of humour

[Paul P]

I did not want to cause offence to one man bands a lot of them do a very good job.

It the council

[bri]

Sure Paul, no offence taken. I think now i'm wider awake watching the Lions get beaten again, my attitude is to probable members who are not installers who read this forum. Its a voice we need to say to people ' come on most of us have been doing this work a long time, the reason we've gone solo is that we're fed up of the corporate machine'. I may not be a big company but I think big. If a national wants to tender for a large contract I should not be excluded because of the size of my company, how I organise my company and my staff if needed is my business.The section in tenders where we have to submit accounts and staff organisation charts is ludicrous. I'm applying to carry out works not buy shares or invest in companies. When attacked once in a face to face interview that I wouldnt be able to manage a contract because I had no one else in the area I asked the guy to advance me £10,000 as part of the contract( was worth £40,000/annum on maintenance alone) and I will put an engineer in place the next day. Oh how we laughed How many times have we seen tender deadlines only to recieve the order three or four months after the tender has been awarded and the bowing out company gets paid a four month retainer and they say o.k but we are now going to add more zero's at premium rates for those four months and the client says o.k. Thats the world gone mad. I'm a great advocate of one man bands and S.M.E's. They all work hard and are passsionate at what they do.What I dont like organisations who dictate what we can or cant do and I dont care to do business with them. Ive also been the busy fool too!! Thats a good wake up call. We are all adult enough here to stand up and say when we cant do something, if we cant do it we dont apply for it. Maybe a letter to the Times is coming.

Sorry Paul, this is not personal just random feelings

[jb-eye]

If a national wants to tender for a large contract I should not be excluded because of the size of my company, how I organise my company and my staff if needed is my business. .

58351[/snapback]

Im sorry but i will have to disagree on this one. I think there are many foolish people out there who would take contracts on board that they have no hope of completing due to resourses. If i were awarding contracts i would always select a company who could prove it has the resourses and is unlikely to fail.

The section in tenders where we have to submit accounts and staff organisation charts  is ludicrous.Im a great advocate of one man bands and S.M.E's. They all work hard and are passsionate at what they do. What I dont like organisations who dictate what we can or cant do.

58351[/snapback]

Again its difficult to agree, I would want to know that a company doing my work was viable and if this meant i had to pay a premium then so be it! And although most of the OMB & SME (remember i am an SME) do work hard not all are passionate or have the technical expertise you think. How many times have you been on a trade counter and Bob the alarm man is asking "how does this work" and "aint you got anythin cheaper". I to dislike being told what to do but face it, its a fact of life. I will finish with a consolatory note: A council we have worked for about 3 years has just discovered we are NOT on the approved list. This is because we refused to give our accounts to them, my reasons are simple, We are not a LTD Co and this is because we are profitable and therefore although dangerous i keep the spoils and my privacy. It is unlikely we will have to stop working for them.

Jef

[bri]

nice one jef, i do agree with you and tried to cut long stories short. However, I make the point that regardless of whether we are Ltd(which I am) or sole trader, we should be able to prove that we can get or use resources at our disposal and offer the services you quite rightly deserve. A company cant stand, I understand the logisitics of business building, how many corner shop or little industrial unit maintenances to survive or to employ that first expensive engineer.For every Bob the alarm( feel sorry for the BoB's here)theres the people who use this forum who like yourself are knowledgable and passionate about the industry and its about time British Industry started recognising that fact. I attend seminars with start up businesses and see the fear in their eyes, what happens when Ive exhausted all my contacts from my previous employer. I give fire safety lectures to groups of new landlords who are buying properties to let out, they think thats all they have to do, its a minefield for them. I'm not a tory by any means but I agreed with Maggies philosophy of free enterprise. One project manager proceeded to put his feet up on his desk during one interview with me and ask in a supercilious way ' well what do you think you can do for me then?'. I had to make a choice, in this case was it worth it so I told him ' the best thing I can do for you is leave you get some rest, you look like you need it' and walked out. This is the point i'm really trying to make, whether we're selling ourselves by interview or tender we have the right to reply and not have the urine taken out of us because you think you have the power that you can, AND I'M SPEAKING ON BEHALF OF ALL OF US BECAUSE YOU DESERVE IT TOO!!! B) B) B) B)

[jb-eye]

I'M SPEAKING ON BEHALF OF ALL OF US BECAUSE YOU DESERVE IT TOO!!! B)  B)  B)  B)

58361[/snapback]

Applause

Jef

[Chris Teague]

One project manager proceeded to put his feet up on his desk during one interview with me and ask in a supercilious way ' well what do you think you can do for me then?'. I had to make a choice, in this case was it worth it so I told him ' the best thing I can do for you is leave you get some rest, you look like you need it' and walked out. This is the point i'm really trying to make, whether we're selling ourselves by interview or tender we have the right to reply and not have the urine taken out of us because you think you have the power that you can, AND I'M SPEAKING ON BEHALF OF ALL OF US BECAUSE YOU DESERVE IT TOO!!! B)  B)  B)  B)

58361[/snapback]

Respect mate

[bri]

Why thank you Lords N Ladies, theres more too just light the blue touch paper and stand back and enjoy.

[Guest IM_Alarms]

Bri, whilst reading one of your LONG............ replies, my attention was drawn to your badger friend,..... Is he having a dump? or is that his tail?

[whistle]

LOL

He looks like he's having a dump to me

[Guest]

Whoa steady on trigger!

I am not suggesting they have theyre finger in the pie and are eating from it!

More like Chris suggests actually, they get rather nice favours from the companies on the council lists such as "the use of my apartment in Spain foc"

"free bottles of plonk etc"

58304[/snapback]

I KNOW WHO YOU MEAN IAN...