[Jonny jones]

hi everyone happy new year ( i hope)

i did my first leisure centre hall as a self employed worker last week. it went really well

sorry just had to tell you all

thanx jonny

let castle take the hassle

[mark.laycock1@ntlw]

hi , have you took any photos of the hall. i have handed out your cards . mark

[Jonny jones]

 hi mark

ive taken photos on my phone of the before effect im going back next week to take the after photos,
i'll send them to you when i do them,

thanx jonny

[steve doyle]

Im interested in what exactly you did, what was the job?

can you post the pics when you get them for us to see?

[Jonny jones]

ye no probs.

[drive surgeon]

yeah let us know.

[Les]

I don't wish to steal your thunder, but I thought those of you who asked for photo's of the sports hall flooring might be interested in this one which I took part way through a similar job.

This was taken half way through the first coat and the end result was even better following a second coat being applied.

Well done on completing your first one. Really hard work but nice to look back on once you've finished.

Les

[Jonny jones]

hi les can you tell me how much you charged,

email me if private,   castlecleanings@aol.com

[mark.laycock1@ntlw]

hi les, did you reline the play area.mark

[Les]

  I can say that the job was the 4th one I'd done for a leisure company.

You may be aware that Leisure Companies don't like to spend more than they have to so I didn't earn what the job was really worth, ( But that won't be the case next time)

I did get them to purchase all their own Chemicals and consumables to do the job via a specialist supplier. The gallon containers of sealer that you can see on the photo cost over £45 each  , and we would go through between 25 and 30 with the 2 coats required.

It really is a drag of a job though, usually carried out over the Christmas break when the centres wold be closed. The problem was that the duty manager would never have been briefed as to our requirements so the heating would be off, with of course no-one available who knew how to switch it on. Plus we needed the extraction fans on due to the wicked vapours being given off by the sealer.
Even with face masks on we were high as kites    by the end of a long day.....or having worked throughout the night. 

We didn't have to re-line the courts on this job, but were asked to on another. Having taken best advice from the specialist chemical supplier, I got in touch with a company who do this sort of work  frequently and got them to quote the sports Centre direct.

They obviously quoted a 'specialist ' price for the job as we were asked to just go over the old lines as best we could.

Done properly the floors only need doing about every 3 years, so we were able to have a rest this Christmas.

Les

[Jonny jones]

hi les, its a very long and boring job, but it looks good in the end,  ive done several for the local authority i used to work for but this one was my first  on my own, 

i had to ask granwax for credit before i started and luckily they gave me enough to get the stuff i needed to do it,   the stuff all together cost me nearly a grand.

it took me two days to do it, one day to prep, and the next day to put the seal on 2 coats , and i used 17 5ltrs to do it

hope they liked it and i hope to get repeat business from the council i did it for.

[Les]

You can see why I asked the leisure centre to purchase the chemicals instead of me. 

The other issue regarding the cost of the product was that the leisure group concerned lived up to their title by taking a very 'Leisurely' approach to payment.

I had to get to the point of refusing to carry out any further work before they miraculously came up with a cheque.

I also had to carry out some carpet cleaning for them.....in their reception area.......whilst they were open.....

Health and safety went out of the window as although we put up safety signs....and metal barriers 
unfortunately none of their clients seemed to be able to read or possess common sense. So we had mothers with toddlers moving the barriers and then walking over the 'wet' area we'd just cleaned just in order to get some sweets out of the dispensing machine !

All this because the company wouldn't pay overtime rates for someone to stay behind after closing time.
Mind you, I think the manager was only on about £5 an hour so I don't think overtime rates would have helped much..
The first time I did a floor they said they'd supply a helper for me. We had to work through the night and finished at about 7am.(this was between Christmas and the New Year) My 18 year old helper wasn't particularly helpful, but when he said they were paying him £4.50 an hour for helping I can't say I blamed him.
Obviously I paid my self considerably more....£5.25 per hour  :

Before you ask this was before the minimum wage came in 

Hope you pick up lots more work.

Les

[Jonny jones]

hi les,  i got my boy to help, bought him a resperator £26 from B&Q if you please. used it once "oh dad i dont mind the smell"  for two days later "oh ive got this massive headache and i wont go away"  haha.

i feel if i get all the stuff myself i can be in more control, glad i got the account though,   can i email you how much i charged for my work, the reason is i think i was too cheap for this work, and i want to find the middle. i dont want to be too expensive nor too cheap.

thanx jonny