Eastern Bloc workers?

curadh

Hi there,
has anyone experience of hiring eastern european workers or any contacts for them? Looking to employ one for a week or two doing general work.
Thnaks

Reyman

Just heard second hand from a builder the other day these guys are incredible -- do the work of three Irish guys and more important don't need a whole lot of supervision.

It might be more difficult getting good guys though just for a week's work !

ifah

first hand experience - I got a Romanian plasterer and his labourer to plaster the outside of my extension (45 m2 of wall) (one coat render, applied on day 1 and finished on day 2)
Cost €600 for the job
The finish is immaculate.
They said they would arrive @12:00 on Thursday - they were there @ 11.55. They worked until 7pm to get the first coat on. Told me Thursday evening they would be there @7am Friday to finish up - arrived @7:05 and were finished and gone @9.15 after finishing job and cleaning up.

They are coming on Friday evening to do the bonding and beading on the inside and will be back Saturday morning early to do the skim coat - total price for inside €800. Will let you know how the finish is but they did my neighbours extension and the finish was like glass - so smooth.

Best price for an Irish plasterer was €3500 (cash) and worst €4900 (cash) and I know that they wouldn't be as punctual or anything like it.

curadh

ifah, do you mind me asking how you got in contact? There was an ad in the buy and sell a few weeks back for these workers but since gone.

ifah

My neighbour is a builder and has a Romanian carpenter working with him. My plasterer whares a house with his carpenter. - it's all about who you know !

RobEire

curadh wrote:

Hi there,
has anyone experience of hiring eastern european workers or any contacts for them? Looking to employ one for a week or two doing general work.
Thnaks

We have two now at work and both are hardworkers, honest and very reliable. Best place to source for short term work would be Adecco or Able Recruit.

Builderwoman!

We have a Polish guy helping us with painting, cleaning up, lugging stuff around, putting up a shed etc etc. Brilliant worker and an absolute gentleman. He cannot get over the shoddy work of the "dirty Irish tradesmen". He also cannot get over the fact that that Irish tradesmen do not clean up after themselves or even throw their lunch papers in the bin on site. He is excellent and we could not now be completing our self build without him. A gift!

AJL

Hi Ifah,

Where are you situated? Would be interested in getting a quote from these guys?

Salmon

Yeah,

Wouldnt mind getting a quote myself!

ifah

i'm based in Swords but the lads are currently living in Castleknock - they arrived early friday morning to do the skim coat and worked all day - finished at 7.30pm with the job done - super job - smooth as glass. They are working all over afaik - they were on a job in Newbridge early last week and are going to Donegal for 3 weeks to do some work up there.

i'll pm contact details to you. Also they seem to have their own network where they get extra men in if needed - on Friday the two lads turned up and then went off for about 10 minutes to pick up a labourer to do the mixing for them.

AJL

Hi Ifah,

thanks a million for that appreciate it.

Soledad

We have had Lithuanians do a lot of our work, tiling, stone masons, footpaths, ground works etc.
Their work was second to none, turned up on time every time, were really neat and perfectionists.

patrickolee

Had the opposite experience. Got a Romanian builder who had been recommended by a friend (did an excellent job for him). His plasterers must have left! The job I got was well shabby in places. Got an Irish plasterer, recommended by another friend to patch up some of the rougher bits. Old fella who just does a bit of work here and there. Did an excellent job for 150 for the days work. Gave him 200.

So it depends on the people, not all Irish builders are lazy dirty, overpriced and unpunctual. Neither are all foreign tradesmen fantastic. BTW, just for balance my electrician is Romanian and fantastic.

Carpenter

patrickolee wrote:

Had the opposite experience. Got a Romanian builder who had been recommended by a friend (did an excellent job for him). His plasterers must have left! The job I got was well shabby in places. Got an Irish plasterer, recommended by another friend to patch up some of the rougher bits. Old fella who just does a bit of work here and there. Did an excellent job for 150 for the days work. Gave him 200.

So it depends on the people, not all Irish builders are lazy dirty, overpriced and unpunctual. Neither are all foreign tradesmen fantastic. BTW, just for balance my electrician is Romanian and fantastic.

Fair play to you
We had a lot of foreign workers over the years and out of them all 1 man was very good so he still works for us by the way now we try stay clear of them

RedLady

Hi SoleDad,

I believe that you are in Limerick. Where did you source your workers?

THanks

Soledad

I'm in Cork and we are friends with their boss, he is in Ireland for a good number of years and has a lot of men working for him.
They normally do big jobs only, like full houses etc so were doing smaller jobs for us as a favour as we know him personally.
They built my Brother in Laws house from start to finish and are currently building a good few houses in the North Cork area.

spud2

I'm currently looking for a stone masion in the south Tipperary area, for a natural stone fix for the front of a house. If anyone can recommend anyone I'd be most grateful
Thanks
Mike

RedLady

Hi,

Has anybody got any contacts for eastern workers in the limerick/north cork area? Would like to see what they are charging for the various parts of hosue build.....getting quotes from Irish workers and they are HIGH!!

Cheers,

kadman

I'd be interested in the professions or trades of all the posters looking to further exploit cheap foreign workers.

Maybe I can start using cheaper solicitors, dentists, accountants, mechanics ect:D

kadman

Reyman

kadman wrote:

I'd be interested in the professions or trades of all the posters looking to further exploit cheap foreign workers.

Maybe I can start using cheaper solicitors, dentists, accountants, mechanics ect:D

kadman

Good point Kadman! We can't seem to bring in the guys we really need to replace the people who are ripping us off like - Consultants, Barristers, Doctors, Dentists. Pharmacists. I call them the 'Barrier Professions' -restrict entry and we get even richer

A few hundred Polish GPs and we wouldn't be paying €50 for a 5 minute consultation with a doctor

RedLady

I think that we the customer are the ones that are being exploited in this country for the most part.....I have seen it first hand where people just hike their prices up for no reason other than greed.

rooferPete

Hi Red Lady,

Sorry to say but that is an old argument, I have never seen a person in secure employment with the big pay cheque guaranteed hand any of it back because the had a slow month at work.

I have met the people in management positions for semi-state companies cry when they got the bill even when the figures had been agreed, they went to work in suits and subsidised luxury cars, we worked out of vans in the cold and rain to protect their property.

Sorry no sympathy from this beaten up ole roofer

.

RedLady

Yes Pete, you meet all sorts of people in all walks of life.
All most people want when they are building a house or doing anything really is to pay a fair price for the product or the service and to feel that their hard earned money has been well spent. Nobody likes to feel like they have been Ripped off.

kadman

Funny , there was uproar in Ireland when the foreign workers were being underpaid by large contractors, and semi state companies. But it seems to be ok to do the same on a small scale.

Exploitation is exploitation , regardless of who is doing it.

Remember not all construction workers are rip off artists, and this continuing trend may have further consequences for consruction workers currently paid proper rates.

Is there any difference in a rip off builder, and someone exploiting a worker paid below normal rates . I dont believe there is.

Sorry for the rant,:)

kadman

RedLady

Hi Kadman/Pete

This is a discussion board so I dont think that you are ranting and are well entitled to your views.

My father was a building contractor pre-boom in the 1980's. He was a very hard working honest man and I am well used to how hard some people work in the contruction industry. I remember well people calling to the house and faking near heart attacks at prices of tenders etc. Jeepers, if any of them knew what a house was going to cost 15 years ahead of then, they would surely have collapsed!! So I am no dissing on the trade as that trade put my through college....my brother also works at it in the states as does a lot of cousins etc. My problem at the moment is this....that one tradesman can jump up his prices by as much as 30% over the course of 12-14 months. Where 1 wood pellet boiler can differ by as much as 4k from one supplier to another....where 1 wood pellet stove can cost 600k more from one shop to another. I got a quote to-day for 3 external doors....the very same doors cost an extra 1000k from another supplier. To me these seem like huge differences.

Now I am the one ranting:rolleyes:
.....I am sure that there are others that have some across the same.

DublinWriter

kadman wrote:

I'd be interested in the professions or trades of all the posters looking to further exploit cheap foreign workers.

Maybe I can start using cheaper solicitors, dentists, accountants, mechanics ect:D

It's called market forces.

Welcome to Capitalism.

DublinWriter

kadman wrote:

Funny , there was uproar in Ireland when the foreign workers were being underpaid by large contractors, and semi state companies. But it seems to be ok to do the same on a small scale.

There's a world of difference between being shipped over by the likes of Gamma, being paid €10 a day and being expected to live in an empty truck cargo container by the side of the road with no toilet facilities or running water, and an Irish person willing to strike an individual deal with a foreign tradesman.

kadman

DublinWriter wrote:

There's a world of difference between being shipped over by the likes of Gamma, being paid €10 a day and being expected to live in an empty truck cargo container by the side of the road with no toilet facilities or running water, and an Irish person willing to strike an individual deal with a foreign tradesman.

There is no difference in being taken advantage of, either by a company or individual. No doubt gamma could also use the " individual deal " defense as well.

I asked a question about the professions of the people looking for low wage workers on the boards. None of the posters were willing to state their professions. Fair enough , thats their right.

There fore I can only assume they are not employed in the construction industry, thats why they are looking for the cheap construction workers.

My point being, are honest construction workers at the risk of having their livliehoods ( spelling) and standard of living undermined, by cheaper european workers. Maybe so. Me being an honest construction worker, do I have cause for concern. I am all for thousands of europeans working in the construction industry, on proper rates of pay, but not for rates that undermine my job.

If we had european doctors, solicitors, accountants ect, working here for half the standard rates, I am sure all you professionals out there would also be worrying.

End of rant;)

kadman

DublinWriter

kadman wrote:

There is no difference in being taken advantage of, either by a company or individual. No doubt gamma could also use the " individual deal " defense as well.

I'm sure they could, but there were also stories doing the rounds about Gamma HQ in Turkey threatening to cause problems for relatives of workers who protested in Ireland working for Gamma back home.

Gamma were in breach of Irish minimum-wage law legislation. Full stop.

As I said, world of a difference between paying €10 a day, or as one of the posters said here, a couple of hundred a day for a plastering job.

People whinge about rip off prices and the lack of competition in this country, and now you're whinging about competition?!?

Of course you're giving out about it, you're an interested party! The construction industry have had it on easy-street in this country for ages. A bit of competition and you're all starting to cry like the 'hard-done' taxi-drivers shortly after deregulation.

As I said, we have a minimum wage in this country now to prevent exploitation. Anything more than that is up to your personal negotiation skills and the market forces at play at the time.

kadman

Going rate for a chippie or similar trades man , about 17 euros an hour.

Yes I have a problem for any chippie willing to work for a quarter of that, thats seriously going to affect my standard of living, and put people like me on the dole. Too right I'm going to whinge. just like you will, when some one will come along and do your job for a quarter of your earnings. Or are you just gong to sit back and say , well thats just market forces.

Easy street.....I'm afraid not , for me any way.

I spent the best part of 18 months on a picket line for young apprentices , to get fair working conditions and apprenticeship training for them. I was the highest paid within the company at the time, so I did not need the hassle of union membership, but they asked me for support , and I gave it.

I've earned the right to a fair wage, and I dont intend to apologise for expecting it. Maybe when your profession is subject to the same market forces, you might be singing a different tune.

kadman

DublinWriter

kadman wrote:

I spent the best part of 18 months on a picket line for young apprentices , to get fair working conditions and apprenticeship training for them. I was the highest paid within the company at the time, so I did not need the hassle of union membership, but they asked me for support , and I gave it.

So you're saying that you spent 18 months on a picket line without any income?