I was self employed brickie most of my working life -- swinging pic-akes,
What kind of a brick layer are you !!!
A retired one with no tan lines,
Wouldn't work for you Sharpie at 10 stone the sun would shine right through you
Anyway Sharpie how are things up at the Manor? all well I hope.
I was self employed nearly all my life, if you don't get the bricks down you don't get paid, and at one time (12 years) ran my own company 'Redtherm Builders Limited' had 13 guys working for me, we did everything from the ground works to the wiring, I had couple of Spreads (Plasters) on full time, a Chippie a Sparkie, and a Plumber and we all used to muck in if there was no plastering or wiring to do they all mucked in with the manual stuff and everyone got paid a full week, if they did not want to muck in they got paid for the days they worked at their trade, the beginning of a new build there aint no plastering to do or wiring and very little plumbing, the system I had very soon sorted out the chaff from the wheat.
In the end I had 13 brilliant guys working full time for me and I looked after them and they in turn looked after me.
I always paid about 12 -15 quid a day more than most and the guys were loyal. Back then a good trowel commanded £80 a day I would pay them £95, seems funny to think of that now as a good trowel commands £200 a day, I was getting £180 a day 3 years ago when I retired.
Seems strange a manual trades person with the earning capacity of 52K a year.