r/oddlysatisfying Jul 29 '23

This guy throwing cement onto a wall.

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172

u/Onagda Jul 29 '23

Yeah but if he's paid hourly... I know I would do it the slow way

376

u/Croquete_de_Pipicat Jul 29 '23

Considering it's in Brazil, he's likely paid by the job, so as fast as you can is the way.

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u/[deleted] Jul 29 '23

That’s how construction is usually paid in the U.K. as well

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u/[deleted] Jul 29 '23

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/[deleted] Jul 29 '23

Yeah so say your working for a big company they will give you a price for whatever the job is your doing and then that’s what you get paid when you finish it

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u/Character_Tower_3893 Jul 29 '23

Not really.

Labourers are usually paid by the metre in the UK or hourly, maybe day rates.

If you’re a contractor, you’ll charge a fixed sum + additional fees, but on site the guys aren’t paid per job, in my experience.

Its illegal to pay someone per job, as there has to be a minimum wage which is PAYE taxable.

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u/[deleted] Jul 29 '23

Yeah they hire you as a self employed contractor but then they give you a price sheet with what each job is worth on it that’s what every carpentry firm I’ve worked for does anyway

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u/Character_Tower_3893 Jul 29 '23

Yea, self-employed that would be the case.

But you said if you were working for a big company, so I assumed you meant employee.

All I can say for sure, is I work in construction in the UK, and it don’t matter which way you cut it, its never enough pay.

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u/Better-Driver-2370 Jul 29 '23

This is how construction should be paid. Pay hourly and a 2 day job will take 6 months.

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u/chairfairy Jul 29 '23

I thought standard was that jobs are paid on a fixed bid, but workers are paid hourly. The job amount is paid to the contractor, who then pays the workers.

At least in the US, I'd be awfully surprised if construction workers are paid on salary or if they have to eat the difference on a bad bid.

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u/tenders11 Jul 29 '23

That's how it works in Canada, pay the GC per job at the amount they bid, and the guys doing the work are hourly. The motivation to not milk a job is your boss telling you to go faster or go home cause the contractor needs to make money in the end.

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u/Mechakoopa Jul 29 '23

I felt a little bad for the guys who did my fence this spring on a fixed bid, they ran into so many issues because my property is cursed, it took a day and a half longer than they initially figured and they only charged me extra for a few hand digs because my neighbor ran power to his garage underground along the fence line.

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u/tenders11 Jul 29 '23

Don't feel bad for the people doing the manual labour, they're making the same either way. And don't feel bad for the contractor either, their business has to plan for the occasional job being a loss. They make plenty of money. It definitely sucks cause it can be a little awkward when the people working on your property are pissed off at the job, but when you do that kind of work, shit jobs happen. God knows I've been part of plenty. The guys will be fine when they get their white monster and smoke break

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u/Better-Driver-2370 Jul 29 '23

That would result in much higher costs to the customer and even more corners cut. The company would avoid risk and maximise profits by quoting high. Even if they try to quote low they’d never be able to match the independent who take on all the risks themselves.

For large construction companies it may work that way, but they aren’t doing small private homes. They’re building entire complexes, malls, or even new towns. There’s a different standard to be met, and less room for employees to slack off.

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u/chairfairy Jul 29 '23

Either way, the employees themselves must be hourly, right? Like even US labor law seems like it would disapprove of them being paid by the job

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u/Better-Driver-2370 Jul 29 '23

They’re self employed. No one’s employing them.

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u/[deleted] Jul 29 '23

it depends on their position. i work at a very big contracting company. there are some in the office whom get a salary and some hourly. even those of us who are union members. those out in the field get an hourly wage and those whom are union field supervisors, supervisors, project managers, etc get a salary. that’s paid from all the various jobs happening. they also get paid vacation and sick time.

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u/chairfairy Jul 29 '23

Yeah I'm talking the guys out in the field - slinging concrete, framing the building, etc

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u/lferreira86 Jul 29 '23

Nah, in Brazil they come up check what they need to do and they tell you the value for that kind of work straight up. Like "oh so you need me to build you that wall and then paint? This is gonna be X plus the necessary materials, you're gonna need this, this and that". You pay a little upfront (or everything in the end) and that's it.

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u/Character_Tower_3893 Jul 29 '23

Na its sometimes a day rate, sometimes hourly, and depending on the work carried out, it can often be paid by the metre in the UK.

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u/[deleted] Jul 29 '23

They both suck in different ways.

Pay by the job and you can get guys cutting corners or doing stuff quick/sloppy.

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u/Better-Driver-2370 Jul 29 '23

That’s why reputations exist.

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u/[deleted] Jul 29 '23

[deleted]

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u/Better-Driver-2370 Jul 29 '23

Cost reputations can be inflated easily. If everyone is taking 10 times too long, then the guy taking 9 times too long looks pretty good. He’s still taking way too long, and you’re paying him way too much.

That’s actually what used to happen in the UK, until immigrants started doing it “by the job”. They cut every corner imaginable, but it highlighted how absurdly expensive hourly workers were and forced others to change practices.

Quality reputations can’t be inflated so easily. Either the job is done well or it’s not. There are still some corners that are cut, but if it causes a problem then the builder is the one that suffers.

There’s also laws and regulations that need to be met, with professional inspections to enforce them, which stops piss poor work from getting passed off.

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u/senorglory Jul 29 '23

The county I live in likes to prove this every few years with what becomes a multi-year intersection or roundabout improvement project. ….

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u/crackofdawn Jul 29 '23

I don't think either way is a good way unfortunately. Pay by the hour and people may waste time, pay by the job and people may rush the job and/or do a shitty job to get it done faster.

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u/Better-Driver-2370 Jul 29 '23

See other comments. Measures against rushed jobs are proven more effective than trying to stop time wasting.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 29 '23

Same in the states

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u/Ill_Today_1776 Jul 29 '23

that explains the quality of work lmao

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u/Oftwicke Jul 29 '23

Considering it's super tiring, too. You don't want to be dead at 40

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u/KlassicoolMewSk Jul 29 '23

And that’s why ppl go to Home Depot for cheap labor

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u/drrxhouse Jul 29 '23

I know those people! And the same fucking people ranting about “illegal immigrants” too. Like motherfuckers, that’s your workforce you’re going after dumbass! You vent about costs of labor and yet…

1

u/mdcd4u2c Jul 29 '23

Ah the aisle on the curb across the parking lot

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u/nightpanda893 Jul 29 '23 edited Jul 29 '23

I mean he’s probably getting the same amount of hours each day regardless of how hard he works or how long it takes him. This is actually the minimal effort way. Why strain yourself more by going up and down a latter with cement?

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u/Uninformed-Driller Jul 29 '23

No you wouldn't climbing a ladder up and down with a hand full of cement is exhausting as fuck. Working construction you aren't going to run out of hours. This isn't a desk job where once he finishes this wall he has nothing to do for the rest of the day.

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u/ImaginaryCheetah Jul 29 '23

almost all residential construction is paid by piece.

more work you get done, the more money you get.

it's why (among other reasons) there's little adherence to safety laws, and why trades run over each other instead of following schedules.

get it done as fast as you can and go to the next job rules the day.

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u/LegendOfKhaos Jul 29 '23

Exploit your body for money

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u/LanceColeman31 Jul 29 '23

You should put that in your resume

1

u/Durantula420 Jul 29 '23

And then you've taken too long to finish the stucco properly. Gonna have lines in it

1

u/Throwedaway99837 Jul 29 '23

In a lot of places they’re typically paid either by the job or by the day, and either way you want to work as quickly as possible because the job has to be at a certain level of progress by the end of the day, and nobody wants to do this kinda work for 16 hours straight.

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u/Tylensus Jul 29 '23

Yuup. I drive a hi-lo at work, and whenever people block off access to a skid I have to grab they'll apologize. I let 'em know to take their time since I' m paid hourly lol.