sonnie10:


One thing I have decided is to do kobo kobo phases on my builds. That way, when I get defrauded, it is going to be very small amount. It’s better to run like the tortoise instead of deer who couldn’t complete the race.

spyder880:
Stone chippings madness.

And so I asked a supplier to bring a trip of chippings to my site, we agreed on a full truck of 10 tons average. The truck driver refused to give me his location or travel progress from the onset, only to reach the site and start calling me that he is ready to offload. I quickly told him to wait till I can get someone to verify the quantity and size of his load. In less than a minute, he has tipped his truck and is ready to leave, asking for his balance of about N20,000.

The driver called me and wanted to take his pay immediately, I told him that this wasn't the agreement I had with the supplier, and he went berserk, preventing workers from working and causing obstruction of work flow. On phone, I asked all workers to go about their work and allow him be. So the driver ordered his boys to start manually throwing the chippings back into his truck, and if he moves with this load, he says he will never refund the earlier N80,000 I paid as advance for the chippings.

At that point I asked workers in the site to prevent him from moving my chippings, see trouble, a fight quickly broke out and the community gathered, it took the intervention of the community youths leadership to settle the matter. The driver was blamed for offloading without confirmation and I was asked to reduce his balance by N5,000.

Lesson learned, always deal with those you can trust.

spyder880:
ALL BECAUSE OF MMM

In the hey days of the MMM saga in Nigeria, I remember listening to a group of my workers on a busy site. I pretended not to be interested in their conversations and arguments but was eavesdropping on their every talks. I was alarmed at their level of misunderstanding and wrong perception of how money could be made. So I did the next best thing immediately.

I stopped all works at the same time and called about 16 of them to a surprise meeting, everyone gathered in a large uncompleted room and I made them explain to me what they understood about the MMM scheme. One after the other, they narrated to me how their friends has been cashing out big on the scheme and many other schemes ongoing at that time. They told me that everyone could just become a millionaire at the same time and that they were interested in making as much money as they can. I asked to see the hands of any of them who has "invested" in the schemes and over 12 hands went up, shocking was an understatement.

I then proceeded to lecture them on how the economy works, how money could be made, or lost. I tried my best in over one hour to tell them that its easier to lose money than to make money. They all kept a straight face and listened without questioning me. I later left the site but was stung by one comment which I heard from two boys plastering a room as I was walking out of the site. One was telling the other that "How can he be happy with us, you know that all these big men will never be happy if we get as rich as they are". The second boy mentioned "They will not be happy to see us rise out of poverty because nobody will be answering them Sir, or washing their cars anymore" I left the site with a lot of fear of what I know is about to happen.

On one bright December morning, I came to that same site to see the progress of the work, and there was no work ongoing. I asked for the head of the plastering team, he was sleeping in a corner, other workers has all absconded and abandoned the work. It took a long time, over 2 weeks for me to hear the full gist, of how this plastering leader has invested over N400,000 of our work money which I have been paying him on MMM. I also learnt that his MMM account has been frozen. They told me that over 10 workers are being owed money and they have all left the site. I instructed him to complete the work or I will arrest him, but I didn't immediately arrest him. He had sent his young wife and children packing, in the hope of marrying another wife when MMM pays him.

The arrest happened about a week later when I received information that he was selling cement and tiles in the site, the information was so precise that they told me where he stored our cement and tiles the previous night, ready to sell them. So I turned up next morning and dragged him to where the hidden materials are. After we found the materials, I lifted my phone and started calling police to come and take him away and he said I cannot do that, pushed me, and he took off on a run before i could hold him, i immediately gave chase, come and see drama that day, come and see me chasing him for over 40 meters inside a cassava farm, jumping over farm ridges and avoiding cassava stems. He nearly got away, but other workers jumped into the chase and cornered him in the next two streets away, he has gotten tired after running for so long.

They dragged him back to site and before I could come back from the main road, they had administered some beating on him, because they said he fought them, they wounded him in the process. I had to put him in my car and take him to a police station, it was another worker i later hired who later finished the plastering to my dissatisfaction. I had to pay for the labor afresh, bought the cement and tiles again, even the ones police took as evidence, I never went back to take it as they were saying we should close the case. The building was later completed on schedule, but the workers were dropped from my team.

The lesson here is to always educate your workers on a wide variety of subjects not connected to the work they are doing, it might prevent them from mistakes which will come back and hurt the project. Topics like drug abuse, family care, educational and business advancement, security tips and even health and safety standards should always be discussed.

waploger:



anytime you have any work around Festac, i would like to be among the labourers

sonnie10:


Why are they charging me 320k for 30tons when you pay 100k for 10tons. Isn’t quantity price supposed to be less. Location is the same SE .

sonnie10:


Take another look at your previous topics here on NL and tell us who would want to hire you with such post. Internet does not forgive!

waploger:



inspector weldone, but you didn't have to hold my post against me

waploger:



inspector weldone, but you didn't have to hold my post against me

DedeNkem:

Why won't he? No sane person will hire you after reading your post ()!
You are absolutely nuts!!

sonnie10:

It is normally to verify people before hiring them.

DedeNkem:


Why won't he? No sane person will hire you after reading your post (https://www.nairaland.com/6324999/want-ritualist)!

You are absolutely nuts!!

spyder880:
The case of the Missing electrical cables.

On the site of one of the beautiful houses I have built in this forum, I got two electricians to wire the house for me, I had bought the very costly Cutix cables for the whole house and knowing the high cost of the cables, which makes them more prone to pilfering, I brought the cables to the site in the trunk of my car and was standing in wait, watching as the cables were being used. I wanted to see what the real cable consumption will be so I can make near accurate decisions in other sites. I had fired two of my previous electricians before hiring these two, those who were fired was because of missing items, especially electric cables.

From the start, the two electricians were not comfortable with my presence and i could see it in their attitude. They seemed to be slowing things down in the hope that i will walk away so they could "act" but I stayed put, taking notes on how many rooms the cables can run. We were working on 2.5mm single core cables.

After about 5 hours of slow work, I decided to go find something to eat, so I brought out 2 cables, and unknown to the electricians, I gave them the cables with a new wrapper, quite different from all the old ones they were using all day. I returned to site after about an hour, by that time they were calling me on phone to come back and give them more cables since they had exhausted the 3 coils I gave them before leaving. I immediately suspected foul play.

So I walked into the site and they were asking me, "is the boot open?" I replied them with "Can I see the wrapper of the cables that just finished?" Meanwhile, I was walking through the remaining rooms to see the coverage of the cables, only one additional room was wired in my absence. Something is clearly wrong here.

They went and got me the old wrappers as the ones they just used, I laughed and told them that their trap just caught a useless smelly rat today. That's how the search for the new wrapper started. Two hours, and they were still up turning everything and searching for the wrappers they just used.

They gave every reason in the book why the wrappers varnished, but I insisted that except they produce the wrappers, they are going to the nearest police station from the site. I started calling policemen in the station to come to site and make the arrest. Me and other workers all joined the search, for hidden coils of cables this time around. It took another one hour or more before one carpenter climbed into the ceiling and onto the roof, from there he found 2 brand new unopened cables, plus another 1.5mm cable all neatly hidden in the roof, away from our eyes. The electricians later admitted to hiding the cables in the ceiling. I just gave them transport money to return to Enugu same night, because I can no longer tolerate their presence in the site.

Things do happen in sites o

MarveworldG:


We offer home interior design services and would appreciate it if you have a job for us.
We can talk about the commission

spyder880:


Ok, I will keep your contacts handy.

waploger:




other people on Nairaland post insane topics too.

waploger:



so letting it out is now a sin...

uncleck:
Every Nigerian is a thief unless they've not seen what to steal. Engineers here are calling artisans thief as if they are any better. I've tried my hands on all aspects of building projects till I specialized on roofing. The best anyone can do is to learn how to minimize theft.

Ask me any question on how to prevent being defrauded in any stage of your building, I'll reply you here

DedeNkem:


So, you openly seeking advice to go into crime is not a "sin"?!!

I thought you were only nuts, I didn't know you're also absolutely delusional!

waploger:



its your job as a human to advice me not to venture into the crime.

achi4u:
Finding an honest workers this days is like finding a pin in the bottom of a pit, once they started quoting Bible and behaving like a good person... Suspect him.

spyder880:
THE FAMILY TAKEOVER

On a new building we built right here in this forum, the
Site stories, we're just starting.