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:
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.

Obviously, he was trying to hide the fact that he didn't deliver a full load.

whirlwind7:


Obviously, he was trying to hide the fact that he didn't deliver a full load.

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:


My 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 .

Most of the trucks saying 10 tons are actually loading less than 9 tons.

spyder880:


Most of the trucks saying 10 tons are actually loading less than 9 tons.

Chai

spyder880:


Most of the trucks saying 10 tons are actually loading less than 9 tons.

Now I see how they are cutting corners . Honestly, 4 full loads of those trucks you have in picture would not fill the 30tons truck I was supplied.

spyder880:


Most of the trucks saying 10 tons are actually loading less than 9 tons.

I read one of your older post about how you go to the quarry to buy chippings. Don't you do that anymore?

whirlwind7:


I read one of your older post about how you go to the quarry to buy chippings. Don't you do that anymore?

That one is a complete post which I will still make here as one of the stories, stay tuned bro

ESWAMA DRAMA, EPISODE ONE

On a very good Monday while I was in a building site in Enugu supervising a decking carpentry work, I had stayed about an hour when I remembered that I hadn't eated any meaningful meal all day, and it was past 2pm, so I told my workers that I will be back shortly, I left my car in the site and walked about a hundred metres or more to a restaurant on the corner.

I had just settled down to a meal when my phone rang, it was my carpenter who was sounding frantic, he told me that men of the ESWAMA task force in Enugu were in the site demanding for evidence of payment of debris disposal levy which every site is supposed to pay before construction can start, I asked the carpenter to check it on the wall where I normally leave it pasted. But, he told me that the rains of the previous night peeled the sheet away (as we had no covered place to keep the photocopy) so I asked him to wait for me as I was just around the corner eating. He gave the phone to the stern talking official who spoke to me, I assured the man of coming there in 2 minutes to give him the copy in my car, but he told me he will wait till I come.

I raced back to the site, abandoning my food only to see that the carpenter has been bundled into their bus and they sped off. They usually trick people by asking you to speak to a policeman inside the bus, the policeman will ask you to sit beside him and as soon as you settle on the seat, other officials will close you in and drive you to their office by force. Why couldn't they wait for me when they promised to.

So I called the carpenter, he told me they are speeding back to their office with him, so I started up and chased after them. Somehow, I got to their office before the team, and patiently waited for them in a hidden area to come in. When they reached the office, I quietly came out and asked what the problem is, they wanted to know who I was, and I told him I was in charge of the project. They told me it was me they were looking for, and that they will release the carpenter and detain me for failure to pay up. My mood immediately changed from anger to laughter.

I dared them to go ahead and arrest me and release my carpenter, so they told my worker to go out while I should go into the cage. I waited patiently as my carpenter crossed the gate and went very far, pretending to be walking towards the cage. So they crossed out my carpenters name and asked what my name was so they can replace the name. Big mistake by them.

I quickly swung to their mode, went down to their level and unleashed the thug behaviour which they understand better, I was hurling words at them, asking them to dare touch me if they are not afraid, there was a large crowd of officials, police, and arrested people watching the drama. It quickly turned to a pushing match as they were telling me to enter the arrested peoples area, one of them pulled off his shirt and wanted to fight me! People were restraining him from attacking me. Those people can be very arrogant.

Many more people rushed out to know what was the problem, and then the officer that knows me came out and called out to me, I told him I had paid, and removed the receipt from my pocket, the receipt had his signature. The thugs were still claiming right, insisting that I let the carpenter get away, the drama continued but I knew there was no way they can do anything. In the end, one Oga called all of us into his office and mediated on the matter, the issue was settled and I left the place in only 15 minutes, without paying anything. The thugs later followed me to my car and wanted me to roger them something, smiling and acting apologetic but I just drove off. Its tough out there.

spyder880:
ESWAMA DRAMA, EPISODE ONE

On a very good Monday while I was in a building site in Enugu supervising a decking carpentry work, I had stayed about an hour when I remembered that I hadn't eated any meaning meal all day, and it was past 2pm, so I told my workers that I will be back shortly, I left my car in the site and walked about a hundred metres or more to a restaurant on the corner.

I had just settled down to a meal when my phone rang, it was my carpenter who was sounding frantic, he told me that men of the ESWAMA task force in Enugu were in the site demanding for evidence of payment of debris disposal levy which every site is supposed to pay before construction can start, I asked the carpenter to check it on the wall where I normally leave it pasted. But, he told me that the rains of the previous night peeled the sheet away (as we had no covered place to keep the photocopy) so I asked him to wait for me as I was just around the corner eating. He gave the phone to the stern talking official who spoke to me, I assured the man of coming there in 2 minutes to give him the copy in my car, but he told me he will wait till I come.

I raced back to the site, abandoning my food only to see that the carpenter has been bundled into their bus and they sped off. They usually trick people by asking you to speak to a policeman inside the bus, the policeman will ask you to sit beside him and as soon as you settle on the seat, other officials will close you in and drive you to their office by force. Why couldn't they wait for me when they promised to.

So I called the carpenter, he told me they are speeding back to their office with him, so I started up and chased after them. Somehow, I got to their office before the team, and patiently waited for them in a hidden area to come in. When they reached the office, I quietly came out and asked what the problem is, they wanted to know who I was, and I told him I was in charge of the project. They told me it was me they were looking for, and that they will release the carpenter and detain me for failure to pay up. My mood immediately changed from anger to laughter.

I dared them to go ahead and arrest me and release my carpenter, so they told my worker to go out while I should go into the cage. I waited patiently as my carpenter crossed the gate and went very far, pretending to be walking towards the cage. So they crossed out my carpenters name and asked what my name was so they can replace the name. Big mistake by them.

I quickly swung to their mode, went down to their level and unleashed the thug behaviour which they understand better, I was hurling words at them, asking them to dare touch me if they are not afraid, there was a large crowd of officials, police, and arrested people watching the drama. It quickly turned to a pushing match as they were telling me to enter the arrested peoples area, one of them pulled off his shirt and wanted to fight me! People were restraining him from attacking me. Those people can be very arrogant.

Many more people rushed out to know what was the problem, and then the officer that knows me came out and called out to me, I told him I had paid, and removed the receipt from my pocket, the receipt had his signature. The thugs were still claiming right, insisting that I let the carpenter get away, the drama continued but I knew there was no way they can do anything. In the end, one Oga called all of us into his office and mediated on the matter, the issue was settled and I left the place in only 15 minutes, without paying anything. The thugs later followed me to my car and wanted me to roger them something, smiling and acting apologetic but I just drove off. Its tough out there.

Have they ever come to your site to collect waste or debris?

sonnie10:


Have they ever come to your site to collect waste or debris?

No, never. Once they are sure you have paid, they never come around again.

I was on a piling project somewhere on the island in Lagos. The operators were steadily scheming ways to avoid getting to the required depth before casting.
On one occasion, at about 18m, he told me he was done, I was distracted on this particular day so I wasn't really following up on what he was doing. I didn't argue. I told him to go ahead and cast.

My security guy came to me and asked me why they were about to cast (before now, I had explained to him how many pipes needed to be drilled before they achieve the required depth of 21m, and that he should always inform me if he notices anything otherwise). I told him the operator said he was done with drilling. He disagreed, and told me they had one more pipe to go. I got mad and went to the operator.
The operator denied and started raining abuses on my security. Things got heated up and a fight almost broke out between the operator (and his labors) and my security (and his brothers).
From soil test result, @ 18m, we were good, but I needed to ensure that if the operator cheated, he shouldn't think of attempting it again. I allowed him cast, after giving him a stern warning. Then I doubled my surveillance on his activities.


A few days later, he did the most. I caught him red handed this time. Story for another day

These workers can be terrible.

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

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

wow am starting this stage of wiring on my building this week. The quotation I got is outrageous but I want to buy half of what he quoted. Can I get tips on how to go about this stage without getting ripped off.

fabulous85:
wow am starting this stage of wiring on my building this week. The quotation I got is outrageous but I want to buy half of what he quoted. Can I get tips on how to go about this stage without getting ripped off.

Its tough these days with cable prices heading upwards daily, offering dishonest workers more incentive to steal. Apart from providing the electrician with a "bodyguard " as he works, it's not easy ensuring that the wires wont be stolen. Another thing I have done recently was to get very honest church workers who has been proving to be really good. I have ot had electrical materials theft issues this year.

spyder880:


Its tough these days with cable prices heading upwards daily, offering dishonest workers more incentive to steal. Apart from providing the electrician with a "bodyguard " as he works, it's not easy ensuring that the wires wont be stolen. Another thing I have done recently was to get very honest church workers who has been proving to be really good. I have ot had electrical materials theft issues this year.

thanks.

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

Just lost my appetite as I read this

Why are people like this?

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.

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.

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.

Well this didn't happen to me on site but it's a sad thing I saw yesterday while coming back from site. It was almost 10pm and if you know Anambra, it's almost a ghost town and hour coupled with the heavy rain. With driver speeding to get home,we came about around nnobi where we saw one dead man. The assumption was that he was carried and drowned by the flood caused by the rain. He was just on the middle of the road with numerous injuries and his clothes torn. The sight of him was so bad I wished I never saw him.

We go out there and come back daily. It's a privilege not a right. He could be anyone just trying to make it home under the rain and a misstep into the gutters and the flood took him up.



As we move out this week, I pray we come back same. Amen

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

Sometimes these artisans take all the profit and even land contractors in debt.

You will hardly find honest ones these days.

A year ago, A man who said he's a Pastor was introduced to me on a site. So I told him to submit quote for wiring a 4 bedroom apartment in Adron Homes, OTA.

The man started by praying and I was already suspecting foul play. At the end, he brought 1 million naira.

I laughed. I spent only about 500k on wires (supplied by Topsy and I picked up in the factory).

Another method you can use to catch them is to calculate the total length through the number of pipes used for piping.

I have a plastering story too..

About 4 years ago, i had two lead Masons on a duplex project. When we got to the plastering phase, in order to reward them for their hardwork, I proposed to give them the plastering as a contract.

So I paid them 100k as first advance and they started work. As soon as they finished the walls downstairs they asked for more money so I gave 250k more.

The main guy ran back to Lagos the next day and we never heard from him again. Till today.

I heard he bought a car, and moved his family to another location.

I had to endure losses and complete the project

KolaShangOne:
I have a plastering story too..

About 4 years ago, i had two lead Masons on a duplex project. When we got to the plastering phase, in order to reward them for their hardworking, I proposed to give them the plastering as a contract.

So I paid them 100k as first advance and they started work. As soon as they finished the walls downstairs they asked for more money so I gave 250k more.

The main guy ran back to Lagos the next day and we never heard from him again. Till today.

I heard he bought a car, and moved his family to another location.

I had to endure losses and complete the project

And now he has hardened you. I don't think you will try such promo again

A lot of mistrust, stealing, I too sabi.

nice

Insightful

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