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I want to know

19K views 188 replies 30 participants last post by  JBM 
#1 ·
How many of you brick guys clean up completely when you finish? And I mean leave the job site clean of all brick not used, mortar splashed on the ground, all of it?

I used the same mason for many years, and he always raked up the broken brick, and pretty much cleaned up his own mess...now he wouldn't touch anything that wasn't his, but he left no mess.

My last regular crew was not as "tidy", but still not a big deal since we have to clean the job site anyway....but the last job was awful. Left broken brick everywhere, mortar piles all over, had to threaten them to come and acid wash, and then clipped me on the bid.

I told them as I wrote the check I wasn't happy...they said it was now "extra" to clean up....really?

So I old them to get lost, I would never use them again, ever.

The guy who is the chief brickie called yesterday and said that he had a guy who wants me to build a house for him, and maybe we can patch things up? :no:

I asked if he had a short memory, told him to not call again, and hung up.

Too much?
 
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#4 ·
This is Oklahoma, and while contracts are a part of business, I do not make my subs sign contracts, ever. Their word and mine are the relationship.

I told him to pound sand when his word was discovered to be not good, and cleaned up his mess. He won't work for me or get a recommendation from me again, ever.

His call yesterday tells me he has noticed.
 
#5 ·
We never left a mess...ever. Daily clean up was routine, not just to keep other people happy, but because I hate tripping over junk all day. And seeing garbage laying around. I find it easier to tidy up everyday than to put it off until the job is done. And the HO/GC/Archy/whatever always appreciates a neat job site.
 
#7 ·
Joasis,

Sounds to me like he re-thought his actions and came back to patch things up and brought a gift to boot.

Relationships are a give and take in this business... When he said clean-up was extra, didn't you address it with him then?

I would have said that wasn't part of the agreement and that has always been part of everyone else you've done business with and has always been part of the bid... I would have reinforced it by saying to him "imagine if I built a house and at the end, I then told the customer, sorry, clean-up is extra... how do you think they would react?"...

Could've nipped it in the bud right there, and potentially have another house...
 
#13 ·
The ground should be raked up quick, everything pulled off the house and put into reasonable piles. If the builder wants it wheeled off into a pile then fine, whatever makes people happy. I have never heard of wrapping a house in brick and not giving it a scrub down. Although if the bricks are "dusty" then they could come out clean without much effort, but still.
 
#17 ·
I leave every job cleaner,then when I found it. Even if I lost money on the job ,it's clean when I leave it. There's no reason not to clean.

All extra materials are neatly stored, scraps are neatly piled, and all of our personal trash is put in a bag and put on my truck every day.

If people are living in the house I'm working on, I haul off all of the waste and debris, rake the grass, and I even take my mixer home every day, and clean it at my shop.

Am I a clean freak? Yep....and my competition around here isn't! :thumbsup:

The people I work for have came to expect that. Last year, one of the contractors I've been doing work for 10 years, called me the day after I had completed the job and told me he saw some cigarette butts around the job site. ( I had one guy that would smoke a cigarette on his break) So I drive 45 minutes ...and found 2 butts!!!! :whistling

I picked them up and called him and thanked him for letting me know...I'm still doing his masonry work:laughing:
 
#18 ·
Thats messed up. Call over a couple cigarette butts? Pick em up dude, and then let em know :laughing:

Our mason is the son of the mason who did my grandads masonry in the early 70s thru his retirement. This guy took his dads business over and blew it up, they have 40 guys. They clean up pretty good, and we haul off/ take care of what ever sand they dont take with them. Do they vacuum the mortar and rock chips up? No. But we dont expect or pay them too. Works for us. :thumbsup:
 
#19 · (Edited)
Amount of cleanup depends largely on whether it's on new construction or a reno.

Reno of course everything is **** and span when we're done, often cleaner than when I get there, but new construction (or even substantial reno)is totally different. the ground I'm working on usually consist of gravel, and very roughly graded soil that often contains clean fill which masonry waste is. Cement bags and personal garbage get thrown in the dumpster promptly but the large masonry waste gets consolidated into piles and the small pieces (anything smaller than my fist) gets left where it is. I have never had a builder who complains or has even asked for anything else.

Sometimes they will want all the masonry waste in one spot which isn't a problem but I definitely have no intention of taking that waste with me. If it was expected I would probably voice my confusion and displeasure about the need to, do it, and let them know that next time I'd add it to my bill

I do tidy everyday as part of house cleaning because I believe that large pieces of masonry are trip hazards and ankle twisters. And coke cans, sandwich wrappers that are just dropped on the ground aren't tolerated at all.

I should also add that almost every house that has masonry that I've done reno work on has masonry rubble in the soil about 6-8" down. Even many of the old houses...i did some work on a rubble foundation this summer and there was top soil, then mixed soil and rubble then sand. the brick was obviously from when the house was built at the turn of the century
 
#22 ·
It is. Its just more efficient to delegate that to the subs. :laughing:

We have to clean after every sub except MEPs. Their standard isnt our standard, and thats cool. Our drywall sub is pretty clean for a drywall guy, but not as clean as you :thumbsup:

Thats why I dont worry about little debris outside like I said, gets fine graded anyway.
 
#25 ·
I'm more likely to talk about it than just get pissed. I don't sub anywhere near as much as you do so I lay out all the expectations every time as they may have forgotten how I work. Most jobs I tell the subs to leave their mess if they're finishing earlier in the day than we are and that I expect them to charge accordingly.

I do have one sub that will charge substantially more if I just ask him for a bill at the end. I always ask him for a bid or to remind me of his rate before he starts T&M. I don't think he's really TRYING to gauge me, it's just the way he figures his time when he's not really paying attention.

I recently wrote off a drywall sub because I addressed callback procedure for touch-ups and he said he's never had a call back which I took to mean, he doesn't want to do them. I've used him before and his work was very expensive but very good. This time, his hangers messed up a lot of stuff and buried THREE boxes. I also had to do a fair bit of sanding. At his price, I won't be calling him again.

You've been around long enough to burn some bridges if you want to Joasis. Frankly, he'll be a better sub for the next guy thanks to you. Unless he's a total dope, that is.
 
#33 ·
Clean up is not in my base price, I will pile it up for you but will charge accordingly. Washing and cleaning of the brick/stone on the wall is included in base price but I know guys that even charge for that. None of the contractor's I know around here clean up, it has always been the clean up man's job.
 
#38 ·
I don't wash down the brick unless it needs it. The brick Joasis posted in his pic should never need washed as it hides mortar stains like camo. I do not price washing in the job because we do not stain the brick while laying. Some brick will show stains more readily and I wash that brick with out charging cause I like a clean looking job. I figure if you do a nice job laying them, then there is no need to abuse the brick with a wash down.

I could not compete with the prices Joasis posted, so I guess a move to Oklahoma is out of the question.

As far as clean up on site, I will put it where the general wants it and I charge to haul it off. I don't clean up under the scaffold til it gets moved, so it can get a little hairy under there for a couple of days. I don't like a bunch of scraps laying around waiting to twist an ankle so stuff gets picked up pretty quick.

Personal trash goes home where it came from, sometimes we keep a burn barrel on site to burn bags and other trash. Out here in God's country we can still burn without the police showing up. I get really upset if a guy leaves his pop can, or trash laying around. Second time it happens is the last time it happens.
 
#40 ·
Around here if you don't clean up you won't have many customers . Sometimes if I bring my dump trailer the customer is paying for a load to the dump I will pick up all the scraps from other trades until that trailer is dam full so the customer gets what they pay for . It sounds to me like this guy knew he was pulling some low ball stunts and only tried to save himself when you got sick of it . Right now since there is a lot of work guys are turning into pre-madonnas but when work slows down they will be back wanting to help out anyway they can
 
#62 ·
I used to trim production tract boxes in Bastrop as a side gig on weekends when I was in commercial for a day job. Me and my partner would trim one almost every Saturday.

Anyway, they were the messiest sites I have ever seen. No dumpster, the trash was piled in front of the garage and scraped into a dump truck at the end of the job. All stain concrete floors, masonite covered. There was 6" of crap and drywall on the floors when we showed. One guy would set doors and install sills and sashes, and the other would spend the first 2 hours cutting back the masonite 6" and scraping the drywall back with a speed square. It was pathetic. Lol. Guy built about 40 a year then at that time, built in about 80 days and sold before they were finished often.
 
#65 ·
I tend to agree with dom-mas,masonry "debris" can easily be dealt with on site,especially if the building being built is a true masonry building,not a wooden building disguised to look like it is built of a more prestigious material than mere wood.


We take all our "debris" broken brick,block,mortar piles etc. and fill the block cores so when we grout under bearing points the grout stays put.

We create more problems for ourselves and more disposal issues when we choose to not build in an authentic way.


Several years ago,a contractor friend of mine paired up with me ,we built three 1,600 sq. ft. solid masonry spec. homes side by side and never even had a dumpster on site !

There have been too numerous to mention articles in trade publications explaining how to build a home WITHOUT a need for a dumpster,that one just needs to do a little searching.


Aside from that,here is one that depicts the framing of a 60,000 sq.ft. project,please note very last photo,all the "debris" could fit in a S-10 pick-up truck !

I do not know about others I'd prefer to put the $600 in my blue jeans than hand it over to a garbage man any day.




http://www.jlconline.com/Images/Framing with Pre-Cut Components_tcm96-1087703.pdf
 
#67 ·
I tend to agree with dom-mas,masonry "debris" can easily be dealt with on site,especially if the building being built is a true masonry building,not a wooden building disguised to look like it is built of a more prestigious material than mere wood.


We take all our "debris" broken brick,block,mortar piles etc. and fill the block cores so when we grout under bearing points the grout stays put.

We create more problems for ourselves and more disposal issues when we choose to not build in an authentic way.


Several years ago,a contractor friend of mine paired up with me ,we built three 1,600 sq. ft. solid masonry spec. homes side by side and never even had a dumpster on site !

There have been too numerous to mention articles in trade publications explaining how to build a home WITHOUT a need for a dumpster,that one just needs to do a little searching.


Aside from that,here is one that depicts the framing of a 60,000 sq.ft. project,please note very last photo,all the "debris" could fit in a S-10 pick-up truck !

I do not know about others I'd prefer to put the $600 in my blue jeans than hand it over to a garbage man any day.

http://www.jlconline.com/Images/Framing with Pre-Cut Components_tcm96-1087703.pdf
This is the thinking that changes the industry and how we do things. Thanks for sharing!
 
#68 ·
I wasn't clear, I was not saying haul away, but rather pick up all full bricks and place them on a pallet, or whatever, and rake up, at least into piles, all broken pieces. We always have a dumpster on site for debris. The cost is the same for 2 tons or 5 tons.
 
#70 ·
Always clean up. With some builders (and homeowners), you could build the Taj Mahal, and if it was a mess, that's all they'd see.

It looks professional, it's easier to walk around, and it's easier to work around.

All the great tenders/helpers/hod carriers are high energy, constant motion though, so keeping a job clean should never be a problem.....
 
#72 ·
We always clean our job site up. Pick up is done daily, and a thorough cleaning is done Friday before we leave in case some one walks around. This way we don't look like slobs.

We also give the walls quick wash before we tear the scaffold down. I don't charge extra for this stuff.
 
#73 ·
6stringmason said:
We always clean our job site up. Pick up is done daily, and a thorough cleaning is done Friday before we leave in case some one walks around. This way we don't look like slobs. We also give the walls quick wash before we tear the scaffold down. I don't charge extra for this stuff.
Just to clarify I don't haul stuff away. We throw our junk in the dumpster, stack our pallets, and organize material for pick up
 
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