Here’s a link to the article if you’d like to check it out yourself. It was in the Sun News here in Myrtle Beach SC. The writer Lorena Anderson did a great job and even scored the front page!

Don’t get me wrong. I’m so happy the guy survived and that he escaped permanent spinal injury, but here’s what I was really curious, irritated, or scared about…

•  He built his own scaffolding, which likely did not meet code, even though he was working for a supposedly professional and reputable roofing company
• His scaffold railing gave way when he grabbed for it, which is exactly what it is not supposed to do
• Every year something bad happens to him or his wife on December 6? Sounds kinda weird!
• Temp jobs, followed by unemployment, followed by a car wreck, followed by disability, followed by a temp job. This sounds fishy to me!
• Not wearing a harness while working on a roof? I hope OSHA, John Anderson Roofing’s workers comp carrier, and the homeowner’s property insurance don’t see the article

On the surface it sounds like a good guy just can’t get a break. I hate to just assume the worst, but if you take out all the Christmas wishes and fluff and look at the facts, it almost sounds like a guy that’s just looking for a payday, insurance and disability style. His lifestyle, plus past events, plus the fact that he fell off the lowest point of a roof while not wearing a harness and missed everything that could’ve killed him almost smacks of something that might’ve been done on purpose.

I hope that isn’t true. I really do. I hope George Welsh is just a normal working guy who had a run of bad luck. I hope he has a full recovery and finds a stable job doing some kind of construction work at ground level. I hope his family is able to have a great Christmas with him at the hospital.

Let’s say the original business is “Jim’s Remodeling Company”.

The manager started a business called “Big Jim’s Remodeling Company”.

That’s right. All he did was add an extra word to the front of the other name.

Oh, life is fun, especially when my competitors cause problems that send customers my way.

It wants me to sign up and manage my business account online. Not a bad idea, except for one of their bullet point statements- “Protect your identity by eliminating your paper trail.”

I just don’t believe this part. How many times has someone’s identity been stolen or their business information absconded with through an online source or lost or stolen computer? I’ve had it happen several times to me, including when that information was stolen from a government computer.

My paper trail? I can personally vouch for the safety of my paper trail, and I trust my paper security much better than I trust Lowe’s.

Don’t get me wrong though. I’ll probably sign up for the online management and do it all online. I just want to go on record by saying that shredding the papers, burning the shredded remains, soaking the ashes in acid and reburning them, seperating the smaller pile of ashes into small bags, burning the small bags soaked in lighter fluid in seperate locations, and dispersing the even smaller ashes into seperate bodies of water is a better way to manage my paper security.

What do you think?

So what do you think? What would you change about her to make it more realistic?

When most people decide to get rid of a swimming pool, they simply fill it in with dirt or concrete. This can be pretty expensive and also ruins the ability for any future owners to use the pool. The article described a deck builder who started building custom decks that fit the shape of the pool. It leaves the pool available for future owners but solves the problem for the present owners who no longer want it or can’t afford the maintenance.

It’s safe and it works!

I complained a while back to our local Horry-Georgetown Homebuilders Association about how they never do anything for the remodeling firms who are members. I mean, sure, they want our dues, want us to volunteer, want us to support their legislative political action committees, and join in with everything else, but they do absolutely nothing to support the remodelers.

I thought they took my complaint seriously because shortly after, they decided to form a remodeling council within the main group to look after our needs. When the director called me and asked for my assistance as a volunteer for the council, my first question was, who’s running it?

Her answer…

Can you see this one coming…

The chair and vice chair are two of the most prominent HOME BUILDERS in the area. Let me get this right, the builders are running the remodeling council, I asked. She replied that they were getting into remodeling as well. 

So here’s the final tally. The HGHBA is still not doing anything for the remodelers, the builders are running the remodeling council, and the builders are moving into our market using the impetus of the new council to boost their entry.

One more reason for the lack of respect and distrust that exists between pretty much everybody and the general contractors.

I’m just upset my company didn’t get this contract.

For an extra bit of trivia- astronaut helmets are made from the same polycarbonate materials that some of our windows, skylights, and hurricane panels are made of.

For do-it-yourselfers and weekend handymen, the occassional vibrations and rattlings from hand power tools damage the circulatory system.

The actions from the tools actually damage the blood vessels in the hands and feet.

Yet another reason to hire a professional contractor like me to do the work for you. I love it when scientific research provides me with job security.

Their legacy includes the clothespin, circular saw, and drying rack. I don’t know what we’d do today without a circular saw. I guess, someone would’ve invented it sometime, but it sure does make life on the jobsite easier and quicker.

Shakers strove for perfection in their work, equating quality of craftmanship with spiritual devotion.

As a construction professional, it’s easy to dwell on nothing but the current project underway and looking to sell the next one. It’s nice sometimes to take a break and see where things came from.

“One of the first things Griffith does when he arrives at work is to remove his Crocs. He then proceeds to carry out his day, in a workshop full of screws, nails, razor blades, and wood chips, barefoot.

“There are two theories on safety,” he pronounces. “There’s the SUV model: You wear steel-toed boots and helmets and just survive the injury. Or you go naked, and you’re hyper-aware of your surroundings. That’s ninja style. I’m ninja.”

So Saul Griffith works barefoot in a workshop.

“Don’t tell OSHA.”

We keep a clean shop at our warehouse, but we don’t go ninja…yet.

Source- Saul’s House of Cool Ideas by Josh Dean. Inc. magazine. February 2010. page 72