Trades & Labor Master Builder (Qualified)

Just a little insight on using an alternative method to build here using steel stud frames, easy to work with and good for a small practical house on one level, it would also be feasible to build a second floor with this but a good standard of engineering and bracing would be required to do this. The cavity in the walls can be filled with insulation. Using a 12mm Hardiflex for the outer walls really stiffens things up and makes for a sturdy build.

 

Dave a few questions.

How are you joining the studs, welding or tecksrews.

I'm assuming it is galvanized studs?

The yellow rope on the first photo is that holing up your water tower.

 

Actually the GI studs are just placed in position on the top and bottom rails and given a light crimp with a hole punch, later when the cladding was added they had a Hardidrive screws through the sheet and into the joins of the studs, done on both sides.

To join the studs before cladding is always a problem so it seems, if you do not use the exact material designed for the job with the recess for the fixing such as the prefab builds? on ordinary steel studs and mine are actually roof purling's fixings will always be raised and show on the face of the cladding boards, I did make an exception for the doors and windows, they had a pop rivet to hold them in place, but later had the screw fixing also.

 

Light Fittings; Yesterday I was at City Hardware to get a couple of wall lights for my Hall, I knew they have an extensive selection of lights there, however on looking around at this large collection that they do have, nothing much appealed to me apart from a couple that were fashioned in wood, they were plus P2K each, everything else was black, grey or shiny Chrome, even the cheap nasty ones were all P800 plus, but way up high at the top of the wall there was one fitting I could live with and wanted to examine it more closely in my hands, so I asked one of the two staff members to get me one, cannot do this they said; the in charge of lighting is on lunch and they do not know where this item will be in the store, so I about turned and then went next door to Robinson Builders, there I saw another light I could live with, so again I asked one of the 2 staff members attending to me if they have two of them, we don't know they said? the In Charge of the lighting is on day off and he is the only one who will know, I'm not making this up this actually happened in both stores, however it was a kind of a blessing? my wife knew a store called 8 star where they sell electrical hardware at reasonable prices and she popped in there to be informed they have a sister company called Light Matters at the bottom of the World view Hotel.

Now this is the start of a Fairy Tale, Light Matters; there I was given proper assistance from the Lady owner I assume? she did know her products, how refreshing it was to find someone that knows what they are talking about, my earlier frustration and anger just melted away, I found two Wall lights fashioned in wood and glass that I really liked, P700 each they would have been a bargain at twice the price.

 

It worked out that the incharge was not there, he would have probably said "sorry sir, no stock" and the frustation would have still been there (at least that was my experiance at both stores).
Good to know there is someplace else to try.

 

I must say something in favour of Polaris, my 480ltr Bestank was P8300 the same one in City Hardware is just short of 12K.

It really is a minefield out there in the world of building materials, it is not all that uncommon to see some places charging 30% more for the same item.

 

I think this problem of useless staff in most shops is down to the low wages and they are not paid on a commission basis so if an annoying customer asks them something that interrupts their conversation with their colleagues then the best and quickest way to get rid of them is to say don't know and can't find out.
At the end of the week they get the same peanuts whether they sell something or nothing.
My last experience at shitty hardware was when i was looking at floor tiles and asked how many of a certain design they had in stock as i knew the amount i needed to cover all our floors, the salespersons answer (without moving from the spot) was A LOT.
End of sale....

 

Before I comment on another reason for this I will say that there are excellent staff around who do make a significant effort to help. Often when I ask in a supermarket where to find an item they will stop what they are doing and show me (when really I only needed directions or a general area to search) - but perhaps they enjoy that interruption from the boring work of shelf-filling.

The issue which I find lacking here is good management - why are so many items not price-marked or the shelf is not price-marked and if it is then the price label sometimes refers to a nearby item and not the one it is located below. It is not difficult for a Manager to tour the store as if he/she is a customer and check these things - waiting for staff initiative is not the best policy or else Managers would not be needed.

But now to veer back on topic (saving me getting one of those coffin-edge icons from Mr R) - it is very useful to find people like @DAVE1952 giving input about huge variations within prices of building materials (something he knows a lot about) and this is a great function of this Forum.

For information, which many may know already, the concept of 'larger sizes = lowest per unit price' does not apply here and calculations need to be performed to find best value ('price per unit' labelling is not that difficult as computers are marvellous things!).

 

I have some shipping containers setup and this is what I will be using for the interior walls. I purchased 2 hand tools that act like a crimp for it. The tool pierces the studs and the punched piece wraps around and locks them together instead of going crazy using screws.

Here is an example of the tool.
https://shopee.ph/Metal-Studs-Naill...D2RPPQaj11zwXaKo4ubJ7ETp7zqDVRHhoCMw8QAvD_BwE

 

I have always had luck with Polaris, the pricing seemed to be reasonable and the workers that they have sent out have almost always worked excellent. Had 1 issue with a couple of concrete guys, I needed a pad poured and they ran out of sand, instead of telling me about it they were going to sit there till 4. I found the issue and loaded them up and took them to the nearest hardware and asked them to pick the sand they needed and we headed back to the house. That kind of annoyed me but I guess they were just general labor guys. The electricians I have dealt with from there were great.

I have only purchased a few things from City but each time I look for the item then see if I can find find a damaged one and get a discount lol. The last thing I purchased was a 3 ft step ladder that one of the hinges was bent, the asking price was 1500 and I got it for 900, so I can't really complain. Here they seem helpful and if you are looking at a high price item they almost fall over themselves to help you but if you are in the tool section of the small electrical they are rare as phoenix feathers.