Club 80-90 Forums

Posted: **05 Jun 2012, 23:48**

Our friend has recommended PVC edged something, sry to be vague but it's all been a bit confusing! What would you recommend?

Posted: **06 Jun 2012, 00:56**

R0B wrote:Assuming his day is 8hrs.Hes charging you nearly £19 an hour.Garages usually charge a lot more than this.So all things being equal.Hes not that expensive.Still a lot of dosh though.And what happens if the jobs not completed in two days?

He's not a garage, he's an individual, and unless he's exceptional I'd be looking at £10 an hr, not mates rates, cos mates rates would be £8 an hr, but i know, I'm a cheapskate

Posted: **06 Jun 2012, 06:44**

Have you had a look at this page in the Wiki?
https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Ca ... s_and_beds" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Someone else has already done much of the hard work and drawn it out for you.
And whats more because this is 80-90 ther is no charge.
Then draw yourself a cutting pattern on a piece of paper before popping down to a big B&Q or similar where they will cut it out for you from 8x4 sheets. At my local B&Q the first 15 cuts are free.

Mike

Posted: **06 Jun 2012, 07:07**

Cheers Dan & Mike.

Posted: **06 Jun 2012, 07:23**

Here are some photos of that setup (they are my drawings).

It provides a good low cost solution for the van.
The 3/4 bed is wide enough for 2 and there is more than enough storage space.
I did not fit a fridge in to the main cupboard as intended by Reimo.

In the kit that I bought all the wooden panels are Poplar plywood which very soft.
After a few years the fronts were getting scabby so I replaced the two front units with these.

This time I went for a roll out cool box.

And updated the rear with this.

Posted: **06 Jun 2012, 07:25**

I also meant to say that the 2 front cupboards are now flat packed in my cellar.
You could have them but getting them to you would be difficult.

Posted: **06 Jun 2012, 08:13**

dansimpson wrote:
R0B wrote:Assuming his day is 8hrs.Hes charging you nearly £19 an hour.Garages usually charge a lot more than this.So all things being equal.Hes not that expensive.Still a lot of dosh though.And what happens if the jobs not completed in two days?

He's not a garage, he's an individual, and unless he's exceptional I'd be looking at £10 an hr, not mates rates, cos mates rates would be £8 an hr, but i know, I'm a cheapskate

But you will have to use all of your tools, pick him up and collect him, if he wrecks your van some how you will have to pay yourself as he does not have to use his insurance and cash of course as he will have to pay tax!!!!!
What planet are you living on? What is the average rate of a mobile mechanic vs a garage? The same. If your company gets to the size that you are not an individual then why should you charge more? you should have more customers!!!!!
£10 an hour is on the cards money and we all know what they are like. Stand around drinking tea and discussing the job for most of the day. If he is a tradesman of worth then he will work flat out all day like most selfemployed people do and the outcome will be easily worth £19 an hour.

Posted: **06 Jun 2012, 09:48**

Just Dash wrote:Our friend has recommended PVC edged something, sry to be vague but it's all been a bit confusing! What would you recommend?

I'd probably go for 18mm ply, and 12mm for shelves, drawers, doors etc Maybe finish top with Formica but that wouldn't be essential. No reason why a nice worktop offcut wouldn't work though.
Having looked at the plans in the wiki + example of finished article, I'd be inclined to take advice from Mr Duxass, looks tidy

.

One thing I would suggest is that if you go to b&q, make sure your saw operator makes the right cuts to get the most out of the ply that you're paying for. Planning the cuts for each sheet carefully will save you money + only 3 cuts free round here. However I'd advise going down to Jewsons with a list of dimensions for each piece you want cut. In my opinion they're more likely to get the most out of a sheet for you + don't charge on any number of cuts. They might also be able to order you ply with a laminate already applied to it, but this would obviously cost a bit extra.

Posted: **06 Jun 2012, 22:24**

£150 a day for any trade is reasonable around here in fact that would be for cash.

Posted: **08 Jun 2012, 17:37**

Just Dash wrote:Our friend has recommended PVC edged something, sry to be vague but it's all been a bit confusing! What would you recommend?

Melamine with PVC edgebanding perhaps?

It's what most professional stuff, flat pack units and such are made from.

(I'm a cabinet maker)

It's a major pain in the behind to do edgebanding yourself without the tools, you'll struggle to get a good result and the thin, iron-on stuff (all you'll be able to use) is not very robust.

Profiled edging strip that has a tongue which fits into a slot machined into the edge of the panel is perhaps a better option and pretty hard-wearing, all you need is a router and a horizontal slot cutter (normally 4mm), you're probably going to need a router anyway to shape the panels to the van.

15mm ply would probably be a good compromise between weight and strength, I'd avoid chipboard like the plague, it doesn't like moisture, ditto MDF.

If you're patient and have a steady hand, the only tools you'll need are a router, a big, flat table with some kind of sacrifical surface, a long straight-edge (builder's rule, very cheap), some clamps and a drill/screwdriver.

You can cut out just about any shape with a router, it's slow and you'll kill a few router bits, but it's an option. Alternatively, a circular saw can be had for the price of a few router bits and will be plenty good enough for straight cuts. Again, run it against a straight-edge to keep your cuts straight.

Personally, I'd buy full panels and cut them at home, if you do get them cut in the shop, make sure your design is 100% sorted beforehand, as there's no going back.

Good luck, anyway.

I'm currently in the mock-up/making-my-mind-up phase of my interior, hence it's all built from scrap and offcuts, zero cost other than time.

Posted: **08 Jun 2012, 19:40**

Thanks for that

I'm passing all this info to Hubby. Cheers

Posted: **09 Jun 2012, 19:03**

i dont think £150 a day is expensive for a self employed joiner. reading your posts he's not self employed and this is a cash out of hours job? im a joiner and have been for over 30yrs

what you need to do is buy a sheet of 4mm ply 1200mm x 600mm from b n q cost about £6. borrow a jig saw and try and scribe it to the side of van, this will give you about 10 practice goes and get you used to using the jig saw and used to marking out. when you are happy with scribe you can save it and use it to mark out your finish ply. mark out the scribe on the finish side and use a downward cutting blade in the jig saw.

i wouldnt use a router unless you can use one. without the correct jigs for the van scribes you will struggle. 18mm ply will take at least 4 passes with a router. the finish will be better with a router but you might use twice as much ply (mistakes etc) and have one or two fingers missing.

i think i would spend 1/2 a day making templates and another 1 to 1 1/2 days to construct the units then 1/2 to a day to fit them. so to be safe id say that 3 days will be needed.

when i price a job and i dont really want it for one reason or another i usually go high on the price.

good luck with it

mark

Posted: **09 Jun 2012, 20:12**

Just Dash wrote:Hello again,
I've decided to do a home-brew interior and asked a joiner friend of a friend if he could help with the measuring, scribing & fitting of the units. He has told us he will do as much as he can in 2 days for a fee of £150 per day, we have to pay for materials on top of this too. I don't mean any disrespect but do joiners generally earn more than £150 per day?as this is supposed to be a favour to us but I wasn't really expecting a bill of this size.
As usual any input would be greatly appreciated.
Debbie

Hi Debbie,

I am in the building trade myself (plasterer) and £150 per day is the absolute minimum I would work for and a mates rate (or I dont have much on and would rather get some money than no money).

As far as all the trades go most of them can be done by following instructions that come on packaging and has a kind of pecking order in the skill scale, for example, starting the bottom up..

Laborer, fills skips, digs holes and makes tea.
Carpenter, basically a keen chap who is too rough to be a Joiner and uses grip fill and expanding foam lots.
Electrician, has instructions on how to fit pretty much everything they fit on the box it comes in but you need a certificate so they bump it up abit.
Plumber, has instructions on how to fit pretty much everything they fit on the box it comes in especially shower screens etc.
Heating engineer, doesnt do plumbing and breaths through his/her teeth alot, like the Electrician but with a newer van.
Plasterer, a skill and sorts out all the mess/pissed/smashed out this and that all the previous trades have done and unlike the others no intructions to follow

Joiner, like the plasterer a finishing job and a skill with a great amount of detail. If a joiner mitres something you cant see the join, everything they do is precision and the tools they use are worth thousands of pounds.

Have a go by all means but I have seen loads of home brew conversions on vans that the finish of them is rubbish and made worse by using all sorts of rubber strips to cover up bad cuts etc. It reminds me of seeing something about this time last year on a van that looked OK from five metres away but if you got up close it looked like they had grabbed the tail of a shark and it had chomped its way through the "joinery" and stuck "trim" on to cover it up

Sorry for the rambled reply but £150 isnt bad at all really.

Good luck

jed

Posted: **09 Jun 2012, 20:17**

jed the spread wrote:
Just Dash wrote:Hello again,
I've decided to do a home-brew interior and asked a joiner friend of a friend if he could help with the measuring, scribing & fitting of the units. He has told us he will do as much as he can in 2 days for a fee of £150 per day, we have to pay for materials on top of this too. I don't mean any disrespect but do joiners generally earn more than £150 per day?as this is supposed to be a favour to us but I wasn't really expecting a bill of this size.
As usual any input would be greatly appreciated.
Debbie

Hi Debbie,

I am in the building trade myself (plasterer) and £150 per day is the absolute minimum I would work for and a mates rate (or I dont have much on and would rather get some money than no money).

As far as all the trades go most of them can be done by following instructions that come on packaging and has a kind of pecking order in the skill scale, for example, starting the bottom up..

Laborer, fills skips, digs holes and makes tea.
Carpenter, basically a keen chap who is too rough to be a Joiner and uses grip fill and expanding foam lots.
Electrician, has to spend half a day hunting round and putting holes in the wall as the plasterer has filled up his socket box
Plumber, has instructions on how to fit pretty much everything they fit on the box it comes in especially shower screens etc.
Heating engineer, doesnt do plumbing and breaths through his/her teeth alot, like the Electrician but with a newer van.
Plasterer, a skill and sorts out all the mess/pissed/smashed out this and that all the previous trades have done and unlike the others no intructions to follow
Joiner, like the plasterer a finishing job and a skill with a great amount of detail. If a joiner mitres something you cant see the join, everything they do is precision and the tools they use are worth thousands of pounds.

Have a go by all means but I have seen loads of home brew conversions on vans that the finish of them is rubbish and made worse by using all sorts of rubber strips to cover up bad cuts etc. It reminds me of seeing something about this time last year on a van that looked OK from five metres away but if you got up close it looked like they had grabbed the tail of a shark and it had chomped its way through the "joinery" and stuck "trim" on to cover it up

Sorry for the rambled reply but £150 isnt bad at all really.

Good luck

jed

Posted: **09 Jun 2012, 20:26**

billybigspud wrote:
jed the spread wrote:
Just Dash wrote:Hello again,
I've decided to do a home-brew interior and asked a joiner friend of a friend if he could help with the measuring, scribing & fitting of the units. He has told us he will do as much as he can in 2 days for a fee of £150 per day, we have to pay for materials on top of this too. I don't mean any disrespect but do joiners generally earn more than £150 per day?as this is supposed to be a favour to us but I wasn't really expecting a bill of this size.
As usual any input would be greatly appreciated.
Debbie

Hi Debbie,

I am in the building trade myself (plasterer) and £150 per day is the absolute minimum I would work for and a mates rate (or I dont have much on and would rather get some money than no money).

As far as all the trades go most of them can be done by following instructions that come on packaging and has a kind of pecking order in the skill scale, for example, starting the bottom up..

Laborer, fills skips, digs holes and makes tea.
Carpenter, basically a keen chap who is too rough to be a Joiner and uses grip fill and expanding foam lots.
Electrician, has to spend half a day hunting round and putting holes in the wall as the plasterer has filled up his socket box
Plumber, has instructions on how to fit pretty much everything they fit on the box it comes in especially shower screens etc.
Heating engineer, has risen above being a plumber, infact as he is an engineer, he is much better than a mere tradesman
Plasterer, a skill and sorts out all the mess/pissed/smashed out this and that all the previous trades have done and unlike the others no intructions to follow
Joiner, like the plasterer a finishing job and a skill with a great amount of detail. If a joiner mitres something you cant see the join, everything they do is precision and the tools they use are worth thousands of pounds.

Have a go by all means but I have seen loads of home brew conversions on vans that the finish of them is rubbish and made worse by using all sorts of rubber strips to cover up bad cuts etc. It reminds me of seeing something about this time last year on a van that looked OK from five metres away but if you got up close it looked like they had grabbed the tail of a shark and it had chomped its way through the "joinery" and stuck "trim" on to cover it up

Sorry for the rambled reply but £150 isnt bad at all really.

Good luck

jed

Club 80-90 Forums

£150 per day as a favour???!!!

£150 per day as a favour???!!!

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£150 per day as a favour???!!!

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£150 per day as a favour???!!!

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