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Gentlemen;
My vote goes to the bricklayers, turned superintendent, and second place goes to the former building inspectors, both of these from my observation have a hard time telling shinola from the stuff porta-lets are furnished for.
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The worst by far would have been me when I was 20.
A Newbie framer turned trimmer turned super. I took a commercial job and had to lowball everything. I won't give too many details but I will tell you I had a horrible temper and fired no less than 5 of the 15 original contractors(Low Bids--go figure), for incompetance. I actually had one try to hit me with a shovel and the drywaller tried to shoot me with my own nail gun...The moral is "if you're going to shoot someone...make sure you know how to use the weapon", he survived. However I wish someone would have beaten me over the head for taking such a no win job.
*Blue, It's ironic but,a remodeler would make a decent super ?
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The original question was who makes the worst super.
If you want to vote on who makes the best super the answer would be a kindergarden teacher with a damn big stick.
*Lawrence, guts my man. My hat is off to you.As the old Hungarian saying went: "Too soon oldt, too late schmart." (I heard it from an old Hungarian.)
*C'mon Lawrence, what's a good story without the details?!Spit 'em out!Blue<
*That's funny Gabe!There's a lot of truth in that statment too!Blue<
*The Worst super was my Father In Law (hope the wife dosn't see this) he is an acrhitech thinks he knows how to build came very close to killing him. We get along now that I live 2 hours away.
*Here's your details. The guy that tried to hit me over the head with a shovel: former wanna be pro wrestler at the time labourer, lazy, closet gay guy...you see where this is going? Just gruesome. I gave him three warnings but when he tried to hug the homophobic plumber I had to fire him and ask him to leave right there,(ask since he was a modest 270lbs).He became beligerant, we faced off, he gave in, he chased me with the shovel, I broke the shovel, I chased him. Next; Drywaller. After several application and framing problems and offering for him to go of his own accord, twice leaving for a number of days immedietly after getting a draw I discovered he had applied corner bead to a hanging bulkhead about 200' in length and not only was it upto 5 " out of level but he was overlapping the corner bead by 6". Can you imagine the reaction from an ultra violant 20 year old super who abhorr's incompetance. Abuse spewed from every pore. I wanted him gone and NoW!!! His son the karate expert took a run at me, my carpenter tripped him on route and the whole thing got out of hand...air gun and all. One of my carpenters took the young lad out for an education(which I knew nothing about). This job still makes me chuckle...It boardered on the rediculous. If anyone is bidding on a newspaper just remember that contra is bad news. We finished 15000 square feet of offices in a matter of 5 weeks from dirt floors and block wall...derelect building to moving the furniture in on time, within 2000.00 of final budget, however low bids caused more hassel than I would ever care to deal with ever. 10 years later the temper is almost non existant and I'm starting to actually enjoy the business. Ya Ya Too much detail huh!
*Stubby trade you mine for yours
*You can have mine. . . free. . . gratis. . . i'll pay the f**kin shipping.
*I'll pay the shipping on mine and thru in a weeks worth of clean underware and a case of your favorite beer
*I don't wanna know about the underwear, but I'll double the beer ration, and considering that I'm talkin about Canadian beer, not Americade, you do the math on the real value!!! LOL
*Pat I've given up on beer and now go directly to 80 proof and pink grapefruiet juice
*Do my best biding after two of those
*BillWeren't we bidding to somei otherguy for the father-in-law removal thing?? This board is getting waaay confusing. . . cross threaded, flame broiled, gut wrenched, glossed over, bafflegabbed, wife infused. . .Now about this i proofthing (are we talkin about Rum here?). . . more problems. Not only is our beer and f/g better, but we have a whole nuther way of determiningi proof, not to mentioni guage(as in steel), and uh. . . just got interupted, can't remember where I was goin' with this thing-Patrick
*No Rum, just one of your better imports of Canadian Club. Figure I'm doing my part to help the dollar thing up there.
*BillNo wonder you're mixing it with i grapefruit juice??Canadian Club is considered i bar ryekinda cheap and watery. Now if you wanna try some i goodrye, the kind that, maybe, you mix with a litttle water, get hold of some Seagrams "Crown Royal".Ya got good taste for a Yank. . . just needs a little refining!! LOL-Patrick
*pat you forget that i work for a living and crown royal is to pricey for me.
*BillYa otta try buyin' it with Canadian .$$$Go ahead, treat yourself. . . you'll be glad you did. . . you only live once(?).-Patrick
*hell we used to make our own until the area started to fill up around here. SO now we have to use that store bought stuff
*Hey, Bill, we're still in business here in Cape Breton (if you know a guy who knows a guy). Just had some from Newfoundland that would but Blue on the floor. practising up with the patented Cape breton lobster slap.
*Bill 'n AdrianHootch is hootch, but Crown Royal is a i drink.
*Patrick you're all wrong, Crown Royal is "an elixir to be savoured".
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Haven't you boys ever tried twelve year old Irish Exsistentialism? You'll never go back. It's what I requested when I was in labor, d**n quack said no, almost kicked his nose out his ears... We can get ours in trade for good steaks.
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Gabe
As much as I like Crown Royal I think your superlative "an elixir to be savoured" rightly belongs to Remy Martin Cognac.
Sippin' and savourin' as we. . . read!!!
*i . . . "twelve year old Irish Exsistentialism"Would that be Jameson's or Bushmills ??
*Patrick, do you think for one minute, that if I had a bottle of Remy Martin Cognac, I'd be foolish enough to anounce it on this post? Look over your shoulder, we're coming over, for a wee sip!
*GabeYa weren't quick enough sport. . .never answer the door after 11:00pm. . . hang over from my city livin' days. . . next time (gotta hide that bottle)
*
Last summer I framed a house for a new superintendent. I hate training new supers, but the builder was an old friend of mine, so I thought I's give it a try, even though I know better.
Anyways, I'll make a long story short (to please the inpatient JOe F), he was an ex drywall hanger, and didn't have a clue about anything else. Of course he was going to pick apart the frame (so what else is new?)!
So he decided to teach my rookie how to nail bucks together. He grabbed his hammer and started whacking the first nail in, and the hammer bounced off the buck and smacked him square in the forehead!
Does this sound like the type of guy that makes a good superintendent?
*Those who can, do. Those who can't......:)Rich Beckman
*I did a job once that had a PAINTER as a super.Need I say more?cc
*b where are these guy's coming from now anyway? The best that I have worked for have been old carpenters who stayed five steps ahead on things. The worest were 23 tear olds out of college who worked in the trades during breaks. (Nothing againest a piece of paper to hang on the wall have one myself )In no order are the ones who scare me the mostField enginersself taught buildersplumbersdrywall peopleglass peoplesalesmanmost anyone who isn't a carpenterb Ok toast me if you must
*Blue, only one question,Was there a change in his comprehension AFTER the blow on the forehead?The worst supers are the owners.
*Where do Lawyers fall on your list?
*You are going to love this. I am an engineer and a residential remodeler. I work for engineers part time, run my remodeling business the rest. The engineers I work for, one being my dad, have a very limited concept of residential construction but think they could walk onto a framing job and take charge. Im also a semi- self taught builder. I worked for builders during the summer, yes in college, did my share of building (and blowing up!!) in the military, and have also worked for some builders where I work. I jump at any opportunity to learn from the "old timers", take pride in my work, am not afraid to admit it when I dont know something, and am smart enough to find out how not just to do it but to do it right. The kind of supers I hate working for are the ones who are always right even when theyre wrong and use the line, "good enough" far too often. Maybe thats why I love working for myself. Kind of got off track....sorry Joe.De Opresso Libre.Dave
*Gentlemen; My vote goes to the bricklayers, turned superintendent, and second place goes to the former building inspectors, both of these from my observation have a hard time telling shinola from the stuff porta-lets are furnished for.
*The worst supers are the one's who usually dress the part.Joseph FuscoView Image
*You guys are missing one very bad example of a good supe. What about the son of the boss/manager/carpenter? Usually, this situation occurs in small business, but can be found in big union companies as well.I was on a job for several months on a military installation. I subbed to the prime who was a multimillion dollar company. The supe decided he had way too much work so he put his 19 year old son in the position, unsupervised! The military inspectors were not only aware of the situation, but they condoned it.The first couple of weeks the boy tried to give orders to the workmen, but we just ignored him. Finally, someone must've straightened him out but good, because he started to make himself scarce on the job. As long as he was riding around the base in his shiny new truck we were happy.Unbelievably, the rational for putting him "in charge" was so he could make more money so he could pay of his new 4x4 truck.