Monday, September 25, 2017
Where the wind takes us...
A friend of mine made a comment on a social media post I'd made prompting me about my long neglected blog. Of course, he didn't need to make the comment for me to know I have a blog in desperate need of attention for it's crossed my mind many a time. I'm just busy. And tired. Come 8.30-9.00pm most nights and I'm spent with no energy to do anything.
So, it's been almost 2 years....what's happened?
Well, alot's happened, but alot remains the same as well.
Remember that commercial job I mentioned in my last post? The one that we finished and the clients decided not to pay us? Well, it ended up all the way in the Supreme Court where judgement was awarded against the client. Because they're the ones who owed the money to us (as a result of a previous judgement) and because they're the ones who applied to have the Supreme Court hear their appeal they were required to deposit the judgement amount in to the Court's trust account. The court released the funds to us within hours of the judgement being handed down.
Of course, the money is good to have, but I'm still sad (even after this long) that the relationship is gone. Our sons are still in school together. I still see them around the school circles that we mingle in. And it upsets me that things aren't - can't be - the way they were with these people. I'll never understand why they did what they did.
We finished the commercial job we got in the CBD fringe. It turned out beautifully. It's kept me personally quite busy. Working on securing the next opportunity now. We did have a beautiful job lined up, again on the fringe of the CBD - an awesome re-vamp of a high-rise building plus the addition of a few floors on top - but the client died and now we need to wait for the family in-fighting to end before works can commence.
I'm still at the gym working hard. But I've uncovered a self-sabotage aspect to my personality. Twice I've gotten myself to the point of being reasonably satisfied with the way I look, and then I'll go about and un-do the hard work I've done by stopping exercising and eating with complete abandon. And the real odd thing is that I don't realise I 'm doing it until a few weeks later and kick myself in the butt and press the re-set button. I'm just ending one of these self-sabotage stages now. It started 10 weeks ago when I was knocked off my feet for 4 weeks with the flu. Then for the next 6 weeks I just couldn't be bothered! So, back to the gym this week (and suffering for it - I'm so sore tonight).
TRS 2.0 still hasn't been launched. I haven't had the $$ to do so unfortunately. But I'm still working on it very, very slowly. It has social media presence now. And it turns out that the husband isn't as supportive of it as he'd originally led me to believe. All he thinks about is himself, and what will happen in his business! I guess I can understand that to a degree. But still, he's gotten to the point now where he just rolls his eyes at the mere mention of TRS 2.0. I'm over him. I'm over his business. It's honestly causing me mental health issues that I've found myself dealing with. Nothing extreme, but there's definitely a degree of depression lingering around that I've found difficult to shake.
And there you have it, my friends, two years in a very small nutshell.
I'm going to try and keep TTWP a little more updated moving forward....let's see how we go.
Till next time...
Monday, October 19, 2015
Just when you think everthing's going hunky dory...
Something comes and smacks you in the face as if to say "don't be so STUPID, girl!"
It's like taking two steps forwad, and then being pushed back one step.
My move to commercial work only has been good, on the whole. We picked up a factory relatively straight away, and then we picked up a commercial building on the fringe of the CBD which we're just starting now, and we've also picked up a juicy industrial subdivision complex with civil works as well. So we've got a nice pipeline till the end of next year we think.
Anyway....here's the thing...when you do a job you actually want to be paid, don't you? I certainly do. I'm not here to pay for the assets owned by someone else.
I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this factory job once or twice before. It's a rebuild after a fire. The fire happened in late 2013 and after the clients stuffed around with insurance assessors and goodness knows what else, we were contracted at the end of October 2014.
How we got the job was that we were friends of the owners. Our boys all go to the same school, and play in the same school sport teams and club sports teams. We've become family friends. Family friends means that our family and their family would get together regularly. We went away on holidays together. We all got along very well. The men had common sport threads. The wife and I just got along because we had very similar thoughts and values (or so I thought). So when it came time to find a builder they asked us if we wanted to tender.
Naturally we tendered, but it was made very clear to us that the insurance assessors would be running the tender and the client's have no say in the eventual appointed builder. I wouldn't expect it to be any other way. Needless to say, it was a very competative tender situation, but we won out in the end, and works commenced late October /early November, 2014.
With the exception of a 40-odd day delay due to something needing to be redesigned, things progressed very smoothly throughout the job. We sent the invoice to the client and the insurance assessor, and 7 or so days later, it was paid in full directly into my bank account. The job flowed nicely.
As the end of the job approached, on 02nd August to be exact, we had a family dinner combined business meeting with the client, and he looked at me fair and square in the eyes and said your money is safe.
YOUR MONEY IS SAFE.
Thank god I keep notes of meetings!
I submit my final progress claim and I hear nothing. A week goes by, nothing. Ten days goes by, no one is answering my emails. I start to wonder....
Finally I receive a phone call and a meeting is scheduled for 07th September. At this meeting I'm advised that the insurance company has closed their file and they have no money to fund the final progress claim (which was $436,000 in total). The client says that they've engaged a new accountant to go over their books as they're leaking money and they'll need to enter into a payment arrangement with us. They said they didn't know they were at their limits of their sums insured. How someone doesn't know this is beyond me. I send a progress claim each month that tells them what the adjusted contract sum is, how much they've paid and what's remaining as their cost to complete. They receive a report after each payment is made by the insurance assessor telling them what their sum insured is, how much has been paid out and the balance left. So how they can say they didn't know is beyond me! It's fraud - plain and simple.
Then, to add salt to the wound, they sold their home in the southern suburbs of Sydney for $2.1m. And they bought a new home in Inner West for $2.2m. They need a 10% deposit for that. Plus money for stampt duty as well.
We left the meeting with him saying that he'll submit a payment arrangement to us in writing within a few days. I immediately followed up with an email saying that we expect a payment of at least $230k to allow for payment to flow to the major subcontractors who are waiting to be paid, and the remaining $200k we can consider a slower arrangement to help them out.
That was on 07th September.
Today is 19th October and I still haven't received that payment arrangement in writing.
What I did receive was a telephone call saying his accountant will only authorise $10,000 per month.
All of a sudden I've put a shingle that says "BANK" on my front door? I don't fucking think so.
I told him no, and we ended up screaming at each other. I immediatley sent another email reiterating our previous position that we're willing to agree to $230k now with a slower arrangement for the remainder.
Haven't heard from them since.
But in the meantime their son tells my son "we've moved around the corner, but don't tell your parents". When my asked why their son said "i don't know but my parents said not to tell you".
Sadly, I've had to commence legal recovery action, and it hurts. It's making me very upset and I'm going down this path kicking and screaming, yet resolute to recover my funds. I had a relationship with these people. They were friends. The abuse of trust is crushing and heartbreaking.
Last week we filed our Statement of Claim in the courts against his company (my contract is with his company, and he has signed a personal guarantee). It's been stamped and returned, and today he was served. We're also filing a motion for Summary Judgement given the matter falls within the Securities of Payment Act and he hasn't provided us with a payment arrangement, so he's prohibited from lodging any form of defence against our action therefore we don't need to wait the 28 days for his defence before being awarded judgement.
Once we receive all those then we can apply to garnish his bank accounts and then proceed to wind up his company and force the disposal of the company owned assets - which according to them should fetch about $4.5m on the open market - but they do have debt over them.
And failing that, we need to also go after him personally under the personal guarantee. He'll have nothing because once the company is folded then he has no source of income therefore no means of meeting his mortgage obligations on the house he bought in the Inner West.
Sadly, I think he may be well and truly fucked....
But in the meantime, so am I. I have a job in the CBD that I need to fund and I have subcontractors that I need to pay who worked on the factory job. I can't do both. All my money is sitting in that job.
Despite all the law I have on my side I have little chance of recovering my funds. Once the banks get wind of what's going on they'll foreclose and sell for a song....they only care about themselves, no one else.
This industry MUST CHANGE. The builders can not continue to take financial risk on other people's assets - it just doesn't make sense. Sadly, no one has the balls to do anything about it - not industry, not government. And what can I do...I'm just one lonely female voice.
Till next time....
It's like taking two steps forwad, and then being pushed back one step.
My move to commercial work only has been good, on the whole. We picked up a factory relatively straight away, and then we picked up a commercial building on the fringe of the CBD which we're just starting now, and we've also picked up a juicy industrial subdivision complex with civil works as well. So we've got a nice pipeline till the end of next year we think.
Anyway....here's the thing...when you do a job you actually want to be paid, don't you? I certainly do. I'm not here to pay for the assets owned by someone else.
I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this factory job once or twice before. It's a rebuild after a fire. The fire happened in late 2013 and after the clients stuffed around with insurance assessors and goodness knows what else, we were contracted at the end of October 2014.
How we got the job was that we were friends of the owners. Our boys all go to the same school, and play in the same school sport teams and club sports teams. We've become family friends. Family friends means that our family and their family would get together regularly. We went away on holidays together. We all got along very well. The men had common sport threads. The wife and I just got along because we had very similar thoughts and values (or so I thought). So when it came time to find a builder they asked us if we wanted to tender.
Naturally we tendered, but it was made very clear to us that the insurance assessors would be running the tender and the client's have no say in the eventual appointed builder. I wouldn't expect it to be any other way. Needless to say, it was a very competative tender situation, but we won out in the end, and works commenced late October /early November, 2014.
With the exception of a 40-odd day delay due to something needing to be redesigned, things progressed very smoothly throughout the job. We sent the invoice to the client and the insurance assessor, and 7 or so days later, it was paid in full directly into my bank account. The job flowed nicely.
As the end of the job approached, on 02nd August to be exact, we had a family dinner combined business meeting with the client, and he looked at me fair and square in the eyes and said your money is safe.
YOUR MONEY IS SAFE.
Thank god I keep notes of meetings!
I submit my final progress claim and I hear nothing. A week goes by, nothing. Ten days goes by, no one is answering my emails. I start to wonder....
Finally I receive a phone call and a meeting is scheduled for 07th September. At this meeting I'm advised that the insurance company has closed their file and they have no money to fund the final progress claim (which was $436,000 in total). The client says that they've engaged a new accountant to go over their books as they're leaking money and they'll need to enter into a payment arrangement with us. They said they didn't know they were at their limits of their sums insured. How someone doesn't know this is beyond me. I send a progress claim each month that tells them what the adjusted contract sum is, how much they've paid and what's remaining as their cost to complete. They receive a report after each payment is made by the insurance assessor telling them what their sum insured is, how much has been paid out and the balance left. So how they can say they didn't know is beyond me! It's fraud - plain and simple.
Then, to add salt to the wound, they sold their home in the southern suburbs of Sydney for $2.1m. And they bought a new home in Inner West for $2.2m. They need a 10% deposit for that. Plus money for stampt duty as well.
We left the meeting with him saying that he'll submit a payment arrangement to us in writing within a few days. I immediately followed up with an email saying that we expect a payment of at least $230k to allow for payment to flow to the major subcontractors who are waiting to be paid, and the remaining $200k we can consider a slower arrangement to help them out.
That was on 07th September.
Today is 19th October and I still haven't received that payment arrangement in writing.
What I did receive was a telephone call saying his accountant will only authorise $10,000 per month.
All of a sudden I've put a shingle that says "BANK" on my front door? I don't fucking think so.
I told him no, and we ended up screaming at each other. I immediatley sent another email reiterating our previous position that we're willing to agree to $230k now with a slower arrangement for the remainder.
Haven't heard from them since.
But in the meantime their son tells my son "we've moved around the corner, but don't tell your parents". When my asked why their son said "i don't know but my parents said not to tell you".
Sadly, I've had to commence legal recovery action, and it hurts. It's making me very upset and I'm going down this path kicking and screaming, yet resolute to recover my funds. I had a relationship with these people. They were friends. The abuse of trust is crushing and heartbreaking.
Last week we filed our Statement of Claim in the courts against his company (my contract is with his company, and he has signed a personal guarantee). It's been stamped and returned, and today he was served. We're also filing a motion for Summary Judgement given the matter falls within the Securities of Payment Act and he hasn't provided us with a payment arrangement, so he's prohibited from lodging any form of defence against our action therefore we don't need to wait the 28 days for his defence before being awarded judgement.
Once we receive all those then we can apply to garnish his bank accounts and then proceed to wind up his company and force the disposal of the company owned assets - which according to them should fetch about $4.5m on the open market - but they do have debt over them.
And failing that, we need to also go after him personally under the personal guarantee. He'll have nothing because once the company is folded then he has no source of income therefore no means of meeting his mortgage obligations on the house he bought in the Inner West.
Sadly, I think he may be well and truly fucked....
But in the meantime, so am I. I have a job in the CBD that I need to fund and I have subcontractors that I need to pay who worked on the factory job. I can't do both. All my money is sitting in that job.
Despite all the law I have on my side I have little chance of recovering my funds. Once the banks get wind of what's going on they'll foreclose and sell for a song....they only care about themselves, no one else.
This industry MUST CHANGE. The builders can not continue to take financial risk on other people's assets - it just doesn't make sense. Sadly, no one has the balls to do anything about it - not industry, not government. And what can I do...I'm just one lonely female voice.
Till next time....
Thursday, July 16, 2015
Legislation please...
Cyclists are to motorists as mosquitoes are to guests at a barbeque; pesky, annoying and you just want to squish them!
This morning I heard on the radio that there's talk of identifying and legislating cyclists.
Well, it's about bloody time.
These people are a nuisance on the road. Why? Because they can get away with it! We have no idea who they are. They treat the road as if they're the only people on it, and their blatant disregard of the road rules is appauling.
Identify them. Make them pay rego. Then they can get pinged for each rule they break and then, maybe just then, the may get the respect that they so crave.
Till next time....
This morning I heard on the radio that there's talk of identifying and legislating cyclists.
Well, it's about bloody time.
These people are a nuisance on the road. Why? Because they can get away with it! We have no idea who they are. They treat the road as if they're the only people on it, and their blatant disregard of the road rules is appauling.
Identify them. Make them pay rego. Then they can get pinged for each rule they break and then, maybe just then, the may get the respect that they so crave.
Till next time....
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Look out, pedestrians about...
Pedestrian crossings were invented to enable pedestrians to cross a road safely in the absence of traffic lights.
When I was a child I was taught that pedestrians have right of way. I was also taught, however, that when approaching a pedestrian crossing, I'm to stop at the crossing and WAIT for the oncoming cars to stop before I enter the crossing (assuming there are cars, of course).
A pedestrian's right of way does not give them the right to just walk across a pedestrian crossing and just expect that a car will stop for them. In alot of instances I've observed - especially in the Inner West of Sydney - they don't even look around them to see if there are any cars approaching....they simply walk across the crossing with their heads looking straight ahead, and expect people in cars to slam on their brakes and just stop for them.
Who the hell do they think they are???
Yes, use pedestrian crossings, but use them properly!
Till next time....
When I was a child I was taught that pedestrians have right of way. I was also taught, however, that when approaching a pedestrian crossing, I'm to stop at the crossing and WAIT for the oncoming cars to stop before I enter the crossing (assuming there are cars, of course).
A pedestrian's right of way does not give them the right to just walk across a pedestrian crossing and just expect that a car will stop for them. In alot of instances I've observed - especially in the Inner West of Sydney - they don't even look around them to see if there are any cars approaching....they simply walk across the crossing with their heads looking straight ahead, and expect people in cars to slam on their brakes and just stop for them.
Who the hell do they think they are???
Yes, use pedestrian crossings, but use them properly!
Till next time....
Sunday, July 12, 2015
Simplicity at its best...
I love observing people. And I especially love talking to people and discovering the little things that light them up.
And I've come to the conclusion that we really are simple creatures, and there are really only two main things that drive our actions; sex and ego.
Till next time...
And I've come to the conclusion that we really are simple creatures, and there are really only two main things that drive our actions; sex and ego.
Till next time...
Thursday, July 9, 2015
A Snail's Pace...
Last night I was having an email conversation with a friend and something in that conversation prompted me to review my blog today. As I was reading through it I found this post here and I must provide a brief update.
The TRS 2.0 is still very much on the agenda. I shared my plans with a couple of the mums at my son's school who know of the hardships I've endured recently and they've all commented that this decision is the best I've made in the 5 or so years we've known each other, and they've further commented that I'm so much happier since making that decision. I can't help but agree with them on that count - I have been happier.....there's something nice, comforting, about having a direction to head toward. And I'm so, so, so excited about having my own thing again. My own career, my own identity, my own goals, dreams and aspirations.
Anyway, at the beginning of this year I set about updating my education (with my husband's full and complete support and encouragement). This was all simple enough. I explained to the trainer about my previous qualifications and education and he made me sit 5 exams to test me. I passed (naturally) and got a piece of paper that says I'm now smart enough to apply for yet another piece of paper that will allow me to work in the industry.
I applied for that piece of paper at the end of February 2015 and was requested to submit additional further information due to the fact that my empire collapsed in 2010 and I was a director of the controlling company. I expected it. I submitted a 100-page submission in mid May.
Finally, finally I got my precious qualification last week. It was really bizzare. I was sitting here at my desk at 10.15 in the morning feeling somewhat frustrated at how slow things move and I decided to just do a quick on-line check of how my application was going. I kid you not - the qualification was approved that morning. Given that it was only 10.15 when I made the check, one can only assume it was approved in the preceding hour. Nice little sign from the Universe, I thought.
And I got the hard-copy of my precious qualification just this morning, so I'm super excited now. Since making the decision about establishing TRS 2.0 I've held the view that once my qualifications are sorted out the right opportunities will make their way to me - I now need to be on guard and receptive.
In other parts of life I've returned to the gym with renewed vigour. I dumped all my group classes and graduated to the free weights and power racks section of the gym. This week I recorded my first weights....60kg deadlift from the hang, 30kg deadlift and a 30kg front squat. Pretty proud of my efforts given it was actually the first time I've ever deadlifted!! And I'm back doing HIIT a few times a week - managed to get back up to 10 rounds, plus reduced the off time to 1min50sec down from 2min. My body is becoming very efficient at the cardio. And people have started to comment and compliment me on the changes in my body composition, which is always nice to hear!
On the existing work front things are going OK. The move to strictly commercial work has proved to be a sound one. We picked up a factory re-build which is nearing completion, and we're about to start on the construction of a new 5 storey commercial building on the outskirts of the CBD - and we're very pleased with that win. Plus we've been invited to tender on a marvelous factory complex in the inner west as well - and that one is very, very exciting. So, things seem to be on the improve.
So, that's it in a nutshell.
Till next time...
The TRS 2.0 is still very much on the agenda. I shared my plans with a couple of the mums at my son's school who know of the hardships I've endured recently and they've all commented that this decision is the best I've made in the 5 or so years we've known each other, and they've further commented that I'm so much happier since making that decision. I can't help but agree with them on that count - I have been happier.....there's something nice, comforting, about having a direction to head toward. And I'm so, so, so excited about having my own thing again. My own career, my own identity, my own goals, dreams and aspirations.
Anyway, at the beginning of this year I set about updating my education (with my husband's full and complete support and encouragement). This was all simple enough. I explained to the trainer about my previous qualifications and education and he made me sit 5 exams to test me. I passed (naturally) and got a piece of paper that says I'm now smart enough to apply for yet another piece of paper that will allow me to work in the industry.
I applied for that piece of paper at the end of February 2015 and was requested to submit additional further information due to the fact that my empire collapsed in 2010 and I was a director of the controlling company. I expected it. I submitted a 100-page submission in mid May.
Finally, finally I got my precious qualification last week. It was really bizzare. I was sitting here at my desk at 10.15 in the morning feeling somewhat frustrated at how slow things move and I decided to just do a quick on-line check of how my application was going. I kid you not - the qualification was approved that morning. Given that it was only 10.15 when I made the check, one can only assume it was approved in the preceding hour. Nice little sign from the Universe, I thought.
And I got the hard-copy of my precious qualification just this morning, so I'm super excited now. Since making the decision about establishing TRS 2.0 I've held the view that once my qualifications are sorted out the right opportunities will make their way to me - I now need to be on guard and receptive.
In other parts of life I've returned to the gym with renewed vigour. I dumped all my group classes and graduated to the free weights and power racks section of the gym. This week I recorded my first weights....60kg deadlift from the hang, 30kg deadlift and a 30kg front squat. Pretty proud of my efforts given it was actually the first time I've ever deadlifted!! And I'm back doing HIIT a few times a week - managed to get back up to 10 rounds, plus reduced the off time to 1min50sec down from 2min. My body is becoming very efficient at the cardio. And people have started to comment and compliment me on the changes in my body composition, which is always nice to hear!
On the existing work front things are going OK. The move to strictly commercial work has proved to be a sound one. We picked up a factory re-build which is nearing completion, and we're about to start on the construction of a new 5 storey commercial building on the outskirts of the CBD - and we're very pleased with that win. Plus we've been invited to tender on a marvelous factory complex in the inner west as well - and that one is very, very exciting. So, things seem to be on the improve.
So, that's it in a nutshell.
Till next time...
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
What Isis Really Wants....
Naturally people are talking about all the looniness going on lately. A very good friend of mine (thank you McS) passed me this article:
The Islamic State is no mere collection of psychopaths. It is a religious group with carefully considered beliefs, among them that it is a key agent of the coming apocalypse. Here’s what that means for its strategy—and for how to stop it....
Read the entire article here: http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/02/what-isis-really-wants/384980/ but I warn you in advance that it is long and confronting in parts. But mostly it's very concerning.
Note: there is a 15 second advert before you get to the article.
Till next time...
Friday, February 13, 2015
Happy St. Valentine's Day...
Blah, and bah humbug.
I just can not stand St. Valentine's day. Nor can I stand Halloween or any other "tradition" made up by marketeers to encourage the masses to spend more money. Even the modern day Christmas and Easter get on my nerves because of the overwhelming commercialisation of it all.
But in saying that I won't criticise anyone who does choose to celebrate St. Valentine's day. I will criticise those who celebrate Halloween though!
Now, I have a best friend. Her name is KMHL. As I was driving home this morning it occurred to me that if I say her initials as a word and say them quickly they rather sound like Camel! lol
LOL...oh my goodness, the things my brain comes up with sometimes. Sorry KMHL. But it is funny. I literally am laughing out loud to myself right now.
Anyway, back to the point.
I've known her near on 20 years, and she's the only person who knows me well, and I know her equally as well. There's something so nice about a relationship like that. There's no pretending, there's no filtering, we just are the way we are - and we get each other. She's the funniest person I've ever met.
I guessed last week that she was up to something when she asked me for my postal address and how often I clear my mail, but the thought left my mind....till this morning.
You've been reading my blog, Missy! And that was very naughty of you. But thank you!! I love you, and I'm so glad it's you whose weirdness is compatible with my weirdness!
I was particularly impressed with the wrapping paper and the double sided tape - the detail, hun!! Love it. mwah mwah
And I have to say what a lovely way to celebrate St. Valentine's day; celebrating friendship.
Didn't I say recently that I have awesome friends??
Till next time...
Friday, February 6, 2015
Life, Anyone?...
I don't know about other people but I tend to have roller coaster emotions. Maybe it's hormonal, maybe it's environmental, or perhaps it's just cerebral. I don't know, I don't question it; it just is what it is.
But today I'm feeling an overwhelming love of my life. I can't recall the last time I was this high on life (gosh, how old is that saying? Was it an anti-drug campaign slogan - I can't remember).
My husband and I had a lovely conversation last night - a debrief of each of our lives. And as I was chatting away he said 'I love you so much when you're happy. You're a totally different person. You're the woman I met 15 years ago'.
I like me when I'm happy too, was my reply.
I was sitting at my desk this morning thinking about that conversation and why I am so happy at the moment. (I wonder whether I should even be questioning it...but anyway).
It's exercise mainly. No, exercise doesn't make me happy, but is certainly supports and promotes a good disposition. And when one has a good disposition it follows that everything is seen through rosier glasses, doesn't it?
Having said that, what's not to be happy about? I have beautiful, clever children, a husband devoted to their well being, a roof over my head (albeit rented), a car (that does leak due to a defective panel beating job though). And I have beautiful, awesome friends in my life.
Tell me, what's not to be happy about?
Till next time....
But today I'm feeling an overwhelming love of my life. I can't recall the last time I was this high on life (gosh, how old is that saying? Was it an anti-drug campaign slogan - I can't remember).
My husband and I had a lovely conversation last night - a debrief of each of our lives. And as I was chatting away he said 'I love you so much when you're happy. You're a totally different person. You're the woman I met 15 years ago'.
I like me when I'm happy too, was my reply.
I was sitting at my desk this morning thinking about that conversation and why I am so happy at the moment. (I wonder whether I should even be questioning it...but anyway).
It's exercise mainly. No, exercise doesn't make me happy, but is certainly supports and promotes a good disposition. And when one has a good disposition it follows that everything is seen through rosier glasses, doesn't it?
Having said that, what's not to be happy about? I have beautiful, clever children, a husband devoted to their well being, a roof over my head (albeit rented), a car (that does leak due to a defective panel beating job though). And I have beautiful, awesome friends in my life.
Tell me, what's not to be happy about?
Till next time....
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Love, and other drugs...
That's the name of the movie I watched on TV the other night.
It was about a young man who fell in love with a young woman who had been diagnosed with early onset Parkinson's disease.
Aside from the Parkinson's curve ball, it was a typical movie with one partner wanting the other partner more than the other, and then the resisting partner eventually falling for the pursuing partner.
Quite some time into the movie the young man came across an older man who'd been looking after his wife who had stage 4 Parkinson's disease. Naturally the young man asked the older man for some advice.
The older man's advice went something along the lines of "pack your bags and run....save yourself and your own life. It gets a whole lot worse and is not a fun experience".
And this started me thinking about what I would do if I were faced with the same situation; ie: I was young (I assume the characters in the movie were 30 or less) and I discovered that my new found boyfriend, who loves me, who understands me, and with whom I've fallen in love, was diagnosed with early stages of a degenerative disease.
Would love be enough of a factor for me to stay and commit myself to a life that will ultimately result in me caring for this person, and have this person ultimately rely upon me for everything?
The answer?
I honestly don't know if I could ever love someone that much that I would sacrifice my whole life like that for them....
Selfish? Yes.
Wrong? I don't know.
Honest? Yes.
It was about a young man who fell in love with a young woman who had been diagnosed with early onset Parkinson's disease.
Aside from the Parkinson's curve ball, it was a typical movie with one partner wanting the other partner more than the other, and then the resisting partner eventually falling for the pursuing partner.
Quite some time into the movie the young man came across an older man who'd been looking after his wife who had stage 4 Parkinson's disease. Naturally the young man asked the older man for some advice.
The older man's advice went something along the lines of "pack your bags and run....save yourself and your own life. It gets a whole lot worse and is not a fun experience".
And this started me thinking about what I would do if I were faced with the same situation; ie: I was young (I assume the characters in the movie were 30 or less) and I discovered that my new found boyfriend, who loves me, who understands me, and with whom I've fallen in love, was diagnosed with early stages of a degenerative disease.
Would love be enough of a factor for me to stay and commit myself to a life that will ultimately result in me caring for this person, and have this person ultimately rely upon me for everything?
The answer?
I honestly don't know if I could ever love someone that much that I would sacrifice my whole life like that for them....
Selfish? Yes.
Wrong? I don't know.
Honest? Yes.
I feel like a cow, but it is what it is.
Till next time...
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus....
Or are they, really?
Speaking with a male friend over coffee recently he made a remark during our conversation that men really are as simple as they're made out to be; most times all that goes through a man's mind is sex. There was one other thing that goes through the simple man's mind as well, but I can't recall what he said it was!
I'm wondering just how different men and women really are...
Recently I've been an observer of a rather intriguing relationship between a man and a woman. They met online on a dedicated relationship site.
My girlfriend finally met someone; someone she actually liked. By all accounts they had great conversations, they shared a similar sense of humour, had similar morals and values, and shared much in common. She finds him quite attractive (and she tells me he found her attractive as well), and she said that communication between them is open, honest, and pretty straight forward (always important, in my opinion), and they'd both discussed their options and decided to develop the relationship further.
Unfortunately, circumstances changed and the man wasn't able to move to the next stage as they'd discussed. They're both upset by the change in circumstances but it turns out that they both value the friendship they've formed and they've decided that they'd like to maintain that friendship...
I told her it was fantastic as she's always enjoyed the company of men much more easily than the company of women, and she needs someone else in her life other than me to have all those interesting conversations with. Afterall, my opinion doesn't always suit everyone.
Anyway, she had her first coffee since they'd made this decision with him last week.
When I quizzed her about it last night she said some really interesting things about it that got me thinking about the relationship between men and women.
She said that the whole time she was sitting opposite him, and at random times throughout the week since, she's been thinking about what it would be like to kiss him, or have sex with him.
I started wondering whether men and women really can be friends.
Growing up, my father always said men and women can not be friends; my mother on the other hand always thought men and women could be friends. I've always thought they could be friends, but now I'm starting to wonder...
Can men and women be friends?
I think the answer is it depends.
It depends on the level of sexual tension or desire between them. I have male friends that have been my friends for many years without any issues or naughty thoughts whatsoever. Well, I had better clarify that statement: there have been no naughty thoughts on my part therefore no struggle on my part, and if there were issues on the mens' sides then I'm unaware of them. And in saying that, I'll also say that I've always been pretty clueless on picking up any "signals" from men so if the men were struggling then I'd be none the wiser anyway unless they wore flashing neon signs above their foreheads.
On the other hand, I've had other male friends where we've also had sexual relationships at one time or another, and those friendships have also operated equally as well once the sexual element has ceased.
Actually, casting my mind across my friendships with males, I'd have to say that those friendships where sex has been an element at one point or another have been more open and more intimate (in a platonic sense) and far deeper than those where sex hasn't been an element of the friendship. I guess all the barriers and inhibitions get removed when people have sex?
So, my friend is struggling with this new friendship, and personally I think she'll continue to struggle with it until the sexual tension is dealt with; ie: removed.
And she's also proved one thing to me: men and women really aren't too different; women think about sex just as much as men do.
Till next time...
Speaking with a male friend over coffee recently he made a remark during our conversation that men really are as simple as they're made out to be; most times all that goes through a man's mind is sex. There was one other thing that goes through the simple man's mind as well, but I can't recall what he said it was!
I'm wondering just how different men and women really are...
Recently I've been an observer of a rather intriguing relationship between a man and a woman. They met online on a dedicated relationship site.
My girlfriend finally met someone; someone she actually liked. By all accounts they had great conversations, they shared a similar sense of humour, had similar morals and values, and shared much in common. She finds him quite attractive (and she tells me he found her attractive as well), and she said that communication between them is open, honest, and pretty straight forward (always important, in my opinion), and they'd both discussed their options and decided to develop the relationship further.
Unfortunately, circumstances changed and the man wasn't able to move to the next stage as they'd discussed. They're both upset by the change in circumstances but it turns out that they both value the friendship they've formed and they've decided that they'd like to maintain that friendship...
I told her it was fantastic as she's always enjoyed the company of men much more easily than the company of women, and she needs someone else in her life other than me to have all those interesting conversations with. Afterall, my opinion doesn't always suit everyone.
Anyway, she had her first coffee since they'd made this decision with him last week.
When I quizzed her about it last night she said some really interesting things about it that got me thinking about the relationship between men and women.
She said that the whole time she was sitting opposite him, and at random times throughout the week since, she's been thinking about what it would be like to kiss him, or have sex with him.
I started wondering whether men and women really can be friends.
Growing up, my father always said men and women can not be friends; my mother on the other hand always thought men and women could be friends. I've always thought they could be friends, but now I'm starting to wonder...
Can men and women be friends?
I think the answer is it depends.
It depends on the level of sexual tension or desire between them. I have male friends that have been my friends for many years without any issues or naughty thoughts whatsoever. Well, I had better clarify that statement: there have been no naughty thoughts on my part therefore no struggle on my part, and if there were issues on the mens' sides then I'm unaware of them. And in saying that, I'll also say that I've always been pretty clueless on picking up any "signals" from men so if the men were struggling then I'd be none the wiser anyway unless they wore flashing neon signs above their foreheads.
On the other hand, I've had other male friends where we've also had sexual relationships at one time or another, and those friendships have also operated equally as well once the sexual element has ceased.
Actually, casting my mind across my friendships with males, I'd have to say that those friendships where sex has been an element at one point or another have been more open and more intimate (in a platonic sense) and far deeper than those where sex hasn't been an element of the friendship. I guess all the barriers and inhibitions get removed when people have sex?
So, my friend is struggling with this new friendship, and personally I think she'll continue to struggle with it until the sexual tension is dealt with; ie: removed.
And she's also proved one thing to me: men and women really aren't too different; women think about sex just as much as men do.
Till next time...
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Bits and Pieces...
Back to it....well, sort of.
I started back at work this week, although I'm wondering why I bothered.
All the consultants are back, but a large majority of the tradies aren't coming back till after the Australia Day long weekend.
And I just got an email from one of the consultants I'm currently working with on a project, and he's off from today until next Tuesday, so really I should have just extended my own holiday as well.
I think that's something my husband will need to consider moving forward.
I was watching a show on TV last night called Olive Kittridge and as I was watching I googled it and discovered that it's based on a book. I said to my husband that I'd like to buy the book, and he made some smartarse comment about me always reading.
Well, I am in a reading frame of mind at the moment, but I'm not always reading, otherwise I wouldn't have a stack of books 10-high that I need to finish. Seriously.
If you look closely you may see that a number of these books have bookmarks in them. I've commenced reading probably half of the books in my unread stack, but for whatever reason have put it back down again, unable to complete it at that point in time. I find that I need to be in a certain mood to read some books....it's like I need to be drawn to the book and feel compelled to pick it up....like it's calling me.
I guess if I extended my annual break I'd have more time to fit in a few more books. This break I completed reading a book called Outliers, and I started and completed the Hunger Games trilogy, and I also read a book that my husband bought me for Christmas, called Chasing Shadows (written by a Sydney lady), and I've just in the last few days picked up and commenced my most favourite book, Thick Face Black Heart, for the umpteenth time. Again, I feel compelled to read it. I've read it a dozen times, yet something inside me is telling me to read it again, so I am.
So, instead of ordering the Olive Kittridge book (which is what I'd usually do) I added it to my "Books To Buy" list (yes, it's an actual list I keep). There are now 17 books on that list. I doubt I'll ever get to them all, though.
Till next time...
I started back at work this week, although I'm wondering why I bothered.
All the consultants are back, but a large majority of the tradies aren't coming back till after the Australia Day long weekend.
And I just got an email from one of the consultants I'm currently working with on a project, and he's off from today until next Tuesday, so really I should have just extended my own holiday as well.
I think that's something my husband will need to consider moving forward.
I was watching a show on TV last night called Olive Kittridge and as I was watching I googled it and discovered that it's based on a book. I said to my husband that I'd like to buy the book, and he made some smartarse comment about me always reading.
Well, I am in a reading frame of mind at the moment, but I'm not always reading, otherwise I wouldn't have a stack of books 10-high that I need to finish. Seriously.
If you look closely you may see that a number of these books have bookmarks in them. I've commenced reading probably half of the books in my unread stack, but for whatever reason have put it back down again, unable to complete it at that point in time. I find that I need to be in a certain mood to read some books....it's like I need to be drawn to the book and feel compelled to pick it up....like it's calling me.
I guess if I extended my annual break I'd have more time to fit in a few more books. This break I completed reading a book called Outliers, and I started and completed the Hunger Games trilogy, and I also read a book that my husband bought me for Christmas, called Chasing Shadows (written by a Sydney lady), and I've just in the last few days picked up and commenced my most favourite book, Thick Face Black Heart, for the umpteenth time. Again, I feel compelled to read it. I've read it a dozen times, yet something inside me is telling me to read it again, so I am.
So, instead of ordering the Olive Kittridge book (which is what I'd usually do) I added it to my "Books To Buy" list (yes, it's an actual list I keep). There are now 17 books on that list. I doubt I'll ever get to them all, though.
Till next time...
Monday, December 29, 2014
It's that time of year again...
Yes, it is.
And I'm stunned, not to mention a little embarrassed to see that it's been over a year since I've updated my blog.
How very shabby of me!
Let me give you some updates on what's been going on - 2014 has been an awful, awful, trying and testing year - and why I find myself not writing here for a year....
You may recall this post here that I made in October, 2013 (!!) where I was complaining that a client owed me $140k in delays.
Well, let me now finish the story for you....
I never did hand over the house to the client in November, 2013 as they expected. Or December, or even January, February or March in 2014.
In fact, sitting here now in December, 2014 they still do not (legally) have their house.
Eventually the client caused even further delay to the completion of their house, and in total those delays equated to an invoice to them in the order of $240k in delays alone.
On top of that, they were refusing to pay me some $100k in contract sum that they are contractually obliged to finalise.
In the end my final claim against them was in the order of $357k (including GST). Can you believe it??
They simply, point blank, refused to pay. The nerve of these grubs. I saw the worst of the worst of humanity in these grommets - they disgust me so much that I can't even call them people. I'm still so angry over this matter (so much so that this blog post has been stopped and started on several occassions because I just couldn't continue thinking about it all).
I eventually took it to my lawyers, which upset the client. For some reason they thought I'd just roll over and give in to their position. Of course, I should have expected it....afterall, the wife did once say that she hoped I'd go bankrupt so I'd accept any loose change she throws at me!!!! Bitch. Cow. <edit>. <edit>.
Anway, I took it legal and told my lawyers to go for the jugular. And they did. The clients ended up ringing me directly in February 2014 requesting a settlement meeting. I agreed, naturally. Anything to settle the matter quickly, inexpensively, and to get these pricks off my books.
After much argy bargy and difficult discussion - which was all conducted very maturely, I must say - we reached agreement at $200k.
Isn't that just a massive, massive concession to them? If you were them wouldn't you be jumping for joy and get the settlement done pronto so I couldn't re-neg on the deal? I certainly thought so.
As part of the settlement we negotiated a number of terms; some favourable to them, others favourable to me. I've been taught to always leave something on the table - and that's what we both did.
BUT....there's always a BUT....
When it came time to finalise the settlement document they re-neged on the deal! Those terms that we all agreed upon - they didn't want some of them in the settlement deed. They were quite happy to keep the ones favourable to them in the deed, but the ones that were favourable to me...well, no....they just couldn't seem able to include them.
Needless to say - the deal didn't proceed and they didn't get their house; but I didn't get paid either.
Remember that I've already paid my subcontractors for this job. See what an arse the construction law is? I have to pay my subcontractors - but I have to wait OVER ONE YEAR BY THIS STAGE to be paid...My cashflow is screwed, and I have effectively funded the construction of their home. Where on earth is the sense in that? This is what our stupid laws result in. I hope to goodness that one of these dumb politicians stumbles across this blog and reads this - I swear they don't live in the real world.
Anyway - back to the point.
I went legal again...and this time we had to spend even more money getting expert consultants to shore up our position. More $$ down the drain.
I turned up at the house one day in around June or July, because legally I'm still in possession of it, as I had to meet one of these consultants there, and I couldn't get in. These people changed the locks!!! I eventually gained access and changed all the locks. The following week my husband attended the house with another consultant, and these grubs had changed the locks again and taken illegal possession of the house. The wife was actually sitting in the house and guarding it when my husband arrived there. Then they had the nerve to send me a letter accusing me of trespass, break and enter and threatened legal action should I gain access to the house again. OMG!!
Of course, their possession didn't mean all that much because they couldn't legally reside in the house. I still have all the certificates and documentation they need in order to obtain an occupation certificate.
Anyway, we're going through the slow legal processes, preparing our claim, getting our ducks in a row so to speak and we finally lodge our claim in the courts. Our total claim for our outstanding contract sum, approved variations, approved adjustments to provisional sums and prime cost items, and delays as a result of tiling, joinery, toilet exchanges and a few other bits and bobs is circa $360k including GST. And then we have to throw interest on top of that, too.
I have to be honest here - I was dragged to the lawyers office kicking and screaming. I did not want to go the legal route. Going the legal route is just an emotionally draining, financially draining exercise - and I just didn't want to endure it again....but we had no option in this case. All hopes of an amicable settlement were well and truely gone.
The matter is now about to settle. We didn't make it to a hearing. In fact, I don't think the matter even made it's second directions hearing. The grubs put in an "Offer of Compromise" through the courts. The offer was insulting, disgusting, and just plain rude. But it was accepted. Only to save the effort, expense and emotional tax of a hearing. We've signed confidentiality agreements so I can't even disclose the settlement amount (which is roughly a third of our claim).
Then, in an attempt to get more from me whilst I'm already bent over they asked for a quicker settlement. I told them to get F'ed...they can wait the full 28 days and they're not getting anything from me a moment earlier. The nerve of some people.
So, the matter will officially be over around the middle of January, 2015. I don't even know the settlement date - I just don't give a damn any more.
This, my friends, is the construction industry in all it's marvelous, wondrous glory. It's the powerhouse of the country, the driver of the ecomony, and it's run like a fucking brothel. As a direct result of this particular matter (and a few others involving residential work) we have completely pulled the pin on residential work. We've declined the opportunity to renew our eligibility for home warranty insurance, and we've surrended our licence. Now we're only taking on commercial work.
Mind you, commercial is also wrought with danger. But in my view it's less risky. At least we have the Securities of Payment Act to help us with our cashflow when someone decides to withhold payment. All we need to do is be vigilient in our debt recovery/accounts receivable.
We did finish that juicy little commercial job that I've previously mentioned. It turned out to be quite a profitable job....thank goodness....We completed and handed over in March, 2014, and haven't picked up another job till just last month!! That particular client still owes us $10,000. Why? Because he feels like not paying it.
Then, we have this post here in which I discussed the search for my groove.
As I already said, I abandoned the idea of JGF. And I'm thankful I made that decision. I have no regrets at all about that one.
I also completed my investigations for DSW. I made a decision not to proceed given that it would be entirely reliant upon my husband's qualifications, and it would entrench me in the construction industry even further.
As you can probably gather - the sooner I get out of this terrible, disgusting industry, the better off I'll be (regardless of the move to commercial work only). I have honestly struggled with the industry. It's turned me into a person I'm not happy with - a person I don't like.
Is that a reflection of my own weak, malleable personality? I don't think so. To survive in this game one has to be strong, tough, ruthless even, otherwise you simply won't make it. I admit I am those things, and then some. But I don't like being that way any more. I never used to be like that. Yes, I've always been strong, tough, and ruthless....but in a different way....a softer way, if you will. I can't quite articulate it properly. Perhaps it's a matter of degrees.....perhaps I've become just an amplified verson of strong, tough and ruthless. Whatever it is - I don't like it, and I want to be the old me again....the me that gave a damn about people, the me that wasn't always stressed and cranky, the me that could laugh a little more freely and relax a little more quickly.
Anyway, back to my point.
I do believe I've rediscovered my groove.
I've settled on a business that is easily systemised and procedurised. It's a business that can be run by others (in due time). It's a business that generates revenue month in, month out, without fail. It's a business that doesn't suffer during economic hardship. It endures. Always. Managed correctly, it's very profitable.
I've made the decision to re-establish TRS. I've gone through the process of re-branding it. I've purchased 1300 and 1800 smart numbers. I'm currently going through the process of updating my requisite qualifications. I'm finalising my service offerings and have commenced preparing system and procedure documents.
And I've never been more sure about something than now.
I'm over my "running out of time, I'm 40" mentality. How dumb. When I think about how I feel, I certainly don't feel like I'm 40. I have the same energy as I did when I was in my mid 20's - the difference now is that I have a couple of kids that I need to fit in amongst my work - but that's certainly not impossible to do.
The other major difference is time, and life. I'm smarter and more experienced now than I was when I was in my mid 20's.
I do recall when I sold TRS back in 2002 (it was actually 2002, and not 2000 as I said in my original post). I recall being stuck. I was young and I was in a very successful business, but I couldn't move forward. I couldn't expand it. Some people may think that ludicrous. But it's true. I didn't know HOW to employ someone (thanks, Dad, for the trust issues!!). I didn't know HOW to manage expansion. I didn't know HOW to deal with banks to even explore a debt funded expansion. And even worse is I didn't have a support network or mentor that I could turn to and talk with about the issues I was facing. So, I was stuck, with no where to go, and felt totally overwhelmed. So, I cashed in.
Today as I sit here typing I have no doubt that having experienced all of life's extremes over the last 12 years (and moreso in the last 5 years) it stands to reason that I now possess so much more knowledge and experience than I did back in 1997 when I first started TRS. So, bringing all this acquired experiernce and knowledge to TRS 2.0 can only be a great thing.
I've told Hub (who supports me completely) that I'll be doing this 100% this time. Not that I didn't give it 100% last time, but this time I will be making it a major enterprise. I won't be selling out when I get stuck.
I'm reminded of a saying I use all the time - When You Know Better, You Do Better. I believe that definately applies to TRS 2.0 and I couldn't be more excited by it.
Naturally Hub is concerned about what will happen with his business. We're just going to have to employ someone to take over my role in his business. My mental health, my professional satisfaction, my career, my self-worth is far too important to me to not do this.
Then of course, I've been kept very busy with my various family and school committments. School life can be quite consuming. And so can club sport. My son is involved in club sport and I put up my hand to be the age group co-ordinator. And I've been asked to take on the role of Treasurer in 2015 for the club as well as maintain my age group co-ordinator role. So 2015 is already going to be a busy year and my daughter hasn't even started club sport seriously yet.
I remain cigarette free. In February 2015 it will be 4 years. I'm still amazed at how easy it was. Unfortunately I did pile on the kg's as a result. I spent the last 12 months getting rid of them. It's been a yo-yo ride with the scales. Up, down, up, down. But, I've joined a gym. I do pump classes twice a week and I was doing HIIT on the treadmill 3 times a week. I managed to work my way up to 10 cycles runninging 30seconds full pelt between 13 and 14klm/hr and walking 2 minutes, which is pretty bloody good. But for some reason I stopped doing that about 3 months ago (I think time just got the better of me on one or two occassions and then it was just easier to not go).
Anyway - I'm currently on my annual holiday right now (arrived yesterday afternoon) and this morning I went for a run and realised just how much my fitness has plummeted as a result of not doing the HIIT. I'm totally devestated. I ended up power-walking instead of running, and did a few rounds of stair sprints. No need to tell you what one of my goals for 2015 will be.
So, there's my year in brief. Well, this could only ever provide just a brief snapshot. It's been far more busy, far more difficult, far more consuming than I could ever possibly regale here.
Till next time...
And I'm stunned, not to mention a little embarrassed to see that it's been over a year since I've updated my blog.
How very shabby of me!
Let me give you some updates on what's been going on - 2014 has been an awful, awful, trying and testing year - and why I find myself not writing here for a year....
You may recall this post here that I made in October, 2013 (!!) where I was complaining that a client owed me $140k in delays.
Well, let me now finish the story for you....
I never did hand over the house to the client in November, 2013 as they expected. Or December, or even January, February or March in 2014.
In fact, sitting here now in December, 2014 they still do not (legally) have their house.
Eventually the client caused even further delay to the completion of their house, and in total those delays equated to an invoice to them in the order of $240k in delays alone.
On top of that, they were refusing to pay me some $100k in contract sum that they are contractually obliged to finalise.
In the end my final claim against them was in the order of $357k (including GST). Can you believe it??
They simply, point blank, refused to pay. The nerve of these grubs. I saw the worst of the worst of humanity in these grommets - they disgust me so much that I can't even call them people. I'm still so angry over this matter (so much so that this blog post has been stopped and started on several occassions because I just couldn't continue thinking about it all).
I eventually took it to my lawyers, which upset the client. For some reason they thought I'd just roll over and give in to their position. Of course, I should have expected it....afterall, the wife did once say that she hoped I'd go bankrupt so I'd accept any loose change she throws at me!!!! Bitch. Cow. <edit>. <edit>.
Anway, I took it legal and told my lawyers to go for the jugular. And they did. The clients ended up ringing me directly in February 2014 requesting a settlement meeting. I agreed, naturally. Anything to settle the matter quickly, inexpensively, and to get these pricks off my books.
After much argy bargy and difficult discussion - which was all conducted very maturely, I must say - we reached agreement at $200k.
Isn't that just a massive, massive concession to them? If you were them wouldn't you be jumping for joy and get the settlement done pronto so I couldn't re-neg on the deal? I certainly thought so.
As part of the settlement we negotiated a number of terms; some favourable to them, others favourable to me. I've been taught to always leave something on the table - and that's what we both did.
BUT....there's always a BUT....
When it came time to finalise the settlement document they re-neged on the deal! Those terms that we all agreed upon - they didn't want some of them in the settlement deed. They were quite happy to keep the ones favourable to them in the deed, but the ones that were favourable to me...well, no....they just couldn't seem able to include them.
Needless to say - the deal didn't proceed and they didn't get their house; but I didn't get paid either.
Remember that I've already paid my subcontractors for this job. See what an arse the construction law is? I have to pay my subcontractors - but I have to wait OVER ONE YEAR BY THIS STAGE to be paid...My cashflow is screwed, and I have effectively funded the construction of their home. Where on earth is the sense in that? This is what our stupid laws result in. I hope to goodness that one of these dumb politicians stumbles across this blog and reads this - I swear they don't live in the real world.
Anyway - back to the point.
I went legal again...and this time we had to spend even more money getting expert consultants to shore up our position. More $$ down the drain.
I turned up at the house one day in around June or July, because legally I'm still in possession of it, as I had to meet one of these consultants there, and I couldn't get in. These people changed the locks!!! I eventually gained access and changed all the locks. The following week my husband attended the house with another consultant, and these grubs had changed the locks again and taken illegal possession of the house. The wife was actually sitting in the house and guarding it when my husband arrived there. Then they had the nerve to send me a letter accusing me of trespass, break and enter and threatened legal action should I gain access to the house again. OMG!!
Of course, their possession didn't mean all that much because they couldn't legally reside in the house. I still have all the certificates and documentation they need in order to obtain an occupation certificate.
Anyway, we're going through the slow legal processes, preparing our claim, getting our ducks in a row so to speak and we finally lodge our claim in the courts. Our total claim for our outstanding contract sum, approved variations, approved adjustments to provisional sums and prime cost items, and delays as a result of tiling, joinery, toilet exchanges and a few other bits and bobs is circa $360k including GST. And then we have to throw interest on top of that, too.
I have to be honest here - I was dragged to the lawyers office kicking and screaming. I did not want to go the legal route. Going the legal route is just an emotionally draining, financially draining exercise - and I just didn't want to endure it again....but we had no option in this case. All hopes of an amicable settlement were well and truely gone.
The matter is now about to settle. We didn't make it to a hearing. In fact, I don't think the matter even made it's second directions hearing. The grubs put in an "Offer of Compromise" through the courts. The offer was insulting, disgusting, and just plain rude. But it was accepted. Only to save the effort, expense and emotional tax of a hearing. We've signed confidentiality agreements so I can't even disclose the settlement amount (which is roughly a third of our claim).
Then, in an attempt to get more from me whilst I'm already bent over they asked for a quicker settlement. I told them to get F'ed...they can wait the full 28 days and they're not getting anything from me a moment earlier. The nerve of some people.
So, the matter will officially be over around the middle of January, 2015. I don't even know the settlement date - I just don't give a damn any more.
This, my friends, is the construction industry in all it's marvelous, wondrous glory. It's the powerhouse of the country, the driver of the ecomony, and it's run like a fucking brothel. As a direct result of this particular matter (and a few others involving residential work) we have completely pulled the pin on residential work. We've declined the opportunity to renew our eligibility for home warranty insurance, and we've surrended our licence. Now we're only taking on commercial work.
Mind you, commercial is also wrought with danger. But in my view it's less risky. At least we have the Securities of Payment Act to help us with our cashflow when someone decides to withhold payment. All we need to do is be vigilient in our debt recovery/accounts receivable.
We did finish that juicy little commercial job that I've previously mentioned. It turned out to be quite a profitable job....thank goodness....We completed and handed over in March, 2014, and haven't picked up another job till just last month!! That particular client still owes us $10,000. Why? Because he feels like not paying it.
Then, we have this post here in which I discussed the search for my groove.
As I already said, I abandoned the idea of JGF. And I'm thankful I made that decision. I have no regrets at all about that one.
I also completed my investigations for DSW. I made a decision not to proceed given that it would be entirely reliant upon my husband's qualifications, and it would entrench me in the construction industry even further.
As you can probably gather - the sooner I get out of this terrible, disgusting industry, the better off I'll be (regardless of the move to commercial work only). I have honestly struggled with the industry. It's turned me into a person I'm not happy with - a person I don't like.
Is that a reflection of my own weak, malleable personality? I don't think so. To survive in this game one has to be strong, tough, ruthless even, otherwise you simply won't make it. I admit I am those things, and then some. But I don't like being that way any more. I never used to be like that. Yes, I've always been strong, tough, and ruthless....but in a different way....a softer way, if you will. I can't quite articulate it properly. Perhaps it's a matter of degrees.....perhaps I've become just an amplified verson of strong, tough and ruthless. Whatever it is - I don't like it, and I want to be the old me again....the me that gave a damn about people, the me that wasn't always stressed and cranky, the me that could laugh a little more freely and relax a little more quickly.
Anyway, back to my point.
I do believe I've rediscovered my groove.
I've settled on a business that is easily systemised and procedurised. It's a business that can be run by others (in due time). It's a business that generates revenue month in, month out, without fail. It's a business that doesn't suffer during economic hardship. It endures. Always. Managed correctly, it's very profitable.
I've made the decision to re-establish TRS. I've gone through the process of re-branding it. I've purchased 1300 and 1800 smart numbers. I'm currently going through the process of updating my requisite qualifications. I'm finalising my service offerings and have commenced preparing system and procedure documents.
And I've never been more sure about something than now.
I'm over my "running out of time, I'm 40" mentality. How dumb. When I think about how I feel, I certainly don't feel like I'm 40. I have the same energy as I did when I was in my mid 20's - the difference now is that I have a couple of kids that I need to fit in amongst my work - but that's certainly not impossible to do.
The other major difference is time, and life. I'm smarter and more experienced now than I was when I was in my mid 20's.
I do recall when I sold TRS back in 2002 (it was actually 2002, and not 2000 as I said in my original post). I recall being stuck. I was young and I was in a very successful business, but I couldn't move forward. I couldn't expand it. Some people may think that ludicrous. But it's true. I didn't know HOW to employ someone (thanks, Dad, for the trust issues!!). I didn't know HOW to manage expansion. I didn't know HOW to deal with banks to even explore a debt funded expansion. And even worse is I didn't have a support network or mentor that I could turn to and talk with about the issues I was facing. So, I was stuck, with no where to go, and felt totally overwhelmed. So, I cashed in.
Today as I sit here typing I have no doubt that having experienced all of life's extremes over the last 12 years (and moreso in the last 5 years) it stands to reason that I now possess so much more knowledge and experience than I did back in 1997 when I first started TRS. So, bringing all this acquired experiernce and knowledge to TRS 2.0 can only be a great thing.
I've told Hub (who supports me completely) that I'll be doing this 100% this time. Not that I didn't give it 100% last time, but this time I will be making it a major enterprise. I won't be selling out when I get stuck.
I'm reminded of a saying I use all the time - When You Know Better, You Do Better. I believe that definately applies to TRS 2.0 and I couldn't be more excited by it.
Naturally Hub is concerned about what will happen with his business. We're just going to have to employ someone to take over my role in his business. My mental health, my professional satisfaction, my career, my self-worth is far too important to me to not do this.
Then of course, I've been kept very busy with my various family and school committments. School life can be quite consuming. And so can club sport. My son is involved in club sport and I put up my hand to be the age group co-ordinator. And I've been asked to take on the role of Treasurer in 2015 for the club as well as maintain my age group co-ordinator role. So 2015 is already going to be a busy year and my daughter hasn't even started club sport seriously yet.
I remain cigarette free. In February 2015 it will be 4 years. I'm still amazed at how easy it was. Unfortunately I did pile on the kg's as a result. I spent the last 12 months getting rid of them. It's been a yo-yo ride with the scales. Up, down, up, down. But, I've joined a gym. I do pump classes twice a week and I was doing HIIT on the treadmill 3 times a week. I managed to work my way up to 10 cycles runninging 30seconds full pelt between 13 and 14klm/hr and walking 2 minutes, which is pretty bloody good. But for some reason I stopped doing that about 3 months ago (I think time just got the better of me on one or two occassions and then it was just easier to not go).
Anyway - I'm currently on my annual holiday right now (arrived yesterday afternoon) and this morning I went for a run and realised just how much my fitness has plummeted as a result of not doing the HIIT. I'm totally devestated. I ended up power-walking instead of running, and did a few rounds of stair sprints. No need to tell you what one of my goals for 2015 will be.
So, there's my year in brief. Well, this could only ever provide just a brief snapshot. It's been far more busy, far more difficult, far more consuming than I could ever possibly regale here.
Till next time...
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Good bye...
See ya, Kev!
It's about bloody time.
Don't let that door hit you on the bum on the way out.
Good riddance.
Till next time...
Monday, November 11, 2013
"F" for FAIL...
Indonesia submitted you to a pop quiz, and you failed.
The boat was in Indonesian waters. The boat wasn't in Australian waters, and the boat wasn't even in International waters, so why did the Australian's even "rescue" it?
This was a classic example of Indonesia flexing their muscle, and you've let them.
Shame on you.
Why are you even letting Indonesia make the refugee's that are leaving FROM THEIR COUNTRY our problem?
They are living in Indonesia at the moment, so isn't it Indonesia's problem?
How are you going to stop the rest of them from coming now? You've just proved that you're nothing but hot air and hope.
Till next time...
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
A typical subcontractor in the residential sector....
So, we have a house to finish and it's almost done. We've sent the requisite notice to the clients advising them of the date they can inspect the completed works and pay us our final progress claim.
All that's left to do is some external painting.
The painters were supposed to be there on Friday. They weren't. The head guy was "sick".
They were supposed to be there on Monday. They weren't. The head guy's "car broke down".
Phone calls go unanswered and so do text messages and emails.
The painters were supposed to be there this morning. They're not.
Again, phone calls go unanswered and so do text messages.
I eventually get in touch with the head guy. Lovely man - really. Lovely family, too. Heart of gold but unorganised to the extreme.
He confesses that he has no money to buy the rest of the paint he needs to finish my job, so he's had to contract himself out at day labour just to bring in some quick cash to buy the paint he needs for my job.
WHAT THE HELL?
I don't get how these people run businesses!?!?
OK...I understand that someone passes you a bum cheque and you were counting on it to pay your own suppliers and because of that you become temporarily stuck. But all my painter needed was $1000. That's it. Just $1000.
Surely, surely these "businesses" have some sort of float they can dip in to? I don't understand how they can't have one.
So, he's delayed the completion of his work on my house for 4 days because of $1000.
Bless him - he was too embarrassed to tell me the real reason for not showing up, and he was worried that if he asked for a 'start' I may think that he was trying to shaft me (ie: take the money and never show up again - a practice rife in this segment of the industry), but still, we all have a job to complete and it needs to be completed. It's that simple.
Subbies - please become better business people, and please learn to open your mouth and say something if you have problems. There are some builders out there who aren't your enemy.
Till next time...
Monday, November 4, 2013
The proposed SOPA changes...
A Summary of the proposed SOPA changes:
Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Amendment Bill 2013 – Summary of changes1. Prompt payment provisions.These amendments will not apply to a residential construction contract that is connected with the main contract. Exception does not apply to other work that may be described as residential e.g. high rise apartments and other commercial developments.Proposed s11(1):· A progress payment to be made under a construction contract is payable in accordance with the applicable terms of the contract.Proposed s11(1A):· A progress payment to be made by a principal to a head contractor becomes due and payable on the date occurring 15 business days after a payment claim is made.Proposed s11(1B):· A progress payment to be made to a subcontractor becomes due and payable on the date occurring 30 business days after a payment claim is made.Proposed s11(1C):· The existing due and payable provisions for construction contracts connected to an exempt residential contract are retained.Proposed s11(8)· Any provision in a construction contract that provides for payment of a progress payment later than the periods stipulated in s11(1A) and s11(1B) are void.
2. Removal of existing requirement under s13(2)(c) for a statement that a payment claim is made under the Act.3. Requirement for a payment claim to be accompanied by a supporting claim.Proposed s13(7):· A payment claim submitted by a head contractor to a principal must attach a declaration that all subcontractors and suppliers have been paid all amounts that have become due and payable in relation to the construction work concerned.Maximum penalty: $22 000Proposed s13(8):· To serve a supporting statement with knowledge that it is false or misleading in a material particular is an offence.4. Investigation of compliance with provisions regarding supporting statementsProposed s36 to s36B:· Appointed authorised officers (public service employees) may require a head contractor or associated persons to provide information or documents relating to compliance with the new provisions of s13 regarding supporting statements.Maximum penalty: $22 000 or 3 months imprisonment or both
Not happy, Jan.
Till next time....
Yet another step in the road...
...toward a Nanny State?
...toward total Government involvement?
...toward being completely, totally, utterly restrained that you just can't do business anymore?
When, oh when, will the Government just F* off out of our businesses and let us get on with the job?
I've received this today from a construction solicitor and I'm not impressed in the slightest.
You know what effect this will have? It will screw us even more and screw our cashflow even more.
Have you ever stopped to think about how much the subcontractors actually screw over the builders with dodgy and inflated progress claims? As it is we've got nothing in the way of protection against that. The SOPA essentially states that we have to pay their full claim and then fight it out in court! If that's how it has to be managed then why even have the SOPA in the first place?
Government....Please understand this.....All you manage to do is screw things up!
GO AWAY! YOU ARE NOT WANTED IN OUR BUSINESSES AND YOU ARE NOT WELCOME IN OUR BUSINESSES.
I have not even started on this particular topic yet. Stay tuned...
Till next time...
...toward total Government involvement?
...toward being completely, totally, utterly restrained that you just can't do business anymore?
When, oh when, will the Government just F* off out of our businesses and let us get on with the job?
I've received this today from a construction solicitor and I'm not impressed in the slightest.
MORE GOVERNMENT CONTROL PLANNED FOR THE NSW CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRYOn 30 October 2013 the New South Wales Legislative Assembly passed the first of a number of proposed amendments to the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW) (“Security of Payment Act”) that will change the construction legal landscape in New South Wales for many years to come.All that is required now is the bill’s passage through the Legislative Council for the amendment to become law.In Australia, the Security of Payment legislation exists in some form or another in all States and Territories. The Security of Payment legislation typically governs the contractual relationships of principals (developers), head contractors (builders) and subcontractors.The effect of the existing Security of Payment legislation is to override the contractual relations of the players in the construction process. The existing legislation provides a statutory process to circumvent the agreed contractual clauses to determine the amounts due to a claimant for construction work performed by it. The system is far from perfect and provides little more than rough justice to the parties to resolve disputes concerning payment.Subcontractors are the main users of the Security of Payment legislation. Head contractors do not often use the powers against principals.No other industry in Australia has such legislative interference in its commercial relationships.In 2012 the Collins enquiry, headed by Bruce Collins QC, looked into insolvency in the construction industry and made various recommendations to the Government. (This was at approximately the same time as the Reed Constructions Pty Limited insolvency which involved major government contracts). These recommendations are now being enacted in response to the growing number of insolvencies of major head contractors and the knock on effect to subcontractors. The bill creates yet more legislation reflective of the Queensland legal and regulatory regimes governing its construction industry. This is in stark contrast to American politics and its swing towards reduced government involvement.The new legislative amendment represents a dramatic first “phase” of changes to further limit the way parties contract in commercial construction contracts and residential subcontracts.Whilst the Minister for Finance and Services, Mr Andrew Constance, admitted in the second reading of the bill that “the majority of the industry does the right thing” the majority of head contractors must by this proposed bill bear yet another burden created by a few.The proposed amendments dictate when progress payments must be made under head contracts and subcontracts despite what the parties might otherwise agree. This change reflects the Security of Payment legislation (and other legislation) in Queensland. In another section the proposed amendment changes the form in which payments claims are made. The result will be that every demand by subcontractors for payment (whether by letter of invoice) from head contractors will now require a special statutory response, which if missed becomes an automatic debt due to the subcontractor regardless of the work done and its true value.Australian head contractors and subcontractors have never seen legislation like this.The amendments further require that a head contractor attach to its own payment claims a declaration (referred to as a “supporting statement”) that all subcontractors and suppliers have been paid all amounts that have become due and payable in relation to the construction work concerned. If they do not, a maximum penalty of $22,000 applies. Further, if a head contractor serves a supporting statement with knowledge that it is false or misleading it will be an offence with a maximum penalty $22,000 or 3 months imprisonment or both.On major constructions sites a head contractor will manage up to 70 subcontractors, consultants and suppliers to complete the works and each may make monthly or even weekly claims. During the course of any project, thousands of requests for payment will be made. The management of that process created by these proposed laws could have extraordinary consequences if the head contractor’s statement is in error.Finally, the Government may (by these amendments) appoint public servants who can require a head contractor to provide information and all documents relating to compliance with the new provisions regarding supporting statements. Failure to comply with the requirements of such a notice may result in a maximum penalty of $22,000 or 3 months imprisonment or both.In this instance the Government’s first legislative phase (as it puts it) comes at a high cost to the majority of the head contractors that do the right thing. The bill represents just the beginning of a legislative and regulatory regime to change the way construction takes place in the State of New South Wales.The major builders will cope with this proposed legislation and the costs will be passed to principals. The costs will be substantial to ensure compliance, however, it is the mid-tier head contractor that will be forced to increase its administrative workload to accommodate the proposed changes. The bottom of the construction market will ignore the law. As always it’s not about creating yet more laws that will be ignored but about enforcement against those few bad apples.In the meantime our economy which is highly dependent on new housing starts and capital expenditure for growth staggers on. If construction is the engine room of the State then the drivers of that engine are its builders. These builders continue to have their contractual rights restrained and if all the recommendations are enacted, they will within a short time, be operating under even stricter laws and controls. No doubt the other States and Territories will be looking on to see how the New South Wales economy performs if the bill is passed what affect it will have on its builders.
You know what effect this will have? It will screw us even more and screw our cashflow even more.
Have you ever stopped to think about how much the subcontractors actually screw over the builders with dodgy and inflated progress claims? As it is we've got nothing in the way of protection against that. The SOPA essentially states that we have to pay their full claim and then fight it out in court! If that's how it has to be managed then why even have the SOPA in the first place?
Government....Please understand this.....All you manage to do is screw things up!
GO AWAY! YOU ARE NOT WANTED IN OUR BUSINESSES AND YOU ARE NOT WELCOME IN OUR BUSINESSES.
I have not even started on this particular topic yet. Stay tuned...
Till next time...
Sunday, November 3, 2013
The people have spoken...
mandate
nounˈmandeɪt/
verbmanˈdeɪt/
During the 1998 election the Liberal's campaigned on their GST policy and won the election. The GST was implemented (with just a bit of negotiation with Meg Lee's of the Senate) with the legislation passing through both houses.
During the 2007 election Kevin '07 campaigned against the Liberal's WorkChoices policy and won the election. Labor immediately set about dismantling the WorkChoices legislation and the legislation to do so passed through both houses (noteworthy here that Liberals did not oppose the legislation).
During the 2013 election the Liberal's campaigned against the Carbon Tax and won the election.
In all three elections the victor had received a clear mandate from the electorate. There can be no confusion and no misunderstanding on this.
Labour did the right thing and allowed the passage of the GST legislation through the houses and the Liberals did the honourable thing and allowed the passage of the legislation to dismantle WorkChoices through the houses.
So right now I simply can't fathom how Labor can not recognise the clear mandate that Liberal has received from the election to dump the Carbon Tax.
It is beyond rude. It is beyond arrogant and it is just very, very poor form to say the least. I just don't have the words to express my disbelief at this latest little sooky-la-la behaviour from the Labor party.
Tony Abbot's campaign was so clear - he was going to dump the tax. It was his mantra every single day - day in and day out of the election campaign. At every single opportunity it was his catchphrase. He did have 3 or 4 other key platforms that he campaigned upon - and he can rightfully consider that he has a mandate for those also.
So Labor, you need to "man up", accept your punishment (ie: the mandate from the electorate) and let the Liberal's get on with the job. If you want to sook and carry on, do it behind closed doors where we can't see it.
Till next time...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)