Are you thinking about reaching new heights and starting a career in scaffolding in Australia? Well, if you are – or even if you’re not! – here is an eye opener for you on what a day in the life of a typical young scaffolder in Australia may entail. Whilst this log, with its frank admissions and honest blow by blow accounts, may startle you it is important to note that the following does not represent the standard of scaffolding hire supplied by Stronghold Hire. With that out of the way, brace yourselves.
From Slumber to Smoko
5:00 am: My alarm goes off and I promise myself that I’m going to go and purchase a car this weekend, so I can save on travel time and get that extra hour in bed.
5:30 am: After pressing snooze three times I decide to drag myself out of bed and get ready for the big day ahead. It is at this point, as I’m looking at the calluses on my palms and oil under my fingernails that I also promise myself to get onto the boss for more gloves!
5:40 am: I decide whether I’m going to wear my old hi-vis shirt with the ripped shoulder and oil stains for the 3rd day running or pick up one of the new shiny ones I have stockpiled from the last four companies I have worked for.
5:50 am: As I rush down the stairs in my old torn work shirt, I wish I hadn’t pushed the snooze button 3 times so I would have had time to make myself a nice, healthy breakfast to start the day. Instead, I do the usual and grab a $1 coffee, two cans of energy drink and a piece of stale banana bread from the local servo to eat on the bus.
7:05 am: After a 15-minute bus ride, 2 train station swaps and a 10-minute walk I get to the site to start work (I could have been here on time and prepared for 6:40 am but that would have meant leaving the house at 5:30 am and no snoozes, no way, that’s not for me!).
7:08 am: As I put on my toolbelt I realise I still have not replaced those nips that I gave to the labourer three weeks ago and just hope that we are not installing any mesh today.
7:10 am: As I’m late on the job I have found myself put into the worst possible place in the chain as a punishment from the supervisor, now I’m really starting to think about that car purchase for my travels.
9:30 am: After passing up what seems like 30 ton of heavy steel scaffold and the effects of my ‘breakfast’ slowly wearing off, I’m delighted to hear those words screamed down from the top of the scaffold “smoko time!”.
9:40 am: I get to the café and ponder the menu, I look at the yoghurt and muesli and decide that it’s time to change my ways, but as I get to the front of the queue my mouth automatically spits out “chicken schnitzel burger, with extra mayo and fries combo please” – funny how that always happens.
10:00 am: We are back on the job and it seems that either my supervisor has lost his hearing or my voice simply isn’t loud enough as I ask him if can I have a little go ‘up top’ for a while. Instead, I find myself perched back into my awkward back-breaking spot and dread the next batch of 3m standards coming through.
Scaffolding Lunch, Lust and Lists
12:00 pm: Lunchtime, it’s usually the same thing every day. Leftovers from last nights dinner, consuming my other energy drink, catching up with the latest rugby league results and of course, swiping right on my dating apps. Don’t forget to mention checking my SportsBet account to see if my 10 legs same game basketball multi won overnight.
12:40 pm: On my way back to the site I walk past a scaffold erected by another scaffold company and kid myself that I would have done a better job, picking holes in the smallest of things and looking for a missing or incorrectly placed check fitting – every scaffolder I know does this.
2:30 pm: The supervisor drops the bombshell on me that he must leave early but we need a small material list sent through to the office ASAP.
“You have been doing this 5 year now, I’m sure that you can handle this”.
Usually, in the everyday world, someone that has been doing their job for 5 years should be able to complete this very easy, straight forward task. Unfortunately, I am just a young scaffolder, not a brain surgeon, so I already know that I’m going to get this wrong!
3:25 pm: After spending a solid hour on a task that should have taken 10 minutes, I look around to see that the whole crew has disappeared off-site, desperate to get home as soon as possible. I have always wondered why they move so fast at this time of day. Their home lives must be way more interesting than mine?
We All Dream Of Scaffolding
5:00 pm: After my fun journey home testing out Sydney’s many different modes of public transport I get home and reach for a cold beer from the fridge, sit down and start looking at the cars for sale page (again).
6:00 pm: I receive my text from the labour supervisor letting me know which job I will be on tomorrow, I quickly scan the names of the rest of the crew to see if I can annoy one of them into giving me a lift.
7:50 pm: I slowly fall asleep as I tune into some Thursday Night Football on Channel 9 just to see my team get beat for the third week in a row. Life’s good as I know I get to do it all again tomorrow.
Scaffolding In The Real World (and Sydney)
We hope that it was obvious throughout that the above was just a fictitious account of a day in the life of a fictitious scaffolder. We’ve been in the scaffolding game for over 20 years and the above is mish mash of all the quirks and wonders we’ve encountered with scaffolders and scaffolding over the years. As a leading scaffolding company in Sydney we can ensure you that any scaffolding projects we undertake are taken seriously (unlike this post which we hope some of you can relate to!). If you want to find out more about our range of scaffolding services then give us a call now on 02 89852020 or contact us online and a member of our staff will get back to you asap!