u/dxdx_

To all the concreters out there - how do builders generally provide heights for you to measure down from?

Im owner building an extension on my house with multiple steps in the slab. A surveyor has provided me with an RL (57m) and from there I’ve used my own laser level to calculate the existing floor level and all the slab and footing heights relative to that RL.

My concreter is starting next week. He has the floor and engineering plans already, do I just show him where the RL is on the fence, provide him with the calculated heights and he’s good to go? I ask because I studied a bit of surveying in the past and, this was a long time ago now, but we set stakes out everywhere with marks they could measure off of.

I should also note - the draftsman did provide heights on the plans, but they were all estimates and pretty wildly wrong.

I’m a man in his late 30s who recently started on ozempic just a month ago. I’ve only been dosing 0.25mg so far and will take my first dose of 0.5mg later this week.

Things I’ve struggled with in my life up to now are overeating (the classic Louis C.K. line - ‘the meal isn’t over when I’m full, the meal is over when I hate myself), incessant snacking and eating generally unhealthy foods. Over the course of my life I’ve worked a very physical job and generally gone to the gym or played some type of sport to counterbalance the mess that my diet has been, but as I’ve gotten older and started to move less, the severity of my poor diet is starting to affect my health more so than it has in the past.

When I first took ozempic I thought it was a miracle. I opened the fridge, looked around, then closed it and walked away. That night I had one bowl of dinner and said ‘you know, I think that’s probably enough’. I’ve never felt this way in my entire life and I could honestly see myself losing 30kgs without even breaking a sweat.

About 2 weeks in though, things started to change. Whereas in the past I would eat 3 large meals and a tonne of snacks a day, I’m now eating maybe 2 small meals, and then when dinner comes, I’ll start to convince myself that given I’ve eaten relatively not a huge amount throughout the day, I can probably just have ice cream for dinner. This has sort of lead to a situation where overall I’m eating less than I was in the past, but a high proportion of it is snacks, and given its all just snacks, my nutrition is at an all time low and I’m really just walking around with a headache all the time. I feel a bit sick in the stomach when I wake up and a bit sick in the stomach when I eat. Weight loss has sort of plateaued and I can’t really see much changing moving forward.

Has anyone else had a similar situation? Will increasing to 0.5mg dull my desire for snacks completely? Is ozempic purely just a booster and I still need to be cognisant and determined about what I eat?

Any insight would be much appreciated because really I just feel like garbage and don’t know what to do next.

I’m enrolling in masters next year, and will roll into the intern year in 2028 (likely through the DoE if not the DoJ) and then.. what?

For those that are now on the other side, what’s the logical next step? I have a plan for setting up my own private practice which I think should do well (I’ve been self employed in another industry for years so I have a decent understanding of business), but I feel I likely need way more experience before I go out on my own.

From what I know the health department only hires Clin psychs now. There does seem to be innumerable NGOs focussed on relationships or AOD, but the pay does seem to be lacking for a qualification that takes 6 years full time study. Working in an existing private practice, from what I hear, will cost you 40% of your gross wage.

So what’s the logical next step? How have you all gone about it? I’m doing a bit of volunteer work atm and enjoying it but always feel like I would potentially gain greater experience if I had a clearer mental image of the post qualification pathway.

I’m enrolling in masters next year, and will roll into the intern year in 2028 (likely through the DoE if not the DoJ) and then.. what?

For those that are now on the other side, what’s the logical next step? I have a plan for setting up my own private practice which I think should do well (I’ve been self employed in another industry for years so I have a decent understanding of business), but I feel I likely need way more experience before I go out on my own.

From what I know the health department only hires Clin psychs now. There does seem to be innumerable NGOs focussed on relationships or AOD, but the pay does seem to be lacking for a qualification that takes 6 years full time study. Working in an existing private practice, from what I hear, will cost you 40% of your gross wage.

So what’s the logical next step? How have you all gone about it? I’m doing a bit of volunteer work atm and enjoying it but always feel like I would potentially gain greater experience if I had a clearer mental image of the post qualification pathway.

- Footy media is Vic media

- 3 out of the top 4 are interstate clubs

- You tune in on a Friday and they’ve got a double header. Coverage of the top team starts 10 minutes before the bounce with pleb callers from a studio in Melbourne, while the Victorian game has 2 hours or pregame and interviews at the ground

- You tune in to any afl media and they’re asking what’s happening at Collingwood (7th)? What’s happening at Geelong (8th)? Why are Essendon (17th) shit?

- Zero coverage on what the good teams are doing differently and what makes them so good

- Maybe 5 minutes on Freo, having the best season of any club in 20 years - ‘are they the real deal?’

I’m a bricklayer and putting on a sizeable extension to my house. I have a sand pad going down next week and plumbers and concreters lined up for the following weeks.

My question is - what is the order for digging footings, pouring footings and running the prelay through them?

Ideally I would just get the plumber in and leave the prelay exposed where it crosses the would be footings, then the concreters can dig and pour.

But I’m getting the impression I’m going to need to have the footings dug, then have the prelay put in, then have the concreter return another day to pour the footings.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

It’s undeniable. Ruck work you could split the two. Goal kicking you could split the two. But covering the ground and clutch marks all over the ground - Mason is so far in front it’s not funny. I feel for Darcy and I like the guy but winning premierships isn’t about picking good blokes.

Has anyone noticed the rise in absolute 2 bit operators these days?

And no, I’m not talking about recent imports. I’m currently owner building an extension on my house. We haven’t even got the slab down yet and I’ve been through 3 drafties (one didn’t know brick houses needed 2 skins), 2 engineers (one lacked major details regarding the slab and structural steel and just stopped responding to emails), and I’ve just had the backyard geo-scanned for old decommissioned services to be removed, just to find an entire soakwell that they said wasn’t there.

And this isn’t me just going lowest price either. These are all experiences with apparently reputable firms. I’m a tradie myself so have a bit of an understanding about what’s necessary and what’s acceptable, but I feel for anyone outside of the industry that receives this kind of work and assumes it’s right. No idea how these pricks survive as businesses when they clearly don’t have a clue what they’re doing.

Found an old soakwell under where I’ll be putting a slab in a few weeks. It’s deep and clean inside and it seems it’s not been connected or used for a long time.

What are my options here? It won’t be in the way of any waste or services, can I just fill it and compact it and move on? Should I concrete over the top? Can I even stick some rubble in there and concrete over the top?

Never had to deal with this before so any advice would be greatly appreciated

Bit of a heavy one, I know, but I found myself in a bit of a pickle recently.

I have recently gone from being a bricklayer to running my own bricklaying team with bricklayers and labourers working under me. Things have been good for the most part, but unfortunately the majority of people taking on labouring roles in my area have some sort of history or even current relationship with methamphetamine.

About a month ago, one such labourer had a bit of a hissy fit out of nowhere and packed up his things to go home. Then, apropos of nothing, he got right in my face and told me if I didn’t pay him, he was going to come to my house.

What made the comment especially egregious is that until that point we had gotten on. He had been to my house, met my 18 month old daughter and heavily pregnant partner.

Now, had I been a single man, I’m sure this wouldn’t have bothered me one iota of what it did. But, knowing that I have a child and a pregnant partner at home, and knowing that he knows that and he felt it acceptable to say such a thing, and with him right up in my face - I quickly took him by the scuff of his shirt, bent him over a pack of bricks and informed him that if he ever set foot on my property it’d be the last thing he ever did.

This unfortunately massively escalated things. He stood out the front of the job with a hammer in his hand making threats for half an hour, then when he finally took off, I figured I should call my partner and tell her to lock the doors. When she didn’t answer for the third time I found myself speeding down the freeway, white knuckling the steering wheel, just to pull into the drive to see her sitting in the front room with the baby wondering why I looked like I’d seen a ghost.

It’s been a month since this happened and it’s still bouncing around in my head. I saw a psych about it today and he gave me nothing. I’m torn. On one hand I feel there is a very valid opinion that I shouldn’t have responded the way I did. On the other, I feel there is an equally valid opinion that I should have responded even harder and put the fear of god into him.

Am I wrong to have flipped out? What would you all have legitimately done in my situation?

Hypothetically speaking of course…

What does everyone have planned for it?

I’ve resigned to the fact that tickets for the entire family will be near on impossible, but my brother in law is in Melbourne atm so I figure it might be worth at least heading over for it.

Can anyone confirm if the MCG has a big screen outside the stadium? Is there generally a place we can all get together and completely lose the plot in perfect synchronicity? A pub in Freo would be good but something about making the trek over seems to add to the spectacle of it all.

Not sure about other trades and states but I’m a bricklayer from Perth and as such there’s only 2 ways to go about earning a living - drive yourself mad looking for a constant flow of cashies, or settle in with a reputable, or number of reputable, builders and pray for the best.

The issue I’m currently having is the constant expectation that I’ll help the supervisor out.

‘You can just whack these on for us can’t you?’

‘You reckon you can patch up one of my other jobs on Saturday?’

‘Couldn’t get the crane but you and your boys should be right to lift the T bar, right?’

It’s always asked in a strangely condescending manner where you’re made to feel like there’s something wrong with you if you either A can’t do it or B want to get paid for it.

Pretty bloody over it and not just that but they’re completely incompetent at doing their own job. The last 3 jobs they’ve rushed me to get me there only for some materials to still be waiting on delivery. As we’re paid on brick rate, anything missing completely ruins the flow of the job and greatly diminishes our earning capacity.

My question, to any and all trades - is this normal? Are they always manipulative pricks that just expect you to be honoured to have the opportunity to be their whipping boy? Is there another way to make decent money as a bricklayer without constantly chasing work? Seriously considering stocking shelves at Coles at this point.

I’m trying to put an extension on the back of my home. I’ve been calling around looking for a concreter to do the slab for the last 6 weeks to no avail. I was wondering if anyone could help me out as to how much of a pain the job may be and how I could go about making it easier to potentially get someone on board.

The slab is 180m2 with a sunken master, a raised living and 2 wet areas, all at the rear of my property with a 2m wide access down the side of the house. From speaking to the guys that have come and had a look, what seems to be the issue is that I’m on a busy road just past the crest of a hill, so traffic control will be essential, and I’ve got overhead power out the front, so a line pump would have to be used in lieu of a boom pump.

How uncommon are these factors and how much of an additional issue are they? Would it be these factors or the type of job in general that’s turning people off?Would managing the traffic control element myself alleviate some of the hassle?

I’m a bricklayer myself and very keen to get onto the brick stage of the build and to also get my family out of living in a building site sooner rather than later. Any help on how I can progress this and make it more appealing for people to take on would be much appreciated.

Hello all,

I am an owner builder building an extension to my house with a large portal frame on the rear of the patio.

I’ve contacted an engineer and had the plans sent to me (I have them to share but can’t post pics for some reason?). The structural columns throughout the plan are tagged (SC1) with an additional detail referring to their widths, gauge and lengths. Unfortunately, what will become to portal frame at the rear of the job only has what I’m assuming is the tops of the portal frame tagged (300 PFC CRANKED). What these beams are sitting on and how - god only knows.

I sent the engineer an email asking for more information to which he replied ‘it can definitely be welded on site’ (that was it. That was his entire response).

Am I missing something?

At this point I’m thinking of putting structural columns inside the brick piers akin to the others on the plan, then when the central ridge beam PFC is up, welding the 2 portal frame PFCs from the columns to the ridge beam. Or is a portal frame put together out of 4 piece of 300 PFC CRANKED? I’d like to get this right, it’s only my families safety at risk should it not meet standards, but I’ve been through all the correct channels and these are the plans I received so not sure what else to do.

I’m currently in a situation where I’ve purchased a house and started a family. While I’m in training for a completely different career, I’m currently working in construction.

Finances became tight when my partner stopped working to have our first baby, so I decided to start my own business. Life was good for a bit - better money, more freedom - until the toll it took on my body caught up with me. So I decided to take a few guys on. Since then it has been basically 24/7 stress, and while an improvement on the beating my body was taking, no improvement in income.

The situation I’m in now is I can’t go back to working by myself as I know my body will break, and I can’t sell the house and downgrade as we bought the place with 2 incomes 0 kids and are now 1 income 2 kids - we wouldn’t get close to the house we have now with our new financial situation.

Every which way I look at the situation I see the only option being to slug it out doing what I’m doing for the next couple of years until my partner goes back to work. From everything I hear, this predicament (the golden handcuffs so to speak) is pretty common. How do you all deal with it and how do I get through this period without going completely insane?