Should DIY Blocklaying work be allowed in Australia?

[Blocklayer]

Should DIY Blocklaying work be allowed in Australia?

Yes, any idiot can lay blocks

Yes, if any idiot inspects it after I do it.

Yes, if I’ve completed the Blocklayers Aptitude Test http://www.blocklayer.com/aptitudetest.aspx (http://www.blocklayer.com/aptitudetest.aspx) and achieved a score of under 20.

No, unlicensed blockwork could collapse, causing mass devastation, killing millions of innocent people and dramatically accelerate global warming, endangering all life on this planet

--

And by the way, do you have a license to mow the verge in front of your house?
And is your mower registered for operation on public property?

[watson]

Smirk

[bimborocks]

Small job yes, maybe not on big jobs or it requires inspection.

BTW Apparently i'm too smart to lay bricks

[SilentButDeadly]

Bugger me........turns out I can. I got an aptitude score of 19!

But I still reckon my blockwork would cause mass devastation.....certainly of blocks!

[Ashore]

Does a lego apprenticeship give you credits as a blocklayer :?

[straight_edge]

Why do block layers have heads? Too stop the blocks rolling off!

What do you call a carpenter with half his head kicked in? Blockie!

In all fairness bring in more pre/tilt panels and get rid of your kind for ever!

[kombiman]

depends which way you twist the rebar

[Bloss]

53% - so a just a pass - not not bad for a teetotaller . . . if I was as smart as I thought I was I would have failed!

In any case why would you ever be a blockie when you can pay someone to do it . . .

Great poll.:D

[autogenous]

Anyone can do any of the wet trades and chippy work in WA. Go for it.
Only two licensed trades. Sparks and plumbers.

Any one can do above mentioned trade work on building your house as well. No one has to have formal qualifications. There is nothing to prevent them from trading no matter how dodgy they are. And they do.

Whether you make money is another thing.

[autogenous]

In all fairness bring in more pre/tilt panels and get rid of your kind for ever!

Now you need a licence to do that. I wonder why :wink:

I think that they should wipe out brickies/blocklayers as many as they can :)

Mind you I cant wait for the first earthquake. Thatll freak a few people.:)

[journeyman Mick]

I reckon anyone who is silly enough to want to lay blocks should be allowed to.:D That way those of us who don't want to can get someone else to do it for us.:2tsup:

Mick (who's had one go at laying blocks, taking a whole day to lay 80 of the 200 series bastards)

[watson]

When I retired.....a few years ago.... I did a "brickologists" course at Tafe.........and requested that I be taught to do all the joints and methods using blocks.
At the end of course party...the instructor took me aside and said " what were you thinking??"

I've never laid a block since then.....but heaps of bricks.

[autogenous]

I reckon anyone who is silly enough to want to lay blocks should be allowed to.:D That way those of us who don't want to can get someone else to do it for us. i reckon too. :D

To extend on that some of the limestone blocks in the past have been well beyond 70 kilos each. Ive had 4 calls after the wife has said my husband will do it that they were either in hospital or had started and told the wife to get nicked only to ring me and explain the spinal damage. The job is usually not the best work to complete the job either with a multitude of fix ups ahead.

One sure way of being paid is to get the client to just lay one or attempt to pick them up.
It is at that point the task dawns on them.

The first day is great, six months into when the pain is there day and night the alarm clock is daunting.

Unless you want a sense of self achievement it costs in many cases more to do it yourself by the time you hire the equipment more so if you are self employed wishing to burn a multitude of weekends and can do some overtime to pay someone to do the job in a 1/4 of the time it will take you.

I love people who have done the TAFE course because they can really appreciate the effort and the workmanship involved.

I met one client who's brother inlaw decided to lay bricks on his reno over his long service leave with the help of his brickie father inlaw.
He now has a damaged tendon which has left him unable to pick his children up.

[Bloss]

:wts: I tried to talk a friend out of laying blocks for a largish stable, we got to the 3rd course while I was showing him how to do it and he finally realised why I suggested he pay a blockie! He did, then we did the roof and the finishing off etc - he still reckons the money to the blockie was well worth it and of course it was done in about 1/6th the time it would have taken us!