After many years of building, hanging and designing gates for clients, I have grown to discover that many clients, despite seeing gates every day are often quite ignorant of the details about gates. Probably the biggest learning curve I find I need to navigate with clients are the complexities of things like Federation style gates and the complete lack of knowledge clients have about what is involved with automating gates.
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You're receiving this brief newsletter because you have used Handy Work previously. We send updates rarely, so as not to bother. It is however, a good way to remind you that we are still here, doing quality work for more and more regular clients every year.
This update starts by showcasing a couple of less than usual jobs, talks about the newest team member, Roger, who helps us stay on top of things, so you are not waiting too long, reminds you that we have an automated booking service on our website, and gives you a sneak preview at a few gate styles we have created recently.
Less than usual - We get asked to do many jobs which are by no means usual. Maybe it is because our clients immediately realise how capable we are at grasping their specific needs and recognise the extensive skill and experience behind our work.
Hanging Artwork - Light
This golden piece of art, doubling as the dining room light hung from the ceiling in the central stairwell, 3 storeys above the dining area. Unfortunately this adored centrepiece was initially installed into plaster only, by the original installer and a while later it dropped to the floor, hanging from the power cable.
I was engaged to install suitable structure in the ceiling from which it would hang safely, by removing a section of plaster, installing structural timber support and then reinstating the plaster and the artwork light. A 6m high scaffolding platform was assembled inside the stairwell to reach the attachment point, to get it repaired ready for the electrician to reconnect the lighting power.
Landscape Steps to a Hidden Garden
These clients were not keen on risking the climb down the steep incline to the bottom garden but could not justify the high cost of building normal outdoor stairs for the sake of a little gardening. Handy Work suggested a more landscape oriented design using sleepers and existing pavers they owned for the top three platform stairs and joining a set of stairs made entirely from sleepers to the lowest platform. As a last minute request the clients requested a simple handrail. Overall a much more cost effective solution to the alternative.
Roger, has been working with Handy Work since the beginning of this year. He has over 35 years experience in construction, is a qualified bricklayer, a qualified and talented Carpentry and has his Builders License. Much of his career has involved managing building sites, big and small. So you do not come more qualified to help our Handy Work clients. Like Bruce, he never stops moving, is highly efficient while carrying out quality work and is a great communicator with clients. Roger is a highly valued asset for Handy Work and the clients we serve.
What it means is we can broaden our scope of work for our clients and perhaps, even more important, for some, we can get to your work complete pronto. When it must be done even quicker, we simply schedule 2 men to get it finished even faster.
Automated Booking of Jobs online - Handy Work has had an automated booking service on our website for some time. Interestingly, it is more commonly used by new clients but I would have thought existing clients may find this a highly efficient and therefore an attractive way to book in new work, because you already know how we operate and you can just slot in new jobs for a time that suits you. I may, on occasions need to contact you to vary the actual start date but at the very least it allows you to add new work into our schedule at any time of day or night, whenever you relise it needs doing. You will find a black box saying Book In A New Job on most pages of our website, along with lots of photos of completed jobs. You may also like to refresh your memory of the full range of work we do and perhaps get new ideas, by looking at the photos of completed work, extending over almost 40 categorised webpages, by revisiting our Handy Work website again. The website is updated regularly.
How many gate styles are there? Well, thousands really, but there are probably 3 main styles : Contemporary, Federation & Budget and three main material types 1. H3 Treated Pine of which the subgroups are a) primed ready for painting or b) CCA for non-painted gates. 2. Hardwood for when it is to be a stained or varnished timber grain finish, 3. Metal gates.
Some recent variations are shown below
A more contemporary, privacy-oriented gate, utilising self-closing hinges and a key-lockable magnetic latch.
A Federation style gate, which utilises more advanced joinery techniques. The first photo shows how it left our workshop and the second shot shows it after I installed it and the client painted it.
Another contemporary gate fitted with high quality fire-resistant key-lockable latches and 316 grade stainless steel hinges, to resist the salt air. Four gates were installed. One for each of the street-facing townhouses in this desirable strata development, across the road from a golf course and 50m from the beach.
Picket fence, matching gate and a new letterbox were built and installed across the front yard so as to be of a similar style to the pergola and handrail at the front of the house, which we installed a couple of years earlier.
Another contemporary-style gate which is more budget-oriented.
Below is an even more budget-oriented gate, most commonly used to safely keep in a pet. H3 CCA Treated Pine with dog mesh stapled to the timber gate frame.
Well, that's all for now. Feel free to drop me an email. We would love to hear any feedback.
Thanks all..
Contact Bruce by:
Phone: That is the fastest way: 0418 26 46 49
Email: bruce@handywork.com.au
Send a message from the website: https://www.handywork.com.au/booked/
You can even book a job at any time of day or night by clicking the "Book A New Job" button found on many pages of the website.
Hello again. In this Newsletter you will find out about new capabilities, I will showcase a couple of recent, jobs and later I will detail a discount for your next piece of work.
I must say the variety of work you all throw at me is what makes my job so interesting. I am enthusiastic about every job you throw at me. Well almost every job.
NEWS
I have added the ability to BOOK A NEW JOB directly from the Handy Work website. You will be able to pick from 4 types of jobs based on how long you need me and also pick the day and time for the job to start, that suits you, within normal business hours. The four job lengths are:
This exciting new feature aside, phoning me to book jobs will likely remain popular. The BOOK A NEW JOB capability however, allows you to check my diary at any time that suits you, whether day or night and make a booking which will automatically end up in my diary.
Unfortunately the little bread van looking Caddy reached the end of its life and has been sent off to spare parts heaven.
I am now driving a new VW Transporter, Long Wheel Base van, which is enormous compared to the Caddy. Almost twice the storage room. A lot of planning went into getting the internal racking just right. Packing at the end of the job is a breeze now. This new van is the epitome of the phrase "everything has a place and there is a place for everything". So I am working a little faster and am out of your hair even quicker now.
A much more powerful and robust mini jack hammer / masonry drill is in the new van, which has the capability to demolish brick walls, concrete, takes up floor tiles and removes wall tiles in half the time and can now drill up to 40mm holes in concrete and brick.
Where I will still need to hire a heavy duty breaker (jack hammer) for breaking up thick concrete slabs, this new demolition hammer will do 95% of the masonry and demolition work I am asked to do.
I have had a powerful, petrol driven water blaster for a few months now. It has the power to clean the grottiest of areas quickly, yet has the finesse to gently clean almost any delicate surface. It is very handy for cleaning or as preparation for other jobs.
Typically when I build a deck, I do it everything from go to whoe. In this case, I simply built the structural items, including the screening posts and the shade cloth ring beams and my client did the decking, the screening timbers and the shade cloth. He sent me photos of the finished job the other day. He did a fabulous job.
This idyllic North Curl Curl backyard faced south, so sun never hit the existing deck attached to the back of the house. It just wasn't inviting in winter. So they specified the new deck was to be built in the back corner of the yard to catch the winter sun where it also acted as a wonderful backdrop to their beautiful grassy yard.
Above is the bit Handy Work built
The completed sunny haven, finished off by my client himself
A modern unit in Allambie Heights had part of a large balcony closed in to form a sun-room. I bricked up a hole left when the gas water heater was moved, laid a floating floor and put up blinds on the sliding doors.
Before
After
Believe it or not this failed slab was originally put in by the builder who owned this house in Avalon previously. Really it is a lesson in the importance of building things properly, no matter what.
Over a few years the soil under the slab was unknowingly eroded by water running down hill and washing the dislodged material under nearby sleeper steps, where it was hidden and unnoticed. A hole almost a meter deep, then appeared when the thin un-reinforeced slab's edge broke away and fall into the hole.
I broke up the remaining bits of cracked slab with my new "toy" described above, lined the hole with geotextile fabric, back filled the hole under the slab with almost 30 bags of sand, drilled into the side of the remaining slab to glue in reinforcing dowels, tied galvanised reinforcing steel to the dowels, applied concrete primer to the old slab edge and then laid heavily fortified (meaning strong) 150mm thick concrete.
Even if the sand did wash away, and it shouldn't, the new slab edge should stay in place now.
Handy Work would like to offer all those who receive Newsletter No. 3 a 20% saving on the first 4 hours of the next job we do for you. The only prerequisites are:
Well, that is that for now. Feel free to drop me an email if you have any feedback.
Thanks all.
Contact Bruce by:
I am humbled by the number of long term clients who continue to regularly ask Handy Work to help them get things done. One client, who I will call James, has had Handy Work do an eclectic collection of jobs going back 5 1/2 years. James, has had me help prepare his home for resale, then we have done improvements to his new home and recently he downsized, moving his family into a lovely terrace home. Again Handy Work has built bookshelves, repaired doors, modified kitchen cabinets and installed hand rails to a loft bedroom. So we have worked on 3 of James' homes, as he has moved and also done work on his business premises.
James and his wife have a large blended family, some living with them in the terrace and others are now forging their own life nearby in Sydney. Each week James and his wife put on dinner for the whole family and their partners. Sometimes that means 12 places set around the table in their gorgeous mid-sized terrace.
Warm nights beckoned them out into the courtyard but it was a bit of a problem fitting them all around the 6 seater barbecue table . So the loving couple went looking for a more suitable outdoor setting, but to no avail. The terrace courtyard was not quite spacious enough for the typically wide table, big enough for the family, but it could accommodate 12 settings, if the table was long and narrow.
James asked Handy Work if we could make an outdoor table to his less than usual dimensions. During the phone conversation with James, Bruce was privately concerned that making a bespoke table may not compete financially, with mass produced tables. But once an estimate was calculated, Bruce felt confident James would see value in the final result.
Handy Work adapted the now popular 140mm x 25mm decking timbers and laminated timbers to make up the Merbau hardwood table and then used heavy duty, stainless steel, bugle screws to ensure the structure lasted, but also because the construction time could be minimised through simplifying the structure.
Sydney is experiencing a rainy autumn, so Bruce bought the timbers and constructed the table in his workshop, routed the sharp edges round, sanded the finished table smooth, then temporarily removed the legs for delivery and did the final assembly at James' place, ready for the next, hopefully dry, family dinner night.
So, some of you may be wondering how cost effective was this project?
Well materials came out at a little over $600 and the labour was a little over $950. So at around $1,600 for a 2.5m long by 70cm wide table, made of solid Merbau, it perhaps wasn't the cheapest outdoor table available. However, it is sturdy, enormously strong (you could have a whole family of revellers dancing upon it....... And that may actually happen), and all fixings are stainless steel, so it will last.
Some may say it is a quality table at a more than reasonable price. Most importantly, it was precisely what James and his wife wanted.
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