MICROSOFT EXCEL

I am, and always have been, a big fan of Excel, the things it can do amaze and astound me, formula processing, to graphs and charts to the ability to merge cells….ha ha ha, all so very simple, yet some if it complicated on first appearance.

I have been using it for about 13 years now (possibly), being a lover of figures and maths (yep, I am a geek – when I was young, I used to add up numbers on car number plates to pass the time away on a journey, when that got boring, I used to subtract, divide and multiply, got to the point where I could look at three numbers and know the total of them instantly. Not that clever you may think; next time you look at a set of 3 numbers try it)…anyway where was I? Oh yeah, a lover of maths and figures, something that is a challenge, and maths (all sorts of it) are a challenge, it’s the buzz of beating the numbers, manipulating the numbers and knowing what the numbers are going to do and be! 

So, there I was last night, working at home, while the boys were in bed, wifey (that’s what I call her (most of the time)) was watching Silent Witness and I was at the table, netbook on, excel estimating workbook (that I put together and formulated) up and running, and well into my “take offs” etc….I spent approximately 3 hours working last night, as I have for most nights this week (today is Friday), as I have 3 tenders going in today, and need to ensure they are all correct and in on time ( I have never delivered one late yet).  We have a couple of potential new clients that have been kind enough to give us an opportunity to tender for some work, and although barely a week to price a package is not a long time, it must be done. I for one certainly do not want to let these kind people down, these people that have taken a chance on us as a company to perform for them. These people are business for our future after all. So when I had finished what I wanted to get done, which to be fair was most of it, apart from crossing T’s and dotting the I’s…leaving a relatively stress free Friday to ensure they were all presentable and get them across by lunchtime, tidy my desk for the afternoon and wind down a little (that never happens anyway), saved it all to a file on my desktop so that in the morning I could go straight to it, put the paperwork in my bag, went to bed.

I got to work this morning, coffee on, jammy rings in the drawer, splendid!! Put netbook on, open files, there are the one’s I was working on last night, 3 lovely Excel files all ready to be printed off, opened one up to have a check and see if I could tweak the numbers down a little, and “What the F*ck!!!” where? what? how? Bloody Excel!! Never saved anything on that file…not a jot! GODDAMMITTT. Opened another and then the 3rd, none of them had saved anything I had done the night previous, tell a lie, one of them had saved a little bit, perhaps 15 minutes worth of work. So today, I am approximately 3 hours behind, plus the 20 minutes it has taken me to rant about it here on my blog (doh!!)

Oh well, head down, tail up!! There are 24 hours in a day and presently 17 left!!

Ok, so here’s the thing, I have a sub-contractor database, like most do, and am forever being pestered by new sub-contractors to give them an opportunity to price works for me, on various packages. I don’t mind this, I like the fact that there are some keen subbies out there, and try to hand out opportunities as and when I can, if I can’t, I try to recommend them to others. Treat others as you would wish to be treated!!

But here’s my rant..my gripe…my moan of the week! Why do they not come back with a cost to me when I ask for it? I wouldn’t mind if they rang/mailed/texted to say they had a problem (considering the recent snow etc, this would be more than acceptable, apart from, if I can make it into the office, why can’t they? I am able to work remotely..it’s easy enough….why can’t they?), anyway, I understand unforeseen problems arise, just notify me. 

I now have to ensure that I am able to compile my tender with sensible and hopefully competitive rates without the aid of a particular subby’s rates. I also hope that this does not affect my chances with winning work with this particular client! Because if it does, I shall not be a bunny of happiness. 

In this current climate you would of thought that everyone would welcome opportunities to tender for works, and even at times diversify on what you works they would normally undertake. It’s tough out there. I sometimes wonder why so many smaller companies go under…and sometimes the reasons are quite apparent.

Thankfully it was just the decorator…everyone knows what the rates should be anyway!!

Hi, my name is Paul. This is my very first blog. I am new to this. I write short sentences. 

The blogs that I will write will be a mixture of work and personal, although not too personal….some things are best kept secret  

So for my first blog I was going to give you a brief bio on what I do; basically I am an Estimator by trade, started out for a small joinery company 17 years ago, and worked my way into Commercial/Residential fit-out and refurbishment. I have worked for a couple of large multi-million pound companies, but found that sometimes they lack the personal touch. Don’t get me wrong, the experience was hugely beneficial and enjoyable, but I like to add my own touch to projects that I work on, and wasn’t able to with the bigger boys. Where as now, a small company, local to home, and looking to expand slightly, and steadily, which is obviously easier said than done at the moment, I can do that. I work for 3d-Contract Interiors Ltd, and am Head of Pre-Contracts, which entails, marketing, networking, estimating, and pre-qualifications…and taking the Client for the odd beer or 6….!!

I hope you enjoy my experiences and rants with me!