Time to jump off....?

Nice to have another pair of hands helping me today. My mate Shaun (a builder) came over to give me some help. More progress made. The plywood floor in what used to be the photo studio has been cut and taken up (it's now at the tip!)...





Knocked the plaster skirt away from the base of the top wall too



The units for behind the service area, the main sink and the worktops were delivered today.





I also pretty much finished the last of the cutting in of the paint, including the staircase and downstairs. I'll finish the last little bit tomorrow, then get the paint roller out to fill the rest in. Oh, and the electrician starts work on Thursday.

Not just you. Halfway down Page 9 here as well.

Ask the question in the 'Forum and Website stuff' section. HoTWire is pretty good at sorting stuff out ASAP.

Should be bumpable now

Thanks bud. I left my 'normal' job at the end of October, and have been splitting my time with work at the shop, and picking and choosing my availability for some agency driving work. I have a class 2 HGV licence, but I've been more than happy to pick up a couple of shifts a week on van work.

Julie currently works three days a week as a nurse, and is continuing with that for now. We felt it better to have that safety net initially. I'd love her to pack it in asap though.

Sounds good, will it have a theme?

Are you doing anything with the ceiling/lights looks a bit industrial.

Good luck with the venture - I gave up my well paid senior management - salaried career, company vehicle etc 3 years ago and have never looked back - gone has the stress of working with muppets, 50,000 miles a year driving - working 60 - 70 hour weeks - dreading taking holiday breaks because all you came back to was a train crash etc. I did a full circle and went back to what I apprenticed has - classic car restoration (I had always kept my own restorations on the go) - I don't earn anything like what I used to when salaried - but I choose my own hours, work from home, choose who my clients are and thoroughly enjoy myself - some days just putting a smile on a clients face more than pays my wages - I still work a hard 60 hours a week but for the majority of the time is like being on a working holiday.

It will be hard work, but a load of fun - I wish you both well - Chris

Over here, businesses have to submit a quarterly BAS (Business Activity Statement) for GST (VAT for you guys). Quite a few of my friends are self-employed/run businesses (most in the building trades), and they use apps that photograph the receipts/invoices, and you enter in the details, then all they have to do is print it at the end of the quarter. Because it's done as you go, you don't get a massive mound of paperwork backed up overwhelming you.

What @quatermass and the others said!

Again, different circumstances, but basically I worked out of the UK with two weeks there, two weeks Asia for two bloody years. Jet lag? Don't talk to me about jet lag! .

Eventually, I was offered a job, on UK salary, in Singapore. this was followed by being chased down by my old company to work for them full time in KL, again, on UK salary.

I then moved to Manila on similar T&C's, until my old outfit was bought by a US company (why an accountant shouldn't be allowed near an engineering firm, he killed one of the oldest and most respected UK names in my field) who decided that I'd far rather be on local terms, i.e., a tasty drop in salary and half the annual leave entitlement. No-one could explain to me why I was worth X in one country, but only Y in another and, funnily enough, the rate they were charging me out at didn't change (US$1,500 a day), so, like the others, I walked.

The last few years have been up and down. It tends to be a bit feast or famine, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone of a nervous disposition, especially if you have to deal with governments a lot (which I do), but hey, when it works, it's bloody marvellous!

Hope it works for you and best o' luck!

As a matter of interest, the US company couldn't get anyone to work here, not even for a quick trip, as they were all cacking themselves over imaginary murders and kidnapping. So let's pee of those folk that are willing?