OPINION: Building work’s nearly done, now for the VIP
I have never had so many men in one place at one time.
My new play barn is overflowing with tradesmen after the New Year break. We are attempting to open – actually we will open, as we have already booked the star attraction – on 1 February.
Many months ago, when I interviewed a potential marketing agent, he mentioned asking a VIP to open the barn.
I explained that I knew no famous people who lived locally and wouldn’t mind freezing their socks off on a Saturday morning in February.
He told me to stop being so thick – the VIP was a ‘Very Important Pig’ ie Peppa. For those of you not au fait with toddler cartoon heaven, Peppa is a very pink pig with a large family, ideal for marketing to small children in any form.
Our bestselling toy is Peppa, and her extended family ensure repeat visits from customers to our shop to collect the set – lovely!
Peppa is booked and I just have to find a willing volunteer to inhabit the costume. Apparently a minder is needed, too, especially if I choose a male ‘volunteer’, as toddler-height children have a habit of throwing themselves at the person wearing the costume for a hug, rather painfully for him just at testicle-height.
The tradesmen think I’m mad and bossy and scary – can’t believe it, really. I am so impressed by our local people – builder, brickie, plumber and electrician have all turned up when they said they would, take appropriate breaks and pretend to listen, absolutely fantastic.
What is more impressive is that they suggest improvements that will either save me money or sometimes require extra effort on their part, all with a smile and a joke.
Peppa is booked and I just have to find a willing volunteer to inhabit the costume
It has been really cold and they have been working in very inhospitable conditions without a moan.
Kev, the builder, took a face plant yesterday after tripping over the bindings around the concrete blocks, while pushing a wheelbarrow. He stood up with blood running down his face and announced that he thought his lucrative modelling career might be over. We all agreed.
What is worrying is the total lack of customer care among other businesses. Builders merchants, electrical wholesalers and plumbing suppliers have in the past all treated me as if I’m stupid or invisible. At the electricians recently, two salesmen walked straight past me without even a hello – if I did that to my customers, I wouldn’t have any left.
I rang the bell, which is connected into the office behind with six or more people sitting at desks, none even looked up. Luckily, five minutes later, a lovely chap who usually inhabits the counter even took the time to show me into the warehouse to demonstrate how my lights would look in situ and saved the sale… just!
The additional tradesmen are fitting the groundsource heat pump. I cannot for the life of me fathom how it can possibly work, but with over 486m2 of space to heat I really hope it does.
The maze of pipework for the underfloor heating was laid by two energetic young men in just six hours. It looked like a very complicated but impressive spaghetti junction when they left.
We have dug metres of trenches and the groundworks have left the earth looking like the battle of the Somme. Just two weeks until opening day… no need to panic.
Acquiring fixtures and fittings for the barn has been quite an experience, too. I have been truly amazed at the times when the builder/electrician/plumber has said: “Don’t buy the Chinese stuff, it’s rubbish – there’s a company in Manchester/Birmingham/Leicester who make the best.”
Wow. When I built the shop extension eight years ago, you would never have heard that. It made me quite proud and has given me a glimmer of hope for British manufacturing.
‘Made in Britain’, I read lately, is a new campaign (I thought that it was an old campaign) set up as a not-for-profit enterprise to regenerate interest in all things British.
I know that agriculturally, we have the little red tractor, but personally that has never really worked for me. Mired down by ‘is it really British pork’ labelling, the tractor has struggled to retain credibility with consumers and producers.
A ‘Made in Britain’ campaign for meat should surely mean just that – conceived and born in the UK. I still have to do more research on this project but it has immediate appeal if the rules are stringent and the supermarkets don’t jump on the bandwagon, stretch the rules, and then get caught out by the public, which devalues any campaign.
The organisation has been set up by James Bradshaw whose family bought only British products for a whole year. The logo has been redesigned and companies can use the marque for £100 a year. As almost all the products we sell in our shop are made or grown on site, I foresee a splendid display of GB colours all over, and about time too.
Just off to find a willing victim to inhabit the pig costume… the first tradesman to hold the job up? I think so.