A while back, I had Brady write a post about what he did for work. Being that he’s home often enough for people to notice, I was getting lots of questions about what he actually does. I’ve also have some very tasteful people say things like “good thing you have money.” I bite my tongue a lot 😉 I won’t go into great detail, but I’ll say that last year was easily our worst financial year. The promise of work kept coming, but it wouldn’t. The people who did scheduling where Brady worked predominantly either quit or were laid off, and ALL loyalty was lost. Brady scrambled around from contact to contact, builder to builder, and kept us afloat. He stayed loyal to the builder he’d been with for several years, but added multiple others to the docket. It was not glamorous, or fun, or easy. He was ragged from working longer, frustrating days for WAY below his pay grade. He often earned in one week what he was previously making in one day. It was a low time. The whole 2019. Come December, we got scared. There simply would not be money for December. We had Christmas to think about, plus multiple fundraisers, a “bring something yummy to share” here and there, presents, food, not to mention our overall cost of living. We told a few more people about our situation and they began to pray actively. We were gifted food, as well as grocery gift cards, and were cared for around every corner.
It was about halfway through December when someone called for Brady. He had previously worked as a site guy at the home builder that was currently letting Brady down hard, and he offered him some work. It wasn’t finishing, but if he wanted it, he could have it. Now, this guy had called before. Painting, and a few home repairs, he had said. Brady had turned him down, and regretted it a bit too late. So this time around, he jumped.
In NO TIME, Brady had scheduling all through December and into the middle of January. Those two weeks of work in January alone promised to pay for a full months expenses. So anything on top of that would be catch-up money. Or eventually, get-ahead money!
Brady has been over the moon ever since. Once he expanded his realm of work, he’s realizing how bored he was with finishing. Same stuff, same floor plans, over and over, and there weren’t even nice people on staff anymore. At his new place, he is wanted, and appreciated, and well liked. He gets called first. Already!!! Since that day in mid-December, Brady has had consistent work. He still has flexibility, which is HUGE for our family. And if you see him home in the day, it very likely means he’s crushed his work in less time than he was given 🙂 Because he’s like that. Produces excellent quality of work without taking an absurd amount of breaks or dragging his feet.
No big ties have been cut with his previous builder, but he hasn’t had a call from them in months now and he is WAY happier. I actually had my own little relief cry the day he sent me a picture of himself wearing a new toque. His old work toque proclaimed his home builders name on it. He wore it into the office of the business he is working for now, and they actually took it from him, threw it out, and replaced it with one of theirs. I was SO thrilled, and so was he. He is wanted and appreciated there.
So now, Brady works for a property management company. He does what needs doing in the units between tenants. He called them suite turns. I call them sweet turns Its different. Lol! He is still a finisher, but he is also a painter, flooring installer, cabinet installer, countertop installer, changer of all fixtures, blind guy (lol), and all around basic general contractor handy guy. They love him because he is only one guy, and can do the whole job. It costs more money, time, and hassle to have multiples trades through one unit when Brady can do it all! Because of this, and the quality of his work, he is already a preferred trade.
I am SO proud of him, and SO thankful to God for bringing us work when we desperately needed it. Please keep it coming! We have some catching up to do, but we are SO grateful for the headway we’ve made thus far!