GrumbleDook Posted May 7, 2008 Posted May 7, 2008 This may sound like a bizarre ne but I am on the look out for a few schools to chat with that may be using their site staff slightly differently to the usual 'caretaker' sort of thing. To start with I am on the look out for schools that do their own benching, room remodelling ... the sort of stuff you would normally pay a furniture company or builder for ... So .. basically a carpenter / joiner / brick-layer sort of thing. Many schools this sort of person to save a fortune on capital projects and a comparison of figures might help a few things.
jcollings Posted May 7, 2008 Posted May 7, 2008 2 of our site managers do this kind of thing - they bench rooms, partition class rooms, build walls etc.
vikpaw Posted May 7, 2008 Posted May 7, 2008 Not quite along the same lines, but we get all of our IT furniture custom built by a local company, along with the custom PC case which bolts on top. You're welcome to pop in to look at it sometime
Quackers Posted May 7, 2008 Posted May 7, 2008 Ours do all that build walls, put benching in, move doors, and the electrics as well ,change consumer units, new sockets. We do the network cabling.
Netman Posted May 7, 2008 Posted May 7, 2008 We have two fantastic site engineers here (Ind. school). They do virtually everything, from painting to building. They bench rooms out for IT use and also do all our cable runs so I only have to terminate... As an example, recently there was a quote from an outside contractor to paint the external windows in one or our quads (there are 3 in total). They wanted £40,000. I expect the guys will have it done in 2 or 3 weeks in the summer so a massive saving there... Another example - I wanted a new fibre cable run through existing ducting - I didn't get a quote, but would expect it to be between £1,000 & £2,000 going on past experience. Bought a pre-terminated fibre and our chap had it in the next day - whole job was no more than £500... They must pay for themselves at least 4 or 5 times over every year I reckon, maybe even more.... Bit similar to good network managers really
GlennT Posted May 7, 2008 Posted May 7, 2008 Our guys are pretty similar. They do most things apart from electrical work and glazing. They have also just passed the test to do onsite pat testing.
conehead Posted May 7, 2008 Posted May 7, 2008 Not really what you are asking, but may be of interest. The Local Government pay review is causing lots of aggro in relation to extra duties some caretakers currently undertake. In essence, for the sake of simplicity the LA want to lump all individuals in very different schools in "job families" and pay the same to all. Problems arise when you have one guy in one school who does all the gardening, joinery and so on, and is currently paid a bit extra in recognition. At the appeal stage he is told he shouldn't be doing it and should pick up a phone and get contractors in for that sort of work. Result is his wage will drop when the changes come in April 09 he will leave or work to rule, and the school will pay much more to get those kind of jobs done.
FN-GM Posted May 7, 2008 Posted May 7, 2008 The site staff and basically the handy men and the caretakers all in one here. As for Desks in classrooms the old network manager fitted and built all ours from scratch.
beeswax Posted May 7, 2008 Posted May 7, 2008 When I started at my current school we had two chaps, John & Pete, who were self employed but worked solely for our school and a couple of others. John retired recently, but Pete carries on. I don't want to go down the managed services route too far, but they knew the school and you didn't have to waste time showing them around, and they did a good job, which Pete continues to provide.
FN-GM Posted May 7, 2008 Posted May 7, 2008 John has left? we has a nice guy. They told me they where called Bill & Ben at first like a fool i believed them at first
Oops_my_bad Posted May 7, 2008 Posted May 7, 2008 the old network manager fitted and built all ours from scratch. Goodness me! Our site guys/caretakers here are also quite handy - basically anything electrical/carpentry/metal, they do it. Not that they do a dencent job mind, the whole place is falling apart
torledo Posted May 7, 2008 Posted May 7, 2008 (edited) In terms of electrical work, i'm assuming the caretakers need to be qualified electricians to do any sort of work within the school. Don't know what qualified electrician means these days....but i would imagine it stipulates 16th edition, time served/apprenticeship, and most important Electrical inspection and safety. Don't believe there are many caretakers who fulfill that criteria... tbh to be on the safe side from a liability standpoint, i think it would probably best to get NICEIC approved contractors in for any kind of electrical work. It's the headteachers lookout they are the ones liable. Edited May 7, 2008 by torledo
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