You cannot failed to have realised that this week has been pretty cold so far. Not chilly. Cold.
Temperatures have struggled to get above freezing. Some areas of the UK have seen double-digit negative figures overnight, and there has been snow in the northern half of the UK. But it is the cold that is the major feature this week.
As we get our teeth stuck into a new year, it is perhaps worth spending some time appreciating the manual trades in our sector, the window and door installers, who have to work outside in these temperatures.
The cold takes its toll
I am based in West Yorkshire and thankfully we haven’t had the amount of snow seen in Scotland or the North West of England. It’s been dry, sunny for the most part and just the odd flurry finding it’s way through. But it has been genuinely cold. Bitter in fact. Not something I would have wanted to stay out in any longer than I would have to.
If you’re an installer however, you do have to stay out in the cold all day and it does take it’s toll. You have my respect. It is a hard, physical job at the best of times, and the weather can either make it a bit easier or a bit harder. I doubt anyone is finding installing any easier in the sub-zero temperatures.
This cold spell is due to last until the end of the week, with a change to wetter and milder weather over the weekend. So we have at least another three days of waking up to bitter cold, silicone and foam that won’t set properly, four layers underneath the silicone-stained jumper, two beanies and finger-less gloves that let the cold turn the finger tips numb.
The winters can seem longer than the summers. The UK isn’t blessed with reliable weather and the number of weeks where we can say we have nice weather are outnumbered by the weeks we have poor or difficult weather. It makes for installing windows and doors tricky at best and as I mentioned, it takes a toll on the body of installers. The physical nature of the work, coupled with weeks and months spent in the cold lumping heavy windows and doors around homes hammers the joints, back and shoulders.
On the positive side, we’re only a couple of months away from (hopefully) warmer weather, longer and brighter days. We’ll be able to ditch the layers and thermals for something a bit more comfortable and worry less about whether that expanding foam is going to set right in -7c!
Clients that care…or not
What this subject did do on X and LinkedIn is spark comments about installers’ own experiences in dealing with their clients when the weather is in the extreme. If you follow DGB on X or LinkedIn the comments are worth a read, and I am sure they will be something you can relate to if you have been on the installation side of the industry!
It did remind me of someone of our own experiences at our installations business.
I remember a large installation we were carrying out a few years ago that took two weeks. It was a stunning pump house of Victorian era. It was exposed in fields and in a pretty elevated area. It was exposed to the wind and for most of the two weeks it was bleak. Barely got into the mid-single-digit temperatures and rained more days than it didn’t. It was a difficult job. Scaffolding for a lot of it and the windows were huge vertical sliders. Not a straightforward installation by any means and not a single cup of tea from the clients who were home every single day. The client even had the cheek one day to pass our installers, who were soaked to the skin, cold, with a nice large hot tea in hand to say “bit wet innit lads!”. I remember one of our guys getting suitably irritated. They resorted in the end to bringing a portable kettle and bottled water just to make their own hot drinks.
Turning things around, I recall an installation of a full house of windows and doors in July a few years back during a heatwave. It was the mid-30s every day, sun shining from start to finish. The lads put in a superb shift in difficult conditions. I’m pretty sure they lost a stone each in sweat alone! Again, the clients were at home all week as it was the school holidays. Not one offer of a cold drink to our fitters, even though they were in the garden and in audible and visible distance of our lads. They ended up getting water from the outside tap just to drink and brought their own bottled water as they knew they weren’t going to be offered anything.
I know these things seem frivolous at the time, but I was always taught that you treat people working in your home with respect. An offer of a drink is a very small but appreciated gesture by all tradespeople, especially when the weather is more extreme. Manners cost nothing, as the saying goes.
So I hope all you installers out there this week get plenty of hot tea and coffee, maybe the odd bacon sandwich and biscuits!
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