Axminster and Sub-contracting, I presume

How do you enter the business of sub-contracting? That is the question.

Is it easy? Is it difficult? Is it possible to just enter the trade as a painter and decorator? Painting can't be that difficult. There are simply MASSES of new flats and houses under construction in Exeter and east Devon; it is just a question of getting in on the action and making some money... a lot of it (so say people who currently do this for a living).

I saw an advert in the local paper for tradespeople for a 'project' in Axminster. Time to take action.

Mr C sounded positively enthusiastic when I spoke to him on the phone; there is an acute shortage of people doing this for a living - the newspapers are full of such stories - and I took no time in suggesting we go out onto the site to meet the foreman. We promptly got in the car and left for Axminster.

The historic market town of Axminster is famous for... carpets. But it should also be famous for new flats since there are tons under construction right now.

The town is delightfully placed on a hill right next to the vale of the River Axe; it may even be more scenic than Honiton (next to the River Otter). The Axe meanders its way past the town - its centre, at the top of the hill, rendered in sandstone - just a few miles from its completion at Seaton (Axmouth).

The development we looked at is two dozen flats and they all need painting... now! The site foreman suggested we take a look around and left us to it; it was like we had been in the business for years as we walked around the ground floor, quietly surveying the place and pretending we knew what we were doing. Other workers stopped what they were doing and stared at us, as if we were three Abramovichs walking around Stamford Bridge for the first time.

Well, we stood around in a quiet, deserted room for twenty minutes, admiring the plasterboard and concrete floors, unfinished ceilings and cables everywhere, wondering what the hell to say to W, the site foreman.

There are a mass of white electrical cables dangling from the ceilings, hanging down like in a jungle. You had to wade through, piercing your way through with your hand and raised arm as you made for the next room. We were in the deep interior of this enormous, four storey complex.

We wandered around the ground floor, room-to-room, awe-struck by the sheer industry of the place, trying to discover the layout of each flat; in fact, we were like Dr Livingstone in the darker reaches of a new continent, explorers trying to penetrate the complex world of construction and renovation. In our case, how do you find your way in? Would this be our elephants graveyard?

Could we blow it before we even started?

In the end, I told the foreman we would come back on Monday to take a more detailed observation and begin preparing a full quote. He believed us, for sure. Like a true businessman, I offered my hand and we shook, agreeing to discuss matters further; he could have been Stanley.

On the way back, you can see flats under construction... everywhere. Just flats, houses, and more flats, all under construction, all over east Devon. There is tons of this work around, no question about it. In Exeter, there are new, vast complexes of flats and offices sprouting up all over the place; like mushrooms, new ones just appear overnight.

Do you buy a cheap, second-hand white van? There was a white Vauxhall van for £1,200 at the garage in Sidford (we went again on the A3052 on Saturday, via Colyton). If you are doing two dozen flats, do you go out and buy £1000 of materials? Who knows. We need to investigate further; much, much further, if this is not to become our Kabrabasa rapids.