The Factory Fit-Out

One of the best things about being a contractor is the variety. You meet people on jobs, word gets around, and next thing you're getting a phone call asking for help with something completely different.

That's exactly how this one came about. Sometimes the work doesn't come directly from the end customer — I get brought in as a subcontractor by other businesses who need an extra pair of hands with the steel and fabrication side of things. It's a good setup. They manage the project, I show up and get the work done.

This job was a factory fit-out. A company had acquired a new building — they're a steel supplier and reinforcing company — and needed all their machinery moved in, cleaned up, serviced and reassembled. Wire processing machines, beam lines, dust extraction, stacking machines, water piping, cable routing. The works.

These were older machines with years of grime built up on them, so there was plenty of cleaning and painting involved, plus replacing worn parts along the way. On top of the machinery work there was fabrication — walkway platforms, handrails, dust extraction chutes and trolleys.

The kind of job where you just show up with your tools and get stuck in. Exactly the sort of varied work that keeps things interesting when you're out on your own. No two days the same.