Help a competitor?

[Spud]

I enjoy being a forum member and am happy to help others on here as I in turn have been helped with some excellent advice and knowledge but would you help a competitor in direct competition with you if they phoned and asked for technical advice and would you lend them your equipment ?

 

[Gazzer]

Competitor or friend ? Advice I will give, not often I lend equipment though.

 

[Spud]

competitor or tiler you know but not someone you would recommend

 

[jay]

Advice maybe

tools NO

 

[Gazzer]

Then , No I wouldnt help to take the food off my table.

 

[White Room]

Advise I would give but tools that's another issue...

 

[Mike]

i help a lad out who i know with both advice and the loan of tools but i wouldn't class him as competition. if your friends i guess it's okay to help out, after all, one day you may need help too

 

[user123]

Hmm, interesting question, it depends on the chemistry between the two of you. With nice people, with mutual respect, advice yes, tools, no, but with someone you, as you say you would NOT recommend, ooh, trouble, it could be a case of 'that Gary told me so', when things go wrong...

 

[Spud]

Not talking about Friends or work colleagues I mean Tiler who works in your area but you dont work with or know other than a nod in the tile shop

 

[Time's Ran Out]

We used to do work for a bathroom co. who employed their own tiler. We would get all the mosaic and stone jobs until he became 'qualified'. It was only when they asked to use our cutting equipment that I realised we were surplus to requirements - they went bust 18months later.

 

[Mike]

Not talking about Friends or work colleagues I mean Tiler who works in your area but you dont with or know other than a nod in the tile shop

in that case probably no then gary, would you ask him for help if the boot was on the other foot?

 

[Ian]

Have lent my TX1200 out recently, often give advice to plumbers! I'm in the very lucky situation where I don't really have any direct competition because I don't often work in my own town. If it were someone who wasn't a mate I wouldn't lend tools or give advice to (if they were competitors that is).

 

[Colour Republic]

in those circumstances then no Gary

If it were someone i would recommend or sub work to then I would

 

[Colour Republic]

Also in respect of tools I wouldn't lend them out, In fact I can count on one hand who I would lend tools out to as you very rarely get them back

 

[Spud]

I stopped lending my tools out when a cutting machine came back damaged and parts missing that was from when a friend used it so I realised that even friendship shouldnt effect your ability to earn a living ,when competitors call asking for advice I advice them to call mapei technical and if they say I hear you have a certain tool I say so have speedy hire you might try ringing them as I am using mine at the moment

 

[The D]

Advise yes to anyone tools noway

 

[paul flight]

advise is free !! but tools no .lent a tiler my tile cutter a few years back (£275) never got it back . once bitten never again ....

 

[hillhead]

Some might ask for advice but twist it to their way of thinking etc.
I would give rough advice ie no great detail but tools- no hope.
I have lent a cutter to a tiling mate before and he does look after them.

 

[Gall.B]

No & NOOOOOOOOOO!

Just for having the neck to ask a stranger for tools in the first place.

 

[nybor62]

for a total stranger , no way

 

[simplythebest]

Neither borrower nor lender be!

 

[doug boardley]

I've helped a lad out with advice and loan of my tx1200, he's a tiler who works in same area as me but I don't see a problem helping each other out.

 

[Ajax123]

advice would be dependent on what sort of advice they needed. for example if yousell yourself as a specialist of a certain type and your competitor is muscling in on your specialism then no way would I advise. If it is advice on stuff which is easily available in the public domain then fair enough. I have had one instance though where advising a competitor has come and bitten me in that I gave advice in good faith he followed part of it and there was an issue as he did not follow all of it. He blamed me for the failure (which is the nature of people I guess).

I used to lend out my tools but will not do so again as other poeple do not look after or respect my tools the way I do. If I break one of my tools it is my fault, if someone else does there is always that niggle that it is their fault and "justice" should be done. My £250 circular saw came back broken, that can get in the way of both personal and proffesional relationships.

Anyway - if he has not got the tools for the job then he should not be doing the job surely........ that order should be yours

 

[Alan M]

i often give people advice on most things i know how to do. i wont advise on anything i wouldnt stand over.
as for tools . no way. i never borrow tools, hire yes but dont ask for tools as i dont want to be in a situation where i am guilted into lending back. also i dont know anyone who looks after their tools properly

i often buy tools rather than borrow them.
i agree that if you are doing a job you should have your own tools for that job

 

[Time's Ran Out]

I enjoy being a forum member and am happy to help others on here as I in turn have been helped with some excellent advice and knowledge but would you help a competitor in direct competition with you if they phoned and asked for technical advice and would you lend them your equipment ?

I was thinking of going to Egypt, what's the weather like just now and can I borrow your apartment.:lol:

 

[Pebbs]

I havent rung you lately! I dont mind helping people out and have lent equipment out to other people, but then again they have lent me a couple of items, mainly lifting gear when we have been in a pickle. However if they were going after the same job as me, I might have to have their lights punched out....just kidding...kind of.

Lynn

 

[Time's Ran Out]

I was thinking of going to Egypt, what's the weather like just now and can I borrow your apartment.:lol:

When I posted my tongue in cheek reply to your thread, it was because I remembered you offered your apartment as a prize to the Tilers Forum winner of JOTM a couple of years ago - to which my wife still reminds me that I didn't win - and to which you have sent me a fantastic Private Message. Gary I can see that even if the opinions of others were 100 per cent against helping a competitor, you'd still buck the trend and be of assistance, that's just the way you are. Top Man.

 

[Peter]

All depends what's in it for you.

If they give you a bit of work now and again and you do the same then it's fair enough. As for tools, again it depends if you both have something the other person could benefit from. Ie you have a 1200 cutter and they have a 1200 wetsaw.

 

[IvegotsTILE]

Me and Bri live in the same town and he recently lent me his tx1200.I would happily lend my tools to him and only 2 other tilers.These guys put work my way and vice versa.
I know these guys would treat my tools with respect and if I borrow their tools I treat them better than my own,if anyone said that they were unhappy with the way they were brought back I'd happily buy the tool off them.
I'm sure we must have quoted for the same jobs at some point but you win some you lose some,cant see any of us falling out with anyone over a job.We all have our own contacts and different work.