A picture is worth
1000 words….
The language barrier
Say, most of the crew in your neighborhood speaks Greek or Portuguese, or Chinese, or Russian, or Spanish…then, you will need an interpreter.
I speak only English and French.
So, not many French subs on the job.
Does your contractor or his main guy speak the other language? If not… then, I would NOT use him.
Communication from English to English is WAY hard enough… even Husband to Wife…how are YOU going to speak to someone not married to you, building YOUR bathroom?
Example of ways workers avoid speaking to you:
One framer brought a really old tape player/radio, connected to major speakers, and the mariachi music began from 8am till quitting time.
If I approached him, he did NOT lower the volume, or do any such polite thing.
But, at some point, I would just pull the plug out of the wall, as I approached to speak to him…
Sometimes instead of reply, he would randomly walk around, with his nail gun/compressor thing and Rambo the house as I spoke… did the wall need a nail THERE, ? I kinda don’t think so…there were just so many nails going in…but I HAD TO SPEAK…
My back up plan, was the review the days work before sundown… a small window, especially in winter time, and then redraw the area, as is should be… but, often times the framing was spectacular, precise to 1/2in and astonishingly done. My biggest change was raising or lowering the height of a window in the bathrooms, so avoid eye contact with neighbors while taking a shower etc….
Why workers do not want to speak to you?
You give him more work
You give him different orders than his boss
To keep his job, feed his family, he has to please his BOSS …NOT YOU!!!!
Once you get that you are half way there.
When you are talking about money, or job stuff they CARE about…suddenly, there is direct English speaking ability….prior to that it was free flow of Spanish between 2 guys, and sometimes they both walked away, not telling me their conclusions….
It is SO important to know Spanish….or have an honest interpreter tell you what the guys are really saying right in front of you.
You are powerless…
Yes…powerless…