Job ideas for 60 year old builder out of work

D.P. said:
My Dad lost his job at 50. He was a professor in Marine Biology and couldn't get employed again.

He started his own landscape gardening business mixed with cutting grass/trimming work for old grannies. Pays well enough for a retired person. Not too stressful, outside, quite fun at times. Usually cuts back undergrowth, digs out patio areas, builds retaining walls. Charges by the hour. Most business with friends or friends of friends.

He might do hard physical labour for a few hours in the morning, then cut peoples lawns in the afternoon.
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yep very good idea, the people that do the garden for my misses parents charge around 50 quid every 2 weeks and they are in and out in 2/3 hours.

EDIT where is he based?
 
Paras said:
yep very good idea, the people that do the garden for my misses parents charge around 50 quid every 2 weeks and they are in and out in 2/3 hours.

EDIT where is he based?
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Dunblane (near Stirling)

TBH, I helped him through the uni summers. While my friends worked for investment backs and earned good cash for long hours, I worked less, enjoyed it loads, was outside and still earned reasonable pay. Don't worry about working outside in the rain, unless you have to earn every single dime then usually you don't need to since many jobs are not safe or practical in the rain in any case.

Other common jobs included assembling sheds, painting fences and sheds, re-turfing, erecting trellis, removing small trees, spraying weed killer, picking apples form trees, resetting paving slabs, making a sand-pit for the kids, etc.

Most of this stuff is very easy and a builder would do a great job.
 
A friend's husband has recently started work as a painter/decorator. He's doing it for virtually cost - and telling his customers that too - for the rest of the year. He's kept busy, and he's making sure he's telling people why he's doing it. He'd rather be working than not, and he wants them to see the quality of work he does, so that he gets work when things pick back up at normal rates.

Your dad might want to do the same. He'd still be living off his savings, but as long as he's clear to people that he's doing it at a deep discount then perhaps it'll keep his name being passed around. Most self employed "one man band" builders get the majority of their work through word of mouth.
 
dangerstat said:
Don't get me wrong I think it's great for a 60 year to be aggresively seeking work. But, B&Q, I think I'd rather retire :confused:
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What if retiring isn't an option, financially? Looking for work certainly beats living off the state, and is commendable.
 
Another vote for B&Q.

My uncle is a joiner and was in a similar situation of few years ago, he does maintenance for a few council nursing homes now.

You could always look for local businesses like hotels, hospitals etc that want porters/maintenance people.
 
Look at B&Q not as a step down but as sacrificing pay for a lack of responsibility and an easy time. Share options, bonus but a barely above minimum wage hourly rate. While a job at B&Q might feel like hard work for your average 16 year old out of school it's going to feel like a cake walk for your dad after 45 years working as a tradesman!
 
If he doesn't need much income from it how about casual work for the local undertakers. That's what my dad has been doing for the last few years for pocket money; hearse driving and pall-bearing, that sort of thing.

<£30 a job most of the time but as it's casual you can say when you are available and if it's a carry in at a crem then it may only take 20mins and you can get quite a few jobs a week if you want them (dependent on time of year etc ...)
 
Sukh said:
Where is he based?
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Enfield, north London.


I'm thinking the idea of a general handy man for larger service places is probably more his kind of thing than B&Q.

I feel sorry for him, worked constatly his whole life until now, he's just retiled my kitchen and laid 40 sq/m of solid wood oak flooring for me to a much higher standard than any profit hungry chain company would do and can't find work, despite ads in local papers, which only lead to a few phone calls. Previously extended his house and did the loft conversion too. Such a great talent going to waste.

The problem is that his cash flow is getting lower and lower and doesn't want to have to sell any assets yet to release capital, as that is his pension as he doesn't have a private one.
 
dangerstat said:
Wow how demoralising must it be to have to work in B&Q when your 60 :/
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Why on Earth would it be demoralising?

If I reach the age of 60 and still have bills to pay I'd be willing to take on any job that would bring in a wage. I've never been unemployed since leaving school and never claimed any benefit, I'm sure there's many others like me that would prefer to work rather than say "X" type of job is beneath me!

Back on topic:

B&Q is an excellent choice imo - so is supermarket work, pays quite well considering the level or work required :)
 
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