Renewing Joyce's Superheater (2)

When employing a person or organisation to work for you,
what kind of relationship do you expect to have with them?

There is always an element of risk when engaging a subcontractor. I like to make use of people I already know or are at least within easy reach. Thus I can pop in from time to time to check on progress or discuss any difficulties that could be looming. If unable to visit, then talking on the phone is a good second best. In this way, I've found that I get a good understanding with the contractor, become confident in their ability and have no fear about using them again. In contrast, to attempt to achieve this level of mutual understanding purely by email or social media is doomed to failure and should be avoided at all cost.

With frequent face to face contact, a customer is involved in the process. When problems arise, because the customer knows the bigger picture, it is often possible to find a simple solution which the contractor on their own might not be aware of. For a one-off construction, the customer needs to know the difficulties; otherwise, they are blind to potential problems that could arise later during use.

J R Goold Ltd and Mendip Steam Restoration Ltd became long standing friends of mine while working on Joyce's restoration and I know they are pleased to hear from me at any time. They have always helped me as far as they possibly can and it's great to know they are always there when I need advice or support.

When I worked at Westinghouse, the railway signalling company in Chippenham, one of the values bred into us was Integrity. Say what you mean, mean what you say and be open with people was my interpretation.

Through integrity and open communication, trust is established. If people are not straight with you, mistrust arises and it's difficult to rebuild trust once lost. If communication is limited to email or social media only, it will take very little time before the recipient has misunderstood an intention and trust will unwind rapidly.

Contractors know that by building a strong personal relationship with their customers, they will have a much better chance of further work from them in future. Likewise customers will know they have a reliable contractor they can turn to when the need arises. I don't think this is rocket science and I apologise if this is stating the obvious.

The Job:

Part of this job entailed RBS using Atlas Tube Bending Ltd as a specialist subcontractor. RBS director Allan Schofield commented in an email that, for producing 'upset tube ends', "Atlas and seemingly no one else can do this". I'd chosen RBS for the work partly because they were close to Atlas so it was reassuring that there was agreement in this. The other reason for using Atlas was because they had done the same job for Sentinel 9622 a year or so earlier. [I asked the question as to what 'upset tube ends' were but received no answer].

The tubing had to be ordered by RBS for Atlas to use. Whilst it would have been possible to use readily available tube material, Allan suggested, and I agreed, that hot-drawn seamless steel tubing should be used even though it meant sourcing it from Germany. This would cause some delay but I felt it was acceptable for getting a longer lasting superheater. [I asked if the tubing would meet specification EN 10305/1 but never received a reply. I also asked what the outside diameter of the tubing would be and its wall thickness. Again, no reply. I still do not know.].

I was invoiced up-front for the material cost (£1547, Invoice 7109/SH/001 dated 31/1/2023). Paying up-front was not comfortable but it was what was asked so I paid it. The invoice came from Unit 21, Gill Street, Moston, M9 4HA.

A second invoice arrived for initial manufacturing of small parts listed on quote RBS104 (£2353, Invoice 7109/SH/002 dated 14/2/2023).

The invoice came from Unit 21, Gill Street, Moston, M9 4HA and I paid as requested.

New Clamps for securing coiled tubing
(Photo: A Schofield for this contract)

A third invoice arrived for more bits and pieces but it had the same invoice number as the second. I'd received it from Lea Mottley; she quickly realised the mistake and promptly sent a correctly numbered replacement (£3534, Invoice 7109/SH/003 dated 9/3/2023).
The invoice came from a different address: Unit 11, Bradley Fold Industrial Estate,

Radcliffe Moor Road, Radcliffe BL2 6RT. Photo above.

I managed to call Lea and she explained that in fact RBS had moved. Checking the map, the new premises were about four times the distance away from Atlas. I didn't think this was good news as someone would have to pick up the bill for the extra travelling distance between RBS and Atlas.

21st June 2023: RBS premises at Unit 11, Bradley Fold Industrial Estate,
Radcliffe Moor Road, Radcliffe BL2 6RT.

I was really rather more concerned that my subcontractor had moved to a new address and not told me and not even made the intention to move known when I was agreeing to work with them.

Lea was helpful with news of progress and I was happy with that until about June 2023 when my calls stopped being answered. I could not understand the reason for suddenly terminating communication and was emphatically not happy that I was no longer receiving any information on progress.

I had previously had a few calls with Allan but, once Lea had become available, it was much easier to communicate with her. With Lea's sudden disappearance, I attempted calling Allan but to no avail. His failure to pick up the phone after many, many attempts left me with severe doubts about what was happening and suspicions that I was being deliberately kept in the dark.

With nearly £7500 paid over by this time, I was becoming distinctly uneasy.

In a contractual situation, if someone flatly refuses to answer the phone to you, what are you supposed to think?
Is work not actually being done on my job or is there something even more sinister being hidden? 

Also, and perhaps I'm naïve here, but it seems odd that at neither Unit 21, Gill Street nor Unit 11 at Bradley Fold had RBS proudly put their name on the outside of the building.

I'll leave you to ponder how these events might be affecting my feeling of trust in RBS.

I visited RBS at Unit 11 on 21st June 2023 but that will have to wait for the time being.