The body.....

No. Not Elle McPhersons amazing body.

Mine, or what I like to call the unit of failure.

You see in a week I have to have another repair job done on another part of me, This time my arm.
Well in fact my left elbow. Tennis elbow decompression.
I have had to many Cortisone shots to hide the pain and the damage.

As a builder, we use our body as everything from a digger to a forklift, let me explain.
We dig footings, lots of footings. Most houses would have a total of about 75m to 90m approx of lineal length. X's that by a conservative estimate of say 18 to 20 homes that's 1.8 kilometres of footings dug.

Then think of the lifting, a sheet of Gibb is about 15 to 18kg. 100 sheets in average house that's 1800kg, Then X's that by houses built, holy shit that's 36.000KG!
That's equivalent to lifting a fully laden concrete truck!
Then Joists, Bearers, trusses etc etc etc....

So the body takes a beating, Shoulders, Knees, backs, elbows......
I have been building since I was 16 years old. I'm now 42. That's 26 years.

Okay so some benefits are your stronger, fitter, you work in the sun, fresh air and you the customer get a lovely quality built house.

Its not so bad,
Its just the fact that when you get up in the morning things take a while to warm up.
My knees pop, And I mean so loud my wife hears them in the lounge.
My shoulders need to be gently told they need to move.
My ankles crack when I take a step.
My Back needs to be slowly straightened so it doesn't cramp.

I have had repairs to most joints in my body, My doctor says my knees will be shot by the time I'm 50.
But do I care, No,

I have built houses that look amazing
I have seen more sun than the average office worker ever will.
I don't breath recycled air.
I have created homes for people to live in and call their home.
I have travelled the world because of my skill.

Would I do it all again the same. Yes I would, Because I'm a builder, And I build shit you cant.

Builder.