alot of construction scrap questions

[bluemeate]

so im working as a general laborer for a const. company... all i really do is clean and other random task here or there.

so im have a lot of questions about sorting this type of scrap that i will be editing in.

1. i have a bunch of wire they used for rewiring all the rooms. im not gonna strip it but should i pull all the little plastic knobbies on the end, or will i probably get same price with them.... also what kind of wire is that usually?

2. they throw away hella stuff, like theyll just leave items unused on the ground, nails, electrical outlet boxes and other stuff... and if they actually cleaned up themselves, then usually ill find new ones in the trash since..since they were the odd one out in a 10pack or something. ive been eyeing a big heavy copper brace, has to be like 1.5lb thats just been laying on with other garbage behind an unfinished wall panel...probably gonna get drywalled around and never seen again.... i know its expensive so it shouldnt be thrown away, or even for me to pocket but if i didnt know anything about scrapping, i woulda trashed it during clean up wayy long ago.

3. about all those electrical outlet boxes and other small parts, can i resell them on craigslist you think?

4. what you think bout a magnet on a stick during clean up, would that mess with all the electrical cords running around?











some more about the spot
i got a labor job off craigslist and a week in, i asked if i could scrap the metal and they said yup. the job is remodeling the rooms of a 3 story building including siesmec upgrade, mainly concrete work, light gauge steel framing (omg that stuff is sooo light) for a bunch of rooms which includes, drywall, plumbing, electrical, ducting and all that other stuff
so as im cleaning i always take a few extra seconds to seperate and sort trash, but its super hard resisting the urger to hand pick every little piece of metal... ahhhhhhh
but i know im on their time and should be doing their work so i minimize the time spent scrapping....

scrapping metal should totally be a part of the general laborers duty during down time... i also organize the trashbin so it doesnt fill up so fast even though they never asked me too

[BarrenRealms007]

1. The cable is probably cat5 com cable, cut the ends off you will get a better price. Take a magnet to the wire to make sure it isn't steel.

3. The electrical boxes and stuff that is new you should keep in a pile, I would give this back to the respective trades foreman and you might win some point's and material.

4. Using a magnet is fine you will not damage anything.

Organizing the trash bin is not going to be considered productive by most companies unless you are doing it on your own time like break time or lunch time.

When you are rounding up the metals just throw them in a pile and do your sorting off the job site on your time.

I never let my guy's throw metal away. And use to explain what the material cost when I found who threw stuff away.

I have had more than one time that a city inspector or job superintendent will call and say that a sub's material is fixing to be thrown away and I hop on over and load up. I had one time that I pulled up on a job and and left within 45 min with 3 truck loads of PVC pipe and fittings that rang up to over $4,500 worth of material probably 7k-9k now.

[Bear]

It's really to your employers advantage, you being space consious with the dumpster, to a degree, long as you do so expeditiously, but don't spend time merely scrapping, just toss the metal beside the dumpster until after work(or even at lunch), and the rest inside it. If you're a good worker they'll appreciate your work ethic, along with the fact that you're recycling, and saving them space in the dumpster at the same time. You'll need to tread a fine line in some areas, ask about the copper piece, if things dissappear, you'll be a prime suspect, so always keep it in the open and on the up&up. I once found it's best to ask about things while they're in the junk pile (before you've pulled it from the trash and tidied it up), if you make it look too good, they just might decide to keep things they've already tossed away, but don't "trying" to make it look bad, always stay on the up&up with it

[Russell]

Do it conspicuously and expodited as possible. I haul a lot of different items for my job via truck. At my warehouse they throw out a lot of different items. I used to get ridiculous amounts of items. Everything from steel skids to machinery to exercise equipment. The warehouseman saw me doing this and caught on. He know takes the lions share, as he is usually throwing out other drivers back haul debris. I keep my own and some drivers stash for me in return I take care of them. I would act according to your surroundings. Something's might not being worth loosing your job or having everyone else snagging all the goodies before you get a chance.

[ilovejunk]

i would say you need to build a good relationship with the person in charge of the jobsite, be open and honest with them about your intentions, so that as stated above if something comes up missing the boss knows he can get an honest answer from you, this can go a long way towards keeping you out of hot water should the situation arise.

i know on a few jobs i have worked i would work out a deal with the supervisor for scrap, but as stated above by yourself and others know what you can do on the companies time and know what you have to do on your time.

also i don't know if your job site works on Saturdays but when i was working construction and scrapping on the side the weekend was the time to take your extra junk out as there were usually less workers to make a stink about you getting an extra deal, because like i said you may have an agreement with the boss but inevitably another laborer can raise a fuss if they get the notion that your getting an leg up on everybody else.

[PistoneScrapProcessing]

Hmmm so do you have the ok to take this material or are you just taking it without permission. I am just confused. Kinda seems like in point number three this was said. "or even for me to pocket but if i didnt know anything about scrapping" Pocket it is a term for stealing.

[Bear]

True Pistone, he did say near the bottom tho that he asked, and they said yep. Just make sure, blue, that you're talking to the right person. I naturally presumed you're working for the jobsite superintendant for the general contractor, in most cases they provide labor for general cleanup, but make sure that's who it is before you go too far with it, and if it is, you are in a good position because anything he tells you is law(as far as that jobsite goes), just don't screw up, if the jobsite super is your boss, he is a busy man with a lot on his mind, don't bog him down with things trivial to him. On the other hand, if your boss is a cleanup sub-contractor, or another subcontractor, it might be more difficult to walk the fine line because you'll need to deal with each subcontractor, as well as their foremen, tradesmen, and laborers on an individual basis.

[bluemeate]

yeah, the superintendant is my boss and i would not rather be bothering him with trivial questions about scrap.

most the guys on site know i scrap and will set things aside for me.
the electricians though, half of them have requested that I not clean their work areas while the other half requested that i do ALLL their cleaning, ha
yesterday i just got some huge chunks of steel from the ironworkers
I totally need to pass my card around, a lot of the workers there totally supportive bout my scrapping

[bluemeate]

also, could i ask the yard for a better price since my scrap isnt covered in plastic and other stuff that most residential, urban scrap usually comes with?

i go to sims metals fyi... they seem pretty corporate

[totalfish]

i would say you need to build a good relationship with the person in charge of the jobsite, be open and honest with them about your intentions, so that as stated above if something comes up missing the boss knows he can get an honest answer from you, this can go a long way towards keeping you out of hot water should the situation arise.

i know on a few jobs i have worked i would work out a deal with the supervisor for scrap, but as stated above by yourself and others know what you can do on the companies time and know what you have to do on your time.

also i don't know if your job site works on Saturdays but when i was working construction and scrapping on the side the weekend was the time to take your extra junk out as there were usually less workers to make a stink about you getting an extra deal, because like i said you may have an agreement with the boss but inevitably another laborer can raise a fuss if they get the notion that your getting an leg up on everybody else.

isn't the leg up comment true...people always want what somone else gets.

I work in a prison. For years they just threw away the soda cans from the Visits area. 200 inmates a day 2-3 visitors 1-2 drinks each. I mean it added up. I started getting the trustee inmates to seperate the au and took it home. before you know it...other Officers saying "How come he gets the cans!" so guess who gets 4000+ less cans a week? so yes be discreet as possible.

[Mechanic688]

also, could i ask the yard for a better price since my scrap isnt covered in plastic and other stuff

Unless you have 500lbs or more it's doubtful you would get a better price.

[bluemeate]

^^sims doesnt pay for any load under 500lbs
although one time i went in with a regular urban scrap load that included a 200lb roll of steel and they priced me %70tin and %30 something, it may have been like heavy iron or prepared steel, i forgot.
can i ask for like 25/75 between tin and clean steel?

...i also take a few seconds to throw the bottles n cans into the scrap pile... every garbage can i lugg down the stairs gots bout 25c in ca cash refund value, but like i said, ill only take the ones that are out in the open, i wont spend time digging around for them


also it probably helps out a lot that i look like im 18 so people are probably alot more forgiving about me being such a newbie

[Bear]

yards don't figure scrap content by person, they go by averages, and they're fairly accurate, at least the ones which are still in business. It took me awhile only recently to realize how much my plastics pile was growing, and even though my loads of "tin" were as clean as hek, it finally occurred to me that I was not only selling "tin", but they were paying me for plastic as well, plastic which I had been keeping. If you have some plastics, don't sweat it, unless they recommend you visit the plastic recyclers yard. If you have pure metal, don't sweat it either, plastics don't weigh that much anyway, just be thankful you don't have a pile accumulating at home

[bluemeate]

is data cable worth much? thats the one with a bunch of thin wires in a bundle, right?

[Mechanic688]

is data cable worth much? thats the one with a bunch of thin wires in a bundle, right?

Usually pays as #2 ins. but some places call it comm. wire and pay as#3, even less.

[bluemeate]

so my last load came in at $175/ton instead of $210/ton which i got the week before.
My only guess as to the reasoning of the price drop is that i turned in some ducting that had insulation in it.
Out of an 850lb load, the total weight of the ducting couldnt have been more than 150lbs

people at work were like "oh man, your gonna have to tear out that insulation" and i just laughed and said "more weight, ha"
well today i stipped the insulation out of more ducting and **** that **** is light, couldnt be more than 30% of the total weight of the ducting and **** is it a hassle to remove, so i wrote them a letter (which my dad refuses to hand them :/ )

Sims Metals Management

To whom it may concern,

This past Tuesday I had my father drive a load of tin to sell to your yard. The load consisted of a lot of construction scrap: light gauge framing, piping, ceiling frame, and some light yet bulky ducting. For some reason my metal was priced at $175/ton compared to $210/ton which I had gotten not less than a week before. I find this odd as recent news says metal prices have been going up. The only reason I could imagine my pricing being reduced is due to the insulation within the ducting. I had a load of about 850lbs and the loss I took outweighs the amount of ducting I brought in.

We have a lot of ducting at my work that I am bringing in little by little, load by load atop of the densely packed metal within the bed of my truck. Today I stripped the insulation out of the ducting which turned out to be very light as well as a quite a hassle to remove (very itchy). The ducting is already time consuming to load onto my truck for how little it weighs. If I am going to have to go through this hassle just to not have my price reduced then I would rather not even bring in the ducting… that I would like to sell and I imagine you would like to buy.

If you have any idea why my load may have been priced down, I would appreciate it if you let me know.

Thank you,
Xxx Xxx
xxx-xxx@live.com
510-xxx-xxx

heres a pic of the load... also had two smaller pieces of ducting behind the two larger ones



my dad says if he hands them the letter they will just laugh at him and send him home even though i explained to him that they WANT to buy the metal
i also dont wanna email it to corporate cause i feel that will just get ignored

[bluemeate]

electrician forman handed me all the non-full rolls of wire, said 'be sly about this, dont just leave it out, super will have a ****fest' which i was like 'uhhh, sure'
also hands me any piece of conduit that isnt 10ft


hey, how about that thicker older braided wire that comes out of old thick metal conduit, whats the deal with that stuff?

[Bear]

You probably got a lesser price on that second load because of the drop in metal prices, not due to insulation

[bluemeate]

load before was 210, then 175 now its 220... all within a week

[1776Patriotism]

Thats how I got started, hauling concrete and offering job site cleanup while I was there. Be sure to get permission even if you just keep the super informed of what you are doing. Keep everything on the up and up, out front and honest. Keep productive and make sure the boss likes you. Just remember no matter how tempting a piece of metal is, it doesn't make since (or cents) to loose a 40little per year over a $2 piece of metal.