It’s back on! The campsites, hotels and AirBnB’s where most stand builders have celebrated their well deserved holidays will be exchanged for workshops, offices or fairs. The new stand building season has started again.

The batteries have been recharged when the time is right, from both the stand builders and their families. And that’s necessary too, because most builders are not at home much during the season. Sometimes they go to one job for weeks at a time, and in some cases immediately on to the next. You just have to be able to handle it as a stay-at-home. And even yourself. In busy times you often spend more time with your colleagues than with your own family, that’s not for everyone.

Brotherhood

I said in my introductory blog that I would tell you, the reader, about the beauty and versatility of stand construction. A very important element is collegiality and fraternisation. Working together towards a goal. Days or weeks in a row together with your colleagues. Day and night together, the only time you are alone is when you take a shower or go to the toilet. Working, eating and sleeping together (in separate beds of course). Not everyone likes that for a while, but it does create a fraternization that you don’t encounter in many other professions. After a long day of hard work, it is of course great fun to eat together and drink a few beers.

Adventure

Every job is a new adventure, with new challenges. Unforeseen problems that need to be solved, preferably before the fair starts. The other day I was on a job, we had 3.5 days to build a stand with six people. Not a penny of pain on paper, you’d say. Half floor built, someone comes to ask where we made the firebreak. Firebreak? We knew a lot. You’re starting to lag behind. Nothing easy, days of 14 to 15 hours, people extra, it had to be done. We got it done with all our might, but the road to the finish was bumpy.

Collegiality

In such a project, the importance of this collegiality is again around the corner. You’re facing a challenge somewhere far away from home, and the only way to bring that challenge to a successful conclusion is by working together. Not to give up, but to accelerate. That, in combination with the collegiality I was talking about earlier, makes stand building such a beautiful profession for me. It also makes me really want to start again. Of course, holidays are wonderful and always too short. But it’s also great to go back to work again.

New challenges, new adventures, coming to new places. In the Netherlands, Europe and far beyond on my way to great projects, satisfied customers and great colleagues. Good luck to you all, until the next one!

Do you already know our colleagues? Take a look at the team page.