Steel Fixer and Concrete Worker

You read the bar bending schedule, cut and bend bars on the shop machines, then tie the cages for footings, columns, walls and slabs to the drawing. You place spacers, check the cover before the concrete crew arrives, and stay on the pour to vibrate and level the concrete. Afterwards you strip the formwork, clean the panels and oil them for the next lift. The gang leader checks every cage before the foreman signs it off. Hours are 07:00 to 17:00 with an hour break, and Saturday is voluntary at the overtime rate.

Trade school in construction, or a rebar course

At least two years of tying cages on real sites

Reading a bar bending schedule and a reinforcement drawing

Confident with cutting and bending machines and tying pliers

Head for heights, work on slab edges with a harness

Physically fit for lifting bars all day

A few words of Bulgarian or English for the site instructions

Net salary from 1000 up to 1100 EUR per month

Permanent contract after a three month trial

Overtime and Saturday hours paid at the higher rate

Free lodging in a company flat in Vladislavovo

Hot lunch delivered to the site every working day

Transport to the site from the company flat

Tools, helmet, gloves, harness and safety shoes provided

The company pays for the crane signalling and scaffolding certificates, and a fixer who can set out a cage from the drawing alone takes over a gang of five within two years.

The site is open ground with a cut and bend shop under a roof, a tower crane and a heated container for breaks and drying clothes. Helmet, gloves, high visibility vest and steel toe boots are worn all day and replaced by the employer.