Social housing site work

Last week I got a weeks contract on site in Croydon. When I got there I was told it was tiling kitchens and bathrooms in occupied council flats. I got shown around one of the flats and was told where to tile. I asked about the flaking paint, the wallpaper still attached to the walls, the holes in the plaster, the remains of the old adhesive still on the walls, the plasterboard window cills that were sticking out from the wall by over 5mm. I was told to tile over everything and to grout as soon as I had finished tiling. I was constantly being told that the Polish tilers tile & grout 10sqm in a day (earning £150) for themselves. I was not happy. So I did my best to right the walls and to make the substrate as flat as possible. In the end it took me 3 days (earning me £50 a day). I made sure I measured right and made even sized cuts at either end of the walls. So after only 3 days I had to give up that site........mainly due to the fact that my travelling time was way over 4 hours a day. However, I was still not happy at being told to sling the tiles up on unstable walls. I'm pretty sure that this practice is the same for every council house/flat refit, but what really peed me off was the fact that the plasterers, sparks, carpenters etc all did half jobs......which made mine all the more difficult. I was told by my foreman that my work was excellent, but I was too slow. I guess I had been spoilt for 6 weeks working on new builds. I have attached some pictures of what I had to tile over. Cheers Sean

Photos.....

Thats councils for u m8. They don't care. looked at a new kitchen they had put in for a customer about a month ago, all they had done was rip 1 row off tiles off the wall top and bottom left the rest on the wall.then fitted kitchen round it.

sounds about right for council house refurbs mate
steer clear if you can if not just close your eyes an bang um on

Quality British housing eh?!
This is why I will steer clear of anything to do with social housing.
My Bro-in-law works for a large property group who look after social housing - he's a pro plasterer and also does tiling. This is exactly the kind of work he does and I know he just bodges it. Not his choice, but he has to leave it "looking" right, even if it's not right underneath. Once it's signed off, any subsequent damage or failure is blamed on the tenants! Totally unfair!

Tell em to stuff it

I'm not shocked by the state of they walls at all. I done work for a local bathroom company when starting out just over a year ago and I was walking in to walls just as bad as that. The joiner who worked for them was shocking he used to leave me a right mess. I did complain but they where not interested. The only difference was there customers where paying 5-6 grand for there brand new bathroom. and getting quatity fittings fitted by total amitures. Amtico fitted by joiner who wasn't a real joiner tiling (before I started) done by plumber who probably wasn't even a plumber then the owner tried the tiling and thought he was so good they said the only reason they needed me was because the owner coulnt waste any more time on the tiling.

He used to go in and tile 20 m2 in a day and his attitude was 1 or 2 might fall off but thats ok its quicker to replace them than do it right in the first place:mad2:

Words of wisdom------ if you are ever do work for a bathroom / kitchen company get the terms and conitions sorted at the start. Have a leanthy talk about what is expected of you as a tiler and what you expect of them-----

And always stand your ground.

Could,nt work with that, Did you see any work the other tilers did

Whitebeam, No I did not see the other tilers work. It was a massive council estate, but several of the decorators commented that my work was too good. Cheers Sean

Sean Kelly said:

Whitebeam, No I did not see the other tilers work. It was a massive council estate, but several of the decorators commented that my work was too good. Cheers Sean

Click to expand...

I think that about answers it

walk away m8!
no offence to the polish they are good workers,but they will stay working 24 hours a day to get the money! let them have it if they want to burn themselves out!

LOL - Welcome to my world!

I'v been doing the social housing jobs in Manchester for the last month and some of the things that you have to do makes you cringe, you pack the van up and drive away wondering how long the tiles will be stuck to the walls for. I'm exactly the same position as you, we are going to have a chat after eight weeks to see how I'm doing, I've been told my work is good but I'm concerned about my speed. I try to treat every job like it is in my own house regardless of the endless things you come up against. I'm not willing to go on sq/m rate for the kitchens as they are such a ballache at times.

I sat here ****ing myself looking those pictures, what are you doing with the laser level out of the box? Mine hasn't seen daylight on these jobs yet!:lol:

I guess the kitchen splash-backs are three rows high on top of the worktop and down the back of the cooker with 15x15cm tiles.

The bathrooms are two high in bog stand 15x15 trade(wafer) tiles. I feel honoured when I get the the full bath area to do. It made my day the last week when I got a doorstep to do...

Have you had any minging houses yet? I had an Asian house that had grease and curry plastered on the wall behind the cooker, I told the tennant to clean it up, fair play she did but when I pulled the cooker out it was disgusting. I was close to breaking point when a cockroach scurried past me!

Make the most of those foreigners matey and put the things you've learnt into practise, knowing that you've done a sound job that you can take some pride in.

Done some of them in london, Sorry, would never do again. Same as madhatters post

Mad hatter, laser level is a great little tool. Got the Stabila LAX50, but I just carry around the laser bit. The tripod stays in my shed. I use it because it's my new toy, and I do find it really useful. It gives me that extra bit of confidence, and it impresses the customers. No minging council places yet because I gave up that site a couple of weeks ago. I got offered another council site in Essex (150 mile round trip). I said no to that too. You are of course right about the tiles and the 3 rows above kitchen worktop. Tiles are quite good ones, so is the addy (Bal White star) I was very impressed with the materials.

hello mate, looks like your're better off out of there, i've done a bit of work on a student village being refurbed for the last couple of years by the local authority but they were no where near that bad, either tell them to tidy it up before you get there or pack your van up and get out of it, i would never put up with that as it can hurt your reputation, all the best Mike