Thinking about a new start in tiling

you may find after finishing your tiling course you will be very limited on the kind of tiling you will be able to take on, this in turn will have inpact on your earning potential, tiling has move on enormously from when i started, from dealing with just 6x6 basic tiles to dealing with porcelain, natural stone, mosaic, polished porcelain ect, then you have to learn how to prep jobs correctly, flat walls and floors are what we dream of, but rarely see.

if you can get get some experience with another tiler that would be a big step in the right direction and the way i would suggest you go, learning on the job is not a good idea, especially when doing domestic tiling, you will be dealing with customers that have saved hard for there projects and will expect and deserve perfection.

I must say, I feel sad reading these type of posts. as already been said, so many people think tiling is easy. Believe me it is not, tiling is a highly skilled trade. If anyone thinks they can succeed in this industry after a four week course or four day course., or whatever kind of bloody course, you are deluding yourselves. I am sure the providers of these courses will disagree with me. Sorry I don't give a rats behind. Let us try to get back to reality, Tiling is a trade, a very hard trade, I know this post may get me banned from TF (I hope it doesn't) but I can't help from telling it the way I feel.

Tiling is, always was, and always will be a very highly skilled trade. Sorry if this upsets anyone.

:hurray::hurray::hurray::hurray::hurray:

Phil Hobson said:

I must say, I feel sad reading these type of posts. as already been said, so many people think tiling is easy. Believe me it is not, tiling is a highly skilled trade. If anyone thinks they can succeed in this industry after a four week course or four day course., or whatever kind of bloody course, you are deluding yourselves. I am sure the providers of these courses will disagree with me. Sorry I don't give a rats behind. Let us try to get back to reality, Tiling is a trade, a very hard trade, I know this post may get me banned from TF (I hope it doesn't) but I can't help from telling it the way I feel.

Tiling is, always was, and always will be a very highly skilled trade. Sorry if this upsets anyone.

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well said phil..

Phil Hobson said:

I must say, I feel sad reading these type of posts. as already been said, so many people think tiling is easy. Believe me it is not, tiling is a highly skilled trade. If anyone thinks they can succeed in this industry after a four week course or four day course., or whatever kind of bloody course, you are deluding yourselves. I am sure the providers of these courses will disagree with me. Sorry I don't give a rats behind. Let us try to get back to reality, Tiling is a trade, a very hard trade, I know this post may get me banned from TF (I hope it doesn't) but I can't help from telling it the way I feel.

Tiling is, always was, and always will be a very highly skilled trade. Sorry if this upsets anyone.

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Bang on mate, but I feel sorry for people who sign up for a few weeks course and honestly believe they will suddenly become tilers, perhaps the people offering the courses need to be a bit more honest in their sales pitch

Interesting post! I have just replied to a similar one from a soon to be ex soldier considering the same thing.

Kev Martin
Marble Life Ltd

Near Crawley.

SussexTiler said:

Near Crawley.

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This one

http://www.tilersforums.com/tiling-forum/52467-how-many-made-careerl-intensive-courses.html

Kev Masrtin
Marble Life Ltd

great post Phil,its about time people realised that tiling is a trade ,time to wake up and smell the coffe.I for 1 had to serve my time in the trade as many others have five years i had to do ,so how is it possible to go on a short course of a few weeks and go out there and be a tiler ,come on

if there's 2 of you thinking of going into business together why not one of you train as a plumber as then you can do full bathroom refits and if it's quiet on the plumbing side the plumber can help out the tiler and vice versa. and as phil said it takes a long time to learn the trade not 4 weeks. good luck

Would imagine it's took most tilers longer than 4 weeks to learn how to grout properly let alone tile. :lol:

I dont think I would have somebody in my house installing thousands of pound s of product knowing they had just done a 4 week course & are learning on the job!

Im with Phill on this one & also feel quite stongly about the COURSE subject, its a trade ( 4yrs ) in my opinion.

Think the courses have become a plauge a way of getting unemployment figures down, putting fixing rates down & the amount of jobs ive been asked to look at lately that have failed is unbelievable as mentioned they should be marketed properly.

Dont know any truck drivers that earn the funny money advertised by trainning centres.

Dont know about the other guys but why help some one out only to quote for the same work as you down the line?

Hi, All the best with the course and getting work.. The course is a good idea. It will give you some sound knowledge and a head start into going about tiling the correct way. However, there is lot's to learn throughout your life as a tiler.. The course will be good if you go your own way, however, not so good if you go on site. they will expect you to fly through bathrooms and it takes time to get upto speed. You can make good money as a tiler, but times are hard at the moment so expect to be in and out of work. A good way to get jobs is to distribute leaflets around the streets. Alot of walking, but you usually get a job every one thousand leaflets.. You can get leaflets printed at £100 per 10,000 so it will pay for itself, just hard work delivering them. good luck.

The question of plastering or not is interesting!
Being one of the old school brigade, at college we were not allowed to touch a tile prior to being able to float the walls and ceiling of one of those little cubes. This has proved invaluable on many occasions to (A) get on with the job, No lost time waiting for a plasterer.(B) knowledge of how to flatten a wall in quality work,and not merely following the existing problems.
List is endless, but as many modern tilers (in the good times) do not have these skills you could probable get bye not plastering. Also its a lot more time and money,tile first you may not like it,at least save
the costs of plastering course.
Steve.
(That was float and set coats in sand and lime mortar.Who cares anyway.)

I did exactly as you did sussex tiler about 5 years ago. I felt the course gave me a great basic level of knowledge and a bit of confidence.
I spent about £800 initially on tools and have spent thousands since upgrading and adding to them.
The first job I did was my mums kitchen/hallway/utility and bathroom and after an hour of doing that I thought this aint for me cause it was stressful and much harder work than I was expecting but I obviously had to finish it and by the end the job was done to a good standard(nowhere near as good as I could do it now though).
Having invested so much cash in this I decided to still give it a go and was getting a job every 3 weeks at first,sometimes a kitchen floor for £400 and sometimes a splashback for £200.it stayed like this for 4 months until I got in with a plumber and kitchen fitter when I ended up getting a job every other week.The first year I probably earnt £7500 which isnt alot to live on but I'd saved £4000 to help with bills which I completely used.After this I did a bathroom showroom which took 2 and a half months and I still get work because of that to this day,I always did a great job and enhanced my reputation then started to take on more difficult work the more competent I got.I am know in with numerous builders/property developers,plumbers,painters and architects. There is another tiler on here Brian who passes me work when he's to busy and vice versa(although hes always busy when i try to give him work :smilewinkgrinI'm now busy most of the time and havent had a bad spell since July 2010 but other than me and brian some of the other tilers in town arent half as busy.
I would not advise a change of occupation in the current climate unless you already have someone who will give you regular work and you have alot of money put by you dont mind using.
The time served guys on here arent meaning to be doom and gloom about your choice they're just trying to give you a heads up on how difficult and tough it is out there....and these old gits have been at it long enough to know:smilewinkgrin:.

Glad there here to help us out,you can never stop learning!