Self Employed after Tiling Course

you @timeless john , you are already a stopped, half a century.
you just come in and look at the construction site, for take money, your presence is required.

we're similar ages Sean and I wouldnt want to start in this game now, its knackering hence why I dont do large formats and I just stick to small stuff and mosaics.

Sean even if your really good at learning and adapting to new challenges and your like a sponge, tiling has changed so much in the last ten years or so, it's completely different to when even I started 20 odd years ago. The format sizes + tools required, the development of different substrates like anhydrite screeds etc and the abundance of different materials to fit everything etc means that realistically to be a competitive very good tiler that will have a good order book in front of them will probably take at least 3-5 years and that would be going very well and that's allowing for your maturity.
It's not to say that after 2-3 years you couldn't earn a living fitting your average B&Q type tiles if you could get enough of that type of work. I suppose it all depends on what you realistically expect to earn.
The tiles available today to the average customer mean that more often than not you'll come across jobs that need experience of more than 3-5 years to be able to competently complete to a standard that is going to build your reputation.
I'm not trying to put you off by any means, but it's the reason I asked you your age. If you feel you have the time to develop into a top notch tiler then go for it, only you can answer that question.
It wasn't that long ago that tiling wasn't even considered by some to be a trade in it's own right, but wow how things have changed!
Please don't take anything I've said to be a negative, I'm simply trying to point out the realities of tiling nowadays.
It's a very rewarding and satisfying trade that pays really well, but its not getting any easier by any means. Good luck Sean with what ever you decide to do.
Ps we're always here to help

Aston Tiling said:

if you have no experience whatsoever in tiling, basic DIY or another area of construction, then 13 days isn't enough experience to go out and work on peoples properties or be classed as 'self employed'
I'd say you should wait 3-6 months before you enter self employment if you fall into the above category ie no prior experience whatsoever and that depends on the ability of the individual as well??

in fact, i think the whole forum and the tiling world in general needs to stop saying 'they were' taught to tile by a course because they were not.

if you did 1 week, then you got a weeks worth of experience
if you did 13 days, then you got 13 days experience
if you did 4 weeks, then? you got 4 weeks experience.

what happened was, you did a period of time in a simulated setting, learned the basics THEN, came on here, worked with other tilers, read books, watched youtube vids, went on further trade related courses, maybe attended college, spent a few months/years practicing and improving and possibly done your NVQ's AND THEN you became a tiler...Surely, you have to be proficient before you go self employed and 13 days is not enough.

Nobody should ever give a tiling course the credit or the acknowledgment that they taught you to tile UNLESS you did a course and went straight out there and only ever used the methods they gave you and I doubt very much that's the case...A course is a starting point or addition of knowledge and course owners should not be telling people they are tilers or ready for self employment after 13 days with no other prior development.

this is not an attack on tiling courses, this is plain common sense that anybody can surely understand. if you are desperate/vulnerable or naive, people will always tell you what you want to hear won't they

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Very well said

Aston Tiling said:

if you have no experience whatsoever in tiling, basic DIY or another area of construction, then 13 days isn't enough experience to go out and work on peoples properties or be classed as 'self employed'
I'd say you should wait 3-6 months before you enter self employment if you fall into the above category ie no prior experience whatsoever and that depends on the ability of the individual as well??

in fact, i think the whole forum and the tiling world in general needs to stop saying 'they were' taught to tile by a course because they were not.

if you did 1 week, then you got a weeks worth of experience
if you did 13 days, then you got 13 days experience
if you did 4 weeks, then? you got 4 weeks experience.

what happened was, you did a period of time in a simulated setting, learned the basics THEN, came on here, worked with other tilers, read books, watched youtube vids, went on further trade related courses, maybe attended college, spent a few months/years practicing and improving and possibly done your NVQ's AND THEN you became a tiler...Surely, you have to be proficient before you go self employed and 13 days is not enough.

Nobody should ever give a tiling course the credit or the acknowledgment that they taught you to tile UNLESS you did a course and went straight out there and only ever used the methods they gave you and I doubt very much that's the case...A course is a starting point or addition of knowledge and course owners should not be telling people they are tilers or ready for self employment after 13 days with no other prior development.

this is not an attack on tiling courses, this is plain common sense that anybody can surely understand. if you are desperate/vulnerable or naive, people will always tell you what you want to hear won't they

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But youre not bitter lol.
I did a 4 weeks course with no prior experience and went straight out tiling self employed, it was a case of having to.

MissTiler said:

But youre not bitter lol.
I did a 4 weeks course with no prior experience and went straight out tiling self employed, it was a case of having to.

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And you havent got a chip on you're should lol ;0)

Not a shred of bitterness in my post, just honest common sense. maybe you stuck firmly to what you had been show until you gained more experinence, but you did 4 weeks not 13 days. Even so, 3 months is a really fair time scale for a person with no prior experience to go out self employed..the consumer needs protecting too...

Ps i admire anybody with confidence and self belief, you wont get anywhere without it but you also need some training and experience to go with it.

@sean3062

My out look is 54 isn't too old BUT you will need to get a quick plan of what you want to achieve..My advice is, keep to private/domestics for 18 months and then add wet rooms on. Do bathrooms too, you make sure you sub all the bits you can't do out and put on 5%.
Try and focus on becoming more of a businessman, rather than a trades man ( i hope you understand what I mean by that comment)

do your course at able skills then maybe get a part time job until you get the momentum going. only you know your own levels of health, fitness, determination, confidence and current ability.

focus on your tiling first and get the basics bang on ie setting out, accurate measuring, cutting and basic sub prep.

year 2, do a wet room course with impey and go on schluters course too. build gradually and set yourself a 2 year target and then even at 56, you could be working till 65-72 manually, so that's £100-150 a day, better than the minimum wage.

good luck, hope everything works out well for you and i really mean that ;0)

Aston Tiling said:

And you havent got a chip on you're should lol ;0)

Not a shred of bitterness in my post, just honest common sense. maybe you stuck firmly to what you had been show until you gained more experinence, but you did 4 weeks not 13 days. Even so, 3 months is a really fair time scale for a person with no prior experience to go out self employed..the consumer needs protecting too...

Ps i admire anybody with confidence and self belief, you wont get anywhere without it but you also need some training and experience to go with it.

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I was just pointing out that what that you said wasnt possible is possible.
Every person and every situation is different.

Hey Sean3062 whatever you decide to do good luck and have fun. I bet you wish you hadnt asked now lol.

Hello all,
Darren here from UK Pro Tiling Training
Since it my course everyone seems to talking about thought i should have my opinion.

I have run one of the longest most advanced tiling courses in the UK and where you think 13 days is not long enough to start a business it can only be your pure assumption as you have no facts due to have never attended my course, where as i speak with the facts of the hundreds of people many on this forum who have left my course over the years and started off their new career as a tiler and still trading today.
We also teach companies who have experienced tilers on as a refresher course and even they are blown away by the new techniques and methods we go through.

We have hundreds of testimonials all over the web on various review sites, not just of the course, updates where people are in their careers after leaving the course who have left and started up,
its great to say work with a tiler for 6 months but when your not in a position to, like you need to earn a wage this is not an option, another thing is that how do you know that that tiler is any good, just because you have been tiling a long time does that make you any good? no is the answer, there are many good but also many ropey tilers out there so if your taught by someone that is no good where does that leave your skill ability, another thing is where are you going to practice yourself whilst out with this tiler, is he going to let you stick the customers tiles on the walls, set the jobs out, cut and shape tile, teach you all the background pre and adhesives, no, you maybe a good labourer for him, but he has to get the customers job done and teaching you is time he aint got.

Duration means nothing, you could go to college for two years and learn nothing which is a set up for kids, short professional intensive to the point of actual training is what we teach.
3 weeks is all i need which is why we don't run longer courses, after that your ready to make your own way in the world.
Again here below is a picture of course in action, this was on done on week two, do you really think that learning from a tiler doing his jobs you would be up to this standard in a few days.
We cover everything from prep to setting out, products, advanced tiling etc and how to run a business, i have been self employed for 32 years so who better to teach you this trade than myself which is why we have been one of the best training centres for over 13 years, our massive feedback on this forum goes back to 2006.
My teaching methods are not for the faint hearted, you are pushed hard on the course but they have proved to deliver what you need to know. After that you take it easy once out there and learn more experience as you go, but if your looking for the best start into tiling then UK Pro Tiling is the place to get it.
Our course comes with a 50 page , 10,000 work manual written by myself chaptering every prep you can imagine from weight ratios of plaster skimmed walls to dealing with anhydrite screeds, wet rooms etc.

If anyone looking for a career into tiling just have a look through our website and compare the the huge gallery of photos we have with any other training centre, even the 8 week ones and see if they are doing the standard of work like below, We are not a sales gimic trying to con people out of money which is why we have lasted so long, our pictures and testimonials speak for themselves.

The picture below shows dealing with pipes, 3 way mitres on boxes, internal and external windows, archways, bespoke hand cut design, angled and uneven walls, double cut plunges for sockets, we go onto tiling with 600x 600 large format on floors etc, Lad below had no tiling experience whatever before attending and set up business straight away after the course and still doing very well.

I am not proclaiming to make people a master tiler after they leave but what they will leave with is the ability and correct ways of dealing with tile, from here they can start with confidence and build on a solid foundation.

Regards
Darren
UK Pro Tiling Training
www.tiling-courses.co.uk

So did you do the course? and almost a year later how are you progressing ?

I can only speak for myself in terms of what I've managed to achieve after a thirteen day Tiling course at UK Pro Tiling Training run by Darren Yorke.
I had the advantage of already having been self employed for over 12 years. However, I've never tiled in my life.
Since I completed the course in March 2017 I've been tiling non stop. I won't go into every job and how second to none Darren's training is. I will continue to post my work on here and let it speak for itself. I will also continue to seek advice from everyone on this forum, because no one knows everything! We are always learning.

Keep us updated @Spencer .

Above are my last two jobs. Sharon @Aviva Tiling was very instrumental in the advice I sought for the Marble Mosaics. Adey1980 continues to play a supportive role. Myself and Adey attended the 13day course at UK Pro Tiling Training. I'll continue updating this thread, it's for me the best way to speak about the training Darren gives you at UK Pro Tiling Training.
Spencer