5th job Blues....am I a rouge tiler......?

[mz30]

Hi anthony,

I personally will not touch nothing that is not pretty much spot on,on the other hand getting over bad thing's is also part of the learning process,if you have a backround in construction i would say that a tiling course maybe a little easier to absorb,like you said you are 33 and have to kid's and need to pay your mortgage ,tiling doesn't sound a great proposition at the moment does it?

While you can earn great money ,the chances of you earning it straight away are slim,not impossible but slim,especially with you saying you live in a small community.

At the end of the day we are quite similar,i am only a year older than you and my second child is on the way,but i have been tiling full time since i was 16yrs old and working part time between 14 and 16.

If you really want to tile my best advice to you would be to start small and gain confidence and experience,check the area you are tiling ,before agreeing a price and until you have more experience do not take on job's with a potential for disaster and my biggest advice do not get involved in anything but tiling as you open yourself up for headache after headache.

If you need any advice at all ,about anything to do with tiling,i will always be glad to give you my opinion.

Good luck for the future
Mike

 

[1111]

Anthony, I have not been tiling very long myself but one thing I was taught and this has been reiterated to me through this forum on numerous occasions is that ply is not a suitable substrate for tiling on to walls. There is far too much potential for movement due to moisture in the atmosphere. This is the reason that any reference to timber in bathrooms or other damp environs is always followed by consideration for Tanking.

I am not sure what you actually mean by the walls being 6mm out, is that 6mm dips or lumps in places or does the wall curve away?

Applying 5mm plywood will not straighten out a wall, it will only follow the curvature of the wall. It is normal to either straighten out any undulations by skimming with rapidset or dot and dab plasterboard/backerboard up instead.

As it is you would probaly have got away with 6mm if you had used an appropriately sized notched trowel as back buttering takes time as you have found out. The 15x15 tiles limits a little the amount of adhesive you can safely pack out with so you were stuck a little with te 6mm deviation.

By all means offer to put right what the customer thinks is wrong but I feel that you should explain to them that the initial preparation - not done by you - was inadequate and that the walls should have been correctly straightened, and not with plywood! Also, if you were actaully tiling onto ply, you shold have used a flexible adhesive.

The fact that the other "tiler" is in fact a joiner tells it's own story.

Apart from taking longer that you thought it would, I don't see you have done much wrong. Put it down to experience and move forward. Tell customers how long you have been tiling if they ask. If they don't ask, then they are not really bothered as long as they get a good job. I have never been asked prior to being given work but it has come up in conversation, and as yet has not caused me a problem.

Every job is a learning experience and I KNOW you won't make the same mistakes again. Don't get too down hearted, carry on doing what you are doing and put this behind you.

Keep reading the forums and let us know how you are getting on.

Thanks ALL these chats in here have been invaluble to me - on the whole I'm an optomist but when things go wrong I'm quite the pessamist!!

When i mentioned about 5mm out I placed my Spirit level flat on the ply and there were dips of upto 5mm in the middle of my level (and above in places) where as you rightly pointed out the ply had just followed the lines of the curvature of the wall.

I used BAL flexible rapid set adh and bonded the ply with BAL primer?

Just need the joiner not to Bad mouth my work....I'm considering calling him......anyway I'll let you know how things progress.

Anthony:8:

 

[1111]

Hi anthony,

I personally will not touch nothing that is not pretty much spot on,on the other hand getting over bad thing's is also part of the learning process,if you have a backround in construction i would say that a tiling course maybe a little easier to absorb,like you said you are 33 and have to kid's and need to pay your mortgage ,tiling doesn't sound a great proposition at the moment does it?

While you can earn great money ,the chances of you earning it straight away are slim,not impossible but slim,especially with you saying you live in a small community.

At the end of the day we are quite similar,i am only a year older than you and my second child is on the way,but i have been tiling full time since i was 16yrs old and working part time between 14 and 16.

If you really want to tile my best advice to you would be to start small and gain confidence and experience,check the area you are tiling ,before agreeing a price and until you have more experience do not take on job's with a potential for disaster and my biggest advice do not get involved in anything but tiling as you open yourself up for headache after headache.

If you need any advice at all ,about anything to do with tiling,i will always be glad to give you my opinion.

Good luck for the future
Mike

Thanks Mike,

Your right - I need to ensure I dont get ideas above my station as I'm only lining myself up for a fall.....

Yor offer of advice is really appriciated and will be put into use in the future without question!

Large ones all round:8:

Thanks bud

Anthony

 

[Daz]

Hi Anthony,

This job sounds like a real bummer and that's a shame. I think the advice already offered sums up a steep learning curve and as a fairly new tiler myself I can only add some (I hope) reassurance.

I, too, have had jobs that I felt could be achieved within a "certain" timescale and I have price them accordingly. The one thing that I never do is advise the customer how long the job may take. If asked, I always say that the job will take as long as it takes as I never rush my work to ensure that I deliver the best possible results. And besides, it's not as though the customer is paying me on a day rate so why should they be bothered by my progress (or lack of)??

I try not to get down when a job starts to run into extra days by looking back at my work and taking pride in what I have achieved - just remember that it is all valuable experience. I do make a point of advising clients in a subtle way that a) their choice of cheap s**t tiles does not help matters, b) their uneven walls / floors will affect the final result and c) cheap adhesive is only good for filling cracks no matter what Topps Tiles tell you - aaaargh, crap job and materials today (rant done)!

It is easy to spot a "fussy" customer, so make a point of discussing your professionalism and advise that you only have happy customers because if you or your customers are not happy with the end result YOU rectify the problem, at your cost. Remind Mr & Mrs fussy that you rely on a good reputation. I always drop into the conversation that it takes years to build a good reputation and minutes to ruin it!

Keep your chin up, it appears that you have done nothing wrong. I'm pretty sure that "the other tiler / chippy" is not the only other tiler or chippy in town so do some networking and you will be surprised how quickly things take shape for you.

Be confident and be prepared to take the odd job as a kick in the teeth as you'll be amazed at how quick a £1k profit week comes along - happy days!

Good luck and we're here to offer help and support.
Keep smiling and tiling.

 

[MrSpoon]

if you feel u need more practise to increase your speed why not rip out the tiles in your bathroom and re-tile it with some cheap ones, then re-tile over in different size tiles maybe in brick bond? might not look the best but once you get more experience and more money coming in you can splash out on some really nice ones and knock all them off and re-tile it after you've finished practicing:yes:

 

[faithhealer]

Keep your chin up Anthony, I know the pressure of trying to earn enough to pay the morgage etc, don't we all! You sound conciensious enough to be a good tiler so stick in there son!

 

[LM Ceramics]

im sorry to hear that anthony and with being a new tiler sounds like a nightmare job i ve just finished a bathroom similar to yours plyed walls and most walls you could put your straight edge on it a fit your hand in it to be honest despite tiling since i left school 4 years ago i really struggled with that job and i totatally agree with mz yet again bout some of these course tiling a workshop (4 m2) is completley different to tiling a full bathroom dont feel too bad there was obsticles like rough walls and plyed walls but you need to now how to deal with them thats when experience comes in alot of these courses send lads out like someone said in a previous post conviencing them they could tile some people have got it and some havent

rushing it to self employment after a 4 day course is a bit foolish gain experience and when you think your confiedent to go out and tile properly then go for it make as much money as you can try tiling part time or now and again see if you can pull jobs in or try asking tiling firms for work or ring tilers and ask them for experience/apprentice


end of the day if your customer is happy with your work then you should try rectify it and i hope the so called "tiler/joiner wont bad mouth you"

also to add next time you get a job just be honest and tell the customer how long you have been tiling

 

[1111]

Thanks for all your responses folks - Its good to know I can get some good honest advise.

I think the job faulted due to me being pressured by the customer to finish - Lesson definatley learnt - I have decided to tell any future customers that I am fairly new in tiling and may be a bit slower.

I'd love to get into a tiling firm etcc... as LM pointed out but as far as I can see there is only 1 other tiler within 80miles (maybe Grumpy is the next closest!)

I have just been to estimate a job for a kitchen with black 10 by 20 brick like tiles and a glass mosaic splashback........I'm sure if I get the job I'll be back on about those mosaics!!

I really want to make a go of this and I certainly do have pride in my work - although I am still really dissapointed with my last job - Its made me more determined to spend more time and get it right next time - I'll post some pictures if sucessful!

Thanks again all - and I'll keep you posted.
----

Hi Anthony,

This job sounds like a real bummer and that's a shame. I think the advice already offered sums up a steep learning curve and as a fairly new tiler myself I can only add some (I hope) reassurance.

I, too, have had jobs that I felt could be achieved within a "certain" timescale and I have price them accordingly. The one thing that I never do is advise the customer how long the job may take. If asked, I always say that the job will take as long as it takes as I never rush my work to ensure that I deliver the best possible results. And besides, it's not as though the customer is paying me on a day rate so why should they be bothered by my progress (or lack of)??

I try not to get down when a job starts to run into extra days by looking back at my work and taking pride in what I have achieved - just remember that it is all valuable experience. I do make a point of advising clients in a subtle way that a) their choice of cheap s**t tiles does not help matters, b) their uneven walls / floors will affect the final result and c) cheap adhesive is only good for filling cracks no matter what Topps Tiles tell you - aaaargh, crap job and materials today (rant done)!

It is easy to spot a "fussy" customer, so make a point of discussing your professionalism and advise that you only have happy customers because if you or your customers are not happy with the end result YOU rectify the problem, at your cost. Remind Mr & Mrs fussy that you rely on a good reputation. I always drop into the conversation that it takes years to build a good reputation and minutes to ruin it!

Keep your chin up, it appears that you have done nothing wrong. I'm pretty sure that "the other tiler / chippy" is not the only other tiler or chippy in town so do some networking and you will be surprised how quickly things take shape for you.

Be confident and be prepared to take the odd job as a kick in the teeth as you'll be amazed at how quick a £1k profit week comes along - happy days!

Good luck and we're here to offer help and support.
Keep smiling and tiling.

Cheers buddy - an uplifting response! Although admittedly a £1k week seems a loooooong way off yet!!!

Thanks again mate and I'll keep you all posted on my progress.

AK

 

[LM Ceramics]

£1 k a week for a new tiler is bollucks im afraid when your experience and quick enough then it is achieveable i fairly new to tiling and fairly quick i could only earn that on commercial work but private unless the walls are flat as i doubt it

 

[Daz]

I'm new to tiling and regularly earn £1k per week when doing floors. Walls can be a different matter, but I have had as many good jobs as bad.

The clue is in my nickname; I'm not a fast tiler!

If you don't agree with my opinions, perhaps you are not pricing yourself at what you are worth??

BTW I only do domestic work, never even considered commercial stuff.