Do customers need to take the blame when they've employed a tiler and it goes wrong?

[Glynn]

The customer must take responsibility for any tradesmen that they choose to employ, but is it not up to that trade to make sure anyone calling themselves "skilled or qualified" really is at a standard, that is recognised as a quality standard. We have a good quality, robust and instantly recognised standard, its called City & Guilds, but no one I know is ever asked for it. I went to college for two years, then did an NVQ3, got a job teaching at college City & Guilds level 2+3, now doing technical support and I have never been asked to prove I am qualified. If professional people don't check, how can we expect the public to ask. And I am not for one minute saying that only tilers that have been to college can tile. I work with, and pass work onto a couple of tilers who have never set foot in a college or training centre and I have total trust in their approach, knowledge and ability to do a fully professional job every time. We maybe should adopt the Australian approach that you must be registered for your trade, prove you have the knowledge for your trade and can be prosecuted by the police if you're not registered. Then the public will have confidence that their chosen "Tiler" really is a Tiler.

 

[Dan]

The customer must take responsibility for any tradesmen that they choose to employ, but is it not up to that trade to make sure anyone calling themselves "skilled or qualified" really is at a standard, that is recognised as a quality standard. We have a good quality, robust and instantly recognised standard, its called City & Guilds, but no one I know is ever asked for it. I went to college for two years, then did an NVQ3, got a job teaching at college City & Guilds level 2+3, now doing technical support and I have never been asked to prove I am qualified. If professional people don't check, how can we expect the public to ask. And I am not for one minute saying that only tilers that have been to college can tile. I work with, and pass work onto a couple of tilers who have never set foot in a college or training centre and I have total trust in their approach, knowledge and ability to do a fully professional job every time. We maybe should adopt the Australian approach that you must be registered for your trade, prove you have the knowledge for your trade and can be prosecuted by the police if you're not registered. Then the public will have confidence that their chosen "Tiler" really is a Tiler.

Awesome post. Makes sense.

Do you think it's reasonable for a customer to ask for ands check references. Then whether the tiler is qualified or not it perhaps a doesn't matter. If their work appears spot on, perhaps it's the best chance a customer has? Obviously won't be able to pull tiles off to see how and what they're fixed with. But can see if there is lipping or bad grout or Silicon all over the place etc perhaps?

 

[Glynn]

Yes I do think its reasonable to check references. Its so easy these days with the internet, local tile shops, TTA and even friends and family. These customers do not know a good or bad tiling job till it is finished, they tile once every 20 years so do not understand what's needed and will often be led by price not abillity. It would be nice if it could be policed that if you are not a registered tiler you cannot tile, but we are a long way from that. How many Rogue Trader type programs must the public watch before they grasp that its simple to find a good tradesman and check them out first, till then the cowboys will still ride off into the sunset with someone's hard earned cash.

 

[Andy Allen]

Can't understand why some of them pay in full then moan about the ruff tiling afterwards .....
Any tradesmen worth there salt would not except a final payment until the customer was full satisfied.......
All this.... I need a few bob here and there to finish.... must surely send alarm bells ringing...

 

[Dan]

Can't understand why some of them pay in full then moan about the ruff tiling afterwards .....
Any tradesmen worth there salt would not except a final payment until the customer was full satisfied.......
All this.... I need a few bob here and there to finish.... must surely send alarm bells ringing...

There's actually the law that comes into play there. If you withhold funds, and try to take them court, you won't win for sure. You're meant to pay, show you've paid, show you've let them have a chance to correct the issue, and show the job is still substandard, then you'd win the money back and they'd enforce CCJ or whatever if it isn't paid.

Obviously I'm not a legal bod.

But that info is via a few threads on here that we've had before now.

 

[AliGage]

Correct @Dan

If your going to the letter if the law, but dont think theres an opportunity much for this to happen.

Good topic. Because this is swings and roundabouts. A good tiler would deal or eliminate snagging through the process. As would any good tradesman to be fair.

I couldnt imagine a client paying everything upfront. But then I ask gir a deposit to cover mats. Shows commitment from them too.
But if I client is willing to hand over his hard earned cash and not check references or anything then they have to take that responsibility, damn sure I wouldnt hand it all over, and I WOULD check rererences before even accepting the quote.

 

[Rizzle from the Portizzle]

well the rot comes from the tile sheds. they do all they can to imply our trade is diy no more no less so clients are lead to think that any one in the building trade can do it .so yes the clients become lazy on checking up as its easy realy . so how did we come to this think back.

 

[Dan]

Correct @Dan

If your going to the letter if the law, but dont think theres an opportunity much for this to happen.

Good topic. Because this is swings and roundabouts. A good tiler would deal or eliminate snagging through the process. As would any good tradesman to be fair.

I couldnt imagine a client paying everything upfront. But then I ask gir a deposit to cover mats. Shows commitment from them too.
But if I client is willing to hand over his hard earned cash and not check references or anything then they have to take that responsibility, damn sure I wouldnt hand it all over, and I WOULD check rererences before even accepting the quote.

Dom from the daytime version of rogue trader or whatever it's called seems to suggest you always keep some money back.

 

[White Room]

well the rot comes from the tile sheds. they do all they can to imply our trade is diy no more no less so clients are lead to think that any one in the building trade can do it .so yes the clients become lazy on checking up as its easy realy . so how did we come to this think back.

Diy programmes are killer....

 

[Dougs Third Go]

So what if a customer overrules your advice?, say something like decoupling, they don't want the added expense and you can't honestly say hand on heart that the job will fail without using it?...so you do the job without it and the job fails. I actually think in cases like that the tiler shouldn't be accountable as the advice has been given and customer decides to decline it.