Do you guys feel that the majority of customers overlook how important it is to prepare substrates?

[Joe]

I foolishly agreed to take on a job without going to look at it first for my brother in law who works as a handy man mainly for a lettings company. He does various work like joinery, painting, wallapering, tiling etc. I turned up at the job to find this:

I told him I wouldn't be able to do it as there's board missing, the plaster has came away with the tiles when they were removed and the plaster skim itself is coming away from the bonding behind it. I advised him the best thing to do would be to re board the whole lot and start with a nice flat surface. He disagrees and thinks it's good to go once the plaster board that's missing is installed. He's begging me to go and do it this weekend and is under the impression that I'm over exaggerating I think. This has been a common problem I am encountering whilst doing small jobs at reasonably cheap prices for people. It drives me crazy. I did 3 years of an apprenticeship working alongside brilliant tilers ten years ago and am hoping to build up a reputation for myself through word of mouth along with a facebook page etc to go at it full time eventually. Is it a common problem that the majority of customers don't understand the prep that's involved and just want someone to wack tiles on ? I know he'll tile this one himself and would even do it the exact same way on other jobs for other customers! Do the majority of customers underestimate the prep involved or would you guys say that most customers understand that preparing substrates is essential ?

 

[Flintstone]

Joe, I think you know yourself it's all dependant on the client your working for and the jobs your doing, a handyman and a letting company, those two things scream out to me as make do and mend, they don't want to spend money they just want it done and rented out again.

 

[Joe]

Joe, I think you know yourself it's all dependant on the client your working for and the jobs your doing, a handyman and a letting company, those two things scream out to me as make do and mend, they don't want to spend money they just want it done and rented out again.

The type of clients I will be targeting are private home owners mostly. I’ve done a number of jobs over the years where I push for tanking, self levelling, backer boards etc. Probably 8/10 just don’t get it. They just seem to want a tiler to turn up and stick tiles on. Sometimes I make a judgement call and just crack on after minimal preparation. I gues what I’m really asking is, how often full time tilers are having to go through this with customers and do they get much resistance or even lose out on jobs against someone who’s willing to ignore good prep? I find it’s cheap and relatively fast to strip walls and board them properly and self levelling is something I’ve never had a problem carrying out successfully. I follow all manufacturers guidelines and seek advice when needed. Correct prep makes for an easier and higher quality job and it’s definitely the direction I want to go in. I have found that a lot of these customers haven’t allowed for any prep in their budget and I worry I’ll lose out on work. I speak to another tiler who gets lots of work but he’s cheap and rough if I’m honest. I also think he makes life harder by accepting jobs with sub standard substrates. I’m interested to see how other quality tilers find this as lots of plumbers and builders think you can tile onto anything. I feel as if they view prep as just a tiler being a pain in the ***!

 

[Bathfix Bob]

I look at it this way.. do whatever you need to do as long as you're getting your day rate, you are happy, your work is excellent, customer is happy.

I've tiled walls that didn't even exist before I turned up, if they don't want to pay for prep then move to another customer,

 

[Waluigi]

In my experience customers very rarely know what’s involved in the preparation work before tiling. It’s your job to explain to them what’s involved. I tend to do this at the Quote stage on the first site visit and it’s reiterated on the written Quote.

If I was unfortunate enough to turn up to the job you posted, it wouldn’t phase me. I’d be a little annoyed that I wasn’t pre warned but I’d just contact the person who would be paying the bill and give them a price to do the prep work. Is it just replacing where it was already tiled? If so then it’s purely a bit of CLS, plasterboard and a skim up with rapidset.

If all the walls are getting tiled I’d be typing up a quote for the prep work. Take it or leave it.

 

[Joe]

In my experience customers very rarely know what’s involved in the preparation work before tiling. It’s your job to explain to them what’s involved. I tend to do this at the Quote stage on the first site visit and it’s reiterated on the written Quote.

If I was unfortunate enough to turn up to the job you posted, it wouldn’t phase me. I’d be a little annoyed that I wasn’t pre warned but I’d just contact the person who would be paying the bill and give them a price to do the prep work. Is it just replacing where it was already tiled? If so then it’s purely a bit of CLS, plasterboard and a skim up with rapidset.

If all the walls are getting tiled I’d be typing up a quote for the prep work. Take it or leave it.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it but I did tell him that it needed sorted and with him being a jobbing builder I thought he would understand where I'm coming from:

This is what I'm talking about. I suppose I'll just put it down to a bad experience and move on but as I said it's not the first time someones tried to talk me into just tiling it. Mainly people I know to be fair but I've also had it off new custys. I regularly watch an American guy called Sal Diblasi who builds the shower walls and floors himself using various Schluter products and the likes of that. He gets everything nice and flat and does a brilliant job fitting the tiles which is down to the good prep. Thanks for your replies guys.

 

[Flintstone]

How long have you been tiling for Joe ?

 

[Joe]

I did an apprenticeship ten years ago and went into a different job but have always done small jobs I’m comfortable with over the years. I’m not that experienced. My apprenticeship was mainly done on sites. I don’t claim to be an expert or anything like that I’m still learning. Why do you ask ?

 

[Flintstone]

Because a lot of what you seem to be dealing with comes with experience.

 

[Joe]

Yeh you’re right. Just wanted to see if it was a regular occurrence dealing with customers who don’t see the importance of preparing the job correctly. It aggravates me a little bit but not too bad because at the end of the day I think I’ve just had a bad run of customers lately.

 

[Spare Tool]

Don't be soft with customers, be polite but firm, you need to come across like its you doing them the favour working for them, not the other way round. Give them an inch and they'll take the mile and If you can't do it your way just leave it, forget about it and move on to the next one..

 

[On one]

'Give in' this time and he will expect the same standard the next time.
Boils my pee sometimes when this happens.......the whole scenario could be avoided if the plumber had forewarned that there was prep worth to do.

 

[Waluigi]

I think I know what’s happening here......

The handyman/builder whatever is trying to belittle the amount of work that needs doing to prep it to make you feel like it’s very simple so you should just get on and do it. Give him a price to do it. I agree with Wrighty. Don’t give in. You’re the one who tells him what needs doing, not the other way round

 

[Dumbo]

Get used to hearing this and get used to ignoring it .
Tiler will get over that .
Now you need to understand you are a finish trade and a lot of other trades don't understand what is needed to get a good quality finish .

 

[Ajax123]

There are sadly still a good number of tiles who don't realise the importance of substrate preparation as well.

 

[One Day]

You call the shots. Remember that.
Act as if they need you far more than you need them (even if that's not 100% true - act that way - not arrogantly, just confidently)

A phrase I truthfuly use a lot and which works is something along the lines of "I want to be able to leave here and sleep at night knowing this job will last as long as your house does, so to do that I can't cut corners." Then explain (briefly and without boring them to death) why your way is the only way.

Your own confident attitude is what will win people over.

 

[Joe]

That’s good advice. I know I need to act more confident in these interactions about the job and focus on winning the customers over to gain their trust more in what I’m saying. I’ll crush it next time. I like your salesmanship Impish.