Does it mean you are a bad tiler if you have slow patches?

[Brian the Tile]

i think if anything i would ( and i hate to say this )be a multi trader if i had my time over,over the last couple of years three people on my rd and very close to me have had new bathrooms installed with the full monty tiling the lot done by multitraders,three different ones i might add, not one of them asked me for a price for the tiling,i think then it may be a bit easier to ask for a deposit if you are laying out for everything but not just if you are goin in labour only or if the job is not worth much i think it makes things a bit awkward asking for the deposit and you then have to trust folk , the way things are at the moment i could quite willingly stick my tools in the skip and find a job with a regular wage

 

[Brian the Tile]

like i said in a earlier post it happened to me but they didnt get away with it

 

[jonnyc]

brian there is a difference between asking for a deposit to cover materials rather than labour deposit.
now i am starting to think about this, i have actually only been thinking of the average job i do and the materials make typically come to £ 1500.00 -£ 2000.00.
I am not prepared to give the customer that credit till end of job.
it may be that if you are quoting for a bathroom the material element if indeed you are supplying at all could be quite small and then i could understand that you are reticent to ask for such amount.

 

[John Benton]

brian there is a difference between asking for a deposit to cover materials rather than labour deposit.
now i am starting to think about this, i have actually only been thinking of the average job i do and the materials make typically come to £ 1500.00 -£ 2000.00.
I am not prepared to give the customer that credit till end of job.
it may be that if you are quoting for a bathroom the material element if indeed you are supplying at all could be quite small and then i could understand that you are reticent to ask for such amount.

Nothing wrong with asking for a deposit for materials, especially of you are supplying tiles. I can order the tiles once I have the cash or cheque has cleared and not until. That way the customer shows commitment to you and are less likely to back out of the contract, if you have £500-£1k worth of their tiles, and I don't get them delivered until maybe second day and prep has been done. It could be easy for them to get you to purchase the tiles with your discount have them delivered a few weeks before the job, and you turn up and someone else is fixing them. Not too worried about layout for addy, grout etc as that can always be used on another job, but 25m of tiles are to individuals taste so you don't want to be stuck with them. Don't take any risks!!!!

Likewise if I am supplying and fitting a kitchen I have the full amount for the kitchen already in my account possibly a month before the install date, maybe even longer.

I have not had a customer refuse to give me a deposit as yet.

Just waiting for the first person to vote YES :lol:

 

[jonnyc]

maybe we should start a thread about how we as individual members set out our payment terms for a job.
this is as important as being able to do the job in my view.
then there is the added sales factor

 

[charlie1]

I work for various fitting teams and although I don't approve of some of there methods, they always pay me so I trust them. If ms smith calls me and wants to hire me then I take payment up front before I commit. They commit financially and I commit my diary... Fair trade I say. Even if it's 30 or 40 quid deposit, it cuts out any potential cr*p from customer which will happen from time to time.

also, I will insist on part payment on a weekly basis no matter who I'm working for.

 

[Sean SML Tiling]

Same for me Charlie I always take deposits after certain stages of work carried out. That way people are getting paid throughout the job and nobody's loosing 1000's

 

[jonnyc]

alfred .
quite bizarrely i am coming to visit your neck of the coast this weekend.
my nephew is marrying a lass from broadstairs.
we are staying in royal harbour hotel ( ramsgate )
reception at st lawrence college ( ramsgate)
does this sound ok.

what do you reckon.
why nothing in broadstairs !!!
i havent a clue but it did not go down well with my mother when i said i hoped there would be a really big storm.
i love a big storm but its not my wedding so fairs fair i guess.

 

[Diamond Pool Finishers]

Sorry that finger has Taretts :lol: ,i couldn't help myself from pressing yes

 

[jonnyc]

i forgot to mention , that my father was sent to broadstairs when he was very young with his brother and my grandmother for their holiday on a regular basis.
my grandfather was a very senior manager of the national provincial to become the nat west. my understanding is that broadstairs was quite the place to take a holiday and there must have been some fine holiday hotels.
that said iam quite nonplussed why we are spending most of out time in ramsgate!!

 

[John Benton]

Sorry that finger has Taretts :lol: ,i couldn't help myself from pressing yes

Haha was it this one Dave? :fuk2:

 

[Brian the Tile]

anyone for indian or chineese

 

[Colour Republic]

If you have slow patches then it could mean you're a bad tiler:sofahide:


It could also mean -

You're bad at marketing/selling yourself,
You're looking for work in the wrong area,
The economy is stuffed (Although that can be a good thing, I certainly benefited when bigger and badder firms around me went under in 2008 meaning less competition)
Or maybe you just have hygine issues.


Could also mean you're just unlucky with cancelled jobs for no fault of your own. But I would always be concerned if somebody could start at very short notice, I mean within a couple of days as opposed to couple of weeks. Might be different if the whole industry is on it's arse in your area but there is plenty of work around this way, so wouldd expect decent tradesmen to be busy.

 

[The D]

I would be fare more interested in wether he comes recommend and what his experience is rather than how his diary looks. There are hundreds of reasons why a tiler could fit a small job in at short notice.

 

[Tony73]

agree with Deano (this time :sofahide: ) especially when my main contractor ask me, I do what ever it takes , to fit them inn . nd there are many reasons as Deano say.

 

[Colour Republic]

I would be fare more interested in wether he comes recommend and what his experience is rather than how his diary looks. There are hundreds of reasons why a tiler could fit a small job in at short notice.

That's not what you asked at the begining. Small jobs get slotted in all the time, even when people are busy.

Like I say, i would be concerned why he/she is available and might go to greater lengths to find out why, than say a tradesmen who couldn't fit you in for 3,4,5-10 weeks.

Somebody being busy doesn't make them any good but is usally an indicator that they are either very good or very cheap. (but not the only reasons)

Being available at ahort notice is normally an indicator of someone being either very bad or very expensive. (but not the only reasons)


How busy someone is, is just one indicator, just like...

Does he look smart or does he look like he's been dragged through a bush backwards and needing a good wash. (if he can't look after himself he's not going to look after my job)
Is he polite or is he going to be swareing in front of my customers.
Is the back of his van tidyish or is it pilled high full of ****. (i make enough mess on site to equal 10 tradesmen I don't need others adding to it)
Does he look like he's going to rob tools off site.

They are just indicators, of course the most important is 'Does he know what the fekk he's talking about' (although many can talk a good game)

I wouldn't not employ someone because they were short of work, untidy van, scruffy... etc etc, just concerned. IF I thought they would sware in front of customers or I thought they would rob tools is about the only 2 things I wouldn't tolerate.

 

[Colour Republic]

Should add there isn't a tradesman in the country that hasn't found themselves short of work at some point regardless of how good they are. But if you're good at what you do and you're good at finding work then you should be far busier than gys who are crap at those things.

 

[Andy Allen]

at the end of the day why does a customer have to know your short of work.....?

I just tell them there in luck and I have just had a cancellation and can fit them in straight away, however they must decide now as i'm piled out with work for the next 10 years...simples..:lol:

 

[Spud]

I read some of the replies on this thread and thanks for posting it Deano it's a really good one , what makes a good tiler ? If you are conscientious work to a high standard and leave a job both you and your customer are proud of then you are a good tiler I don't think the amount of work you have has any thing to do with it , I stopped pricing work in December as I was chasing in money from several companies I had worked for it meant January was a slow starter but by the end of the month I was busy again the down time didn't mean I wasn't working, I got my terms and conditions contract together while I was quiet so going forward I hopefully won't be in the same position I was in with loads of companies owing for work that had been completed for several months , I also thought about who and what type of work I was going to concentrate on doing this year and how I can make my business more profitable in the past I have been guilty of being really busy but when I looked at the figures the profits were not worth the effort that makes me a bad business man not a bad tiler

 

[charlie1]

This place really does make me laugh some of the time

Am I the only one here that feels like hitting my head off a brick wall?? The market place is the truest most accurate datum as measure how good one is at what they do regardless of what that is, in our most of our cases, we sell a tiling service. Some tilers specialise in high end work, some specialise in low end / high volume, but they are both obviously providing a good product if there diary is full. Does it make the individual a better 'tiler' is the question here? No. But the question is not accurate, what we should be asking is are we selling a better product? Who cares if you are a 'good tiler', What does that even mean? We could be here for years discussing that and I simply not qualified to judge as I have never employed any to compare.

I am in a lucky situation just now where I am very busy, I don't consider myself to be as good a tiler as many on here who I know come from a more tiling background but I know I'm making a good living and I'm selling a good product.

 

[Ajax123]

This place really does make me laugh some of the time

Am I the only one here that feels like hitting my head off a brick wall?? The market place is the truest most accurate datum as measure how good one is at what they do regardless of what that is, in our most of our cases, we sell a tiling service. Some tilers specialise in high end work, some specialise in low end / high volume, but they are both obviously providing a good product if there diary is full. Does it make the individual a better 'tiler' is the question here? No. But the question is not accurate, what we should be asking is are we selling a better product? Who cares if you are a 'good tiler', What does that even mean? We could be here for years discussing that and I simply not qualified to judge as I have never employed any to compare.

I am in a lucky situation just now where I am very busy, I don't consider myself to be as good a tiler as many on here who I know come from a more tiling background but I know I'm making a good living and I'm selling a good product.

its not that you are hitting your head on a brick wall it's just that you seem to have missed the point. The question was asked in the thread title... It's a little arrogant and condescending of you to suggest that the original poster did not know what he wanted to ask.....I think the question asked was perfectly accurate. Yes the term "good tiler" is ambiguous and could be discussed in a number different contexts. The market is probably the least accurate measure of how good one is.

 

[The D]

At the risk of being verbally abused again this thread was started because of a conversation on another tread that was a person had a bad tiling job done and came to the forum for some advice. She got good advice but when she had resolved the situation she needed a tiler to re tile the bathroom she asked on here but found a friends x was the manager of a tile shop and he recommend a tiler that tiler went and looked at the job and said he would go and sort it out the following week. She was happy with that but then the comment was made that if he was available at short notice he may not be any good. In my opinion this was a bit out of order as he came recommended by the manager of a tile shop and was fitting it in as a favour now this man may turn out to be a bad tiler or he may turn out to be a good one but I think the assumption that someone must be bad at what they do because they have a gap in there diary is pathetic.

 

[charlie1]

its not that you are hitting your head on a brick wall it's just that you seem to have missed the point. The question was asked in the thread title... It's a little arrogant and condescending of you to suggest that the original poster did not know what he wanted to ask.....I think the question asked was perfectly accurate. Yes the term "good tiler" is ambiguous and could be discussed in a number different contexts. The market is probably the least accurate measure of how good one is.

So what would you say about all the tilers out there who are very busy and making a good living, having never seen there work, all you know is they are busy, would you guess they where good or bad tilers?

 

[stusgsx]

I'm not up to much today I've nothing small enough to fit in. I'm halfway through converting my garage so will just mess about out there after watching homes under the hammer to see all the lash ups!

 

[the diving tile]

Volume of work means nothing good or bad. The thing is be content with what you do and get paid for it. Its as simple as that, took me years to work that out, a not very busy tiled but happy one.