Ebo trade training near Newquay - Any good?

[Steveoboy]

I'm looking to do a 2 week course with ebo near newquay, starting next Monday. They want £1275 all in, which is a lot, but if I knew that they were excellent I wouldn't mind.

I'm already an experienced carpenter and general builder so am looking for a full on intense course, no baby steps. Anyone had any experience with them? were they good?

Thanks, steve

 

[White Room]

Not heard of them but could you not travel to the place and have a look and chat to trainees who are there..

 

[peteablard]

As Whitebeam says, any reputable company would be more than happy for you to go and have a look round

 

[Steveoboy]

Yeah, they state on the website that you're welcome to visit. I'm going to contact them tomorrow and ask about the tiling teacher, as it's important that he is an experienced/knowledgeable tiler. They told me over the phone that they don't usually take on more than 4 students at a time so that you get plenty of one on one, which sounds good.

I didn't want to take a whole day off work just to visit them (50 miles away), but if I go on Monday I can have a good look around, and then opt to stay and pay, if i'm happy. The difficulty is that you don't know how good they really are until you start, unless someone else has been there and done it.

 

[jls1]

I was thinking of using this company. Did you go there in the end, and if so, what did you think of it?

Thanks.

 

[Steveoboy]

I was thinking of using this company. Did you go there in the end, and if so, what did you think of it?
Thanks.

Yeah I did. I felt a bit ripped off to be honest. The teachers, although nice guys, are not qualified to be teaching a professional tiling course IMO. One teacher was a retired bricky who's done tiling from a general building point of view and the other a decorator with the same experience.

They only knew how to do basic floor and wall tiling with ceramic tiles. They could not answer any of the challenging questions I had regarding wet rooms, cement board, natural stones, travertine, tiling outside, tiling on asphalt, isolation membranes, expansion joints,etc. They had no idea, I knew more from what I have read in a book. When I asked about tiling on wooden floors they said, that it's fine as long as I make sure it well screwed and use a flexible adhesive. They advised using PVA and did not even know what tilers primer was.

You only get to use 150mm x 150mm white ceramic tiles and whatever floor tiles they had kicking around that are used over and over. They only have cheap and nasty tools other than one small rubi cutter. I tiled a pattern on a wall, a bathroom floor and wall around a window, and a kitchen in three days then they did not know what to do with me, so I wound up doing some face brick work and leaving halfway through the day on friday. That one week cost me about £700.

Most of there customers are ex military and getting the course funded by the government, and in general did not know any better.

They will teach you just about any trade, carpentry, roofing, plumbing, etc, the fact that they don't know the trades in depth does not matter, they will take your money anyway. Having said that I did get to have a go at tiling and it did'nt matter if I made a mistake as it was not on someones house, and it did give me the confidence to tile.

If you just wand to diy tile, the course is fine, although expensive. But if you want to take up tiling as a career look I would say look elsewhere. Hope this helps, steve

 

[Ian]

A good, honest review. Thanks Steve.


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[jls1]

Thanks Steve, that's very helpful. I am looking to start a career in tiling so I think I will look elsewhere! You have saved me time and money, thank you!

 

[White Room]

One to avoid then, thanks for being honest.

 

[Steveoboy]

No problem guys, I would rather prevent anyone else from having a bad experience.

Thanks Steve, that's very helpful. I am looking to start a career in tiling so I think I will look elsewhere! You have saved me time and money, thank you!

The only trouble is, after much searching I could not find any other tiling courses in this part of the country. You will have to travel for a good course, and there are people on here that will point you in the right direction. Having said that, with the price of the ebo course I could have probably traveled up country and camped for a week or two nearby for about the same cost.

The other possibility is to get on with a good tiler for a year or two and learn the trade off them.

Good luck whatever you decide, I believe tiling is one of the better trades to get into at the moment, all things taken into account.