help please LOL

[4x4]

Hello everyone, hope you are all busy in these difficult times!

this is my 1st post and you have probably seen this posted a thousand times before and probably quite bored with it but here I go,
I am going to be made redundant from my job as printer for 20 years in a few weeks time and have been worried sick about what to do next,

Anyway i am quite handy around the house ie. layed laminate floors, fitted a high quality Kitchen, fitted Ornate coving,
and done a fair bit of Tiling which has always come out very well and I have really enjoyed it!,

friends visiting have asked me to do work them and I've always said no as I have never been confident enough just as a DIY'er, as it must really put
the pressure on when someone is going to pay you for your services!

But now I am staring unemployment in the face I am thinking of doing a 4 week (20 day) course in tiling with a view to go self employed,
I do realise that a 4 week course will not make me Pro but perhaps it will give me the confidence I need to give it a go with small residential jobs

Could I be cheeky enough to ask if anyone knows if the tiling trade is very slow in the Herts area at the moment?

now I know you will need a crystal ball to answer this LOL butafter my course If I market myself welldo you think I could hope on getting 1 job
in my first month, 2 jobs in my second month, with a slow progression to perhaps a reasonable'ish amount of work after 12 months, assuming of course that I was any good,
or am I wasting my time in this current climate?

many thanks for your time
all replies will be greatly appreciated
Dave

 

[DHTiling]

Hello dave and welcome...........It varies up and down the country as to how busy peeps are... but good luck which ever way you go.

 

[White Room]

Hi and welcome

 

[david campbell]

:welcome:to the forum
tiling like all other trades is suffering at the moment,some area's seem to be suffering worse than others,but most well-known and established tilers are still keeping busy,this is really the name of the game-getting yourself recognised for producing good work!
for anybody starting up it can be a long time before you make good contacts,maybe doing the course at the moment with the intention of doing jobs for family and friends to start building up a customer base would be the best way to go,i doubt very much that you will be snowed under with work in just a few months of completing a course!

whatever you chose good luck anyway and have a look through here-
Tiling Courses - tilersforums.com | Tile Forums | Tiling Forum

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Dave - I would have thought that a member from the Herts area may have had some input to help you with you enquiry about the local situation!
National the building industry is slow and this can knock on to the Tiling side as well - however the refurbishment side is still busy so if you concerntrate on the domestic you may pick up some work.
What I liked about your post was you were not over ambitious with the amount of work you hoped to pick up in the first few months - and also the jobs you have done you really enjoyed!
I've said it before - this is the best job in the world - and time flies when your doing it.
What you need is the confidence - you have to convince the customer you are going to do the best job and then its up to you to deliver!
Choose your course carefully (look at the training courses on the forum) and go for it - you will never be wasting your time on something you enjoy!
After 20 years in printing, the redundancy should help you along the way so the pressure should not be on at the start.
Good luck ,keep in touch and ask away with all your questions.

 

[steveamare]

How about getting some experience by offering to help an established tiler - you might be able to find someone that needs a hand with mixing up adhesives, doing some of the cuts, grouting, cleaning up etc. It would give you a chance to learn from a pro and earn a few quid as well. Progress from there on to actually laying some tiles under the supervision of the pro and ..... away you go. Just a thought.

 

[faithhealer]

Hi dave, i know the feeling well. Fortunately, (although it didn't feel like that at the time) I started when times were better. My Advice would be to do the course, (you will learn the correct way and just as importantly the right prep work. It will be scary, but so is being sat at home. please pm if you want any other questions answered from someone who has been there and done it (I hope)

 

[4x4]

I'd just like to say thanks for all your messages so far,
what a great helpful bunch you are!
I feel a whole lot better already after reading your replies as I have been feeling a bit down lately,
I will stay in touch as I already have a load of questions bubbling but I will see if my course can answer them first,
thanks again guys :8:

 

[White Room]

Whereabouts in Herts do you come from

 

[Daz]

Hi, welcome and good luck!

If you are confident, polite and want your business to succeed, then it will!
You will be able to pick up as much work as you want if you are prepared to apply the leg work. What you are more likely to find is that you will have to price jobs at the "market" rate and being a "novice" and potentially slow will mean that your earnings are not as high as you may wish.

It won't take long until your business grows but you will have to be realistic and work bloody hard and long hours. .

 

[4x4]

Hi whitebeam, I'm from the Cheshunt area

 

[White Room]

A fair old trot from Hemel

 

[4x4]

not to far really often take my daughter to Aquasplash in Hemel about 30 mins round the old M25, as long as it's not gridlocked at the time of course lol

 

[White Room]

You mean you hav'nt taken her to the new snow centre:lol:

 

[jay]

:welcome:

 

[jimbob]

:welcome::welcome: Good luck

 

[TheWrightTiler]

id be going for netts all intensive course mate, 21 days just over 2 grand, does tiling, plumbing and plastering

read the reviews or visit www.learntotile.co.uk and see the course content

pure magic but it is a bit away from you, the 4 week tiling courses will prob cover in a week wot darren etc will teach you in a day. just done the bathroom fitting course and already done 2 swapouts so money back

great centre and great training

andy

 

[Bartlett]

:welcome: Did my training at PTS in Harlow. 4 week course was excellent.

 

[4x4]

Hi Bartlett, thanks for your reply,
this is where i am thinking of going,
sounds like you can recommend it then?

 

[CJ CERAMICS]

hi and welcome. sorry to hear that you are being made redundant. in your original post you say that you know that doing a 4 week course will not make you a pro?... after seeing some of the work that is out there (but not from forum members) i would say that 4 weeks training is about 4 weeks more training that alot of "tilers" have. the very best of luck

 

[TheWrightTiler]

:welcome: Did my training at PTS in Harlow. 4 week course was excellent.

wasnt slating the course fella lol

but after viewing the 4 week course content, its roughly the same as netts 8 day course

pts 4 week course 1950

nett 21 day course covering the same plus platering and plumbing 2100

no brainer imho

andy

 

[Danny@ Diamond]

id be going for netts all intensive course mate, 21 days just over 2 grand, does tiling, plumbing and plastering

read the reviews or visit www.learntotile.co.uk and see the course content

pure magic but it is a bit away from you, the 4 week tiling courses will prob cover in a week wot darren etc will teach you in a day. just done the bathroom fitting course and already done 2 swapouts so money back

great centre and great training

andy

What a ridiculous comment to make. If you are of this opinion then you cant possibly have any real understanding of what is actually involved with the tiling trade. :mad2:

 

[TheWrightTiler]

What a ridiculous comment to make. If you are of this opinion then you cant possibly have any real understanding of what is actually involved with the tiling trade. :mad2:

actually been in the tiling trade for nigh on 18 years now so i think i have a fair understanding of whats involved, if a centre can fast track in 4 days then why not, i know people who have been trained in 4 week courses and in 4 day courses, have seen the notes given and they are practically similar

all the 4 week courses offer extra are practice, no need for the extra course time

pts course for week one is roughly similar to what you would cover in netts day one for less cash, people are skint

you are entitled to your opinion and i mine

as far as i was aware its a public forum and not defined to any raining centre

 

[Danny@ Diamond]

actually been in the tiling trade for nigh on 18 years now so i think i have a fair understanding of whats involved, if a centre can fast track in 4 days then why not, i know people who have been trained in 4 week courses and in 4 day courses, have seen the notes given and they are practically similar

all the 4 week courses offer extra are practice, no need for the extra course time

pts course for week one is roughly similar to what you would cover in netts day one for less cash, people are skint

you are entitled to your opinion and i mine

as far as i was aware its a public forum and not defined to any raining centre

Your right it is a public forum and not owned by me or any other training centre, so you have your right to display your opinion.

As for being in the trade for nearly 18yrs all i can say to that is you must have been doing something wrong all of those years if you think it is possible to cover in 1 day what other training centres cover in 4 weeks.

I don't know what PTS or other companies include in their 4 week structure but we still struggle to include as much as we do in 4 weeks let alone cram it in to one day!

I would love to see what someone could learn in a day that would enable them to go and earn a living as a trades person. It takes people longer than that to study for a H & S test let alone learn a new trade. :mad2:

 

[davy_G]

I dont want to get too involved in the merits of individual courses, but I can speak from personal experience.
I did the 4 weeker at PTS, I thought the pace was a bit slow. However that was dictated by the speed of the majority of the people on it. Some days if I was finished, they would set me a new task, not actually on the course to build my confidence more, or they would work later with the slower guys. Everyone learns at a different pace but practical skills are essential and need to be built on in a structured manner.

I would happily do a 4-5 day plastering course now as i can rough plaster already but I wouldnt have thought a short course could get you to pro knowledge never mind confidence in a week or so. Although I stand to be corrected

Anyhows, for someone thinking of any course, look at what they teach you, expect you to be able to do after the course is finished. Invest a day of your time at the centre before you invest your cash, speak to the students, tutors and make sure you are doing something that is suited to your pace and knowledge gap.

 

[TheWrightTiler]

danny you have got the wrong end of the stick and are trying to smack me with it

what i said was netts 4 day course covers the same as pts 4 week course so 1 day at nett equates to one week at pts

the course content at pt for a week course is no where near what nett would teach in 4 days

fast tracking

as for me doing something wrong, i have ran my own firm for a few years now and still going strong, i have a few staff also who hlp me provide an all in one service so i must be doing something right, i resent your statement that with all the resent in the world, swearing isnt allowed, i have several customers also who would take a dislike to that

my father is time served and also who trained me, i have worked for several firms and eventally gave up the tools and took a steady income job instead

after being made redundant i retrained as teqniques have changed since i trained as a tiler, the basics are there but things do change, so i went to nett and done the 4 day course so i can say from first hand experience that their course is magic, a friend done the 4 week course at a local trainng centre and ive seen his notes, wha he covered in a week was nowhere near what i covered and his was 4 times the price

we are not going to agree on this as you run a centre and have overheads etc but people shoud not think that 4 weeks is better than one in all cases

andy

 

[davy_G]

Hi Andy,

I think where you really benefited from you course was the fact you had alot of prior knowledge and thus highly suited to fastracking.
Thats why i think I would like to do the fastrack plastering and bathroom fitting as they would build on my skills and knowledge.

Danny and yourself are looking at something from very different angles. Im sure no offence was meant.

 

[4x4]

thanks for all your advice its much appreciated!......from everyone

I personally would not feel that I had earned the right to give it a go in a trade
if I hadn't spent at least 20 days on a course trying to learn as much as I possibly could about that one trade,
but that is my personal feeling....
I still feel that most professionals would snigger at someone claiming to be a self employed tiler after 20 days,

as I know from the Printing trade, someone could possibly teach you how to operate a press in 5 to 20 days, but you could certainly not call yourself a printer, and after 20+ years of experience I was still learning something new every now and then when a particular problem arose,

but thanks for your all your opinions its nice to see healthy discussions, as not everyone has the same views of course

cheers:8:

 

[Time's Ran Out]

I think your latest post has confirmed my earlier opinion - you understand what will be required when you start a tiling career!
After 36 years I still learn things as new products come out and new techniques are required with the diverse number of adhesive available etc.
And although I've replied previously with regard to training courses, I'am of the opinion that you cannot sell your wares as a tiler after 3/4 days training, all this will give you is a basic understanding of the trade.
When I started ( and I can hear the groans all the way up here in the North-East) all I did for the first 4 weeks or more was grout! And when I made a good job of that I was allowed to do a few cuts! And ........
So even after a 4 week course as Danny has implied ' we still struggle to include as much as we do' you will find it difficult to have all the confidence that a few good jobs will provide. But without these courses you are only going to pick up bad habits and poor workmanship - so agian my advice is to go for as long as you can afford, learn everything offered and ask loads of questions.
We are here on the Forum or you can PM any member for advice

 

[A1P]

I think your latest post has confirmed my earlier opinion - you understand what will be required when you start a tiling career!
After 36 years I still learn things as new products come out and new techniques are required with the diverse number of adhesive available etc.
And although I've replied previously with regard to training courses, I'am of the opinion that you cannot sell your wares as a tiler after 3/4 days training, all this will give you is a basic understanding of the trade.
When I started ( and I can hear the groans all the way up here in the North-East) all I did for the first 4 weeks or more was grout! And when I made a good job of that I was allowed to do a few cuts! And ........
So even after a 4 week course as Danny has implied ' we still struggle to include as much as we do' you will find it difficult to have all the confidence that a few good jobs will provide. But without these courses you are only going to pick up bad habits and poor workmanship - so agian my advice is to go for as long as you can afford, learn everything offered and ask loads of questions.
We are here on the Forum or you can PM any member for advice

Hi,The above post sums things up very well.There is also excellent content in other posts including the discussion of types of course.As a mature entrant and someone from a skilled trade you have a head start.You also have a strong need to succeed coupled with DIY skills.Even in this climate you should stand a decent chance.Some suggestions:-1.Try to get some small 'friends and family jobs'booked.2.Try to make use of your varied skills.It sounds like you could be an all rounder eventually offering a range of skills.Back in the day a good handyman was never short of work.Multi -trade is perhaps a posh modern version.It is noticeable that tradesman who are friends are getting together to ofer a 'package'.You could specialise in tiling but if you learn how to plumb suites you are a bathroom fitter and a better tiler as tiling under bathroom furniture is better than cutting round.Basic plastering and boarding out means you can offer the whole package.Taking up floors,adjusting doors etc.Obviously takes time but any course would pay for itself quickly.My son is hoping to add plastering to plumbing and tiling.Having done plumbing work for a kitchen fitter he is looking at fitting kitchens jointly to learn the trade.He has been asked to mend/fit skirting boards.Work is work if you do it properly and work within your limitations and of course use the FORUMS!

 

[bigregrout]

hi 4x4 friend

plenty of course want your money. course are around for long time now. but is good for yuo? want work long hours and weekend? do paperwork at night? be on knees in day. cut and stick tiles. people want you 'just do this' for free. no one to speak with/ pehraps radio for friend.

thiswhat is like

i work with team of foreign, for little money, on house or hotel. but I happy with no money. it normal. i have my family