Another multi trader.. welcome.
Yes, the multi-trade thing seems like a curse sometimes and a bonus at others. It's great not having to rely on too many subbies and I like the variety I get at work. However being a jack of all trades and master of none has it's downsides. My primary aim with everything I do is quality so that means I'm slow as I don't specialise in any one thing. I could do quick but quality would suffer.
However it has it's advantages as I assume with everything that I do that I don't have all the answers and I'm always looking for better ways to do things. That can often put me ahead of specialists who think they know everything and haven't moved on or who repeatedly work with a flawed method as that was how they were taught. Their thinking is often supported by the fact that they are unaware of any catastrophic failures. The "I've used PVA as a tiling primer for 30 years and none of my customers have been decapitated by a falling
tile" attitude doesn't wash with me. I regularly ring the technical helpline available on all adhesive packaging to get advice and it has taught me loads.
Anyway enough of that, my primary aim for being here is to significantly improve my tiling method and speed with the help and advice from the experts on here. I've tended to do more kitchens than bathrooms over the years as the amount of tiling involved in bathrooms has put me off as I'm too slow at it. I want to do more bathrooms in the future and the only way it will be viable is for me to get a lot quicker at tiling.
That's a big question. Does anyone have any advice on that one?
