HI!! I'm a non-tiler!!

[MIKEY88]

Hi everyone!! I'm not a tiler but I'm interested in becoming one. The reason I joined is because I have some questions to ask...

I'm interested in becoming a tiler and I want to get the qualifications I need, so I've been looking online and came across a page in this forum from 2008 http://www.tilersforums.com/tiling-nvqs/8509-nvq-floor-wall-tiling-3-years.html .It says that to get a level 2 NVQ to become qualified you need 3 years experience or if you have an ICA 26 weeks. I've done some looking around for more info about the benefit of getting an ICA and can't find anything. Is an ICA still relevant or is it old news??


Also I want to do a tiling course to get some basic skills, then ask a tiling company to allow me to work for them for £100 per week for a couple of months to gain some experience, then see if they want to keep me on at minimum wage until I have good tiling skills. Is there any tiling courses you'd recommend and do you think offering to work for peanuts with limited knowledge will be enough to get my foot in the door??

 

[bugs183]

It's a shame you don't live nearer as i'd take you on, just for being so keen.
You'll find many chaps here don't have qualifications and are superb, knowledgeable tilers, as they are time served.
I'm not sure how the qualification system works, allegedly i'm level 2, as i'm time served and i was assessed, but not heard any feedback from them.
What work do you want to do?? Site work will require qualifications to get your CSCS ticket, but as site work is slow at the moment then with domestic work you won't need them, you just turn up and work.
You just need and eye for detail, and the attitude that tiling is a finishing trade and therefore you need to make sure what you do will look the best it will ever be.
Go a head with the course if you can afford it, and gain your qualifications, site work will return,but your idea of joining up with an established tiler is certainly the way to go.
Good luck!!

 

[MIKEY88]

Thanks for the reply bugs183. I'm going to do a course but I don't know which one to choose, it's between these two.

There is this one in Newcastle which is £950 for a 2 week course but has no recognised qualification. I'll be able to get some basic skills and it's not far for me to travel and not too expensive. Tiling Courses - UK Trades Training

or

This one that's miles away in Kent that's £2295 but there is a CAA/ICA level 2 qualification Wall tiling Diploma, Floor Tiling Diploma


I don't want to waste cash I don't have doing the one in Kent if I'll be able to get someone to take me on from doing the one in Newcastle, although I'm sure I'd learn a lot more in Kent than the Newcastle one it's a job at the end I want and that's where I'll be learning the most from.

Do you think it's worth all that money for the qualification. Would you guys take someone on(for peanuts!!) if they had very little tiling skills??

 

[Dan]

Experience is clearly what a tiler would look for. Though looking at it from another angle, they can often be stuck in their ways and if they're not the same ways, a tiler will see that as a challenge as it's hard to teach and old dog new tricks and all that.

If you go with somebody local, and you get brilliant at it, you'll them become their competition if you go on your own. And times are tough enough already.

So it's swings and roundabouts it seems on that topic.

I'd do a short course, make sure you like it, do your own, do some family members FOC and in return get them to buy you any tools you need to do the job and you keep them (gets your tool stock up a bit). And chip away during that time with contractors and local tilers and whatnot too.

Then if you do get a request for qual's, then that's your time to start thinking about going down that route.

 

[bugs183]

I think it depends really on many factors, and mainly on the individuals, both the student and the tiler.

As is the case of a course versus working for a tiler, it really depends on who you work for. Someone might work for a guy that only does bathrooms and sticks to working locally, or maybe the tiler covers all aspects of work and travels, both are very different learning experiences.

I think a course would show you all the basics, but i know if someone worked with me they'd see so many aspects of the job that would be a very different experience to learning at a college, mainly me moaning!!!

Would the newbie expect to be tiling straight away, or would he be learning from the bottom up???

It maybe sounds hard, but starting as a labourer on the job teaches you the very fundamentals of the job, lugging tools and materials around, preparation, mixing, tool selection, grouting, finished etc. Then you'd be helping with cutting tiles, then wall tiling, and then floor tiling last so that you understand the 'feel' of a tile, don't ask me how i know but i can feel if a tile isn't bedding correctly, i'm sure other guys do too.
Dan raises some good points, but i don't know if i'd expect someone to be experienced.

I don't think a college experience shows you that it can be easy somedays and a right piggin nightmare on others!!

If i had a guy with me like Mikey who was keen, but didn't expect to earn a fortune at the start, then i'd take them on as i know he doesn't need to be earning 'x' amount for him to be a viable employee. Then if the chap wants to be a tiler then look into getting qualified.

 

[bugs183]

To answer your question Mike It seems alot of money £1000 for two weeks and not get a qualification, when i'm sure if your a keen and pleasant chap there are tilers on here that will take you under their wing for two weeks, and you'll might earn yourself a few quid!!
You may not get the same level of hands on to start off with, but you'll certainly see how each job is very different to each other, how the setting out is done, adhesive selection etc.

 

[tobins tiling]

Hi mikey
i hope someone in the Newcastle area sees how keen you are and gives you a chance because it is hard to find someone who really wants to work, for me personally it really wouldn't make a difference to me if you spent all that money on a course because it's about showing a will to work hard to start off,I spent 3years as a apprentice and picked up my nvq qualifications and before I worked for myself every job I went for nobody ask to see them or even asked if I had them I was just given a month trial to see if I was good enough. Good luck mate

 

[White Room]

Hi and welcome.....

 

[Andy Allen]

welcome, all good advice above, but be warned alot of good tilers are struggling at the momment, i hope it works out for you , wich ever way you decide to go..

 

[DHTiling]

Just to add something here, nett have the best feedback than any other one I have heard of.

And these short courses are just a taste of what tiling involves, no way will it qualify you and the certificates you get are nothing. The only qualification recognised is the NVQ 2 onwards.

These short course certificates are just an award to say to you , that you have had some form of very basic skill training.

It takes years to learn the trade and not one or two weeks or even four weeks that some do , so please don't be disillusioned into thinking you will be getting qualified etc from a course.

Do the course and see if tiling is for you , then if so , then as above try and get with another fixer but it isn't going to be easy.

The real world of tiling is not the bed of roses it is portrayed.