Is it worth it

[Andy Allen]

5/6 years ago i loved this job, loads of work, pick and choose the jobs you wanted, if the job was rubbish or customers looked if'y you just knocked it back and moved on to the next one.

i know alot of tilers on here are piled out with work, and have not really struggled, but down here working in the private sector is becoming a nightmare, i priced a 105m2 floor on saturday and got laughed at, he had allready had 2 quotes nearly half what i quoted and he still wanted it cheaper.

im left with the smaller complicated jobs that know one wants, which i dont mind, or the even smaller jobs that no one wants which again i dont mind, its just you need alot of them to keep going, or theres site work, but the knees and back couldn't cope with that now, and couldn't see me lasting more than a couple of months.

i love being self employed and the freedom that come with it, and if you work just 2 weeks a month you can still earn more than any other unskilled job would pay.

so untill i can no longer make a living from tiling i will stick it out, and hopefully the good times will return..

 

[Brian the Tile]

been tiling now for 40+ years all over the uk never known it this bad, at the moment the phones are not ringing no matter what i try,i have been self employed for a long time now and am not sure i could work for anyone even if there was jobs out there for my age ,so i guess i will have to wait for the good times to return but not sure if that will ever happen

 

[m3fitter]

Thats a shame Bugs, you feel like that.. its a hard slog to beat the recession, but financially and for peace of mind, this trade pays.. these are hard times, but good times will come again, they always do, remember the early 90's and the tradespeople that were left afterwards benefited massively, hence everyone wanted to be a plumber, tiler, plasterer etc.. as the pay and demand was good, as it sorted the men from the cowboys... Hang on in there.. we've been through the worst and have learnt to adapt... good luck with whatever you choose