is the tiling industry becoming saturated?

[LM Ceramics]

i totally agree around preston area it is crammed with full of tilers who have been on courses and there is alot of polish and other eastern europeans and im sure gaz and fekin will agree with me as they are living in preston.

i went to quote a job last week 22 m2 conservatory and 2 m2 kitcehn wall tiling £600 which i think is pretty cheap customer rung up sayin sorry but i had a quote of £400 off a tiler who had just finished a course it will never end.

i believe customers now are more interested in gettin a cheap job than a quality one i presonally believe (no offence to the course people) but they should scrap tiling courses, i know some on here have been on a course and doing very well and pricing proparly but alot of tilers around here who have finished a course are charging next to nothing and its giving me a bad impression on these tiling courses

 

[White Room]

Be fair if a tiler told you he'd just done a course would you entertain him to do your tiling, I think the answer would probably be NO. Like you say it's the price.

 

[LM Ceramics]

i just have a bad opinion on tiling couses caus of most of the muppets around preston charging naff all if a lad come out of a course and he was good and charged proparly i would take my hat off to him

 

[bal]

Training course centres will become victims of there own success ,the domestic tiling market will suffer i think it will get to the stage where no one tiler will have constant day after day tiling and have that trade as sole income !

 

[White Room]

no one tiler will have constant day after day tiling and have that trade as sole income !

I think your've hit the nail on the head, I do plastering, dry linning and metal systems and could'nt totaly rely on tiling

 

[Dan]

Are there really that many more tilers though? I mean, apparently the tile market is still growing, so are the growing rates of tilers about the same? I'd say there could be more tile fixing companies now, but I think if a tiling job needed to be done a few years back then it still would have been done, it just would have been a mate of a mate who's done a bit.

Well why can't that mate do a course, learn how to do it right, and put himself out there at a price to the nation?

And why shouldn't there be some healthy competition? Us homeowners need some benefits these days.

And I haven't heard one sh** hot tiler I know complain about their work loads going down one bit. In fact, they're making more money as 'more expensive' tiles are being imported and fixed more these days it seems.

Though it's just my opinion.

 

[Fekin]

I can vouch for what LM's saying though.

Im in Preston and have been out to a lot of estimates over the last 9 months, given what I thought was quite a low price to start with and have been told by the customer that I was rather expensive.
One job I measured up a few weeks ago, I gave what I'd class as a silly low price as I'd had a big up coming job get delayed on me and basically knew if I didn't get this other job I'd have nothing on for a week, so to just keep working I quoted £16 psqm "was a big bathroom" plus mats, free tile removal too, only to be told I was way way too expensive :lol:

It all depends on the contacts you have though as to what work comes your way too.

On the other hand, I quoted one job up, basic £30 psqm for a very easy porcelain floor and got the job there and then.

You will always find customers just wanting cheap cheap prices though.

 

[bootsmckiber]

,I've found that over the last few years all the home repair shows on t.v.have made tiling look like any Joe can do it,People will phone around and go with a lower bid but like the saying goes,"you get what you pay for"I only adjust my prices for friends or when there's mega-footage involved,I've found over the years that people who try and nickle and dime you over your setting price aren't worth the bother because money is an issue to them not quality,once you get some good gigs under your belt,and a good rep around the supply store's you'll find the people who are willing to pay top buck for a good job,or should I say they'll find you,take lot's of pictures,know your products well and twitch your head two or three times at the end of every sentence when talking to a client,you'll do fine,good luck.
Mike

 

[Ultimate Tiling]

The course I was on had 12 people on it but even before anybody spoke you could rule 3/4 out of a tiling career by looking at them.
As the course went on maybe 3 or 4 found tiling quite easy to pick up the rest struggled to keep up.
Then the business side, not everybody is cut out for running their own business and keeping work coming in.
Still if every one on the course does his own, family and friends jobs thats a few jobs out of the system.
Quality I would have thought should pull people through but this quality doesnt have to be only got from doing 30 years tiling, some new tilers must produce some top class work if they have the knoledge and skill to produce it.

 

[lotar]

You can't learn anything on a short course, ( you may manage a kitchen ) these centres are killing our trade , they should be raided by the fraud squad.

Craig