is the tiling industry becoming saturated?

[Dan]

If you want to make up to £45,000 grand a year as a wall and floor tiler like the advert says in the national press it is quite simple just start a tiling course company.

Then if you want to make even more money you can start an electricians course company and so on and so on it could turn out to be quite lucrative no doubt.

I think they're old news now. It's very hard to get an accredited centre setup. Hardly any have that advantage.

Those centre's supporting the NVQ are the ones helping the industry.

 

[tiler burden]

who cares if the market is becoming saturated..you just have to concentrate on being better than the rest. if theres no work then theres no work. if there is then you have to make sure your the most profesional, the most passionate and the most business minded of the bunch. the survival of the fittest and all that sh7t

ed

 

[charlie1]

who cares if the market is becoming saturated..you just have to concentrate on being better than the rest. if theres no work then theres no work. if there is then you have to make sure your the most profesional, the most passionate and the most business minded of the bunch. the survival of the fittest and all that sh7t

ed

Well said, You must always be trying to get better at this game by identifying weak areas and improving them to achieve the very best of standards. If you do not strive to improve then you risk letting your standards slip. Sometimes when i look back at photos of work i done a year ago I cringe but at the time the customer was very happy and so was I.

There is always room for improvement.

 

[mz30]

Those centre's supporting the NVQ are the ones helping the industry.

Hi dan,
I am afraid i have to disagree with you there,i think the amount of sub-standard (so called)tradesmen these centres turn out is ridiculous,in my experience"proper" tiler's are a dying breed and while most place's require that you have an nvq to work on there building sites i personally would not hire anyone who had only done an nvq course,instead i would opt for someone who had on site(or domestic) tiling experience.

I've said in the past that i have worked with guy's who have taught these courses,and to be quiet honest ,most of them don't know there posterior from there elbows.

It's okay being able to teach people british standard's ,coverage how to set a baton(only ever used a baton when tiling with bal_flex)and so on,putting all the stuff they teach in to real life situation's just does'nt fly in my book.

So yes the tiling market is getting saturated but(in my opinion)with so called tilers who can't do the job.

 

[lotar]

Absolutely correct, NVQ's are just done on paper anyway ( My apprentice just finished his ) so I know what goes on, 5 day course !!!! whatever next ??

Craig.

 

[tiler burden]

nvq's are a joke..

if you see the syllabus it really does make you scratch your head. if this is what you need to prove you are a tradesman or to a sufficient standard then we really need to look at the system..surely you need a qualification that you can actually fail!!

 

[lotar]

Soon we will have an unskilled workforce in the UK. It will be filled with short course people , I see it happening now, Tilers are leaving the trade as these 5 dayers drop the prices down. I don't blame the 5 dayers, their just trying to better themselves. It's absolutely mad and something needs doing, its not only tiling though, you seem to be able to do a short course in almost anything nowadays !!!! ( right I'm off to learn to fly a commercial helicopter ) think its a full 10 day 's for that LOL !!!!

Craig.

 

[White Room]

Hello lotar and welcome to the forum We are a service industry now, Next to no manufacturing to speak of.

 

[saintdom]

I think there are pros and cons to the whole situation. but lets not forget alot of so called old school builders and plasterers are totall cowboys and they never needed a course to do so. I think if someone is willing to work hard gain extra experience after college then why not and who is to tell them otherwise.
Unfortunatly from what ive seen there are very few apprenticeships around here for someone who is older than 17 and to be fair i dont know if i would like to be taught by some of these guys .

 

[kilty55]

completely agree..very few apprenticeships around and not many old timer qualified tradesmen taking any on either. so surely its a good thing these so called 5 dayers are trying there hand at a new skill,,not just cowbying things but after there courses are sourcing information on the forum as well,genuine people wanting to work hard and learn,,dont knock it and from what ive seen theres plenty fully qualified people out there in all trades who dont give it 100 percent. being previously a fuly qualified chef in the trade for 15 years some of the best chefs i worked with had no chef qualifications but worked damn hard and had the skill in them to do the job,,a bit of paper doesnt mean your the best at the job.

 

[lotar]

I agree, paper isn't everything, but serving a 4 year apprentiship is !!!!! How can any training centre claim to teach tiling in 5 days ???? Like I said before I don't blame the trainees.

Craig.

 

[kilty55]

i dont think any training centre on this earth is claiming they can teach you everything you would learn on a 4 year apprenticeship in 5 days,however i do honestly beleive they teach you the necessary skills to tile to the standards we use here in the uk.i completed a 2 week course and although i have to go back for more training on natural stones,slate etc etc i feel confident enough to go and tile domestic bathrooms and kitchens using ceramics and porcelain tiles for the time being,,this gives me the chance to use and learn different adhesives,,substrates etc and source as much info as my sponge brain will take on here lol. the training centres advertised on here are all good centres it seems,so what is the solution..we have no apprentices? some people dont want training centre tilers? some people complain about polish people taking the work,i may be wrong but surely a qualifeid tiler whos been established for a long time has plenty work,mostly now being word of mouth?:grouphug:

 

[grumpygrouter]

I agree, paper isn't everything, but serving a 4 year apprentiship is !!!!! How can any training centre claim to teach tiling in 5 days ???? Like I said before I don't blame the trainees.

Craig.

These training centres don't teach you how to be a fully skilled, up to speed, know it all, done everything tiler! What they do strive to do is provide the information to let the trainee have a good enough grounding to take on job and complete it, usually to a reasonably good standard. The shorter the course, the less hand practice there is. It is up to the individual to obtain the practice to hone his skills.

I would suggest, though i have not been in the situation myself, that an "apprentice" will tend to do the menial tasks and observe what the "trained" tiler he is working with does. His actual hands on skills will be developed over a long period of time. Does this make him/her a better tiler than someone who has learned the basic technical stuff over 5 days and then practises for all he is worth to obtain a standard good enough to make a living? I would suggest not.

For a person to fund a short course in tiling and then go to the expense of setting up in business, having the pressure of paying everyday bills from his tiling income is a very powerful incentive in my opinion.

Yes, there will always be "better" tilers than other, but not necessarily because they have done an "apprenticeship".

 

[falkirktiler]

I started an apprenticeship when i left school, as a precision engineer and spent the first 18 months of it sweeping the workshop and going to the shop, despite complaining about wanting to engineer!!!. Like someone else said ,what if the guy/girl your supposed to be learning from isn't interested in you, or your prospects. I did a course on Tiling in order to change my dead end career and now work for a very reputable firm who do full bathroom installations, with plumbers, electricians & joiners, all time served, on the books, and if your not up to scratch,with the standard of work they expect, then they are not long in telling you.I don't profess to know all there is to know about tiling, but then again , who does? Is anyone going to say that if you do your apprenticeship that it guarantees that it will cover every situation that you will ever come across in that particular discipline?, or if you find a new problem will you ring up your old journeyman and ask him his advice ?, or would you get your head round it and try to come up with a solution to it on you tod? Every day is a school day for me!