Realistic?

[hotrod]

Hi recently joined the forum, am in the process of being made redundant and am planning to retrain as a tiler, today I had a meeting with a careers expert (seems like a cushy number) and went through my plans the feedback from him was fantastic and really boosted my confidence but I would be interested to hear real tilers opinions on how realistic my plans are.
basically I will be doing a 10 wk nvq 3 course at able skills, followed by a few extra courses I have seen like tile cleaning and restoration etc, plus I plan on doing some extra plastering training to ensure I can confidently skim the odd wall that needs doing before tiling etc not to actually offer my services as a plasterer. I have sufficient capital from my redundancy to fund the courses, buy tools, van etc set up a small sole trader business and pay my bils for a year. I ran through a business plan as have experience of doing these previously not that I need to take it to a bank but more for my own reassurance, basically I have budgeted to earn 10k year 1 but draw none down, 15k year 2 and circa 25k yr 3 onwards (the economy will be better by then I believe). The longer term plan is that when my son completes his plumbing and heating apprenticeship he is currently on we can combine forces in a slightly bigger business.
i have a few good contacts and am pretty social so have no probs networking etc with other trades once I feel I am competent enough to complete work for them, I obviously am going to struggle against some more experienced tilers in terms of ability but then to be honest looking at most businesses in the local area I think I will be able to compete with them in terms of business experience and how to market myself. Locally the majority of tiling work seems to be done by general builders and not always top quality, for example the gym I use has just had the health suite refitted and the are multiple tiles lipped and poor cuts even with my untrained eye, apparently the guys that did the building work decided to do the tiling themselves and obviously were not great - so I hope withies right training and attitude I can offer a reasonable alternative.
Anyway sorry to ramble, I have read the multitudes of posts critical of people entering the industry this way and do understand as have been in a very similar position with a former trade but really after reassurance that the figures I'm working on are realistic, if not then I can restructure my cash flow forecast but if it's much lower may decide against it I guess.
thanks in advance for any opinions whether positive or not, guess I need peoples honesty so don't pull any punches !
rod

 

[White Room]

Did enjoy your post by the way, what do you do at the moment though.....

 

[Mr T]

I couldn't advise but am in a similar situation apart from the fact that you have money... and I don't lol but good luck

 

[hotrod]

Im a regional manager for a team of financial advisers lots of travel loads of headaches and generally very unrewarding (although financially good) , have been an office worker for 12 of my 24 yrs working the rest I was in the navy and worked on a building site so not completely alien to working for a living !

 

[hotrod]

Thanks mr tiler best of luck to you too mate, I know it's easy said and don't always feel like it but sometimes life is easier when you got nothing to lose mate I've been in your position in the past and making decisions were easy because your not scared of losing what you've already got if that makes sense, with energy and enthusiasm (you seem to have those in spades) you will be a success I'm sure
best wishes

 

[AMtek]

If i were you i would save the money you are planning on spending on the van full of tools. Use the car you have to start with, buy the basic tools that you will need on most jobs and buy more tools as and when you need them. DOn't spend a fortune on big adverts in the paper etc. I have seen people start out like you are planning to do who then don't earn what they need or expect to and have to sell all their gear and van and then make a big loss on the whole venture.

In short try not to just throw money at it. Do the courses but working with a pro tiler is a definate in my book. Save the money for your van and give it to a tiler in exchange for time working with him. His knowledge will be far more usefull to you than any van

 

[White Room]

Im a regional manager for a team of financial advisers lots of travel loads of headaches and generally very unrewarding (although financially good) , have been an office worker for 12 of my 24 yrs working the rest I was in the navy and worked on a building site so not completely alien to working for a living !

You have a good knowledge on the finances which helps.....

If i were you i would save the money you are planning on spending on the van full of tools. Use the car you have to start with, buy the basic tools that you will need on most jobs and buy more tools as and when you need them. DOn't spend a fortune on big adverts in the paper etc. I have seen people start out like you are planning to do who then don't earn what they need or expect to and have to sell all their gear and van and then make a big loss on the whole venture.

In short try not to just throw money at it. Do the courses but working with a pro tiler is a definate in my book. Save the money for your van and give it to a tiler in exchange for time working with him. His knowledge will be far more usefull to you than any van

Personally I would go for a van, clean and cheap to start with, a car looks so unprofessional with stickers on the back window for tiling etc.

 

[hotrod]

Thanks Amtek makes sense although my car is going back with the job so need to get some transport anyways so was thinking a little Renault kangoo or Citroen belingo would do me for time being seem to be plenty around the same price as a car would cost me second hand. Will try with an experinced tiler, did have 1 builder say he would take me on some tiling jobs as he tends to get contracts with hotels locally to refit ensuites etc so would be good experience and a useful contact, thanks for your advice
rod

 

[foggy34]

i too think van is the way to go and as said above try and team up with another tiler or tiling company for the on site experience, hopefully a few contacts on the way will help with picking up ya own jobs,there is a thread on the forum somewhere regarding tools to start with i think, best of luck!

 

[The D]

Has it been explained to you that you will NOT get the NVQ 3 after the 10 weeks that may take some years to hit all the criteria

 

[hotrod]

Has it been explained to you that you will NOT get the NVQ 3 after the 10 weeks that may take some years to hit all the criteria

Hiya Deano yeah I understand thats the case again had set myself the goal of achieving within 2 yrs ideally though
rod

 

[Martyn Leeds]

Do we have any tiling experience? or what was the other 'building' experience?
Have you any experience doing any other trades? joinery/elecy/plumbing etc?
How come its tiling you want to do?

If its definately tiling, I'd break the plan up into smaller plans, do the courses etc, then assess and decide what and how to then proceed.

As for the van, a little run-around van, for £2-3k will be good enough to start I'd think

Good luck and all that,
but if it were me, and I had the cash to invest, I'd be inclined to venture down a different route,
... but I want a burger van me!

 

[hotrod]

Do we have any tiling experience? or what was the other 'building' experience?
Have you any experience doing any other trades? joinery/elecy/plumbing etc?
How come its tiling you want to do?

If its definately tiling, I'd break the plan up into smaller plans, do the courses etc, then assess and decide what and how to then proceed.

As for the van, a little run-around van, for £2-3k will be good enough to start I'd think

Good luck and all that,
but if it were me, and I had the cash to invest, I'd be inclined to venture down a different route,
... but I want a burger van me!

Hi Martyn

Worked on a site for 2 yrs when I left school as a sparks mate, did lots of maintenance work in the navy (well painting everyday pretty much), have renovated a few properties over the past 10 yrs and have fitted plumbed and tiled 4 kitchens and bathrooms to a reasonable standard I think. I think the reason for tiling is that it is the most interesting medium there is such a variety of options available and can be so transforming when done well I think it creates more passion in me than other trades, I have a relatively good understanding of electrical principles and did consider retraining as an electrican but to be blunt the idea bores me whereas I can sit for hours reading through the threads on this site and just find it really interesting. Same with most other trades once you've learnt to plaster a wall it's just plastering a wall, you could tile the same wall a million different ways with a thousand different techniques and that's what makes it so attractive. Good luck with the burger van lol !

 

[hotrod]

Has it been explained to you that you will NOT get the NVQ 3 after the 10 weeks that may take some years to hit all the criteria

Hi Deano yeah I understand that had set a target of 2 yrs to achieve but that's just a target not a necessity. Have a lot of ideas around generating the work needed towards sign off but do appreciate it won't happen overnight
rod

 

[mattster]

hi in all honesty my experience is having a financial goal is great but and a big but if you need to earn 25k i think u will have a problem
because with just tiling you can have a lot of lost days with, jobs not ready ,tiles not turn up , not enough tiles etc
safer if you your partner/spouse has a steady income

hope this helps

ps i wouldnt read to much in to std of tiling in gym they are usually given one day to finish

 

[AMtek]

Fair enough, if you have no transport at all then a van is definately the way to go. If you have fitted a few kitchens to a decent standard why not go on a tiling course and a kitchen fitting course then get some experience with pro's doing both? If you can tile the floor then fit the kitchen then tile the splashback you are going to earn more money and offer a service that a lot of customers prefer. It is very difficult to make money starting out with one trade these days. I think a wage of 25k might be difficult to achieve in your first 3 years. 25k is only 157 working days but the costs involved can very quickly eat most of your earnings especially as you are getting established and will need a lot of expensive tools that you might not necessarily have accounted for, even consumables can add up to quite a lot of money over the course of a year. not trying to rain on your parade, but it is easy to spend as much as you earn in the first few years