The How did you start out Thread!

[Martino]

Hi im not sure if there if all ready one of these but i thought it would be a great idea to have a thread giving a breif description of how we all started out

I Laid my first tile when i was 16, albeit it was a cheap white 6inch jobby....I have never done a course :-O SHOCK SHOCK HORROR HORROR..SHOCK SHOCK HORROR!...lol......My dad has been a builder all his life he is now 58 he has done all kinds of work!...he taught me the basics 10 years ago then i also went and worked with a few other guys and got different tips off these over the years.....put them all together and now im passing my skills onto my nephew....right family affair lol!...

I wont lie, I dont only do tiling....i did furniture craft at college (Cabinet Maker)....and have been in and out jobs as a cabinet maker....wallpapering, painting, most jobs related to in the home to be fair!...i believe having completed 2 years and gaining my city and guilds in furniture craft this set me up to have great eye for detail in all work i do!....

My favourite job to do is tiling (thats why im on a tiling forum)....i have thought about doing a course but im not sure if it would benefit me in anyway now....I have never been asked by a customer as all my work is recommendations as i dont advertise....so they have seen my work before i even start there's...

Anyways thats how i started, would be good to know how all you guys started out

 

[nybor62]

i laid my first tile when i was 17 , 1979, £15.00 a week did,nt need a van load of tools either, in fact we had no van , guy who taught me had an old volvo estate

 

[charlie1]

Done 1st job while at school as part of project! Then done a few diy jobs with mixed results but I remember thinking, best leave this for the pros. Then decided to do a course about 6 yr ago after it became apparent the quality of tiling in this country was not quite what it should be. So done 1 week course with darren at NETT + various phone calls and texts from him + tilers forum + other tilers help I have built up my skills! ...and to this day I still learn... If I knew what was in front of me when I first started I doubt is have chose this career but having said that I'm so glad I did as I truly love tiling.

 

[Andy Allen]

rob you old git......lol

not as long as rob (nybor62)......left school 1982 age 16 first and only job i ever had was tiling, and still doing it now (just)..lol

 

[Gazzer]

My dad was a tiler so its in the blood. Fixed my 1st tile when I was about 7 at my nans house...behind the washing machine or fridge !!
1977 I left school to work for my dad but I had intended to join the Police force, I thought I would do tiling for a few years then go in the force but the weren't recruiting at the time.
After a few years I had forgot about the Police as I had the taste of cash in my pockets so it never happened and here I am today...Tiling.

 

[afright]

I started in 1970 was not allowed to fix a tile on my own for three years I was just a tilers mate did the cutting knocking up and grouting,it felt great when I had my first job of my own.The Boss still checked my work every day though.

 

[nybor62]

and there getting even older

 

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

and there getting even older

Rob I am an old git, I started my five year apprenticeship in 1968 at the age of 15, did five year day release at Manchester college of building. Still fixing, getting the hang of it now, but still learning.:lol:

 

[afright]

They where the good old days.(during the war)

 

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

:lol: yeah Vietnam

 

[Two-Trowels]

I'm a builder who has started to do my own tiling if it's something not too complicated, always done bits and pieces like shower cubicles etc - but have started to do bigger stuff now like fully tiled bathrooms, this situation was sort of forced on me by an unreliable tiler but I'm secretly glad now as I find tiling very satisfying.

 

[jonnyc]

i came back to uk after travelling world working as a labourer in early 80's.
hooked back up with a friend id met in aussie.
he had had a tile shop in birmingham but never tiled. i had never tiled at all.
we saw a new fired earth shop in notting hill, their only shop at that time and pretended we were experts at a trade we had never done.
luckily fired earth didnt have a clue about fixing either and armed with a collins book of diy from w.h smith ,by referring to the tiling section which was all of a couple of pages, we set out on the terracotta and slate trail. made loads of mistakes but learnt very quickly

 

[Dougs Third Go]

after having interviews for RAF at school and getting an apprenticeship for an electrical airframe technician i had to wait a few months after leaving school before my time started. in the meantime I went to work for the same building firm as my brother, as Sir Ramic, got the liking for a wage packet, got an even stronger liking for a young lady and dismissed my RAF future. So started plastering and tiling with the builders. The young lady and I split up after 3 years when she went to Oxford to study, I still do the odd jobs for the old building firm over 30 years later.

 

[Rizzle from the Portizzle]

well dads a tiler all his mates were tilers so started labouring on school hoildays for dad or his mates by the time i was 18 i had worked with a few diffrent tiling crews picking up so many skills off each it was all price work back then £6 a yard walls £10 a yard sand cement fixing and the target was 20/yards sand and cement a day 30 yards 6x6 jonhsons so for an 18 year old the the money was great the crack was great and the freedom to move from site to site a new challenge every week whats not to want more :smilewinkgrin:

 

[Concrete guy]

I was an insurance underwriter working for a Lloyds of London broker in the 80's. Went to work on a Monday morning to find the company I worked for had gone into liquidation, the doors were locked and we were sent home.

I spent the next 6 months trying to find a job, get asked by a friend if I could go and help him on a big tiling job he had for a bit of cash. Two years later I was still working with him and eventually took over his business.

I expanded the business a few times taking people on and eventually into importing (natural stone) product myself. The economy determined what twists and turns I took and here I am now manufacturing and importing diamond tools - a product that used to be a side line of my stone import import business.

 

[Aston]

i used to help my dad during the school hols during the early 80's. my old man was a time served tiler and terrazzo layer. he served his time with italians and he worked for quilligotti's in manchester (phil hobson territory ;0) i went down the plastering route in 1985 but i would labour on him doing his cuts, grouting and stone prep work. i finished serving my time and worked on the sites and went back to college to do an hnc in building studies (same as doug ;0) ....

between 2004-5 i set up with my dad to open a tiling business. there were still grey areas for me to learn but he got ill (alzheimers) and i went alone. i did 2 short tiling courses and worked on sites with a few goods real time served tilers and then just recently ie yesterday lol decide to stick to the plastering and render systems because the poor old tiling game is getting a right old shafting and its a damn shame because a good fixer who can render, screed and tile is a dying breed...

i got my knowledge through any source i could get. college, site, courses, books anything as long as it got me where i wanted.

one thing i will say to any newbie...dont let anybody tell you that this is an easy game!! because it isnt. theres a hell of a lot to it to learn and it takes a good few years to crack it, so if a course tells you you can learn it in 4 weeks (and they will ;0) tell them to go and prove it to dave, gooner, dean0, neale, phil, raytt, garythetiler, timeless john and any other real pro whos done it the real way

 

[afright]

While tiling a kitchen at a fire station I was giving some forms to apply for a job as a firemen I didnt bother filling them in,and my mate did he became a fireman,he ended up training firecrews at the local airport,he is now retired with a good pension and I am still working my socks off,if only I had filled them in?

 

[afright]

i used to help my dad during the school hols during the early 80's. my old man was a time served tiler and terrazzo layer. he served his time with italians and he worked for quilligotti's in manchester (phil hobson territory ;0) i went down the plastering route in 1985 but i would labour on him doing his cuts, grouting and stone prep work. i finished serving my time and worked on the sites and went back to college to do an hnc in building studies (same as doug ;0) ....

between 2004-5 i set up with my dad to open a tiling business. there were still grey areas for me to learn but he got ill (alzheimers) and i went alone. i did 2 short tiling courses and worked on sites with a few goods real time served tilers and then just recently ie yesterday lol decide to stick to the plastering and render systems because the poor old tiling game is getting a right old shafting and its a damn shame because a good fixer who can render, screed and tile is a dying breed...

i got my knowledge through any source i could get. college, site, courses, books anything as long as it got me where i wanted.

one thing i will say to any newbie...dont let anybody tell you that this is an easy game!! because it isnt. theres a hell of a lot to it to learn and it takes a good few years to crack it, so if a course tells you you can learn it in 4 weeks (and they will ;0) tell them to go and prove it to dave, gooner, dean0, neale, phil, raytt, garythetiler, timeless john and any other real pro whos done it the real way

Quilligotti,s now that,s a name from the past my old tiling firm used to get them in to do supermarket floors,would help them polish the floors I loved doing that job.