Thinking about a new start in tiling

[SussexTiler]

Hello,
I’m considering a career in tiling and come across this site which I have already found extremely helpful. This is about to be a fairly lengthy post but I’d like to first give people an idea of my situation before asking a few questions in hope that an extremely good willed individual could spare some time to advise me before I go much further.

Myself and a good friend (in our 30’s) who both live in Sussex are looking to get into tiling with the view of both becoming self employed and work together. I currently run a small business which is being hit by the current economy and my friend has just been made redundant after 8years in sales. We both figured that tiling is a good trade to get into due to it not being affected by the weather, possibly less physical than some other trades, we both know numerous plumbers, the basic training can be done relatively quickly and the set up costs seem quite low. (Please correct me if I’m wrong about any of that).


After completing a training course we would offer a couple of freebie jobs for family and our own houses but then aim to start advertising and getting some jobs in.

We are both fast learners, hard workers and believe we would be very proactive about getting jobs.


Some of my early questions are:

• · Is there much work out there at the moment? We’d be happy to travel and fully expect not to command the sort of rates that experienced tilers can.
• · Would a partnership in tiling really work as most work by themselves and often in small bathrooms or cloakrooms? I figure to start with we would earn very little as we would probably take as long between us as one tiler could do alone. But if worked picked up I imaging having two of us could work to our advantage.
• · I know that it greatly depends on reputation, location, work availability and how hard you work, but I have read that tillers can earn anything from £28K - £75K. Can anybody tell me what the average would be in the South East?
• · Some of these courses claim that they can have you ready to start work by yourself after just 4 weeks, we are looking at courses at the Croydon Builder Training Centre and have read mixed reviews. Can anybody give me an unbiased opinion about whether this centre actually gets you up to scratch and ready to tackle most domestic tiling jobs?
• · I’m concerned that you are rarely going to get a job that is as simple as a work bay in a training centre. I’m sure they cover a lot of job prep related issues, but how much of an advantage would it be for us to also take a basic plastering course as well as the tiling?
• · I already own a small van which we will use but can anybody put a rough total price on all tools that are required between us to tackle most jobs?
• · What does the average tiler spend on insurance per year?

I apologies now if many of these questions have already been answered in previous posts. I know that they are also the types of question we could ask at the training centres but really wanted to get an unbiased opinion from guys/girls in the know before we go to check out the courses.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Gazzer]

Wow, what a long 1st post !!!
1, tiling can be affected by weather as trades working before tiling may get delayed and its passed down the line.
2, Its a very physical job, do you realise how big tiles are becoming these days. i have lost count how many tilers knees are shot or have bad backs etc
3, Just do a course ? and its as easy as that eh ? Dream on.
4, work is tight and I work all over the country.
5, I dont believe a partnership would work for your situation you would be splitting wages and seeing as you wont be up to speed you will feel like you are working for nothing especially as you have high expectations of earnings.
6, Earnings ?? your figures would please me , sadly thats no where close to a realistic amount....You are way over the top.
7, Courses will depend on the pupils ability. Some learn fast and some dont. You will not learn all about tiling in a lifetime let alone 4 weeks.
8, Plastering will be a bonus but again its a trade that cant be taught quickly.
9, Price for tools would depend on what area of tiling you were aiming for.....Electric cuiutters ? what size tile ? manual cutters ? again what size tiles ? The list is endless.
10, Insurance varies but around £100

 

[SussexTiler]

Hi Sir Ramic,

Thanks for the response. Perhaps my post came across badly.

1) Noted, I hadn't really thought about the other trades that tilers rely on in order to start work.
2) I know it's physical and will be hard work, but had imagined it to be less so than some other trades. I may have been a pen pusher for many years now but I’m physically fit and have done a few years of heavy labour in the past. Nobody knows how their body will react to different types of work but I’m looking for a trade that I’m still able to do at 60odd.
3) I didn't for a second think that it would be as simple as just doing a course, but some of these courses tell you otherwise. Hence asking on here, perhaps there is somebody who has done just a course and then directly moved into a successful career as a tiler, or someone who has done the course and felt nowhere near ready.
4) I think work is tight in all lines of work, but well noted. The info packs on some of these courses make out how much tilers are in demand at the moment, hence asking the question to people out there experiencing it first hand.
5) I did have my doubts about the whole partnership set-up. Thank you for confirming that.
6) I'm only quoting what I've read on here and on other sites and certainly doubted that there are many that earn £50K+. I also gave a very large figure range so your answer doesn't really help my research on that one!
7) As in most jobs, there is always more to learn. But are there many that go from having few skills and knowing very little about the industry to becoming self employed on the back of one of these 4 week courses?
8) O.K. Maybe something to learn over time depending on how often I’m in a situations where plastering is required.
9) A guess it's how long is a piece of string type question and you accumulate tools as and when you need them. But someone may have been in a situation where they needed to buy all their tools from scratch and may have a very rough figure.
10) Noted.

 

[suave]

welcome! all good advice above,less physical? mmmm goodluck!

 

[SussexTiler]

Gimme a break with that comment! I'm just saying that there is a slim chance that it might just be very slightly less physical than dealing with bricks all day, than digging holes, climbing ladders on and off roofs, working with steel beams?

But I get what you guys are saying, it's hard work and i'm more than prepared for that, (although you have shattered my vision of doing a few days training then being able to lay tiles, whilst reading the paper and eating a bacon sarnie, then buying an Aston Martin with my first months wages!)

Any positive comments also welcome...........

 

[Gazzer]

An honest answer regarding your income would be that I feel a newcomer would be lucky to even break half of your lowest figure. Of course others may say different and you never know you may just get lucky .
There are many "school" tilers on the forum some have made it work others have realised that it either wasnt what they were sold or that they actually dont like tiling so have moved on to other things.
After 33 yeas in the trade I have good and bad weeks, swings and roundabouts I think its called. If you take a view over the forums you will see experienced and damn good tilers sat on their backsides at the moment....not all I admit but I think it puts it all into perspective.

 

[suave]

it wasnt being nasty m8,iam new to tiling aswell,probably done alot more jobs than most pros on here as theve done tiling all their working lives,a sometimes think theres gotta be something easier than this.chin up man

 

[Dorfer]

Keen to enter the industry myself, I am reading this with great interest. Whilst totally appreciating the honesty you have been given in your answers, it would be nice to see some positive comments too.

 

[Gazzer]

A positive comment for you Dorfer would be that If you could, it would be an idea to use the fact that you are a woman to actually get work. I have worked in womens refuges in the past and it was clear that a man wasnt all that welcome. Also some single women wanting work done may feel that having a woman in their home better . Of course you could say that some men may feel the other way ?
I know there used to be (might still be) a female tiler local to me. Not sure if they are still trading though.

 

[Dorfer]

Thanks for this Sir Ramic, I hope that being a woman may give me certain advantages, but know there are disadvantages too. I hope Sussextiler that if you do embark on this then you succeed, I think it is very brave to make a total career change and hope that you find plenty of work to justify your decision.

 

[Colour Republic]

Well done for passing the first hurdle! Don't believe everything you hear you'll learn that from customers too like the 'ohhh do this one for me cheap and I've got loads more work for you'

In my opinion you'll never finish a course and walk straight in to work. What's more you'll only learn the basics in a sterile environment (as you've already hinted). Then to go it alone you've effectively ended your formal training which means learning on the job. which will cost both you and your customers.

Not trying to put you off as you seem to have the right attitude which is a major plus in any industry. Just in reality I think the course then straight in to partnership is flawed

 

[Peter]

Fair play to you for wanting to give it a go but you won't be making any money any time fast. Most busy tilers will have a several builders or tile shops giving them work, and most of the time the only way to get your foot in the door is by their original tiler letting them down and you getting a lucky break. The building trade has a lot of mutual back scratching and friends helping friends so if you're just coming in fresh from a four week course, unless you've got someone who's going to give you work, it'll be difficult to get on your feet through doing the odd domestic job.

To be honest, if I was starting out on a new career at this moment in time I probably wouldn't choose tiling. I love it but it's hard to make much over and above a wage these days and you're either very busy or wondering how you're paying the mortgage.

The other thing worth considering about the partnership is that if you and your mate only get a set of £100 kitchen walls one week, you'll have to give him £50 and then pay another £10 to the taxman.

 

[SussexTiler]

Thank you Dorfer and the best of luck to you too.

Thank you Colour Republic. Some constructive ADVICE, rather than simply pooh-poohing the idea with negative statements.

I actually have another close friend who has been a tiler for years, (now moved into plastering and building jobs). I would hope we could get him to come and give us a hand and advice if we needed on our first few jobs. I think my biggest fear is getting the first few jobs under my belt without problems. I know it is almost inevitable that there will be balls ups somewhere along the way but I can't afford to get a bad reputation from an early blunder due to lack of knowledge. The first few proper jobs will be vital for confidence, reputation and to start a portfolio. A job done badly in the early days would be a nightmare, I figure it will be far harder to repair a bad reputation than to build a non-existing reputation.

A bit of a long shot but anybody has any jobs in the Sussex, Surrey or Kent areas and want a bit of free of labour then please let me know. It would be much appreciated and remembered come the day I ever get overrun with work!

 

[Dorfer]

Whereabouts in Sussex are you?

 

[Brian the Tile]

my opinion on it is this ,if you have a job stick with it you say times are hard in your job ,well im afraid it is also very tough in the tiling trade at the moment and jobs are thin on the ground ,i have now been tiling for just under 40 years and a lot of that self employed and never known it this bad ther is a lot of tilers chasing jobs that have a lot of experience so i would not say a course will do you any good dont want to spoil things for you but i think you should stay with your job save your money and maybe try again if things ever pick up and dont ever believe that kind of money in theese times i was earning more money twenty years ago than now its bad out there