Thinking about a new start in tiling

[Marble Life Ltd]

Interesting post! I have just replied to a similar one from a soon to be ex soldier considering the same thing.

Kev Martin
Marble Life Ltd

 

[SussexTiler]

Near Crawley.

 

[Marble Life Ltd]

Near Crawley.

This one

http://www.tilersforums.com/tiling-forum/52467-how-many-made-careerl-intensive-courses.html

Kev Masrtin
Marble Life Ltd

 

[Brian the Tile]

great post Phil,its about time people realised that tiling is a trade ,time to wake up and smell the coffe.I for 1 had to serve my time in the trade as many others have five years i had to do ,so how is it possible to go on a short course of a few weeks and go out there and be a tiler ,come on

 

[Mike]

if there's 2 of you thinking of going into business together why not one of you train as a plumber as then you can do full bathroom refits and if it's quiet on the plumbing side the plumber can help out the tiler and vice versa. and as phil said it takes a long time to learn the trade not 4 weeks. good luck

 

[Peter]

Would imagine it's took most tilers longer than 4 weeks to learn how to grout properly let alone tile. :lol:

 

[Gall.B]

I dont think I would have somebody in my house installing thousands of pound s of product knowing they had just done a 4 week course & are learning on the job!

Im with Phill on this one & also feel quite stongly about the COURSE subject, its a trade ( 4yrs ) in my opinion.

Think the courses have become a plauge a way of getting unemployment figures down, putting fixing rates down & the amount of jobs ive been asked to look at lately that have failed is unbelievable as mentioned they should be marketed properly.

Dont know any truck drivers that earn the funny money advertised by trainning centres.

Dont know about the other guys but why help some one out only to quote for the same work as you down the line?

 

[jones79]

Hi, All the best with the course and getting work.. The course is a good idea. It will give you some sound knowledge and a head start into going about tiling the correct way. However, there is lot's to learn throughout your life as a tiler.. The course will be good if you go your own way, however, not so good if you go on site. they will expect you to fly through bathrooms and it takes time to get upto speed. You can make good money as a tiler, but times are hard at the moment so expect to be in and out of work. A good way to get jobs is to distribute leaflets around the streets. Alot of walking, but you usually get a job every one thousand leaflets.. You can get leaflets printed at £100 per 10,000 so it will pay for itself, just hard work delivering them. good luck.

 

[stephen street]

The question of plastering or not is interesting!
Being one of the old school brigade, at college we were not allowed to touch a tile prior to being able to float the walls and ceiling of one of those little cubes. This has proved invaluable on many occasions to (A) get on with the job, No lost time waiting for a plasterer.(B) knowledge of how to flatten a wall in quality work,and not merely following the existing problems.
List is endless, but as many modern tilers (in the good times) do not have these skills you could probable get bye not plastering. Also its a lot more time and money,tile first you may not like it,at least save
the costs of plastering course.
Steve.
(That was float and set coats in sand and lime mortar.Who cares anyway.)

 

[IvegotsTILE]

I did exactly as you did sussex tiler about 5 years ago. I felt the course gave me a great basic level of knowledge and a bit of confidence.
I spent about £800 initially on tools and have spent thousands since upgrading and adding to them.
The first job I did was my mums kitchen/hallway/utility and bathroom and after an hour of doing that I thought this aint for me cause it was stressful and much harder work than I was expecting but I obviously had to finish it and by the end the job was done to a good standard(nowhere near as good as I could do it now though).
Having invested so much cash in this I decided to still give it a go and was getting a job every 3 weeks at first,sometimes a kitchen floor for £400 and sometimes a splashback for £200.it stayed like this for 4 months until I got in with a plumber and kitchen fitter when I ended up getting a job every other week.The first year I probably earnt £7500 which isnt alot to live on but I'd saved £4000 to help with bills which I completely used.After this I did a bathroom showroom which took 2 and a half months and I still get work because of that to this day,I always did a great job and enhanced my reputation then started to take on more difficult work the more competent I got.I am know in with numerous builders/property developers,plumbers,painters and architects. There is another tiler on here Brian who passes me work when he's to busy and vice versa(although hes always busy when i try to give him work :smilewinkgrin🙂I'm now busy most of the time and havent had a bad spell since July 2010 but other than me and brian some of the other tilers in town arent half as busy.
I would not advise a change of occupation in the current climate unless you already have someone who will give you regular work and you have alot of money put by you dont mind using.
The time served guys on here arent meaning to be doom and gloom about your choice they're just trying to give you a heads up on how difficult and tough it is out there....and these old gits have been at it long enough to know:smilewinkgrin:.

Glad there here to help us out,you can never stop learning!