New tilers feedback

[enduro]

How are all you very new tilers doing? Is it easier out in the big wide world of tiling or harder than you thought. What would you like your training course to cover more of, setting out, natural stone, adhesives and grout, pricing, advertising, book keeping, customers choice of tea and coffee oh that's not on the course...be good to give some of the training schools a bit of feedback on these issues...so lets get chatting about this

 

[GatesheadCol]

Well I did Darrens course at NETT and cant fault it at all. Although I had tiled a cple of kitchens and bathrooms b4.

What I would say and this is more to support newbies going it alone.

Its not easy, it takes guts, sweat and a bit of guile.

You have to go out and find the work. Ive tried 3 different ways so far and the best one at the minute (failing word of mouth of course which takes a cple of years) I have found is my local free paper. A bit expensive but its paying for itself and earining so far.

There have been times when the phone hasnt rang for a while esp over xmas when I started panicking.

another good tric is other tradesman. If you go to quote on a job and a plumber is needed. Dont just say you will need a plumber. Go out and find one to do the work and give him the job. Then do the same to him on the next one and so on., B4 too long he will start giving you work.

Ive given my plumber/electrician 3 jobs and hes finally repaid the favour with 2.

It works and is a great way to generate work.

Sticxk at it. If you have a job at the moment it may not be the best thing to jack it in just yet. I did but I had 6k in savings, and Yes its all gone!!!!!! So be warned.

But the mian thing is when your doing your jobs that you get, just do them to the best finish no matter how long it takes you.

Dont rush it!!

Good luck to all newbies. Im finally suporting myself and fiance and 2 kids so it can be done.

 

[enduro]

Thats good Gatesheadcol your getting on and things are working for you. Come on you new tilers we dont bite.

 

[tileform]

Well i start my tiling course on Monday but i've already been laying the groundwork. All the customers i've fitted doors for, i'm gonna send them a letter explaining that i'm now also doing tiling. Every job i've done, the customer has been happy so i just hope that my tiling is to the same standard.

I agree about the tradesmen - i've already lined up a plumber and plasterer and been onto other contacts in the building trade etc.

I'm going into this part time first but hope to make it full time after about six months to a year. It helps already working for myself cos i've already learnt from my mistakes

I'll keep you guys posted

 

[Turkish]

Had a couple of jobs but then again haven`t really advertised much but am in the process of distributing fliers around my local area. I`m only part time so the odd job every now and then suits me. Would be great to go along with a pro though to watch and learn so if any of you pro`s are near me and want some free labour then i`d like the chance to learn

Turkish

 

[mna78]

My course was a handyman's course, so I also covered basic plumbing, plastering, carpentry as well as tiling. Now I wouldn't call myself either a plumber or plasterer but I am happy working on a bathroom fittings and would be happy enough skimming a small room or ceiling.

In regards to Tiling setting out and pricing up a job I'm fairly comfortable with. Need to build up my knowledge on different adhesives as this seems somewhat lacking though.

I was advised by tradesmen on the course that it'll take a couple of months to build up work, but I thought I would have had more calls than I've had (2 in 3 weeks).

In terms of advertising, I currently have:
- A Website
- Yell.com (free advert)
- Local Google directory
- Local Newspaper ad, seems like this was a waste of £250 for the qtr.
- Local community website/mag advert
- Given some business cards to the Local Estate agents
- Registered on numerous other trade websites (free)
- Dropped 200 leaflets as a test as I was originally told that you don't get much work from this, but I have a job come through from this so I shall be pounding the streets next week

 

[joe brierley]

ratedtradesmen.com works well for me. i emailed 80 estate agents. one of them gave me constant work for months the rest had pretty much nothing for me but was well worth an afternoon of emailing