Will it bring the earnings down?

[kapitan]

its just struck me! the business to get into is selling tiling tools!! all these punters coming out of 4 day training courses, its a licence to print money!! i wonder how much dave from tradertilers turnover has went up ??? kerching!!

 

[epoxy pete]

your very right about your last comment,but,who is it you actually practice your newly found skills on to start with?,theres only so many friends houses you can tile i guess,and how do you know if your doing something the right way first time round,with no one there to tell you different??,im sure these guys cant remember everything they have been told in a cram packed week...i certainly couldnt!!! its a much better option to attend at least a college course or similar with a realistic time frame for practical skill learning and assesment evaluation and gain a true and realistic grasp of the trade and techniques required to work within your choosen trade.

 

[kapitan]

ive read a few scary things on forums recently!! one was im going to give up my 30k job and go on a tiling course!! another was looking for advice , he was fully tiling somebodys bathroom with marble and wanted to know which trowel to use?? im thinkin if you dont even know which feckin trowel to use should you really be doing this!! :confused_smile:

 

[Concept PHT]

your very right about your last comment,but,who is it you actually practice your newly found skills on to start with?,theres only so many friends houses you can tile i guess,and how do you know if your doing something the right way first time round,with no one there to tell you different??,im sure these guys cant remember everything they have been told in a cram packed week...i certainly couldnt!!! its a much better option to attend at least a college course or similar with a realistic time frame for practical skill learning and assesment evaluation and gain a true and realistic grasp of the trade and techniques required to work within your choosen trade.

I couldn't agree more mate 🙂

 

[Varley]

Now that i have absolutely no arguement with epoxy, bang on m8. The 4 day course i attended was absolutely spot on, but i did a lot of tiling before i ever dared to take on a payed job, i have spent a little time with more experienced tilers on a few little jobs aswell. I think it would be very foolish to come off a course and expect to be the best of the best and I certainly don't pretend to be as good as tiliers who have been doing it for years. Most of my jobs are kitchen splashbacks, kitchen, bathroom & conservatory floors, and as i posted in the gallery page have only recently took on the job of my first fully tiled bathroom as a payed job. Slowly slowly is the key, only take on jobs you know 100% you can do to a professional standard. I certainly don't practice anything on a customers job but i cannot speak for everyone.

 

[dobragol]

hi i'm a polish tiler multitrader (tiling ,plastering,painting ,carpentry,plumbing)working in london area (6 years experience).i've got plenty of work last couple of years,never been advertised anywhere just word of mouth,never had any complaints about my job,earning same money like english tilers so not all foreigners are cheaper.if you have any questions just ask.DAMIAN

 

[Dan]

Hiya mate, welcome to the forums 🙂

 

[Concept PHT]

Welcome to the forums damian, your input is as valuable as everybody elses - experienced or not 🙂

 

[totaltiling]

try coming to london boys you trip over em on the way out to the van in the morning .

 

[M D HUGHES]

OK..... I think it was Epoxy Pete I said had a bad taste in his mouth, but after a few days onsite with a guy who had only just finished a course with no onsite experience can see your point. I think I may have been a little hasty in my vocalising about myself and my 4 day course. I really didn't think I would come across people with absolutley no experience in the building trade trying to work for themsleves around this environment (chippies, sparks, fitters etc) ,straight, green as grass, but I have now and see it is happening.
My appologies mate, I shouldn't assume everyone else going into this has experience in the building trade even to the tiniest extent, even handling work collegues is a skill in itself at times not just the practical side of the job.

To the Polish Builder, What are official skills required to do what you do in Poland. Is it apprenterships, college etc? not just tiling I'm talking building in general. Is it a lot less red tape or what?

 

[M D HUGHES]

hi i'm a polish tiler multitrader (tiling ,plastering,painting ,carpentry,plumbing)working in london area (6 years experience).i've got plenty of work last couple of years,never been advertised anywhere just word of mouth,never had any complaints about my job,earning same money like english tilers so not all foreigners are cheaper.if you have any questions just ask.DAMIAN

Are you self employed?

 

[christo]

Hell all ,i`m taking a tiling course this weekend ,plasterer by trade ,my mate as been a tiler for 24 years and he priced a job last week and got the job ,the a new tiler who`s just been on a course put a price in for £5 m2 ,my mate went of it ,we get this kind of thing with new plasterers if they are going to charge silly prices ,they`ed be better off with a day job

 

[Concept PHT]

A tiler for £5 psm? Unfortunately you get that mate - the midlands is full of 'tilers' like that.

As the saying goes, the customer will get what they pay for..... 😉

 

[Varley]

Hell all ,i`m taking a tiling course this weekend ,plasterer by trade ,my mate as been a tiler for 24 years and he priced a job last week and got the job ,the a new tiler who`s just been on a course put a price in for £5 m2 ,my mate went of it ,we get this kind of thing with new plasterers if they are going to charge silly prices ,they`ed be better off with a day job

Absolutely ridiculous! People like that gonna ruin this trade!

 

[CON5933]

Absolutely ridiculous! People like that gonna ruin this trade!

They won't necessarily ruin the trade Varley....they will however ruin a good few kitchens and bathrooms🙂

 

[Varley]

They won't necessarily ruin the trade Varley....they will however ruin a good few kitchens and bathrooms🙂

If they are good and are charging that price then it will ruin the trade, didn't say they were bad tilers, could be good tilers charging stupid prices then everybody gotta start competing and before you know it we're working for nothing :sad_smile:

 

[Jamie.I]

Hi there just been reading all the threads regards experienced tilers and training. I too went on the four day NETT course but there is no way you become an experienced tiler after four days. For people like myself who wanted to change their job, there aren't many optionsat my age. I tried to get on an evening course at collage to gain my nvq as I work and have a family and mortgage but all they did was block release! so I could hardly disappear every month for a week. I contacted several tilers to see if I could gain some experience but all seemed happy to go it alone. Since doing the course last year I have been doing small jobs for friends and family, splash backs etc and the odd floor. I have just started a full bathroom and i'm learning all the time i'am glad i did not go straight in feet first but I know a few tilers who have been tiling for 20 and 30 years and where self taut but at the end of the day exsperience is the key! and we all have different cercumstances and like every tradesman in every job they all had to start at the bottom at some time.

 

[Varley]

Nothing wrong pricing a little cheaper on your first few jobs, but i know of people in trades around my area who are good workers but never charge near what they should be, and these are not new to the trades either, this eventually has a knock on effect and could result in other good traders around the area having to drop their prices to compete then what? someone else comes in cheaper and so on and so on, once you are doing jobs quickly and confidently you should be pricing your jobs accordingly. Thats only my opinion :wink_smile:

 

[CON5933]

If they are good and are charging that price then it will ruin the trade, didn't say they were bad tilers, could be good tilers charging stupid prices then everybody gotta start competing and before you know it we're working for nothing :sad_smile:

That's true mate, all we have to rely on is the 'see & want' scenario.... tradesmen see what others are earning and want the same. When you get someone who doesn't really need the money and is working for buttons I find the motivation isn't there and the job either gets done badly or takes an age to complete.:wink_smile:

 

[guy1976]

people who are under pricing jobs to guarantee the jobs are going to realise that it doesnt pay to be a busy fool and they will soon realise its harder to get the prices back up than it is to drop them

 

[simonb43]

we all know there is a large influx of tilers both from home and abroad. I believe that none of us should worry if we are good at our job and do it for a reasonable price. My main concern is that a lot of tilers are undercutting others just to get the work. They may have their reasons, but all of us should stick to the rates that we know are reasonable. This then gives the customer the choice on who to employ for the job. If they pick cheap estimates, then they will probably get a cheap job. Work for me at the moment is better than last year, and i don't advertise at all. Word of mouth and good reccomendations will see the goods on are ok.

 

[elliesdad224]

i have been in the trade for twenty years and i reckon i've seen the lot, great work, bad work and even work that my budgie would have done better, i dont agree that an nvq is just another piece of paper as leatherface puts it, i took that course last week just because it was available, if your a chancer then you wont get through the practical side never mind the theory, you have 7 hours to complete the test, i did it in 4 hours and fifteen minutes, you have to go on a health and safety awareness course that you pay for but that is common sense when you do it. site work is unvailable to those who do not have the relevant cards and h&s paperwork, gas fitters have to be corgi registered, electricians have to take part p, the day will come when anyone who works in domestic houses will have to show that they have taken the required courses and are competent to carry out the work, the goverment want it, trading standards want it and all genuine tradespeople should want it to, it will get rid of the rouge traders and chancers and clean up a dirty industry, all i can say is "bring it on",

 

[a1tiler]

good point , well made

 

[Perry]

I am totaly self taught and have trained at least 20 guys and have employed a lot more very few have the knack but the ones that havent can still make quite good tilers as someone said not rocket science at the bottom end but it if the can make a good job and make money at it good most of the trained guys i get carnt lay 60 x60 porclain with a 2mm jiont on a solid bed i also have 2 Polish and 1 Albanian they get more money than my engklish guys because they work harder