Ableskills 4 week discounted tiling course package - Tile Advice

[absolutetiling]

Hello Gentlemen,

Just wondering if anyone has completed the course above, Id be interested in what you thought of the course, and whether you felt confident enough to go self employed on completion.

Or, the 8 week course (which is a bit pricey) but is that the minimum skill set required?

I'd like to be able to offer a tiling service to Bathroom and Kitchen Fitters, as well as commercial and domestic clients.

Thanks in advance,

David

 

[Time's Ran Out]

This is always an emotive subject for people like myself as we tend to have strong opinions on the value of such courses to our industry.
Personally I have no doubt you will struggle to run your own business after such a short introduction and wonder in what other trade you could have no qualifications and yet consider yourself a professional.
Everyone has to start somewhere and if you are really keen I'd consider an apprenticeship or working alongside a time served tiler.

 

[prceramics]

i done the 8 week course and am in my 3rd year being self employed since you will need to do a lot of research after because there is only so much you can learn in 8 weeks, this forum is the perfect place to help you. You will learn a lot more from the jobs you undertake after the course but it is a good place to start, the course itself is well structured and well run i think you will have to have a natural knack for it as some others on the course were pants like i say i have been tiling for two and a half years now and am still learning but just starting to make a living from it

 

[absolutetiling]

Point taken Timeless,
Unfortunately this would be my only route into the trade as I'm changing careers late in life, I'm 51.
My options are to either go it alone, which I agree would be a major difficulty ( see prceramics reply ) or probably just as arduous go the cscs site route and gain further experience with agency work.

I value your input Timeless, I'm under no illusion this is going to be easy.

 

[absolutetiling]

Thanks for your input Prceramics,

Your post has given me a greater insight as to what to expect from my chosen career change, and demonstrated the patience and determination required to succeed.

All the best to you for further success.

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Point taken Timeless,
Unfortunately this would be my only route into the trade as I'm changing careers late in life, I'm 51.
My options are to either go it alone, which I agree would be a major difficulty ( see prceramics reply ) or probably just as arduous go the cscs site route and gain further experience with agency work.

I value your input Timeless, I'm under no illusion this is going to be easy.

Good luck and enjoy what is the best trade around!
If you need any input you can pm me or any member of the forum for advice. The archive section has lots of valuable information for research but my main input would be - stay within your comfort zone and see if you can buddy up with someone.

 

[Peter]

I did that course 1.5 years ago. Went out and bought tools and a van straight away and now making £2500 a week. The salesman was right.

 

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

I did that course 1.5 years ago. Went out and bought tools and a van straight away and now making £2500 a week. The salesman was right.

Nice one Peter, only £2,500.00 per week? I did a four day course and earn on average £2,500.00 per day. This tiling lark is easy, any old fool can do it.**yawn**

 

[Time's Ran Out]

On Northern Irrland rates that's about 50 mts a day for 5 day week!
Only 125k a year - hardly worth the effort of getting out of bed!
Or was this a Sheldon ' sarcasm' post?

 

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

On Northern Irrland rates that's about 50 mts a day for 5 day week!
Only 125k a year - hardly worth the effort of getting out of bed!
Or was this a Sheldon ' sarcasm' post?

Yup guilty.

 

[Dan]

I always say this; considering it's a trade that you can 'get into' with having no training at all but doing your own and assuming you can do it, doing a short course if you're skilled with your hands anyway can be handy and give you a bit of a push.

The industry needs to change a bit IMO. But like plastering etc and unlike electrical or gas works; if it's not going to kill your customers by doing it wrong, the industry just isn't going to bring in strict regulations quickly without a big shout about it.

I know a lot of good tilers who have done no training at all who are doing very well and make nearly no mistakes. I know loads that have done short courses who are doing fine and are good tilers. And looking at the forum as a whole, the guys who have done years of training are no better off financially it seems. And have no more work on than the rest of the guys etc.

So it seems not just the training / regulating side of the industry needs to change a bit, but I'd also say the general marketing of TTA tilers and those who have NVQ's / City and Guilds and whatnot needs to be improved on.

Would be nice to see a day where an advert pops up on TV at prime time asking people to look at qualifications of all tradesmen before just visiting the likes of checkatrade and seeing feedback left by others.

And the training centres aren't to blame for that or the people taking the courses.

 

[Peter]

Nice one Peter, only £2,500.00 per week? I did a four day course and earn on average £2,500.00 per day. This tiling lark is easy, any old fool can do it.**yawn**

8 days training between us then :smilewinkgrin:

 

[TJ Smiler]

I did a four week course 8 years ago.......... I learned absolutely nothing that would be of any use to me in the 'real' world. I spent £2500 of my hard earned cash on it so there was no way i was gonna not turn it into business some how.

Thankfully i am naturally very good with my hands and had also been a scaffolder for 6 years previous so had a good knowledge of the building game in general.

After trying to do my first job i very quickly realised that in order to be a good tiler you have to know a hell of lot more than you could ever possibly imagine and certainly could ever learn on a course. The only reason i stuck with it is because i hooked up with a time served apprentice trained tiler who had been doing it for 20 years, he taught me more in one day working with him than i learned on that whole course. in my honest opinion the only way to get on in this trade is by making sure you have contact with a 'proper tiler' they know their stuff and their experience is absolutely vital to you. Have a look at some of the stuff on here and you'll see what i mean...

If i could go back 8 years i would never have wasted my money on a course and instead would have just gone straight to the guy who taught me and served an apprenticeship with him. Still hindsight and all that.

I do now though love this trade and am glad i made the switch into it..... I wouldn't say i earn 2k a week though haha but i do pretty well....... In fact i do better than they ever said i would on my crappy course.

Good luck mate and make sure you get friendly with a time served tiler and you'll be on the right path.
TJ

 

[TJ Smiler]

Oh i might just quickly add that i am not saying course trained tilers are no good but in my time of doing it i do not know of one other course trained tiler who became good off the back of what they learned on a course. They became good after learning from proper tilers and putting in tonnes and tonnes of hard graft and loss of earnings whilst they learnt this trade. The trouble is that their are a lot of people who do these courses as a free bee if they are on jobseekers allowance or benefits etc and they turn into a big waste of space and ruin the industry (not in all cases of course). But those who paid for it themselves have a bit more at stake so are more determined to make it work and to do whatever it takes to make it work.

I must stress that all this is my opinion and i have formed this opinion from my personal experience. Nd i can honestly say that if it weren't for Andrew at Cambridge Tile and Mosaic (he's not on here nut does have a website if your interested) i would never have got to this stage.

 

[Dan]

I don't think it's funded like that anymore mate but it certainly was a good few years ago. They government pulled funding for those on job seekers a a long time ago though I believe. I might be wrong though.