Advice to an Apprentice.

[Time's Ran Out]

Could be anything from Watch, listen and learn to Good job!

For me it was - wear gloves!
Sand and cement pin holes are very painfull.

 

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

Could be anything from Watch, listen and learn to Good job!

For me it was - wear gloves!
Sand and cement pin holes are very painfull.

Good advice there John, I might add the odd "get off that bloody phone"

 

[Time's Ran Out]

40 years ago it would be trying to find the red box on some street corner!
It will be like radios soon and they will be banned on sites.
What I find is Tilers spend all their time on those Forums instead of earning real money.

 

[stone tiler]

The day end when the jobs done, not at 3.30! That's the point I have to keep ramming home

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Surely that's a Draconian point of view made by a tyrant employer rather than the present day approach of understanding employment laws.
The encouragement of additional remuneration for production would be a better way of installing the work ethic that you seem to suggest.
If the apprentice is on the job for 7.30/8.00 and does a solid days work, with travelling times he can be doing a 9 hour day at least. 45 hours for a basic wage seems reasonable for most.

 

[stone tiler]

Haha I've been called a lot of things but Draconian is a new one...tyrant is what the wife calls me!!

I suppose it depends on the "basic wage" element. What is the minimum wage today?

And travelling can't count as part of the workday either, that's just life. Asda etc don't count travelling in their daily working hours allowance and they also ban mobile phones/facebook/tea breaks whilst on the job. I'm actually far too soft!! haha

 

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

We had no mobile phones no Pizza Hut, no subway we had to carry the hand cart and the horse up the cobbled streets when the horse got tired all this off a dry scrap of Hovis**yawn**:drool5:

 

[CJ]

Bloody hell........listen to you old farts.

Makes me feel young......even at 52. 🙁

 

[mz30]

Haha I've been called a lot of things but Draconian is a new one...tyrant is what the wife calls me!!

I suppose it depends on the "basic wage" element. What is the minimum wage today?

And travelling can't count as part of the workday either, that's just life. Asda etc don't count travelling in their daily working hours allowance and they also ban mobile phones/facebook/tea breaks whilst on the job. I'm actually far too soft!! haha

Have to disagree with the travelling time,people who work in asda generally live close to work,am doing 130 miles a day I give the boss two hours in the morning he gives me two hours in the afternoon,or I simply wouldn't travel that far.🙂

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Bloody hell........listen to you old farts.

Makes me feel young......even at 52. 🙁

Definetly - but what advice can you provide ( other than not listening to old farts)

 

[TJ Smiler]

Knee pads and quality dust mask..........It really doesn't make you a 'Hard Nut' to not use either.

 

[stone tiler]

Have to disagree with the travelling time,people who work in asda generally live close to work,am doing 130 miles a day I give the boss two hours in the morning he gives me two hours in the afternoon,or I simply wouldn't travel that far.🙂

But if you're honest that's the decision you make. You don't have to travel, there is no gun to your head. You could find more local work or drop your price accordingly to find the local work...or work at your local Asda/Tesco/Etc.

I'm lucky that most of my projects are localish to me but when I do have to travel I have to weigh up if the jobs worth it or not. I can't add the travelling cost to the quote of or I would loose the job. Therefore the apprentice/labourer can't charge me for travelling time to get to the job. It all comes down to do I/he want the job and most importantly how quickly I/we can get it done and sometimes that means working until 6/7. I've just done a job where the drive was 80 minutes each way. It was for a builder I do lots of work for so I had to either upset the builder by charging extra and risk the contract or swallow on the travelling times/cost. The labourer didn't agree so he had the week off unpaid.

You have to weigh it up/look at the bigger picture and make the decision. Everyone has different guidelines and commitments

 

[Time's Ran Out]

I started a seperate thread 'travelling time'.

Keep this thread for advice to an Apprentice.

 

[White Room]

As said dust masks are paramount...in my young days on site guys would be cutting asbestos sheets anywhere..

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Get used to wearing toe cap protected footwear!
You won't be allowed on the buildings in trainers.

 

[White Room]

Goggles as well, it only takes a second to lose an eye...

 

[CJ]

Invest in decent knee pads.......they will be on their knees a lot

 

[judge]

keep tools well maintained and in theyre place where you know where to find them

 

[Andy Allen]

A tiling job should always look as good un- grouted as it dose grouted...
Thats what my boss always said to me and he always made a point of looking at my tiling before grouting it gets you out of the ' that will look ok when its grouted' habit....especially when it comes to awkward cuts..

 

[mike1979]

Learn to make a good cup of tea and don't tell me to @&£( off when asked what's that supposed to be
in all seriousness tho ask lots of questions, get stuck in and enjoy learning

 

[mike1979]

A tiling job should always look as good un- grouted as it dose grouted...
Thats what my boss always said to me and he always made a point of looking at my tiling before grouting it gets you out of the ' that will look ok when its grouted' habit....especially when it comes to awkward cuts..

I worked with a bloke once who said grouting hides a lot of sins and I replied you my friend are going straight to hell

 

[Time's Ran Out]

On the same subject - badly grouted tiling can ruin a good job!
I know many time served Tilers who only grouted and did the cuts for months at the start.

 

[Old Mod]

On the same subject - badly grouted tiling can ruin a good job!
I know many time served Tilers who only grouted and did the cuts for months at the start.

Yep! That's how I started and I wasn't even on a recognised apprenticeship!
But the best bit of advice given to me, or should I say drilled into me was "put those bloody knee pads on!" A day doesn't go by now where I don't wear them! If I don't have them with me and can't get some more there and then, I go home! It's such a habit now that even if I'm doin a job at home (non. Tiling work) I still have to wear them. Feel naked without them! Always wear my steels, but glasses I struggle with, mainly I think cos I wear spectacles anyway. (Short sighted, in more ways than one haha)
learn your 3/4/5
ask questions all the time
NEVER MAKE ASSUMPTIONS!
Do as u've been asked no matter how stupid it appears, there's usually a good reason behind it. (Even if it is to amuse others!) :lol:
Keep urself clean, (massive pet hate of mine is seeing Tilers covered in addy, no need, use a bloody sponge and towel to keep hands clean!) which will in turn teach you to keep your kit clean and your tools will last much longer.
Where possible learn how to work WITHOUT power tools first, before using labour saving devices like lasers and grinders. (Wet cutters are permissible!) :smilewinkgrin:
Respect your power tools and they will serve you well. (Or I'll make you do everything manually)
Be punctual and polite.
Respect your elders (that's me!) haha
Above all respect not only the client but their property too, especially if it's their home!!
I think that would cover the first day!

 

[The D]

mark twice cut once

 

[Old Mod]

..... Oh yeah one more thing:
Wear latex gloves, ALWAYS!, wish I had. Can't work without them now. If I do my fingers split wide open and they become so painful I can't even put them under the shower cos the pressure of the water jets make them scream for mercy!

 

[Alan M]

years ago when I was younger and stupid I used to never wear gloves.
my hands were split most days from the skim and cement.
the way I learned to fix them was to use savalon and moisturiser. cover your hands in it , put on disposable gloves and squirt in some moisturiser. then go to bed

 

[the diving tile]

Stay away from epoxy grouting no matter what anyone tells you

 

[White Room]

Start a pension as soon as possible, there'll be nothing left in the goverment pot when he/she retires.

 

[TJ Smiler]

Learn how to be self-employed. There is a whole lot of difference between doing this right and doing it the way think, its not just simply give a customer a price and then do the job. Learning the proper way how to run YOUR small business could save and earn you thousands, will help you get established and will make you business savvy to have a good profitable future.

And as Whitbeam says, deffinately start a pension.

 

[MTiler]

Take pride in your work.

 

[Alan M]

if something is going to take longer than you priced don't speed up , just take the hit on the money. learn from it the next time. it is harder to repair the damaged reputation than earn the lost money