Soon to be out of uniform. - Tile Advice

[Amiano]

Hello everyone,

I am new to your forum and I wanted to say alrite to you all, so Alright??!
I am leaving the Army soon after 12 years so ill still get me half pension (next year). I've enjoyed my time and made awesome mates and been to crazy places and done some things, so its been positive on the whole but its changing. A lot of the good stuffs getting stripped away, most of the proffs are on their way out and 9 month tours which will realistically be a year away from the wife and kids with the training cycle, which is too much now at this stage of the game for me and for them. So I'm calling it a day. It's gonna be a culture shock. I'm pressing the buttons and signing off on Thursday. Gulp! Any ex forces on here might understand the kind of exciting, scared, dreadful happiness, myself mixture I'm going thru!
But hey there's worse things and I'm grateful for what I've had and what I've got. I want to move into this industry and a lot of people are telling me its a bad decision, stay in, there's no money in it and I guess I'm just being stubborn but what do you all think? Is there money to be made by fairly unskilled as yet, but rearing to go ex- squaddies out there? I'm in Scotland. Does that make it worse? Am i deluded? Haha.
Sorry about the honking ramble! Thanks all for listening, it's a privilege to be here.

 

[Ian]

Welcome along to TF

 

[White Room]

Hi and welcome....

 

[Diamond Pool Finishers]

:welcome:to the forum mate

 

[m3fitter]

welcome
A good industry to be in, but as with all trades, experience counts for alot, timeserved, like your trade... won't be easy to get off the ground, but if you stick with it and are focused, and are prepared to learn while you earn. the skies the limit, not sure of your area, but in life if you want something and are prepared to get it, then you will.... good luck.. don't expect to get high end projects as a novice, you'll start like we all started with splashbacks, small kitchen & utility floors, shower cubicles, and when the client feels confident with your experience, you'll get high value jobs, but the public are not that gullible, they go for experience when spending alot of money..

 

[cam_low]

Welcome, best introduction this year.

 

[Time's Ran Out]

:welcome: And thanks for the introduction and commitment given over the last 12 years.
This is the most rewarding trade you could undertake and for me the most enjoyable, but after 40 years I still look for work every day of the week ( not literally of course) as with any business you need customers.
Due to the last 5 years of our economic climate my industry seems to have suffered as others with the lack of building projects and this has made if difficult for skilled tradesmen to develop their business as previously, and to start a new venture will be a very bold move indeed. Without the experience and contacts it could be a long hard haul and a slow income stream for a few years. Don't feel as though your best option will be to spend money on training courses but see if you can support yourself alongside a tiler for a period to see if it's in your veins, as I feel there is more to tiling then just sticking them on the wall - but what would I know!
Good luck and keep digging up old threads that you may find of interest.

 

[Amiano]

Thanks all, glad there's still lads up past 10! Thought you'd all be worn out from grafting! I dont know if I should start another thread elsewhere as i might muck up the system but Is there a way to get into being a Tiler in some sort of team on a site as a kind of apprentice tiler? I know people do take apprentices in other trades but I don't know about Tiling. It all seems a bit of a one man band kind of trade. Sorry to sound so naive. Im going to be fter experience but with guidance, which I know might be hard to achieve without stepping on people's toes and asking for a bit of a free ride from people who have put the graft in for years. Did any of the seasoned pros have this kind of relationship to start out with? Did you all learn on sites or just self taught domestic jobs or maybe as Apprentices? Thing is aswell im 39 now so not exactly a sproglet, but im up for a some serious graft and a good crack. Thanks again. (Please tell me if I'm all over the shop with this thread, I tried posting another in a different area and it said i couldn't join the pub or something?)There's a pub on here too? You boys think of everything!!

 

[Amiano]

Also M3 fitter, i used to live round there (Ascot)before i joined up. On the less posh side of the sign right next to the running horse. What a classy pub eh? My local. Saw a few pool cues get the good news in there!

 

[CJ]

:welcome: Oi Oi

Good luck matey.

 

[Artisan998]

Alreet marra, are you doing tiling for your resettlement? I did plastering when i left the army after 12 years and was fortunate to get a job shadowing an experienced spread before going on my own when he retired. hope you get sorted and good luck

 

[bugs183]

Hi Amiano,
Great intro by the way and heading to this site is a good move too, there are some very experienced folk on here who know their stuff, it's not a site with people lecturing or telling you how things have to be done, so you can see how jobs can be approached from different perspectives, and best practice.

There are guys here who have learned the trade from a parent and worked at it all their lives (that's how i started), and some that have changed jobs and gone to a training school and traded from there.

There is an ongoing debate about how to get into the trade, some guys do not feel that the training centers give you enough, and that onsite training is a better way. My mate did a weeks course, got the basics and then worked with me for a while and then went on his own, he does a great job, but he has had to learn as he goes as he didn't have the years of experience that you would build up.

Really it's down to the individual, and how much they want to do the job and learn. I've been tiling over 20 and you still find new problems or new ways to help or speed up work etc.

I'd say try and get in with a tiler, it's likely that you'll be humping tiles around, grouting, cutting and being moaned at, a good tiler won't let you loose tiling straight away, especially on floors until you get your heard around the trade.

It will be most likely that you'll do domestic mainly as getting onto sites without the qualifications to get the safety cards is getting difficult, you can't just wander on site like you used too.

 

[NewGirl?]

What a great thread! I, too, am ex forces, 10 years, although I've been out a few years now. Will follow this with interest, my other half is a plumber and while he does think what I've done is good (he would tell me if it wasn't) he isn't sure if I should try to become a plumber!