UK Tiling Courses
Hi,
I paid for my own training with Pete Wheatley in Swindon 18 months ago and took the plunge 9 months later after a lot of research to start out on my own. At the tender age of 49. The course that Pete put on gave me that much confidence.
I'm a (creative) artist at heart and I love Maths. And I live in an old Victorian house in a Victorian suburb so to specialise in Victorian geometric tiling seemed like a good (but daunting) idea. So I started out with some experimentation and then I did my own 6m path (A Dorchester with a modified Kingsley border, if you must know)...Some established tilers thought a Newbie doing this was crazy but their business model and pricing mechanisms don't fit this kind of work. It needed a different mindset and approach. And you need lots of patience. Sometimes, a square metre a day is too much. And it's about providing a complete end-end service. Initial contact to completion of a job can be about 14 weeks.
My path acted as my initial marketing plan. I live in a conservation area where 99% of the paths were shot to bits. And a lot of the houses were flooded in the 60's after a river burst so the halls are in some cases in a terrible state. That and the gas board ripping them up to install pipes (and the fashion at the time for Lino and carpet did their bit to vandalise the floors too). So I researched and I networked with others who could help me to do the preparations. And then I started doing halls and a conservatory and a porch floor and a porch wall and .....
One thing led to another. I developed a technique to restore existing floors and learned how to repair floors (and when to walk away from them). I developed an understanding of costs and how to maximise my profit.
My business is growing. It's early days yet. I've made mistakes (financial ones where I've got the pricing wrong and if I'm honest, one job where I made a mistake on the border measurements and had to take a lesson on board about taking lots of time before starting to check and check and check and check.......), but I've learned from it. I source my tiles from France through a supplier and this works well. But in a recession, I am making money and I think it's because I've gone very niche. My order book looks OK for about 6-8 weeks and that's pretty much my target. I don't do any other type of work but have outsourced some (to another of Pete's pupils). That business relationship has started and we'll see where it leads.
So, thanks Pete. I picked the right course.
Kevin
Pontcanna Tiling
