Working

[G Matharu TFS]

Hi all,


im new on here been tiling for a little while currently working on some flats in birmingham, where the contractor is telling me i am working to slow, he is trying to tell me that another tiler was tiling onto plasterboarded rooms in shower rooms and grouting same day and finishing off in 1 day using ready mixed addy, said he was doing 4 kitchen spashbacks approx 5 square meters each a day, this guy must have been termiators brother!!

personally i have never tiled and grouted using ready mix addy ever even got told at college allow to set over night or at least 12 hours so the addy can set go off and bond with the tile is it not true if grouted same day the addy will not cure or will leave a brittle structure prone to cracks upon drilling, anyhow the bathrooms in flats are aprrox 15 sq mtrs and 4 on the floors and the way ive done them is im averaging complete from start to finish 2.5/3days for one bathroom with one window, setting out and starting walls on day1 evening doing the floor returning the following day to finish walls and day 3 grouting and siliconing.

Kitchens i have done 2 per day the grouted both next day all brickwork in kitchens.

would appreciate advice please!!!!!

 

[Mr T]

im not very experienced but it sounds like hes pulling your leg on the kitchens... do they have window sills? sounds mad to me but don't take my word mate.

 

[Ian]

I've seen people who can do this amount of work in a day, it's madness. The quality is very rarely any good, they don't set out and more often than not don't Silicon either, just grout. It's why I won't even consider commercial work. To do a quality job, requires a certain amount of time and most contractors just want you in and out.

 

[John Benton]

I've seen people who can do this amount of work in a day, it's madness. The quality is very rarely any good, they don't set out and more often than not don't Silicon either, just grout. It's why I won't even consider commercial work. To do a quality job, requires a certain amount of time and most contractors just want you in and out.

Never a truer word spoken there Bri

 

[Rookery]

Well thats contract work for you. It only works if you're quick and you dont care so much about quality. I'll stick to domestics thank you.

 

[Mr T]

yeh it cant be quality work if its even possible lol and like bri is saying the guy who can do it must be just going a full tile from a random corner lol (eenney meeney miney mo!)

 

[John Benton]

Yep if a customer says to me they can have their bathroom done in 3 days by another 'tiler' I tell them the quality of the work will not reach your expectations but I'll let you decide whose work will be of a better standard

 

[Diamond Pool Finishers]

We are all contractors if you think about it, i deffo 'am , and my work is alway done in my own comfortable time , slow peeps always say fast work is inferior and a lot may be, but mine is good quality , other wise i would slow down and just concentrate on doing a good job ! ......

 

[The D]

I did this sort of work for years and years and years and I would have smashed two 15m2 bathrooms per day no problems I did try not to grout the same day I normally left that till Friday. As far as quality well I have never been kicked off site for rough work YET

I think the mentality is all wrong for some people if you want to plod along at your own pace you need to work for your self not a firm.

 

[area tiling]

I'd be tiling and preping a 3 sided shower in an en suite say 7.5 - 8 m 2 , and floor roughly 4 m2 , plus a splashback per day . Come back next morning to grout, never would I grout the walls on the same day unless it was rapid set! Some contractors haven't a clue about the materials their tilers are using , just c pound signs !

 

[area tiling]

I've seen people who can do this amount of work in a day, it's madness. The quality is very rarely any good, they don't set out and more often than not don't Silicon either, just grout. It's why I won't even consider commercial work. To do a quality job, requires a certain amount of time and most contractors just want you in and out.

And their trimming work is shocking !

 

[White Room]

Some of us are getting older and slower, I know when I was younger I would fly with the plastering I have'nt got that speed now and my prices have to take that into the equation when pricing for a job...

 

[Andy Allen]

Dean has hit the nail on the head, spend years doing the samething you get quick at it and it does'nt mean your work is allways rough.

Price work is a totally different to working for yourself...

 

[Ian]

I probably put all fast tilers in the same boat with what I said in my earlier post, that was wrong of me. It is possible to be fast and accurate but it depends on so many things. What's the prep like? How many windows/boxings/sockets in the room? Can you cut in the room? Does it need trimming? I have tiled a 15 m2 bathroom in a day before but, I'd spent the previous day reboarding it and there were no windows or boxings, just 4 straight walls, I grouted the next day as well so, yes I tiled it in a day but the reality is it took 2.5 days, good prep is what makes me fast.

 

[Martyn Leeds]

I think 99% of us on here have done the same (if not similar) work that you're doing.
Be it new build/social/commercial etc.

I wouldn't be surprised if the other bloke did do the work he's on about. Plenty of tilers can, and do knock-out 4 kitchens a day, or 20mtrs grouted. But I wouldn't worry about what others can or can't do.

Its getting a balance between the speed and the quality. Don't compromise your quality, but if you try to speed up a little bit, it will come with tilme.

The foreman won't be bothered if the adhesive is dry or not - he just needs it grouted so he can tick the box & then hassle the plumber to 2nd fix or the decorator to get in, and then its another room completed for payment.

I always refuse to grout until its dry, and they'll just have to wait. I usually get the tub & read all the instructions to the foreman about wall prep, application, 24hrs drying etc. They're not ususally bothered, but they get where you're coming from, & they storm off etc. But I wouldn't be bothered about upsetting no-one on site.

As I've said before, this type of work, and the experience, will in the long-run make you a better tiler. Learning all the do's and the don'ts of what goes on..

 

[Mr T]

if you need a free pair of hands come and pick me up mate im only in Wolverhampton lol

 

[G Matharu TFS]

Thanks for the help, first time I've worked for site work, I'm averaging bathroom 15 sq mtrs and one window, fan cut out, holes for sinks with bore cutters water feeds and waste outlet and cut out for toilet, u can cut inside and 4 sq mtrs of floor all l shapes in 2.5/3days fully tiled grouted and siliconed.

1st day prep walls with bal apd, set out and tile window area and start with baton for cut tile and do around 28-36 tiles on walls and lay floor before I go 4 sq mtrs
2nd day finish walls
3rd day grout which takes 2-3 hours including sealing with Silicon.

Is this good, contractor on site is still saying grout in one day which I still think is unbelievable, told him it needs to go off and without the place having any heat I don't think the walls will go off, as a test to myself I put adehsive on the wall to see if it would dy next morning and the ready mix addy hasn't moist so I should have showed him this really!

also they have brought tiles from tiles plus in oldbury a batch of seconds and adhesive is also from there the cheap stuff which I hummed and arred about but just had to get on with it.....


not happy bunny

Thanks
people

 

[Mr T]

sound mate how are ya advertising to get the work atm?

 

[Gazzer]

also they have brought tiles from tiles plus in oldbury a batch of seconds and adhesive is also from there the cheap stuff which I hummed and arred about but just had to get on with it.....


not happy bunny

Thanks
people

Tile Plus, part of Euro Cladding ?

 

[Spud]

stay on the job for a month or 2 then come back and let us know if you have picked up your pace

 

[FreeD]

Theres always someone quicker than you mate, just go at your own pace, if you can speed up a bit great, but don't forsake quality.

I've heard this many times before, its usually from contractors pushing to get as much out of you as they can.

I just ignore them and if they don't use me again no worries theres always another around the corner, and I know I have left a good job.

 

[Martino]

Another factor that speeds up any tiling work is size of tile...latley most my bathrooms are 600x300 so they go pretty quick!...most kitchens are 100x200 again alot quicker than the older 100x100 tiles people used years ago...a major factor in tiling i feel is prep work...if your prepping your own work then you have no where to hide....a good saying would be....if you fail to prepare, then prepare to fail

 

[Protilers]

I think that speed is "second" to "accuracy"......I have worked on everything from TFL to Mrs Buckets...........Speed is a great thing for earning power...if its Accurate!............if you are not accurate,
you spend time "repairing" your own in-accuracy.....
I know a good few fixers.......some are on here.......they are fast and accurate.....that only comes with experience...........

plod along.....get it spot on..........speed will come........

Lee.....oh and I think I am slow every single day........but, am I slow or are my expactations too high?

I will leave that to you......

 

[CJ]

Tell contractor to swivel.

The more people try and rush ME......the slower I get. Then again, I only do private.

I Never do site work, because "sometimes" you can see the rush job

 

[charlie1]

I sometimes wonder if a contractor could have a problem with someone's work being too good, rather than tell them to reduce there quality, you simply tell them to speed up!! If you have a load of guys tiling to an acceptably low standard then someone comes in and does some work to a higher standard, it would certainly give a client grounds for questioning the low standard bulk of the job, however if its all pretty low then no problem.

 

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

I sometimes wonder if a contractor could have a problem with someone's work being too good, rather than tell them to reduce there quality, you simply tell them to speed up!! If you have a load of guys tiling to an acceptably low standard then someone comes in and does some work to a higher standard, it would certainly give a client grounds for questioning the low standard bulk of the job, however if its all pretty low then no problem.

Mark you have just hit the nail on the head, I did a show house for a new development many years ago. The company I was working for had a very famous contracts manager, now a legend in the tiling industry. He gave me a right royal blasting for making a really good job of the work, saying " I have got to send average tilers on this site, and you have set the bar to high" talk about being trashed for doing your best.

Bob it was a long time ago, I forgive you, I know now what you were saying, but I was just doing the job the way I had been taught.😳

 

[White Room]

I sometimes wonder if a contractor could have a problem with someone's work being too good, rather than tell them to reduce there quality, you simply tell them to speed up!! If you have a load of guys tiling to an acceptably low standard then someone comes in and does some work to a higher standard, it would certainly give a client grounds for questioning the low standard bulk of the job, however if its all pretty low then no problem.

I was on a job many years ago and this was plastering not tiling, they got rid of a team of guys who's work excellent but a bit slower.
So they got rid of and bought another team in who were fast but there work was nowhere as good, it was the speed thing they were interested in.

 

[Protilers]

I did a job with a tiler mate of mine......he brought me in to do the wet room...........I did my room my way...and he did his, his way.............another client I cant get off the damn phone at the mo!!!! hehehhhehehe...healthy problem!

 

[charlie1]

Mark you have just hit the nail on the head, I did a show house for a new development many years ago. The company I was working for had a very famous contracts manager, now a legend in the tiling industry. He gave me a right royal blasting for making a really good job of the work, saying " I have got to send average tilers on this site, and you have set the bar to high" talk about being trashed for doing your best.

Bob it was a long time ago, I forgive you, I know now what you were saying, but I was just doing the job the way I had been taught.😳

similar thing happened to me not long ago, he never asked me to drop my standards, he just said i need to speed up but i seen it coming a mile away! One good job can make all the rest look average or worse, i can understand why a contractor would be concerned but same as you phill, the quest for perfection wont stop for anyone.... Well not yet anyway

 

[nybor62]

personally i would want to do 2 bathrooms a day , and grout next day ,, and give the kitchens to some body else , lol

 

[afright]

I worked on a contract for the Mc Carthy Stone retirement flats in the 80s was knocking out a flat a day 24 m2 grouted that,s what they expected I did 100 flats in 6 month's money was good but there was no finesse they just wanted results,you were just like a robot I dont think I could go back to them days but at the time it paid the bills.