Anyone know much about tiling?
Discussion
I have a small buisness mainly doing block paving, this year has been quite succesful and i have work until January so things are generally pretty good.
However my phone hasn't been doing a lot of ringing recently which could be down to time of year or the dreaded R word.
So i was thinking about learning another trade, i have done a bit of tiling before and tbh its easy, If i can lay slabs with all sorts of tolerances and make the water run off, not fall to bits and basically look perfect i really dont see what the drama will be with tiling.
Its also indoor, no need to worry about rain, cleaner and also if my life doesnt go to plan and retire at 50 then i can still do it where as i see doing block paving at 50 may be a bit much.
I dont plan on giving the paving up, but it could be ran along side and gives another string to the bow if you like. I cant imagine it hurting.
So what sort of money does a good self employed tiler command? 1k per week ? What courses are good for learning and offer recognised qualifications (good enough to enable me to move somewhere like OZ if this place keeps sliding down the pan)
Any comments, ideas welcome
However my phone hasn't been doing a lot of ringing recently which could be down to time of year or the dreaded R word.
So i was thinking about learning another trade, i have done a bit of tiling before and tbh its easy, If i can lay slabs with all sorts of tolerances and make the water run off, not fall to bits and basically look perfect i really dont see what the drama will be with tiling.
Its also indoor, no need to worry about rain, cleaner and also if my life doesnt go to plan and retire at 50 then i can still do it where as i see doing block paving at 50 may be a bit much.
I dont plan on giving the paving up, but it could be ran along side and gives another string to the bow if you like. I cant imagine it hurting.
So what sort of money does a good self employed tiler command? 1k per week ? What courses are good for learning and offer recognised qualifications (good enough to enable me to move somewhere like OZ if this place keeps sliding down the pan)
Any comments, ideas welcome
sleep envy said:
to be a good tiler you need to know how to render and plaster - without being able to work off a sound wall your tiling will look poor
WRT earnings, a good tiler can earn £200 a day
aha thats where i was going wrong,if the suface was uneven i just made it up with extra adhesive WRT earnings, a good tiler can earn £200 a day
Some instances of tiling are indeed 'easy' and straight forward but it's when you start doing complicated poorly plastered bathrooms with large format tiles, unequal/different substrate floors and complex work, that's where the 5 day course boys tend to fall behind from the real tilers. Good tilers will never be short of work, and if you're only starting out, unless you're very cheap (which most customers will see as a bad sign on something as visual as tiling) then you'll not really get a break unless you have a builder/showroom willing to fire you a lot of work.
Having kitchen floor done at the moment usually about £35psm or £150 day rate if the job is smaller. This includes all materials, in Berkshire. Although I'm not paying near those prices, due to mates rates and offering cash. So I think your £200 per day may be a little optormistic or my guy is under charging.
I fit bathrooms, plastering, joinery, tiling, that kind of thing. I would imagine you would take to tiling like a duck to water being in the trade you are in. It's all in the planning.
Some tilers charge up to £40 per metre to lay (labour only). I tend to charge about £20 and am happy that I provide a good service, good quality and don't rip people off. I am always busy.
Not to sure about recognised qualifications, I'm pretty much self taught.
Turn up when you say you will, do what you say you will, be honest and respectful and charge what you quote. It's not hard but so many tradesmen can't seem to get the basics right.
Like you say, its good to have a few strings to your bow as if one trade is a bit quiet (or weather dependent) you can always be doing something else.
Some tilers charge up to £40 per metre to lay (labour only). I tend to charge about £20 and am happy that I provide a good service, good quality and don't rip people off. I am always busy.
Not to sure about recognised qualifications, I'm pretty much self taught.
Turn up when you say you will, do what you say you will, be honest and respectful and charge what you quote. It's not hard but so many tradesmen can't seem to get the basics right.
Like you say, its good to have a few strings to your bow as if one trade is a bit quiet (or weather dependent) you can always be doing something else.
m4tt said:
about £35psm or £150 day rate if the job is smaller. This includes all materials, in Berkshire.
unlikely to include materials seeing as tile costs alone vary from £12/m2 to over £500/m2then you've got to take into account for ply and latex/cement screeds for floors, rendering/bonding/plastering for walls
m4tt said:
So I think your £200 per day may be a little optormistic or my guy is under charging.
sounds like he's underchargingYou may want to learn something outside of the industry.
There is already a surplus of experienced subbies working for peanuts to pay their bills, so competition will be tight.
If you do want to stay in the trade go for plumbing or electrics as essential repairs will always be needed no matter what happens to the economy.
There is already a surplus of experienced subbies working for peanuts to pay their bills, so competition will be tight.
If you do want to stay in the trade go for plumbing or electrics as essential repairs will always be needed no matter what happens to the economy.
m3psm said:
You may want to learn something outside of the industry.
There is already a surplus of experienced subbies working for peanuts to pay their bills, so competition will be tight.
If you do want to stay in the trade go for plumbing or electrics as essential repairs will always be needed no matter what happens to the economy.
Quite a fair statment to be honest.There is already a surplus of experienced subbies working for peanuts to pay their bills, so competition will be tight.
If you do want to stay in the trade go for plumbing or electrics as essential repairs will always be needed no matter what happens to the economy.
I just had the thought the other day and thought it may be sensible as like mentioned above its all in the planning and i should take to it quite easily.
Its hard to know what to do, i have a good trade right now, no real advertising, earn good money, quite enjoy it and feel that if the credit rubbish wasn't happening i reckon over the next two years it would have exploded but of course we are going into tough times, maybe i,ll be ok but i think i,d be a fool to believe that.
Plus what i do isnt really a recognised trade, too many general builders label themselves pavers hence why you see so many shoddy drives, with what i do i couldnt up sticks and emmigrate 9or i dont think i could).
Maybe I mis-understood what he was saying, however I'm 99% sure he said usually about £35-40psm. Put it this way I'm paying £700 for about 27sqm of floor tiling then because its a seperate day £100 for about 2sqm of wall tiling all inclusive of labour and materials.
Obviously this is slightly skewed in the fact that a mate of mine basically fills his diary and I am paying cash. However we did have a chat about his normal prices.
Obviously this is slightly skewed in the fact that a mate of mine basically fills his diary and I am paying cash. However we did have a chat about his normal prices.
Gassing Station | The Pie & Piston Archive | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff