Starting up a Tiling Business - Tile Advice

[Joe Cogan]

Hi, I've worked in a tile shop for 3 years now and I do all the displays aswell as at lease 6 kitchen and bathroom walls, I want to set up my own buisness doing kitchen and bathroom walls and I need help on where to start.
Do I just hand out cards and get my name about or should I register my tax and stuff like that? I just need abit of a push in the right direction.

Thank you

 

[Dan]

Hi Joe,

You could do with some training first perhaps. While you can stick tiles on, in the real world you'll be charging customers to prep their walls ready for tiling, and fixing issues that may become apparent as you strip tiles off etc, that neither you or the customer were expecting before they booked you.

It wont wash just being a wall tiler, you'll need to be a tiler, or nothing at all. And if you're a tiler you'll be doing as many floors as walls.

From a business point of view, have a free chat with a couple of accountants. You'll need to register as self-employed with HMRC. And either you or your account sort out an annual self assessment to work out how much tax you need to pay based on your profit and loss.

And make sure you do that, it can save you loads of money. I doubt you'd pay tax for a couple of years without a whole load of work suddenly coming in.

What you don't want to do, is A) call yourself a tiler because you're not. And B) print business cards off saying you're a tiler and to call you for tiling, because you're not. It wont work.

You want to make sure you can fit and cut porcelain to various surfaces including wood. And also make sure you can overcome some of the worst floors imaginable by making it fresh and new or correcting it's imperfections.

Good luck.

Stick around the lads on here are brilliant.

 

[Flintstone]

Some good advice there, is there any of the tilers that come in the shop that will let you tag Allong with them a day or two a week ? That's your best bet to learn real world tiling

 

[Joe Cogan]

I've asked a few but they tell me it would cost them too much in insurance, my sisters fiancé is a plasterer and I go with her every so often and I've had a guy ask if I wanted to use his kitchen as a first professional job as he is going to have it changed in 2 years so he isn't too bothered about it being 100% perfect. I've done loads of wall tiling before and I know how to floor tile but I just arnt that brilliant at it so I was thinking I could stick with going with my sisters fiancé and just see if people would like odd jobs doing until I get confident enough to go along by myself.

 

[Dan]

Tag along with any trade you'll learn a lot about it generally.

They're right in some sense it costs them more in time trying to show you the ropes than you gain them by helping. But we have found some tilers willing before now so don't give up.

You can get some 8x4 sheets of plasterboard in your garden now it's picking up weather wise. Get different types of adhesive and grout. Use mosaics, 6x6, dodgy small tiles will give you best practice. Then get a box of bigger tiles to just practice cutting on. Tile your bathroom floor once you're confident.

As a tiler you'll be fitting plasterboard, perhaps ply (not many like it but it's warranted perhaps in some circumstances), tile backer boards, uncoupling membranes, underfloor heating etc - just as much as tiling.

You could do with learning how to box in. Get windows tiled brilliantly. And as always, the setting out of a room is key. So if you have a chance to, set out a room in a dozen different sizes tiles (you can just imagine the sizes and make a guage staff to use and pretend you're tiling it over and over and over) and that's a massive part of tiling.

Just don't get some cards now and do it. You will give up with the errors and costs correcting them, or get a bad name quickly by running off from them lol

 

[Joe Cogan]

You are a massive help! Thank you,
I do all the displays at Selby Tiles and that requires a lot of cutting and planning so I think I'm on the right track

Thank you for your help