DevonR

For £2500 your looking at a decent van. I'm not spending any where near that to be honest, not till things pick up anyway and then maybe later.
I paid around £400 for my tools. This included a wet and dry cutter, grout floats, gorilla tubs, trowels, grout wisk, rubbing stones, wash boy system, sponges, nippers and the list goes on. So pretty decent value I'd say.
Darren sells a load of gear but he will run through on the course what he deems to be "essentials" some of the kit is not necesary to get going with and you can always go back to him at a later date or purchase else where.
Let me know how you get on when you finish.

h0ndatyp3r

Hi there DevonR and Tileman,

It was good to hear your comments on the course DevonR. I will be going on the course on the 29th of this month and can't wait (Tileman what dates are you going on the course?)

Like yourself and Tileman i'm still in full time employment and will be going down the same route as yourselves regarding working weekends and evenings to gain experience and speed. Common sense really!!!

I know individuals don't agree with the 4 day tilers as they have come across bad workmanship. That only reflects on the individual not the course/training. One thing about myself, is i am very much into customer service, which will ensure that i do a first class job for the customer. I wouldn't like to be ripped off by a tradesman, so i'm certainly not going to do it to someone!

Colin

DevonR

Hi Colin,

It's a great course, very hectic but if you can listen and crack on then you'll have no problems. It's amazing the stuff you get taught and the knowledge you come away with.

Let me know how you get on.

Eric.

Elliott

Hi Tileman2.

You will enjoy the course. I got some really cheap cards drawn up from vistaprint.co.uk and dished them around tile, conservatory shops and gave some to mates, this was enough to keep me busy evenings and weekends. All course and tool costs were reimbursed after 3 jobs, so this course is certainly worth the money. I really could do with a van as i make furniture too and pay delivery costs and hope to get one soon, but sods law - all the white goods in my house are on there way out all at once. Regarding tools take approx £500 or your CCard with you Darren can supply you with everything you need. You could scour the net and get it cheaper but once postage is added it's not worth your time looking.

Darren is now a member of this forum, you'll recognise his name. so just read some of his replies and you'll know he's not FOS.

tileman2

Hi Colin

Im on the 5 day course w/c 5th feb Whilst on Hols from Full time job (I must be mad)

Your right it is common sense to do this along side main job - I intend to do it for 6 to 12 months who knows maybe longer

It certainly is down to the individual - The better work you carry out will gain more work in the future thats my motto.

Hi Elliot

Pleased you doing well, I do intend to get tools off darren, I do already have a few bits and bobs (Electric wet and dry cutter Plasplugs) but will still require quite a few, like you say bank card in hand. Might as well get sorted so work can start almost immediately.

When did you do the course and was it the 5 day one.

Have you had a steady flow of work and how do you manage without a van as i dont fancy chucking all adhesive/grout and dirty gear in back of car

Regards

Tileman2

Michael McMillan

Hi there, i have just recently joined the forum and made the steps to becoming a profesional tiler.

I did a few DIY tile jobs that were successful so i started looking into tile courses, i looked around a bit and called one up fairly local to me in central scotland but i kept getting lured back to the North East Tiling Centre website, reading the emails of guys who had been on the course etc gave me confidence so i phoned them the next day and booked myself in.

I was expecting an intense course and it didnt dissapoint, the instructor Darren certainly new his stuff and you could tell a great deal of thought had went into constructing the course in the best way for us to learn and make things stick, everything possible was explained in great detail from types of adhesive to underfloor heating to self leveling compounds the lot. iv never spent money more wisely.

I attented the natural stone course aswell and found it as important as the 4 day ceramic course, im armed with essential facts and information that i can now show off with.

Where am i now? after the course i got 2 jobs from word of mouth within a fortnight which i did at weekends while i remained at my old job and got everything in place, tools van etc, im now advertising and been quoting alot even though its a fairly quiet time of year, im starting a bathroom tomorrow and quoting a healthclub tomorrow aswell for some regrouting. By the spring i hope to be established and a fine reputation accuired to.

In my opinion if you are looking to become a tiler i wouldnt look past Darren and his North East Tiling Centre, in not the first success and i certainly wont be the last.

Good luck.

Shotgun Mick

Wow small world, I was just on their webpage before I found this one.

Michael, would you say the course is as good for people starting from scratch as well as people with a bit of experience?

DevonR

Mick,

Check out my posts around this course if you need convincing. It's a great course and value for money 2. I have 6 jobs lined up and I only finished 2 weeks ago. I got all my tools from Darren on the course while I was there as well.
Give Darren or Tracey a ring and they'll gladly talk you through tht e whole course and answer any questions you may have.

Michael, glad to hear someone else making a success of their training as well - good luck in the future.

Eric.

Michael McMillan

Cheers Eric , Yea have a look at the other posts about the course Mick, from my experience there were people on the course who had never even used a tape measure before and by the end of the course there was realy no difference in ability between experienced and non experience. And anyway i was doing tiling wrong before i went on the course so really i had no experience either .

Go for it and good luck.

DevonR

Your right on that one mate.
That's the reason why i will defend what I learnt on this course as much as people may knock it. Darren used to be a teacher in the colleges for tiling, he then went on to be a teaching assesor as well as his 22 years in the trade so the guy obviously has a wealth of experience and is used to training to and with BS. He has removed the non essentials and honed his course to concentrate on the pure knowledge behind the trade.
There were guys on my course who said they had tiled and when asked how they lay out a room they either said start from the middle, start from the floor, start from the bottom or top left corner etc. None of them knew. So as you say as much as they thought they were experienced, they weren't really.

fifetiler

Well I have just returned from Darren and Traceys course in South Shields and can't say enough about the course.

ITS THE DOGS BOLLOCKS!!

Some of the teqniques are nothing short of genius.The instructions were so good that I think I did a feature on my wall in under 25 minutes,I would never ever have thought about attempting to do that let alone know where to start.

If you listen carefully to darren during the course ALL of the information is there.I just hope he doesn't teach too many guys from Fife as I want it all to myself (Darren if you read this I'm Joking NOT)

Im off to price a full bathroom tomorrow and start another job on Monday.I heard myself tell the customer that the job on Monday will be half a day.I can cut around a sink in a couple of minutes thanks to my new found skils whereas previously there would have been much gnashing of teeth and breaking of tiles.

I think other courses will need to go some to beat this one

Keep up the good work Darren

slinky

Just completed a course at northeast tiling training,and would just like to thank darren and tracey,2 very helpfull and friendly people,the course was brilliant, very informative and to the point with every aspect of tiling covered ,A must do course for beginners or even experienced tilers who want to improve their techniques,as nothing is left out..Thanx once again guys,,all the best colin p ,