Hi All,
Simon here, just joined, 1st posting.
Just completed Darren and Tracey's 3 week tiling course - really impressive from every aspect - value for money, skills, practice, professional knowledge, expertise and general essential tips and info on how to survive and succeed in the tiling industry.
I chose the 3 week course as I wanted to gain every possible opportunity to practice before going "live". For me it was really worth the extra investment - week 1 was all about the knowledge and information download - it's really detailed, really quick, fast tracked and intense, week 2 is the opportunity to practice some of the theory, and week 3 for "Swift Steve" and I (Hi Steve) was the opportunity to really get to grips with the tools, materials and techniques. We covered everything from really intentionally difficult round the sink cuts to "speed tiling". Darren challenged us to 30 mins on our 1st run - best of 3 got our time down from 21 minutes down to 13!!!!
I signed up for the multi skill, I'm doing the bathroom plumbing and plastering courses next. I've been popping my head round the corner saying hi to the lads in the plastering and it looks really good - I'm really looking forward to it. Derek looks like a really good instructor - I'll let you know how it goes.
Finally, I appreciate all walks of life decide to retrain for all their own reasons, my background is corporate blue chip professional buying, I'm retraining to pick up new skills, I've researched every training facility nationwide, I'm experienced in making business critical decisions and investing large sums of money really cautiously, I do not waste time or suffer fools, or spend money without considering the implications or consequences. I met a couple of lads recently who've lost thousands from dodgy training centres taking deposits and running off.
I have no concerns at all about choosing NETT for my training and if you'd like any more detailed information (I'm blue - hence the log in name!!!, will make sense to those who've done the course), please do not hesitate to contact me and I'll happily talk you through it.
Darren and Tracey run one of the most professional value for money businesses and training courses I have ever experienced and enjoyed - Thank you both.
1st job out the gate is mother in law's new kitchen - large pattern mosaic travertine - with circular cooker hood to negotiate!
hope the above helps, anyone wants anymore info feel free to contact me.
Thanks, Simon.
Hi to all the guys I met - best of luck to all of you.

Thanks for the feedback and welcome to TF.

Hi and welcome

Glad you enjoyed your course

Thanks for the post simon, I will see you next week for the plumbing, Im sure steve will be on here shortly with his review, he had a big grin on his face all the way through until you beat him in the timed race to get the tiles on the wall in the speed challange, still he took it gracefully
Best of luck with the mother in laws job this weekend
Regards
Darren

NETT 9 DAY PLASTERING COURSE - EXCELLENT!!!

Hi All, just to let you know I've just completed the 9 day plastering course at NETT. Firstly I should say that prior to walking in I've never held a plasterers trowel in my life!!! So although completely green from a skill perspective, I am very particular about high standards of finish and really annoyed about poor finishes I've had to suffer on work people have done for me in the past.

I was amazed at how quickly Derek the instructor had us working the trowel and skimming to a really high standard. I'm really impressed with the course content, the speed and how Derek imparts his 30 years of skill, technique and experience in to my hands and work during the 9 days. The 4 day course covered all of the essential and critical knowledge and theory required, with an appropriate amount of practice, the 2nd week really builds on that skill, and I was amazed at how much cleaner, quicker and efficiently I was working, as were the other lads around me. Some of us had no experience, some were already tradesmen looking to hone and improve skills. I don't deny that plastering is a skill that takes years to master, and I do not want to take anything away from the many skilled and time-served plasterers making a successful professional living, however I am really amazed and pleased with what I have learnt. I am really conservative and generally won't take anything on unless I am super confident. I initially only did the plastering course to supplement the tiling in case I needed to do repair work etc - I had reliability issues in the past getting people to turn up so learning the basics myself means I don't have to rely on others to get on with the tiling element. You could argue that this course is a bit belt and braces just for that, but having completed the course, I now intend to advertise plastering as a skill as well, so that should give you an indication of how effective this course really is.

If you're in 2 minds about the Friday course, all I can say is that I will only need to do 1 job relating to what I learn and the course will have paid for itself. I never thought twice about coving but 1st job for tomorrow is to knock up a model example like Derek's of potential designs - that itself is worth its weight in gold from an advertising and marketing perspective.

Thank you Derek - really impressed, can't wait to get out there working, 1st job is a massive double length through room - artexed walls and ceilings, all high ceilings, not a straight wall to be seen, real pig of a job, should be a challenge but nothing I'm not capable or skilled to tackle thanks to what I learnt.

NETT is a highly professional training centre - I'm returning next month to do the plumbing course.

Hope that helps, thanks, Simon.