Im getting ready to come into the industry full time and have naturally invested a lot of time looking for the right course. The problem for me is deciding which one - ive got three fairly good looking training companies near me, two of them offer up to 8 week courses and one offers up to a 4 week course, all of which claim to give you enough to start you off as a professional.

My question is simple i guess: is 4 weeks sufficient or should i go for 8?

BTW, the companies in question are Able Skills, The Tiling School and STC.

Thanks gents

Hi Bushwacker,

Welcome to the forums.

If you are looking to enter the trade at a good level a 4 week course is sufficient enough and will give you a high understanding of most situations and enough confidence to start work straight away.

We also cover business start up in depth on all of our courses and have specialists in to deliver this aspect of the course.

We have some fantastic offers on at the moment on our 4 & 6 week courses,

4 week course / 2 weeks Free accommodation / Free 1 week Plastering Course

6 week course / 6 weeks Free accommodation / Free 1 week Plastering Course

If you would like any further information, please call the centre on 01903 739 407 and we will get a copy of our 2009 / 2010 course prospectus sent out to you which explains in detail every module that you will cover.

All the best

Thanks Dan. Ill give you guys a call next week - ill probably come down for a chat as well.

Hi Bushwacker,

I look forward to your call, you wont be disappointed with the training facility and you will also have the chance to meet the tutors and have a chat to the students who are currently on the course.

All the best

Bushwaker Listen i think you should have a look at the 8 day tiling course in newcastle NORTH EAST TILING TRAINING not as mnay days and alot cheaper than these 4 - 8 week course. i spoke to NETT before i made my decision was about to spend a couple of grand on the ableskills course but once i had read comments about Nett i phoned them up and made my desicion.. give them a phone mate..

Originally Posted by Rissyboi

Bushwaker Listen i think you should have a look at the 8 day tiling course in newcastle NORTH EAST TILING TRAINING not as mnay days and alot cheaper than these 4 - 8 week course. i spoke to NETT before i made my decision was about to spend a couple of grand on the ableskills course but once i had read comments about Nett i phoned them up and made my desicion.. give them a phone mate..

Totally the opposite end of the country mate, it's a 5 hour drive to there.

The 5 hour journey would be worth it and still work out cheaper

Cheaper because it's an eight day course and not a 4, 6 or 8 week though?

Only I think he was looking for a 4 or 8 weeker and he's not that far from Diamond, that's all I mean mate.

Also an 8 day course will not get you anywhere near competent enough to go for your NVQ Level 2, as I see you are looking to go down this route by your post in the NVQ section of the forum.

8 Day courses are fine for a taste of what the trade involves and for DIY purposes.

As Dan said the reason it is cheaper is because it lasts 8 days not 4-6 weeks, and as I am sure you will appreciate you can not cram into 8 days what you will cover in 4 weeks.

All the best and good luck

Learning depends on the teacher, and how its delivered, our course is certainly no way a diy course, all courses are entry into the trade even your longest course as everything you can teach in the training centre is artificial, longer courses stick more tiles on a wall, you dont actually learn that much more if any, once you know how to cut and shape, set out properly and tile walls and floors, then sort out your backgrounds, the rest you need to learn out in the real world, i usually let my feedback on here do the talking for me as i have by far the most happy people that are confident, most of which are out there in the tiling world now, Just had a young lad on doing a plumbing course, came from a year long course at college, didnt even know how to install the sanitary ware, so long courses doesnt mean that they are the best,
like i said before its down to the tutor and im in my 5th year now of personally delivering the course at my training centre, so i know how to get the best out of peolpe and my methods are extremely quick and effective.

If people are really lacking in DIY skills and have no confidence then i agree that a longer course would be better, but you should be aware that if you are that kind of person to start with, you maybe should think twice about a career in this tarde as a self employed tiler, you have to be a thinker to solve problems on your own and be very driven to do well

Ive seen loads of people spend there money on long courses and short courses just to find out that tiling isnt for them, at least with a shorter course your wouldnt waste as much if that was the case,

Totally agree with Darren on this, you learn a great deal on his fantastic course but its not untill you get in the real world with real situations that you start to learn, and imo i think you have to be naturally pretty good with your hands and have an eye for this job.

Hi all,

I was not implying that the 8 day course at NETT is just a DIY course, simply stating a fact that after 8 days in a training centre you would not be competent enough to apply for the NVQ Level 2 qualification.

It is wrong for Darren to imply that the only extra thing you will do on a longer course is "stick extra tiles on walls", this is not the case at all. We cover every aspect of the trade in detail and all of the modules included in the course are delivered both practically and the theory to ensure students have in depth knowledge on what they are actually doing.

I would agree with Darren that any training environment is simulated, however if you are going to deliver simulated training then the facility has to be set up correctly to reflect a real working situation.

The working areas that we have set up at Diamond are the most realistic environments possible. For instance all bathroom & kitchen areas are built out of solid block and render ( not chipboard or other types of wood ) with fully plastered ceilings fitted with recessed spot lighting and full size doorways, the bathrooms all have fitted suites inc toilet & cistern / basin & pedestal / full size bath. Kitchen ares are equipped with sockets that are built into the walls / fitted full size work tops / full size kitchen units, not battened out areas as an example of where the furniture would be. All of the bays are set up as full rooms with 4 walls, not 3 walls and with 2 windows in each bay. The reason for having 4 walls not 3, is that students have to learn how to make sure that all tiles meet consistently in every corner of the room. Correct me if I am wrong on this but I have never come across a bathroom with 3 walls and no door, I have only seen these set ups in tile showrooms as demonstrations.

I would also be curious to know how students would learn to prepare uneven walls prior to tiling, if the walls are made out of wood. We teach students how to prepare walls with fast setting renders / bonding plasters and multi finish plaster if necessary to achieve an acceptable surface to apply tiles to. We also use acrylic and SBR primers prior to fixing tiles, all things that you cant do with wooden bays.

When it comes to the more in depth aspects of the trade, such as Tanking Systems / Uncoupling Membranes / Expansion Joints / Natural Stones / Mosaics / Backer Boards etc this is all delivered practically using real materials not tutor discussions and lectures, as I am aware some centres do. The only way you can learn how to use and install these types of materials is to actually install them in realistic situations.

I do not want to get into a public argument with another centre on here, but I have to say that the list of things that Darren is claiming to deliver within 4 days would be physically impossible to deliver in depth / practical and correctly. Our head tiling tutor Sam has been teaching this trade for 8 years now and would struggle to develop a scheme of work that would incorporate all of this in 4 - 8 days.

We are also accredited by EDI and to my knowledge the only Tiling qualification awarded by them is Level 1 Wall Tiling Skills, Unit NAO73, yet it claims on NETTs website All of our courses are accredited by Aset / EDI at level 2, I would suggest revising this as it is not on EDIs scope of qualifications.

I would also like to point out that the tutors at Diamond have all undertaken relevant teaching qualifications and the company continue to promote and foster a staff development programme and all members of staff undertake regular training updates as and when revised guidelines become available. We employ 2 full time Internal Verifiers, to monitor the delivery of training and qualifications that we have on our centre scope. I would like to find out what gives someone that right to deliver training if they do not hold any qualifications, as I am sure you would expect if you attended a college course that the tutor would be qualified accordingly to deliver training on that trade. For too long now ex trades people have assumed that opening up a training centre and delivering short courses is a quick money making scheme and it is not the case. In order to run a professional facility, you have to have the right tutors / facilities / systems and scope to deliver at a very high level.

I am not taking anything away from NETT or 8 day courses, they are great for their purpose but are not professional level courses and as much as Darren would disagree on this, I have seen by looking at the pictures on NETT website that the set up of the facility ( if they are up to date ) would not allow any tutor to deliver the training correctly.

I hope that this post does not cause any offence, especially to Darren as this is not my intention and although I have used NETT as an example I am only working from what I can see on their site. The reason for this post is to put an end to the assumption that all longer courses are able to deliver are repeat techniques that can be achieved in 8 days.

All the best