Ric

how many tilers you hook with for a month would be happy you e-mailing them every night etc asking for advice??????? iam quite happy with the course i did and quite confident to go to jobs for people with what i have learned+(bit of practice) Nett course took my money/i learn/do jobs for others/get my money back/start making profit! thats life!!

crocotile

well if nett can teach you to tile in 5 days then that goes to prove my point that tiling isnt hard to begin with,,

some of you on here need to read before you react. i have just jumped on the thread and gave my advice. it was actually aimed at helping people, not ripping courses to pieces.

in answer to rad, how do you know the course trainer is any good?? if he was that good then why isnt he out there tiling instead of teaching..i'll tell you why because, theres more monety to be had teaching gullable muppets with 500 pound to blow....get real will you, a trade is 3 years with a time served pro, not 5 days or 4 week s in a simulated set up with a poor mans gordon ramsey who cant hack it in the real world!! oh wait for it, d h ceramics will now delete the post like he has done with a couple of others of mine. even tho i havent swore, havent been racist, just possibly ruined a paid sponsors ego.

dear dear me come on lads, get a grip...

versatilene

well said croc, As an ex school woodwork teacher, turned general builder, turned tiler (over a period of 30 years) I would generaly agree with you croc; If your a practical person tiling is not too difficult, but to be shown any skill by a good operator is always better than a text book. I also don't quite understand the veneration this site has for teaching centres, there is no control over who sets up and teaches in centres so why should we assume they are a good thing? If we admit the truth, the trade is saturated by crap tilers (as well as the many good ones) mostly churned out by short courses, (you only have to read some of the banal questions asked by 'professional tilers' on this forum to realise this, questions that any pro should know before taking a customers money. We all want to encourage keen people to become tilers, but not to expect an excellent living before they know what they are doing. Sorry if this hurts anyone but it's the truth.

a1tiler

let`s have more from the course providers, this after all is your chance to qualify the services that you offer.

ryanbrown

Personally I'm anticipating a crap slary for at least the next 18 months.

crocotile

you see the problem in life is if we dont conform to a certain opinion then we become extrodited....forums have trends, they have followers and if you speak against it becomes a lord of the flies mentality. its a shame really because you and i are trying to help the same people who critisize us for our alleged outspoken opinions,,,,,,,,,,,,

crocotile

if i had to speak kindly of a course then it would be darren of NETT. at least he only advocates a 5 day course. he is good according to his overwhelming feedback excellent and he believes that you can learn adequatley in 4-5 days rather than paying nearly 2k for 4 weeks. fair play to him, a rebel with a cause

ryanbrown

Tiling isnt hard to begin with - but its challenging to go on with.

No course can guarantee you financial success, and thats why they don't do that - they show you the potential and the rest is up to you.

Even if you tot up the people who make a successful career move - and those that don't - as a way of gauging the success of tiling course it would be a
meaningless statistic because it doesnt take into account that about 35-40% of new businesses startups FAIL generally anyway (within 3 years of starting up) - regardless of what the business is !

So does that tell you much about the quality of a tiling course or an individuals ability to balance the books?
Also, to a small degree some people just want to learn a new skill regardless not neccessarily with the intention of starting a business.

A fairer question would be to ask people if they thought the course was worthwhile for THEM, and let people interprate that how they want.

If an individual finds a course on anything worthwhile, and got what they wanted out of it - surely thats all that matters isnt it?

crocotile

a very fair and valid input from ryan ;0)

gaz4266

Trust me tiling isnt hard, now geometric's, how often would an average tiler do them, not very often, a newbie could easily pass on those types of jobs, and naturals are all about the prep, read all about it and it'll be no different to ceramic and porc.

Is the average course going to teach you about geometrics and naturals no, it will be ceramic, waste of money, of which someone has said could be spent on tools .

james

their doesn't seem to be colleges about teaching tiling properly.
and some peoples work is shocking even after 20 years tiling.
if i could do a college course near me i would i just couldnt find one.

ryanbrown

Getting back to the main thread - books are bit convuluted really, but if you do get one "ceramic and stone tiling" by john ripley is pretty good but it can make it all sound a bit daunting. I can imagine it would get a bit like a mechanics manual - completely covered - but in adhesive.

Also videos/dvds are just a total joke. I watched one and it said you start at the windowsills (I assume you knock one up if there isnt one already there - and re-introduce yourselves to the neighbours) and centre it and work out from there onto the main wall with the groutlines matching up! even if this leaves an impossibly thin strip of tile at your corner!

A combination of a short course and work experience with a good tiler is the ideal situtaion I would say.