take on an apprentice

[LM Ceramics]

i had a phone call a lad asking if he could i wanted an apprentice it felt abit weird being a 20 yr old lad being asked if i wanted an apprentice anyway he said he tried alot of firms and they all said no i have been tiling 4 years on and off due to the shortage of work i know how hard it was to break into the tiling game i dont know whether i could afford a full time apprentice but i was considering a part time apprentice can they be benifical i know when i was an apprentice at 16 i was useless and thick and just a pain in the ass. im sure all of them aint like me

has anyone on here got an apprentice? any comments appreciated

Lee

[bigandy]

i have had a couple over the years unfortunately one was family and could nt get up!(i only ever sarted at nine so not exactly early) he was a good worker and could have had a future but insisted on turning up late.the next thought he could tile after a couple of weeks with me needless to say fell flat on his face took a week to do five meters in a kitchen,he then asked me to go and sort it out(had to rip em and start again)but his has never put me off i would look again.

btw the best one i ever had was the misses!!!she still helps now and is great at everything but does nt let me go the chippy at dinner.

give the DTI a ring im sure you can get grants

[whitebeam]

You could try a college near you that trains tilers, The students need to find someone to work with for part of the college thing, Not totaly sure of the in'ds and outs of it but give it a try

[Dan]

I'd never want to stop a company growing, even my competition (as they grow stronger, so does the market - therefore you - in most cases) though I'd perhaps consider waiting until you're taking on work yourself (I read you work for a building company yourself?).

It would be a shame to miss out on a good employee, he's clearly keen to learn, so I wouldn't expect much other than that - he'd be asking a lot and could be slowing you down - but you're investment in him will pay off over time. I just think you need to be getting work in yourself to ensure the workload can be split when he starts to get better which means there is a chance you can earn from him. Though if he feels he can get the work himself at that stage then you need to be sure you've built up a good relationship with him and you pay him fairly.

It's easy as an employee to think you're being taken for a ride but if they did a full week (of a tiler getting his own work in) they'd see where the extra cash could be spent. Quoting / advertising (or your own kind of PR) are both things that can take up a lot of time for the avertage tiler with no return. So just make sure if you do go down that road (assuming you want to get out of your site-work for the large firm and start running your own business) you protect your investment and either be straight up with him and show him what it's costing and what you're both getting out of it or manage him well and give incentives and keep him as an employee.

[Fekin]

and If you have no work on give the lad 5000 leaflets and tell him to get posting

[bootsmckiber]

I don't know what your apprenticeship board is like in the motherland,but over here they pay half your wages so a journeyman can afford to take on inexperienced help and train them while only paying half wages as an incentive,worked for me.
Cheer's Mike

[theyomper]

I'm sure that you should be able to get a grant. Years ago I had a girlie working for me and if memory serves me right I use to get about £40 towards her wages a week, she also had a day off for college work. Try the job centre or similar for information.

[Dan]

Be carefull when encouraging this guy to take the other guy on as I'm on the understanding that he's actually working for a building firm himself. And though it's nice to think LM Ceramics has the heart to consider the other guy it may be the wrong thing to do if the outcome ends up with them both out of pocket due to there being not enough work to do.

Fek's is right thought LM. If you're considering going alone then when work is slack you can consider using your new found resource to help your leads increase. Though if you can't do that yourself you'll have nothing to show him; and if he hasn't got work himself he's no use.

Taking on an employee (though we think of an apprentice as extra-despensible (perhaps not with your warm heart LM) is a big big move for a one-man band. It means your way of thinking should mean if the work increases you'll get more 'help' and if it decreases your business may be at risk if you don't dispense the help. Taking on an apprentice can mean extra work, they're an investment.

If you're just thinking of helping him then you'd be a charity and tax-free.

This is business and you pay tax. Don't employ him if you want to help him. Grow your business (not the firm's you work for) for a few months and if workload increases then consider getting help.

[LM Ceramics]

a message for dan

that is brilliant advice from you as always and aswell the rest of the lads on here just thought id clear this up i do run my own tiling business LM CERAMICS and i do have domestic work on aswell as site work subcontracting

infact i have only finished 1 site which lasted for 6 weeks most of the year has been domestic work. I dont contract to this building firm only sub contract so i dont work for them

i have got quite abit of work coming up and i have been really busy since easter.

now i have clarified this up dan now do you think i should consider taking on an apprentice

thanks for all your comments

[Grace'sDad]

Lee - I had the same call yesterday.

SNAP!

[LM Ceramics]

what did you tell him mark you didnt have enough work on