1st Job: What a crazy nightmare!!!

[Lawrence147]

Hi All

This was my first job and I feel like I've been 10 rounds with Tyson.

I started 2 weeks last Wednesday on a 15 year old house doing the main bathroom walls and floor and ensuite floor. The cust wanted porcelain 30 x 30 in the ensuite, 60 x 30 travertine on the Main Bathroom walls and 30 x 30 ceramic in the MB floor, which he bought with my trade discount.

I prepped the ensuite floor first down to level plywood then tried to fix tiles under the skirting (which didn't work) Problems started when the customer spotted a couple of these tiles were not level and I pulled them up and levelled them. The previous tiles were fixed under the toilet and (as I didn't know how to dismantle this) I slid tiles under, which looked cr*p! Also, as I followed the old tiles (same size) I didn't mark out and ended up with small strips by the door (Luckily, there's a wooden step that allowed me to line up and grout easily. All this took me until last weekend (27th Sept).

Then I started the walls in the MB. Tiles came away easily and looked to be held on by tubbed addy. Stupidly, I tried to fix tiles on the old addy. (I now know how to prep walls properly with help from reading the previous posts from you guys) This made my job so much harder as tiles went up uneven - I tried to straighten them up but missed the odd one or two, which the customer picked up.

When I got to the wall with the toilet and pedestal, I initially tried to slide tiles in behind, but they looked rubbish and threw the spacings out, so I have dismantled both, making the wall a lot easier to tile. (I understand that I need new washer sets for the fitments and will get them)

While I have been doing this, the customer has continued to respace tiles I have fixed and put wedges in where spacers should be, sometimes in fromt of me. I haven't reacted against this as he said I may get referrals from him (not now!) and in some cases, he has been right in what he has done. I just haven't spotted it or not dealt with it in time.

Finally the MB floor - took my battens from the walls just above the floor and took the tiles off. The old addy looked to be some old rapidset that was a b*tch to get off. My wife (Yes she helped and even enjoyed it - part time apprentice ) and I spent all day Saturday firstly trying to take ply off the floorboards and when that was too slow, hacked the addy off the old ply. After priming, started laying at 7pm Sat and got 6 tiles down so I knew where my wall cuts would be.

This morning, cust starts moaning at me that his friends laughing at him as I've taken so long and they have had solo tiler doing the job in 2 - 3 days.


So finished the floor today (levelled and spaced correctly) and trimmed the door to allow clearance.

Sorry, I know I've written 'War & Peace' but I just feel angry, frustrated that I have seriously undercharged on the job as a whole, shattered, etc...

Please can anyone give me any tips, advice or help as I DID NOT come into Tiling to be a cowboy and I know I have a lot to learn from this trade.

Thanks a lot

Lawrence.

BTW here are some pics of the work in progress - I get pics of the MB grouted and silliconed tomorrow.

[cornish_crofter]

Lawrence

Hi and welcome to the forum.

You've come into this in the same way I have. The temptation is there to bite off more than you can chew.

This is clearly a big job for your first, and you will learn heaps from it. Unfortunately you will not make money from it.

It seems the customer is quite pedantic. I've had a few of these. Treat him as your equal and he will continue to respect you. I suspect you've got someone who is probably quite practically minded, he knows your struggling a bit, but also knows you're working hard to get it right, which is why on the one hand he doesn't want to upset you but he is also keen to see the job looking right at the end.

This is what I would do:

1) Finish this job, take your time. You may have to put back other work to do this. It is important to get this one right. Accept that you may well be working for below minimum wage on this one.
2) Reasses where your strengths are. I personally hate decorating, so I avoid these jobs. Tiling may not be for you at the moment.
3) Move on from this one - lessons learned.

All the best

[CJ]

Good advice Cornish.

Take your time and get it right. We all have done it in the past........and still do now sometimes under estimated on time...........then your'll get jobs that go the other way..........in/out cash in back pocket.

Live and learn from it

[Paul72]

I feel sorry for you mate! I'm just on with my first paid job, just 6M2 kitchen splash back and that took me all day sat and half a day sun (grouting this fri). I thought one day no probs!
There is no way i would have taken a job like that to start (though i am part time) so hats off to you there.
Just take the positives with you and learn from them, you'll be a better tiler from the exp.

[DaveCSC]

Keep your head up mate. The main thing is that you have kept at it and saw the job through which is the sign of a good workman. As others have said a lot of people under estimate the time it takes to complete work at one time or another so nothing to feel bad about there. Just keep coming back to the forum for help and advice as there are a lot of genuine people on this site who want to help people new to the trade. If you prefer to discuss any issues at any time feel free to phone the centre and talk to our tiling tutor.

You may not have earned a lot of money off this job but that first job is out of the way and tyson ain't that hard anymore. And hopefully you have some good pics for your portfolio.

[simhopper]

as much as i hate awkward customers, from your statement above i feel that you have let the customer down

is it his fault for the mistakes made by yourself?

i think this is the case of running before you can walk

we have all been there before

[kilty55]

preparing the room properly in your quote and making sure all walls /floors are sound will help enormously before starting,,also organisisng a plumber to remove all toilets sinks etc will ensure better tiling as oppose to squeezing tiles into difficult areas mate,chin up and learn from it we all make mistakes

[Oli]

Make the negative experiance youve had into a posetive mate, look at is as a learning point, you've now got a bit of a benchmark to judge how long a job is going to take you.

Dont take on more than you think you can handle, you dont neccessarily have to knock the job but maybe if you get another like this then see if another tiler wants to come in on it with you if the £ allow.

Dont beat yourself up about it mate, chin up and keep plugging away.

[graham31]

Originally Posted by simhopper

as much as i hate awkward customers, from your statement above i feel that you have let the customer down

is it his fault for the mistakes made by yourself?

i think this is the case of running before you can walk

we have all been there before

think Lawrence knows he's made mistakes and bit off more than he can chew here,some words of wisdom i think he was looking for.

onwards and upwards mate

[whitebeam]

Don't let customers dictate to you, They believe everything B&Q staff tell them

[Highlander]

Hi mate and welcome to the forum.

I have to say that your customer has every right to pick up on any mistakes they are paying their hard earned cash for their dream finish. People forget that we are here to provide a service for the customer and by them employing you to to provide that service they expect you to deliver not for you to practice on their home.

So lesson learned you will now know to look at every job from now on and this will have been an extreme learning curve for you. Everyone gets the nightmare jobs some more than others but the main thing you learn is preperation is the key to doing the job correctly.

After a while your confidence will come and if you get the customers coming in and being annoying you will be able to tell them to sling their hook with a smile due to health and safety

So you will not probably make much on this job if anything you need to take it on the chin and I would buy the customer a bottle of wine when completed. I have done this with some customers especially if it is a new build or customers first home and you would not believe repeat business I get and recommendations.

So for next job look for problems and if you have any querys just come onto the forum and ask questions we are here to help .

Highlander

[cornish_crofter]

Originally Posted by whitebeam

Don't let customers dictate to you, They believe everything B&Q staff tell them

Whitebeam - respect to you sir as a top rate tiler, but to be fair I don't think the customer's dictating to him.

By Lawrence's own admission, some of the issues that the customer has interfered with needed correcting. I don't think any of us would want the customer to sit back and get a job he's not entirely happy with as a result, and that's a view direct from Lawrences opening post. He probably thinks he's helping.

I suspect that Lawrence feels under seige as it seems that everything is going wrong. I know I've been there, and had I had the guts to go on a forum such as this one, as Lawrence has and give a realistic account of what I was dealing with, I may have helped myself a lot more.

One of my first jobs was an internal render/dry line and skim. The job lurched from one disaster to another, but it got done. I would never have had the balls to post on a forum about it. Having seen the support that Lawrence is getting, maybe I should have done.

Lawrence has shown extraordinary strength of character in this respect IMO. His job is not going well, he's being patient with the customer (and it seems the customer knows this), he wants to get it done, and he's got the common sense and courage not to let his pride get in the way and ask for help.

He may be in a tad too deep but we can get him through this one with his tenacity and our support - team effort guys

The great thing is that he's subscribed to the right forum .

Oh, and BTW Lawrence, if you have bathroom plumbing issues, my offer of help is there for you.

Best of luck!