A year in the life of a new Tiler.

**Sean Kelly** · 16-01-2009

I have written this thread so that it may give an insight of what you may expect your first year to be like as a new tiler:

It’s now a year since leaving my 4 week tiling course at ‘ Tradeskills4u’ (see my review in the Tiling Courses Feedback section of this website). I started off my new career with buying my various tools . Job number 1 was tiling my own kitchen. It was only a very small job, but it did involve tiling around a window. My only mistake was that I bought a 1ltr tub of Blue star for £5.99, then having to buy another one because it did not go very far. Little did I know that a 10ltr tub would have worked out cheaper.
A couple of weeks later and I got my first real paying job. Of course I underestimated on the price, but at least I was working. It was a full kitchen & floor including a bit of patch plastering. The customer was very happy and I got a little tip. The job took a lot longer than I had expected, but I worked very long hours and a weekend to finish it.
My business cards arrived and anyone who sees them are very impressed. I took them to all the tile shops in the area. However, the tile shop nearest to where I live could not display them because I had no real tiling experience. This was fair enough, but I plan to visit them again with my portfolio of badly taken pictures of jobs I’ve done over the year. Topps Tiles have been my biggest source of customers by far. I am now a known face and their knowledge has really helped me. They are a great bunch of lads & one girl.
Next I did a mates kitchen & small WC (you know, the room where there is just a toilet). This small room was an absolute nightmare. Very deceiving and very cramped. This took ages to tile as the walls were covered in pipework and I had nowhere to put my tools. Lots and lots of cuts and lot of running up/down stairs to the wet cutter. I finished it and again very pleased with the work. This friend of mine put me in touch with a sub contractor and I worked June-July on building sites. Very low pay, very long hours and lots of travelling. Working on new builds was good, but working on old council flats was depressing. I was being told to do things that I was told not to do in training school. i.e. tile over flaky paint and grout a couple of hours after tiling! Because I was tiling the correct way it meant it was taking me 3 days to do what the Polish guys were doing in 1. My wage was now £50 a day. I was leaving my house at 05:30 and getting home at 21:00. Sorry, but I had to pack it in after 2 months. I did not work over the Summer holidays as I could not find any work. I advertised in the local paper and the parish magazine with no luck. I popped into Topps, they said they were handing my cards out but I was not getting any calls. As soon as my kids went back to school the phone rang and I was back in business again. A job here and a job there.
In October I was very lucky to get a job with a tiler that needed a tiler in London. He advertised on the forum a couple of months earlier, but when I phoned him he had already found someone. He kept my number and called me. I learned a lot from him, and I did not mind the long hours working with him. A brilliant boss with 25 years of tiling experience. He would tile a wall in the time it would take me to lay 10 tiles. His London work dried up and I was alone again.
I had a couple of jobs In the pipeline and one of them was a big (well big for me) job in London. 30sqm of porcelain to be laid 7 stories up on a terrace in December. Tiling in the cold was an experience. It was only just above 5deg and the adhesive was taking days instead of hours to go off. Due to the conditions and the location of this job I had underestimated how long it would take me. I finished it before it got really cold.
I have had no work for a month, but again there is work on the horizon. I am now getting calls from people that I have been recommended to – which is nice. It has been a tough first year, but I chose this career and I love what I am doing. In this past month I sorted out all my paper work and accounting. I use Microsoft Accounting (the free version). My car is still a golf, but I am looking for a car or estate that will carry all my tools instead of making 2 trips. I have only managed to survive due to my redundancy, but it is very very tough out there. I am not ashamed to say that in one year my profits are just over £3,000. Bearing in mind that I have had to buy many tools over the year and my travelling expenses are quite high I feel that I have done quite well. I wanted to keep this tale as short as possible and hope that you have found it interesting. Cheers Sean

Forgot to mention that "TilersForums" has definitely been my greatest source of wisdom over the year. If I had to pay for this service then I would definitely set up a DD with my bank. So a big 'THANKYOU" to all you guys & girls out there. You are a lifeline and an abundant font of knowledge. Thanks again.

**Wow Tiling** · 16-01-2009

well done for sticking with it mate. all new or wanabe tilers should read this and get a real
insite into the real world , as i said well done mate and all the best for this year

**burncross** · 16-01-2009

yea well done and stick at it!

**Derry** · 16-01-2009

very interesting read mate. thanks for sharing.

and as above - well done for sticking in there...

**davy_G** · 16-01-2009

Sean, well done for posting an honest and sobering account of a first year tiling. Its not easy but well done and keep at it.

**Mosaic Girl** · 16-01-2009

What a cracking post!!! Brilliant.

and good on you for hanging in there, it'll pay off, all the signs are there. Fabulous.

**Dave** · 16-01-2009

I enjoyed reading that sean...and i am happy that tilers forums.co.uk have helped you out....on your journey...

CJ · 16-01-2009

Nothing like working for yourself........but it is tough out there.

Keep at it Sean

, and

cheers

**Prem Tiler** · 16-01-2009

great read Sean. How you managed to live on £3000 I do not know I take my hat off to you!

**doug boardley** · 16-01-2009

onwards and upwards, well done Sean!

**Lucas 2** · 16-01-2009

Nice one Sean! Good read and you must have learned a lot from the guy with 25 years experience, that's priceless! I'm now in about year 3 of self-employed tiling but I would say there have been fewer jobs to quote on since last summer. It must be even harder for people starting now than it was for me. Keep fighting!

**div** · 16-01-2009

good on sean i hope ur 2nd year is better for u an ur family...keep at it mate ...p.s try ur local council or housing associations for any sub work mate best off luck

**frogeye** · 16-01-2009

That's two cracking posts I've read from you today Sean. Well done!
I wish you all the best in your profession.

frogeye

**LM Ceramics** · 16-01-2009

im glad you told this story sean it aint easy being a new tiler ive set up last year only having a few years experience in tiling and i was set up on my own at 19 i knew instantly that would be an obsticle but ive stuck at it and last year i was near enough busy all year with a decent turnover and have now 5 weeks work ahead of me ive had my tough moments believe me sometimes you question what your doing but thats the journey through self employment

as the previous post says " NEW AND WANNABE TILERS TAKE NOTE" dont mean to sound harsh but i see alot on the new members posts where people who are going to get van and tools before they have even took a course well this is what your going to expect and i think sean is a glowing example of the hard work that should be done

all i can say well done mate keep it up