Part time tilers the death of full timers??? - TilersForums.com

[Highlander]

Well suppose the title will rub a few people up the wrong way but here goes.

I have been established for 4 years and have been tiling on and of for 20 years and I suppose I was one of the part time tilers in my day.

It is not until you become full time that you realise the impact that the part time brigade have on the industry and how many are looking to start up as they think it is an easy way into a trade. The knock on effect is we have a market that is on a severe down turn and it is going to get worse and I mean a lot worse before it gets better. But it is going to impact the full time tiler more than the part timer who has a steady wage coming in and I do have to laugh when I have heard firemen and policemen saying they need to top up their wages by tiling I know if I was either I would not be having a partime job just my opinion but we full time self employed dont get paid holidays or sick pay we just get on with it.

So you may ask where am I going with this well tell you the truth dont really know just having a end of year moan I suppose. I thing I would say is anyone considering going full time at the moment you really need to think very hard beause I wouldnt I would take the steady wage and wait till things settle. I think when you become self employed you get into a rut and you keep going pushing yourself sure you can have some really great times but you will have some really low times as well but that is the joys of being self employed.

So I would be interested in opinons and I would be interested if Dave or Dan could be so good to put a poll onto this post as it would be interesting what the split on the forum is ie full time to partime.

Well all the best for 2009 full ot partime tilers.

Cheers :8:


Gary

 

[DHTiling]

I think the sites closing has had a big impact on the domestic market...

We have loads of site fixers wanting a slice of the cake..so to speak....


this is the same in all trades though and not just tiling....

 

[CJ]

Have to admit that I started out as a part timer myself..........but it was the only way I could back then. When you have the normal mortgage, bills etc etc to pay you DO need a steady income of sorts.

Wot gets my back up though is the increasing amounts of 1-2 week course bods coming out, and they have been given the believe that they can start up full time on there own.........:dizzy2:

Even advertising them on the box ffs.

Next year as we all know and agree will be poo or bust for loads of us, as well as other trades......new bods JUST coming out will suffer first......and then down the line.

So it is going to be sink or swim for a lot of people, and the last thing us full timers want or need is a shed load of newbies and wannabes trying to muscle in........now while that may sound harsh? It is survival of the fittest time.

Just my opinion mind...........:rant:

 

[james]

not sure if i count as full or part time tiler, as i do tiling as part of general maintenance work.
the problem with tiling is you may not do work for the same customer for years at a time as they may not move or update.
by the time they need the tiling done their either lost your number, forgotten how nice you were a nice tradesmen, your moved, your knees/wrists have gone or their going get the kitchen fitter to do it.

tilers always have to look for new clients,
unlike plumbers or sparks who get called alot more regular.
tilers have to have some regular clients like builders (personal view) or its going very hard.

 

[grumpygrouter]

I am not really sure how to class myself within this thread. I started up nearly 2 years with a view to "see how it went". If I had constant work, I feel I could be classed as "full Time" with my accounting being the "Part Time" side of my businesses. Not built up a sufficiently good client base yet to do it every day, every week though. Hopefully that will improve as time goes on.

 

[LM Ceramics]

i totally agree im now a full time tiler i was working with a firm for 3 years then set up on my own in jan this year and its not been easy like cj said it 2009 is going to be a testing year for us all survival of the fittest and no disrespect to anyone who has just finished a tiling course your going to struggle big time ive seen a few threads on here were people who have just finished a course gone straight out bought a van tools abit of advertising id say think about what your doing i would advise anyone who is thinking of setting up now think again im not just saying this for less competition if you have a full time job at the moment keep it

 

[Highlander]

not sure if i count as full or part time tiler, as i do tiling as part of general maintenance work.
the problem with tiling is you may not do work for the same customer for ]

Your Partimer mate :8: I am trying to see who are fulltime tilers and not partime I only do tiling as I have said to customers before when they ask do you do electrical or plumbing I just say whats it say on my van Highland Tilers not plumbers or sparkies. Thanks for your input and you are right Tilers are constantly looking for new work not like as you say sparkies and plumbers that get called out for wee problems or changes. My wifes uncle is a painter decorator and my wife is always on at me why has he got so much work well it sunk in when he said the majority o work is repeat customers that he has built up over the years wanting a living room done one year and maybe bedroom the next year and outside house every 3 years once you have a base like that you will always be busy. Not many customers want their tiles changed every three years.


Cheers.

 

[james]

i think i have seen your work on another site highlander?(high quailty)
sure your be seeing lots of repair work, like the one i saw wickes tile and grout on floorboards!

 

[davy583]

At the minute lad and lasses I am a part timer and I do it around my full time job (that I hate) tiling to me is not an easy way into trade. It is a way off giving my family a better lifestyle and I believe that 1 day I will go fulltime tiling but at the minute the markets just aren’t right. At the end of the day a lot of people are struggling with work issues and at times like this you have to take care of the people closest to you. So if this means that by wanting to build a career for myself in tiling and that upsets a couple of people then ha ho that’s the way I go.

 

[kilty55]

im full time,,started my business june 2008 of the back of a course,i know not everyone here is a fan of these courses but with hard work and plenty after course support i beleive i had a great year last year,7 days a week non stop just hoping iv created enough repeat business to scrape me through 2009 as most of my work i had to advertise non stop for in 2008 with the end of 2008 being a number of repeat jobs and referals.

 

[UKTT Darren]

I know its easy to have a bit winge when things are down a bit , we all do it, what i say to everone on my course is look after yourself and try not to worry about the competition, let them worry about you, just means you have to be focused more and try and hunt out the business, market yourself more, try and find more contacts and potential business, they can only say no, but if you dont ask then your gaurenteed a no, Times are tough for everyone, how many people that are employed at the moment will be going back to work in Jan only to be faced with cut backs and redundancy, i understand your post but try and stick at it and look harder for the business, only the fittest survive, be one of them and dont worry about the people that fall by the wayside. When your self employed your loyalty is to yourself and your family and nobody else. Be possitive and focus on doing well and you will suprise yourself at the results, i found that if i went into do a quote feeling negative then you wont get the biz, try going in with a bubbly positive attitude and see the difference, people buy off people they like, get on with them and youve won the job.
Best of luck to you all for the New Year.

Regards
Darren the motivator

 

[Highlander]

I know its easy to have a bit winge when things are down a bit ,

market yourself more,

try going in with a bubbly positive attitude and see the difference, people buy off people they like, get on with them and youve won the job.

Best of luck to you all for the New Year.

Regards
Darren the motivator

Darren this is not me having a winge this is going to become a reality for a lot of guys and gals. I know how to market and network but if the work aint there it aint there and I aint one to go in not cheerful to customers mate never have never will be been through enough in my life to know how to win contracts/jobs.

I have loads of mates in the trade and other trades and they aint sitting on their butts they are fighting over jobs cutting the margines to get work hardly covering the costs. As you are in the training game it is in your interest to come out with the motivator speach and I am sure you will be finding this down turn as much as everyone and I hope all training schools are letting their students know the reality of the trade and not false promises like I still see one advertising earn 42k.

The reality is that there are lots of people struggling and look at tiling as an answer to getting them out of the hole they are in but reality is it is cut throat and only going to get worse. So it is not a winge its fact and if anyone is thinking it is short term think again. My mate is an upholsterer one of the best, traditional and was having a chat with him and he hit the nail on the head both trades we do are a luxury and the first thing to get cut when people are feeling the pinch is luxuries if people have lived with their cruddy bathroom for 10 years they will live with it for another couple till things get better.

Reality mate not a bed of roses but all the best for 2009.

Gary

 

[Alan.P]

Voted as part time, ex NETT course nearly 2 years ago, a stint in a commercial market after that ( full time ) and various domestic jobs since, will still be working 'full time' ( site co-ordinator ) for the company that employs me for the start of the year or until such time as my own business can support me and mine, I do see tiling as my future, sorry if that upsets some folk.

 

[doit4u]

I do tiling as one of the services I offer under the title of Do.It.4.U. so tile part time although self employed. Most of the people I know do tiling alongside other work i.e. decorating, plastering, plumbing.

Out of interest I looked in the local Yellow Pages that covers Swansea and West Wales and the vast majority of advertisers offer other services. The only place with a significant number that only advertise as tilers are in the Swansea/Neath/Port Talbot area. There is only one person advertising just as a tiler in Carmarthen.

I am wondering if this is a result of the number of chimney pots in an area. Swansea is a reasonable size city so there is probably enough work to work soley as a tiler, however Carmarthen only has a population of 15,000.

I find that people often don't want to be bothered looking around for different trades and once they have confidence in you will often ask you to do additional work. I am quite happy to do decorating, and in fact rather enjoy wall papering. I am also happy to do basic wood butchery as my father would call it - he was a carpenter by trade - like changing a door, putting up a shelf or cabinet. I have also built a fence, cleaned out gutters, assembled flat-pack furniture, power washed paths etc. etc.

I know my limitations and won't do plumbing, plastering, electrics, building and pass on the names of people I know to the customer. In fact I quite enjoy the variety and do a lot of small jobs for older people that others aren't interested in. I wish I could find someone who provided a handy man service near where my father lives {120 miles from me}. He has a flickering tube in the double fitting in his kitchen which probably only needs a new tube and/or starter and there is no way at 87 he could get up a step ladder. He tried a couple of local electricians and they wanted a call out fee of £60+ to even step over the threshold so it will have to wait until me next visit.

 

[doug boardley]

full timer,altho' as a youngster I mainly worked for smallish building firms where we had to turn our hands to all aspects of building. One day I'd be plastering, the next roof slating etc etc. I'm not to sure about all this "survival of the fittest" mullarkey tho'. Personally I think it is just as likely to be survival of the luckiest as well. You may have 2 tilers one exceptional, one ordinary, the exceptional tiler may miss ouy on a major job by a couple of quid a m2, the ordinary quality guy gets it and enough work for the year and to ride out the recession!