Getting Started

The plastering industry is a hard industry, some same it’s the hardest trade, but on the same note it is the most rewarding financially and personally.

There is nothing better than having a pint in your local listening to people telling others how good you are, some nights I wonder how I leave my head is that big.

There are many avenues to getting in to the plastering trade some are best suited to school leavers and others are best suited to the mature person.

The first route is when you leave school you do an apprenticeship you will spend 3-5 years learning at first yiou will mainly be mixing up and being a runner passing tools and getting teas ect but this is important as it gives you time to watch and learn. Also when knocking up especially when rendering this will build your strength up very quickly. Plastering is very labour intensive you wont do another job so mentally and physically exhausting.

After the 5 years you will be time served and should have sufficient knowledge to do your own work whether it mean starting your own business or working for a firm.

However the apprentice rout is not really suited to everybody as it means you will not be earning much but if you are a school leaver then its not too bad but if you have kids mortgage then you are going to need to find a different way.

You need to find a plasterer that you can work for preferably at weekends so that you can do your normal job during the week so at least this way you can guarantee that your mortgage is paid. This way you will learn on the job and get the basics. I would then recommend doing a week or two week course in plastering this will then show you the method and theory behind the trade then at the weekends with the plasterer you can get the practice in with the guidance of an experienced plasterer.

Once you have got the experience you will probably start working more and more then before you know it you will be full time on the tools.

You don’t need any paperwork to work in domestic properties but from time to time you will need to go on site and this will need things like CSCS card. When I started I worked at the highbury stadium and they were just introducing the Construction Site Certificate of Safety scheme so I just did my card as a labourer which got me on site.

But after a while the sites started saying that if you’re a plasterer then your card needs to say that you are a plasterer and this is where I needed to start thinking about getting the proper paperwork.

I did an On Site Assessment Test (OSAT) which basically was building a portfolio of my work and having an assessor come out 3 times to watch me work. This was done over 10 weeks and was really simple to do but best of all its funded by the government. This gives you an NVQ2 which is all you need.

So that is that really if your after more advice then go to the forum there are a number of plastering assessors on there who can help.

But the best advice I would give is to try and get on with a plasterer their knowledge will be the best you can learn anywhere. Failing that a training school.