De-skilling

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Rossi46

Rossi46

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I'm one of many plasterers that have given plastic a go (speedskim, plazziflex) and would rarely go back to the traditional way of skimming because when you get the method right it takes out so much of the usual effort involved.

I can't help thinking while I'm doing it though that it's essentially making good quality skimming even more accessible to the undercutting chancers and coursers. I think it's beginning to level the field out a bit as it's made skimming a whole lot easier.

Am I talking **** or could there be some truth in this?
 
Just changed my other thread because of this....you're right.

The walls aint getting flatter, but most numpties can take trowel marks out of plaster with a plazzi....
 
Was talking to my mate about this last week. All these tools are great for us but if it keeps going the way its going then basic diyers will be able to put a half decent finish on ceilings walls which will drive our prices right down, as if there not down far enough. The introduction of unifinish is another step in that direction.....
 
Yes , I agree, these tools are reducing the need for skil,its now bang on heavy coat, speedskim, sponge float, speedskim, flatten with plazzy, done...
 
Let em use uni-finish and when it all falls off they'll ring proper spreads up to do the job right :RpS_thumbup:
 
**** me men!! I no it's Monday tomorrow but Comon let's not all slit out wrist at once... Why not diversitize... Specialise in a certain form... These numpties will never be able to master plastering in every form ie Lime, renders etc etc etc, I mean Comon now I've been doing this for 10 years and new from day one that there will come a point that skimming, boarding and dabbing will become so easy that it won't be viable for a pro to do it. Give a man 2-3 weeks he can put a wall on and handle it to an exceptable finish. I think the key is Lime or traditional plastering and also the new age stuff acrylic's, vanician etc, the bit in the middle anyone and everyone will be able to do at some point.

cheer up gents!
 
It's not about being down or slitting wrists. It's about thinking ahead and realising before your run ragged working for a pittance competing with people who have little or no training. Realistically 90% of domestic work is skimming. Skimming is being made easier with advancements in tools it figures that skimming will at some point be classed as semi skilled due to it being made easier therefore rates will drop.

I'd love to specialise but rendering in this country your pissing in the wind. Lime work is rare as hens teeth, marble the same. Acrylic work is a sham at present and that bandwagons well and truly full.

You always have to think ahead and if possible be one step ahead of the competition. If realisation is that step then its still progress.
 
....but skimming is all anyone wants nowadays.

Trying to niche in this game seems like being a drop of water in the sea....
 
Neither would I. But having all the skills it takes to be a "plasterer" doesn't help when your pricing for skimming work.
 
Rossi46 said:
Neither would I. But having all the skills it takes to be a "plasterer" doesn't help when your pricing for skimming work.
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Yeh but having all the skills as a rocket scientist doesnt help when your pricing for skimming so you need to let people know you do rocket science aswell :)
 
Yep I agree...

I put a bit too much on and was getting caught out (I was still recovering from my illness) my mate jumped behind me with a plastic and he did an ok job....

So yes de skilling but I also agree that if you can only skim then I would be worried... I would be looking at addig more skills to my bow :-)

Danny
 
Once more into the fray
Into the last good fight I'll ever know
Live and die on this day
Live and die on this day
 
dont you think all trades suffer these things??....i hear plumbers wingeing all the time since the introduction of the plastic pipes..."plastic plumbers" as they call them. Decent DIYers can do loads of joinery stuff, skirting,architrave, hang doors, laminate flooring etc.......you would think painters would be out of graft cos loads of people can paint...............like already said if all you can do is skim. your probably just a diyer anyway
 
Artisan998 said:
dont you think all trades suffer these things??....i hear plumbers wingeing all the time since the introduction of the plastic pipes..."plastic plumbers" as they call them. Decent DIYers can do loads of joinery stuff, skirting,architrave, hang doors, laminate flooring etc.......you would think painters would be out of graft cos loads of people can paint...............like already said if all you can do is skim. your probably just a diyer anyway
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Yep defo true, not so much plumbers that as I think with all the boiler repairs etc it one of the only recession proof trades, wish I trained in that instead tbh. All the other trades will also be taking a big hit with all these 4 week courses etc, I've heard you can get your part P in 4 weeks.
 
A couple of sparkies I know say they get loads of calls from random people who have rewired houses asking if he'll go check it and sign it off for them.........wtf...:-0
 
the outlook for the near future at least is bleak, bleak as fook. the main prob for us forign labour and chancers aside is that every bods is skint. plastering is never the main job when people plan work they are having done, how many times have you been to price a job and they had a brand new kitchen or bathroom fitted and want you to plaster round it? i even had people have new carpet fitted days before you meant to be plastering a room.
we get over looked cos walls and ceillings are things that a house is supposed to have any way people want to spend their money on "nice" things that look pretty, and in this economic circumstance we find ourselfs in people are prepared to leave the old walls as they are or just give em a lick of paint or some cheap paper they much rather spend the bit of spare cash on somthing else. our job boomed when everyone thought their houses were never going to stop going up in value, now they all mortgaged up to the tits and in negative equity we are surpluss to requirment and the average home owner will only use us if essential.
to get back to the point of the job getting easier what if plasterers had to be "licenced" like a spark or plumber. the materials we use and the waste we produce have enviromental implications so maybe somthing along them lines like having to show your licence to buy plaster and only licencing people with a proven certificate of competence. i know it would probably cost money to be involved in but would mean for the chancers and part timers it may not be worth it so they can find someone elses job to ruin
 
i got my spark papers (not for testing) but everything else i need to work on houses and i get (infact got one yesterday) calls can i get some work sighned off for some one, yes is the answer if i did the work in the first place if i did'nt then **** off you or whoever did it must be profesinal enough to do the work in the first place and if you're not then what the **** are you doing playing builders anyway, same goes for all trades i walked off a job or two in the past cos mr bloggs thinks he being smart and saving money boarding his house himself and it just been too bad to skim and boards fall off if you tap em. i woul normally say leave em to **** their houses up but its our job it takes. again all comes down to money if people had it to spare they would be more inclined to pay someone else but most people diying out of necessity
Artisan998 said:
A couple of sparkies I know say they get loads of calls from random people who have rewired houses asking if he'll go check it and sign it off for them.........wtf...:-0
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Anyone can do work on electrics if they are competant you dont need any quals to do it you do need to get it signed off by someone who is part P, also you dont need to be fully qualified to be part P it just a testing certificate.
 
yes mate there lots opinion on what quals you need it all well and good till somthing goes wrong then if you zap somone and not followed regs to the T and not got propper quals you ******. not anyone can work on electric legally, anyone can dissconect and remove somthing but you can't add or alter and you certainly can't touch 2 way lighting or a KITCHEN. kitchens were the cause of all the fuss with new regs as an MP'S daughter got zapped and died from someone who thinks they knew what they were doing. youre right it does'nt have to be sighnd off but any spark who is responsable will test what he done to cover his own back. what passes as a person competent in electrics? some one with the nesseary quals training and experiance, its a lot riskier than someone thinking they can do a bit of plastering with out knowing all the ins and outs and there are a lot where electricity is concerned. part p is bollox propper testers will have c&g 2391
flynnyman said:
Anyone can do work on electrics if they are competant you dont need any quals to do it you do need to get it signed off by someone who is part P, also you dont need to be fully qualified to be part P it just a testing certificate.
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Have to disagree steve anyone can do electrics aslong as they are competant, what you and i and a spark considers competant is another thing. Also plumbing anyone can do plumbing hot and cold also radiators anyone can do it. Its always carped on about on here that plumbers and sparks are policed but they are not as such, fair enough gas is but not a lot of plumbers ie bathroom fitters have their gas safe, you will find at a lot of firms they have one guy who is gas safe or Part P will go and sign that sort of stuff off.
 
FFS it aint that bad, im sat in the office doing the returns. One of my best years 11/12.

Your only going to get out what you put in.
 
i pretty much agree m8 apart from you can ge t in trouble with the law if you not competent with the electric and its the quals that prove that competence without them if somthing goes wrong its on you even if you been workin as a spark for 40 yrs without the papers you ******. i talking about soul trading as you say if it for a firm then they can send any monkey as long as they got someone to certify
also people keep calling me steve that is from my surname funny though as i have known a bloke for 15 years now and he still thinks i'm called steve i got fed up correcting him after about 2 years just go along with it now
 
Steve if anything goes wrong the quals wont get you off the hook same as whats been said on here many times, qualifications dont mean you can do the job better than anyone else, it just means you have been trained or assesed to a certain point.
 
i know the quals won't get you off the hook and they alone do not mean you are good at your job but for example mr D.I.Y wants to go self employed, if he chooses plastering worst he can do is **** some walls up and annoy somebody wheather he quailfied or not there is no governing body or health and safty issues with bad plastering.
If he chooses electric as with gas if there is an accident and or injury as a result of what he has done then he is liable to criminal prosecution in the worst case scenario. and if he is not fully up to date with all the required paper work then he has'nt got a leg to stand on.[
claiming to be anything you are not is bad but nobody is going to die from trowel marks or a badly hung door or wonky tiles.
lots of love, steve
 
Someone could die from a badly boarded ceiling with hardly any screws, falling on them, fracturing a gas pipe or screwing through a gas pipe, maybe even not second fixing thermal boards and a fire blowing them off and crushing you lol maybe not solid dabbing round gas pipes, badly applied render falling on them, leaving to many boards stood against a wall at the wrong angle then falling and crushing a kid the list is endless lol. I think most deaths in the construction industry are not due to electric shocks but falls from heights which effects every trade or craft OH just thought a ceiling rose falling on a baby in a pram LOL im sounding like the guys on builders from hell.
 
flynnyman said:
Someone could die from a badly boarded ceiling with hardly any screws, falling on them, fracturing a gas pipe or screwing through a gas pipe, maybe even not second fixing thermal boards and a fire blowing them off and crushing you lol maybe not solid dabbing round gas pipes, badly applied render falling on them, leaving to many boards stood against a wall at the wrong angle then falling and crushing a kid the list is endless lol. I think most deaths in the construction industry are not due to electric shocks but falls from heights which effects every trade or craft OH just thought a ceiling rose falling on a baby in a pram LOL im sounding like the guys on builders from hell.
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are these all your jobs flynnymarra...............:RpS_laugh:
 
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