From Laborer to plasterer.

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jcrplast

jcrplast

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I wonder how many of your started out plastering by chance.Not something planned, ie you labored for a plasterer and just picked it up that way.I remember my mate richie being told by an older spread that he should get an apprentice to pass on the knowledge.So thats what he did.

Like most youngsters he didn't work out, and i think it put him off getting another apprentice. Little did he know that he already had an apprentice in me, someone who was watching from the start, asking questions, aching to pick up the trowel and give it a go.

I mentioned this to him over a few pints, and i dont think it sunk in, ..or if it did it didn't show lol.

There is a part of me thinking that there is a certain amount of snobbery attached to who is deemed a 'plasterer' , and that i didn't fit the title because i never did the full term in college and collected all the paperwork.I'm not sure if he seen it that way or not.I do remember us taking on other plasterers over the years, and one of them was someone we had met fresh out of college.He only lasted a few days because his finish was not there.I found out from him that he was being payed £90 a day, and back then me on £50.I just couldn't believe he would pay that guy £ 90 a day for work like that, and have me on £50.

What i'm trying to say is i think he looked on people who had done the college work as something more than someone who had picked the trade up on site.

Maybe he didn't want to be seen as not paying the going rate to 'proper ' plasterers ?.

Anyways just interested in how you got started, and your views on anything else.

Feel free to laugh, ridicule, and pick my post apart...kinda getting used to it hahaha.

:RpS_thumbsup:
 
Started with my old man at 17 in 82, at 18 cos I was living at home wanted to do a proper apprenticeship I achieved city and guilds and advanced city and guilds and won apprentice of the year in my final year and I was absolutely sh it at school left with no exams at all.i agree with you tho jc qualifications mean nothing you could be smart up top but no good with your hands, I've got a pal who done a plumbing apprenticeship with the council at the same time,and when he brought his first house 10 years later had to get a plumber in to do his central heating,you've either got it or you ain't and that goes with all walks of life.
 
I went to collage off my own back because my mate was going on that coarse so I thought id go as a laugh I enjoyed it but only lasted a year as I couldn't afford to go but I got in with a plasterer and started labouring for him that lasted 2 days before he wanted me on the trowel to make him some money and he would give me a trade , that's how I started many many moons ago and now I run my own small business just don't give up
 
Confidence is a big thing in any job jcr, I think you lack a bit of this, probably because this guy kept you down when he should of encouraged you,no snobbery in plastering ,its not like business with the funny hand shakes and college ties, it takes a while to get decent people who can do what they say they can do, I have had the most highly recommended tradesmen coming to help me out, some of them my age an older, I knew within 20. Mins, I would have to tell them that the site was been held up for a week or so for some reason.a lie but its easier than a row. I did six months initial training in Ireland in a centre for young trades,only learnt how to back horses ,worked in London labourer and plastering with two great Irish plasterers sadly both alcoholics,they used to say that they would end up working for me as I had the car, tools,mixing drill and the drive, I told them I would never hire them..give yourself a chance and leave the bad memories behind you, I trained four plasterers myself but the last ten years, not one labourer has wanted to learn, even the ones who said the plastered would not pick up a trowel as they feared been ridiculed ,they needed to be men, its a tough world as a sole trader, male or female you need the cojones
 
jcrplast said:
I wonder how many of your started out plastering by chance.Not something planned, ie you labored for a plasterer and just picked it up that way.I remember my mate richie being told by an older spread that he should get an apprentice to pass on the knowledge.So thats what he did.

Like most youngsters he didn't work out, and i think it put him off getting another apprentice. Little did he know that he already had an apprentice in me, someone who was watching from the start, asking questions, aching to pick up the trowel and give it a go.

I mentioned this to him over a few pints, and i dont think it sunk in, ..or if it did it didn't show lol.

There is a part of me thinking that there is a certain amount of snobbery attached to who is deemed a 'plasterer' , and that i didn't fit the title because i never did the full term in college and collected all the paperwork.I'm not sure if he seen it that way or not.I do remember us taking on other plasterers over the years, and one of them was someone we had met fresh out of college.He only lasted a few days because his finish was not there.I found out from him that he was being payed £90 a day, and back then me on £50.I just couldn't believe he would pay that guy £ 90 a day for work like that, and have me on £50.

What i'm trying to say is i think he looked on people who had done the college work as something more than someone who had picked the trade up on site.

Maybe he didn't want to be seen as not paying the going rate to 'proper ' plasterers ?.

Anyways just interested in how you got started, and your views on anything else.

Feel free to laugh, ridicule, and pick my post apart...kinda getting used to it hahaha.

:RpS_thumbsup:
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I too am time served, started as a labby, keep at it lad keep pestering him, but don't get hung up on money or you will trip yourself up there..

When I started I was labouring on one spread @ £50 a day, everything was right all prepped up in front of him, mixing with a stick and podger etc, then 2 more spreads joined us and I was then same I did everying but spread, they never had to wait for anything ever, I then was put on £100 a day because I was more than worth it, they were earning a good crust so was I..

I wanted more I wanted to become a spread so pestered the life out o them to get me a drill so I could prep, mix and also put a few cupboards on, I was to valuable to them as a labby for them to teach me, so I said to them ok I will drop my wage to £40 a day but they have to give me a chance..

The point is you need to show some promise, you need to get everything else spot on first, you need to make it worth his while to teach you..

keep at it you will get there
 
superspread said:
I've got a pal who done a plumbing apprenticeship with the council at the same time,and when he brought his first house 10 years later had to get a plumber in to do his central heating.
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A lot of people seem to look down on trades that work for councils...its as if they couldn't hack it on their own.They sent someone up to my old house to do work fitting a new manhole cover, and bedded the frame in pools of water...i went berserk and told them they should be ashamed, and my 4yr ol son could have done better.I wouldn't let them enter the house.

thebigfella said:
that's how I started many many moons ago and now I run my own small business just don't give up
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Thats all i want/ doing at the moment.

johniosaif said:
Confidence is a big thing in any job jcr, I think you lack a bit of this, probably because this guy kept you down when he should of encouraged you,no snobbery in plastering ,its not like business with the funny hand shakes and college ties, it takes a while to get decent people who can do what they say they can do, I have had the most highly recommended tradesmen coming to help me out, some of them my age an older, I knew within 20. Mins, I would have to tell them that the site was been held up for a week or so for some reason.a lie but its easier than a row. I did six months initial training in Ireland in a centre for young trades,only learnt how to back horses ,worked in London labourer and plastering with two great Irish plasterers sadly both alcoholics,they used to say that they would end up working for me as I had the car, tools,mixing drill and the drive, I told them I would never hire them..give yourself a chance and leave the bad memories behind you, I trained four plasterers myself but the last ten years, not one labourer has wanted to learn, even the ones who said the plastered would not pick up a trowel as they feared been ridiculed ,they needed to be men, its a tough world as a sole trader, male or female you need the cojones
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You hit the nail right on the head with my confidence.I do think he didn't want me to branch out on my own.he would always say good laborers are hard to find.

I know he was scared of letting me go because he would say that old story 'Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; show him how to catch fish, and you feed him for a lifetime....the only thing is he didn't see that as a positive where i was concerned he seen it negative as i would maybe go and earn for myself.

SpankySouthport said:
keep at it lad keep pestering him, but don't get hung up on money or you will trip yourself up there..
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Well we talking a few years back.

My mate has moved to Scotland, because his other half is Scottish and she had family up there.Think her nan was ill so she wanted to be near for that as well.

I look back on those days with appreciation and sadness.I wish he would have opened up more.He wouldn't give an inch in the respect of saying i was on the right track, and i was doing well.

I did take away his same pride and work ethic though...his attention to detail really made an impression on me.I'm a perfectionist anyway, and it can be a kinda curse, in that sometimes perfection isn't always realistic or attainable.

Thanks for the replies...i find people stories in this fascinating.
 
well this thread has surprised me
the 'if you havent got any papers your w@nk' gang must still be in bed
 
I started off roofing with my neighbours building company after I got the sack from working at an opticians (before that I was a lock-keeper at brighton marina for a summer - I am queen of random jobs!). After one week on the roof I knew I wanted to be in building trade. There is no messing about, bitching or owt else ridiculous that you find in most jobs. I found great banter with the guys and if I did something stupid they told me straight up I was being a dick. If I gave them too much cheek I got a dead arm. And nothing has changed when I work with them now!

So 'uncle' Bri would let me tag along and mither him when he was doing any plastering/bathrooms/kitchens/whatever and let me have a day or two labour after which I would pitch up for no pay anyway. Then went on a plastering course as during the year with the guys no plastering companies were willing to take me on. After that I found our steph, and now I work for myself as well as for the original fellas here and there and one other building company in manchester

And then it was now.

The End. :RpS_thumbsup:
 
JessThePlasterer said:
I started off roofing with my neighbours building company after I got the sack from working at an opticians (before that I was a lock-keeper at brighton marina for a summer - I am queen of random jobs!). After one week on the roof I knew I wanted to be in building trade. There is no messing about, bitching or owt else ridiculous that you find in most jobs. I found great banter with the guys and if I did something stupid they told me straight up I was being a dick. If I gave them too much cheek I got a dead arm. And nothing has changed when I work with them now!

So 'uncle' Bri would let me tag along and mither him when he was doing any plastering/bathrooms/kitchens/whatever and let me have a day or two labour after which I would pitch up for no pay anyway. Then went on a plastering course as during the year with the guys no plastering companies were willing to take me on. After that I found our steph, and now I work for myself as well as for the original fellas here and there and one other building company in manchester

And then it was now.

The End. :RpS_thumbsup:
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Happy story part deux ha ha
 
NPS said:
well this thread has surprised me
the 'if you havent got any papers your w@nk' gang must still be in bed
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LOL crying laughing.

JessThePlasterer said:
I started off roofing with my neighbours building company after I got the sack from working at an opticians (before that I was a lock-keeper at brighton marina for a summer - I am queen of random jobs!). After one week on the roof I knew I wanted to be in building trade. There is no messing about, bitching or owt else ridiculous that you find in most jobs. I found great banter with the guys and if I did something stupid they told me straight up I was being a dick. If I gave them too much cheek I got a dead arm. And nothing has changed when I work with them now!

So 'uncle' Bri would let me tag along and mither him when he was doing any plastering/bathrooms/kitchens/whatever and let me have a day or two labour after which I would pitch up for no pay anyway. Then went on a plastering course as during the year with the guys no plastering companies were willing to take me on. After that I found our steph, and now I work for myself as well as for the original fellas here and there and one other building company in manchester

And then it was now.

The End. :RpS_thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Should be just the beginning :RpS_thumbup:
 
Dunno JCR, I'm going to do a couple of jobs for hollywood and then invest the money in real estate and retire by the age of 27
 
I started off years ago working in a bakery icing cakes and someone said ,"ooooooooh i bet your good a plastering". So i thought that sounds good and off i went. Then the other day i was working at a customers house skimming a wall and they said "oooooh i bet your good at icing cakes" :RpS_cursing:.So its back to the bakery next week:RpS_confused:.
 
I learnt on site, I've had 3 lads work with me who were at college and they all wanted to jack college and just learn on site
 
Well this will prop cause a stir but, when i left school i wanted to be a cabinet maker but at the time could not get a start for love nor money cos all the local firms employed father and son if you catch my drift. The firm i finally got a start with at the interview asked me what i wanted to be and i started listing the trades i wanted and he stopped me and said son you have 2 options painter and decorator or plasterer. I didn't even know what a plasterer did but i knew my mother did our decorating so it could'nt be that hard so said plasterer. My dad who was a glass blower told me wot a plasterer was when i got home :RpS_lol: Yes i went to college for 3 yrs in total and got the C&G advanced craft but, of the really good tradesmen i worked with during my apprenticeship only a few had ever been near a college. I think college is a good thing for a broader understanding of all aspects of the trade because i still dip into the knowledge i gained back then and the stuff i learned back then would of taken me years longer to learn had i not gone in my oppinion anyway. I think what college did do was give me more confidence because you were given the opportunity to do stuff that on a building site you may never or rarely come across.
Ultimately though in this trade as with all others really the only thing that matters is the end product and if you can produce the goods your laughing or crying depending on the price :RpS_lol:
 
beader said:
I started off years ago working in a bakery icing cakes and someone said ,"ooooooooh i bet your good a plastering". So i thought that sounds good and off i went. Then the other day i was working at a customers house skimming a wall and they said "oooooh i bet your good at icing cakes" :RpS_cursing:.So its back to the bakery next week:RpS_confused:.
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I started off in a bakery aswell worked there for 5 weeks before i got me apprenticeship and i have been known to say to peep's if you can ice a cake you can skim a wall just remember it won't taste as nice as the cake tho.:RpS_crying:
 
beader said:
I started off years ago working in a bakery icing cakes and someone said ,"ooooooooh i bet your good a plastering". So i thought that sounds good and off i went. Then the other day i was working at a customers house skimming a wall and they said "oooooh i bet your good at icing cakes" :RpS_cursing:.So its back to the bakery next week:RpS_confused:.
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:RpS_lol: If I had a quid for every time.....
 
when i left school in 1963, i wanted to work in the construction industry. at that time things where busy with 10 jobs for every one.
we had a career officer who would come around all the schools to put everyone into employment. he got me placed with a local plastering firm, 6 months probation, then a five year signed apprenticeship. i was very fortunate as the apprenticeship had just been cut down to five years from seven. the first three years you where called an apprentice, the final two you where called an improver.
our wages where very low, but when you became an improver you would come onto the firms bonus scheme. once you qualified you would be on measured work.
 
malc said:
when i left school in 1963, i wanted to work in the construction industry. at that time things where busy with 10 jobs for every one.
we had a career officer who would come around all the schools to put everyone into employment. he got me placed with a local plastering firm, 6 months probation, then a five year signed apprenticeship. i was very fortunate as the apprenticeship had just been cut down to five years from seven. the first three years you where called an apprentice, the final two you where called an improver.
our wages where very low, but when you became an improver you would come onto the firms bonus scheme. once you qualified you would be on measured work.
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Jeez malc showing your age there buddy 66 you still doing a bit these days?

my original gaffa told me about the apprenticeship he went on that was similar to yours, he told me he got a golden trowel award, having never been to college I've never heard of that..
 
malc said:
when i left school in 1963, i wanted to work in the construction industry. at that time things where busy with 10 jobs for every one.
we had a career officer who would come around all the schools to put everyone into employment. he got me placed with a local plastering firm, 6 months probation, then a five year signed apprenticeship. i was very fortunate as the apprenticeship had just been cut down to five years from seven. the first three years you where called an apprentice, the final two you where called an improver.
our wages where very low, but when you became an improver you would come onto the firms bonus scheme. once you qualified you would be on measured work.
Click to expand...

So you will know what indentures are then malc i mentioned these to someone the other week and they thought i was talking about dental insurance ! I kid you not :RpS_w00t:
 
SpankySouthport said:
Jeez malc showing your age there buddy 66 you still doing a bit these days?

my original gaffa told me about the apprenticeship he went on that was similar to yours, he told me he got a golden trowel award, having never been to college I've never heard of that..
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i am 65 and i shall carry on working with my sons.
i did not go to college, the corse at colchester had closed , and i was offered a place on a plastering corse at cambridge. about 50 miles away! an impossable jouney for a fiffteen year old at those times.
the college corse at that time was doing block release .ie every day for 6 weeks.
 
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its a tricky one, if you a crap labourer you never going to get a chance if you a good labourer they don't want you to progress and learn a bit cos they want you to keep making there job easier (shut up and do as your told) i found people were reluctant to help you learn either cos they **** their self and don't know how to teach somone or just want to treat you like a low life so they can feel better about them selfs. either way i did'nt like it but tried to put up with it by looking at the bigger picture. somtimes shot myself in the foot by being pushy or speaking my mind but **** it got there in the end, and am now sat here wondering why?
 
raggles said:
So you will know what indentures are then malc i mentioned these to someone the other week and they thought i was talking about dental insurance ! I kid you not :RpS_w00t:
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when we went to work in europe i told them that i have indenture papers, they told me that they do not recognize a british apprenticeship . and gave me a form to fill in asking what type of jobs i had worked on in the last 6 years!
 
malc said:
when we went to work in europe i told them that i have indenture papers, they told me that they do not recognize a british apprenticeship . and gave me a form to fill in asking what type of jobs i had worked on in the last 6 years!
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I know people from all trades who have had this happen to them and one fella in particular who i remember raging about it cos at the time a young lad who was with him with less experience but had city and guilds did not have to fill in any paper work !!!
 
Spent 6 years training to be a Carpenter 2 of those years spent as a bench joiner then went to night course and gained my HND in construction spent many years running my own building business and had to learn all the trades out of necessity and felt no passion for any of it. Then i picked up a trowel and have been doing it for ten years now and still love going to work every day. I think it's a artistic thing if you have an artistic ability its a very good way to express yourself. Dare I say quite spiritual.
 
Fook me , wait till you've been doing it 25+ years it will soon loose its shine a spirituality. For me only thing artistic now is the way i pull me pants on in the morning with a bad back.:-(
 
did a YTS as a mechanic when i left school, did my two years then joined the army cos there was no jobs, did 12 years then left 2005. had been labouring with my brother-in-law who's a spread during leave periods doing conservatories, so did my 6 weeks plastering course for my resettlement.........:-0.." fewkin courser"...and started for him when i left and got my NVQ 2. he went under after a year so i had to go it alone........fewkin steep learning curve when you've got no one to pull you out the **** but ya sel.......

so got to say that the forum has be invaluable since i joined..............defo enjoy the variety in plastering and its better than iraq's trying to blow me up.....................:RpS_thumbup:
 
Started in 84 on yts followed by 3 year apprenticeship, got all my papers etc, also had another lad work along side us but no college or proper apprenticeship still turned a good lad, I think its all down to working with a good spread whos willing to take the time to teach you properly.
 
I started off as a Labourer, 2in1 squad. Mixing for two quick fellas in there early 40's, hard graft for a 9 stone weakling.
But built up some muscle on rendering jobs humping buckets up ladders then mixing all the gear. First go on a forklift that was sitting there was a dodgy moment but soon got to grips with it. (didnt need a FLT licence in the early 80's) Anyway I got carried away with myself and knocked up to much finnish one morning lol. The spreaders said I had to get it on the walls as they wanted there morning tea break. So by watching them for a few month I said no problem and picked up there gear and got on with it.
Got it on and washed the splatters off my boots then had my break with no complaints off the spreaders.
After that I got moved on to flattening off then polishing for a couple of month, ceilings, walls and reveils. Prior to labouring I was cutting beads and scrapeing floors while on school holidays from being 10 year old. That wouldn't happen nowadays and Health and Safety Certs needed for everything. But that was better than any College or aprenticeship experience.
I later had my own Plastering Buisiness for a few years and had lads that had college, NVQ, or apprenticeships that couldn't get to grips with the job, some infact cost me money, work not up to scratch. One out of college apprentice with NVQ's put a livingroom ceiling on in two goes, half and half ffs. And was still like this until he eventually chucked the job in. Then he got a job Teaching youngsters at College. :RpS_laugh:
Ive faced snobbery on site before as I didn't have NVQ's and such. And I would find it hard getting a job Plaster patching without having paper qualifications if I ever wanted to get my tools out again.
But dont let that stop anyone going for it. Start off working for a local builder first and then go self employed.
 
I started off as a Labourer, 2in1 squad. Mixing for two quick fellas in there early 40's, hard graft for a 9 stone weakling.
But built up some muscle on rendering jobs humping buckets up ladders then mixing all the gear. First go on a forklift that was sitting there was a dodgy moment but soon got to grips with it. (didnt need a FLT licence in the early 80's) Anyway I got carried away with myself and knocked up to much finnish one morning lol. The spreaders said I had to get it on the walls as they wanted there morning tea break. So by watching them for a few month I said no problem and picked up there gear and got on with it.
Got it on and washed the splatters off my boots then had my break with no complaints off the spreaders.
After that I got moved on to flattening off then polishing for a couple of month, ceilings, walls and reveils. Prior to labouring I was cutting beads and scrapeing floors while on school holidays from being 10 year old. That wouldn't happen nowadays and Health and Safety Certs needed for everything. But that was better than any College or aprenticeship experience.
I later had my own Plastering Buisiness for a few years and had lads that had college, NVQ, or apprenticeships that couldn't get to grips with the job, some infact cost me money, work not up to scratch. One out of college apprentice with NVQ's put a livingroom ceiling on in two goes, half and half ffs. And was still like this until he eventually chucked the job in. Then he got a job Teaching youngsters at College. :RpS_laugh:
Ive faced snobbery on site before as I didn't have NVQ's and such. And I would find it hard getting a job Plaster patching without having paper qualifications if I ever wanted to get my tools out again.
But dont let that stop anyone going for it. Start off working for a local builder first and then go self employed.
 
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