Getting into Plastering as a new career

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seplaster

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I am not working at the moment and really want to learn how to become a plasterer and start a new career in construction.

I am 24 and have no experience working in construction at all. What do you think is the best way to get trained up and start work? I am thinking about taking out a loan and doing this 5 week course ( Link Removed ) and then trying to find somebody to take me on. Is that course a waste of time? Are there any better ways to do this?

If anybody is looking to take on a trainee in surrey/london/kent do let me know because I am interested and am a hard worker. Is it worth calling around a few plasterers or would I be wasting my time with no qualifications or experience?

Thanks
 
Call round a few plasterers, maybe even loads of plasterers. They will all probably tell you they aren't taking on because there isn't much work about. That should tell you whether you should take out a loan to go on a 5 week course to learn something that most people haven't mastered after 5 years. Think about it. :RpS_thumbup:

If you're still seriously thinking of doing it - give your money to a plastering company, not a course provider.
 
bubbles65 said:
If you're still seriously thinking of doing it - give your money to a plastering company, not a course provider.
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Thanks for the advice. I thought you needed qualifications to work as a plasterer? I will have a call around later in the week to try to get some experience. Not sure if anybody will listen to me without a cscs card or any experience?

Danny, is training to become a plumber honest advice or tongue in cheek? :RpS_laugh:
 
Theres no work out there mate forget the course you wont recoup the money find a lad and labour on him for 5 years
 
andyR said:
Where You based seplaster?
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Hi. I am based in East Surrey and can get to most places in London, Kent, Sussex or Surrey for 7.30 am every day and will work my socks off. Bit cheeky asking on here I know and wasn't why I started the thread but if anybody is looking please drop me an email. I can start as soon as required.
 
stack shelfs mate it pays more
seriuosly there hardly any work about where al stuggling and the forgighn basterds keep nicking our work dont bother but if ya realy want to then try get with some1 show loads of interest and they will more than happy to train ya up
 
superspread said:
pay me 250 a week for 5 weeks and ill teach you ,thats gotta be cheaper than a course,
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If you throw in an NVQ and City and Guilds then we have a deal mate :RpS_laugh:

Are those qualifications a waste of time in the real world? Sorry if that is a stupid question but I was thinking that you need them
 
kemp said:
stack shelfs mate it pays more
seriuosly there hardly any work about where al stuggling and the forgighn basterds keep nicking our work dont bother but if ya realy want to then try get with some1 show loads of interest and they will more than happy to train ya up
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my spelling crap tonight lol
 
You dont need them to plaster i am working with a spread who been at it for 30 years and he only got a basic cscs card and he's on site plastering and reckons he aint gonna get quals as its a load of crap.
 
those qulifications aint worth a rub espiecally those ones, i done c&g and advanced c&g about 30yrs ago never showed them, youve got to be taught by someone who
knows what they are doing and they can stop and show you and explain which im afraid you aint gonna find nowadays, not some house basher who does one coat of finish doesnt know how to float etc and calls himself a plasterer.
 
I don't really see what you can learn on these short courses especially for the amount you pay you need to be doing it for a few years to get any sort of idea what your getting into.

Shame your not younger you could of got a college course 3 days a week for 2-3 years like myself for free.

I can't say you'll learn to be a trades man with in that time but you will learn the basics and take your skills to be half decent at it, the only thing that it WONT teach you is to work on house hold/site walls/ environment, you'll be on flat and even walls no bigger than 4-5 m2 with no pressure get out in the real world the walls are wonky and bent out of shape and all they say is "it's a plasterers job to get it flat and level"

It hit me like a tone of bricks when I had my first job for friends and family, I had no one to correct it or tell me where I was going wrong I was working to a time limit and it had to be to my highest standard it was horrible but thankfully I had a teacher who helped me a massive amount by talking me through it step by step days before I did the job. Eventually I got better and it got easier and only now after 2-3 years of doing small jobs here and their I feel confident to go to strangers houses to do smallish jobs but I still know my limits.

If I were you mucker get a laboring job with a good spread who will teach you the right way, It will be s**t for a while making teas, lifting a lot of crap and not learning much but it will be worth it in a few years.

I wish I did it through an apprenticeship because I'd probably be twice as good and have a much better idea of what i'm getting into.

Luckily I come out of school with half decent grades so I now have the chance to go into higher education of construction and don't have to kill my self for a living.

Sorry about the essay but that's my 2 pence worth :RpS_thumbup:
 
superspread said:
those qulifications aint worth a rub espiecally those ones, i done c&g and advanced c&g about 30yrs ago never showed them, youve got to be taught by someone who
knows what they are doing and they can stop and show you and explain which im afraid you aint gonna find nowadays, not some house basher who does one coat of finish doesnt know how to float etc and calls himself a plasterer.
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well said mate
 
thought you could get on an apprenticship if you were under 25???... The government are pushing free training so it might be an option. Your more likely to get a start with someone if the government are paying some of ya wages
 
its worth it most plasterers and labouerer with out nvqs or city and guilds will tell you not to. when you finish you go straight into the harder more money work as a plasterer on a job wont teach you as they will have no time and will use you to labour plus you can walk straight on site work on your tod and earn by the meter your choice i say its worth it in the long run mate
 
SEPLASTER welcome . please could you tell me why you want to become a plasterer and not go into one of the other trades such as bricklaying or be a carpenter . People like yourself come on here asking advise about the best way to learn etc but they never give a reason why they choose plastering as a career . Best of luck with it but as others have said its tough out there at the moment and i can only see things getting worse before they get better .
 
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