This is a long winded reply but worth the read. I did a city and guilds level 2 and 3 just completed to be homest. I was in exactly same situation changed career and no apprenticeships and nt 1 person taking on even if I worked for free as they didnt have th work. My advice if you really cant get on a a labouror or apprentice is try and do little jobs for friends and family for free to get experience. I would say that real world is totally different to nice square wall at college as you have radiators, sockets, architrave that customers dont want to remove so you have to feather or taper off, pipes is another good one. You have different backgrounds not just someone elses plastering to go overwhere 2 coats of PVA wont always work as PVA is normaly just used to slow suction down so you have time to work the plaster to a good finish. Things like gloss or wipe clean silk paint needs something like bond it applied 24 hours before you work on the wall/ceiling as they have no suction and bod it creates the key ad sucks the plaster into the background, PVA would just stick it ontop of the surface and wouldn't key to the background. I plastered a full house for a family member that took 5 weeks as was slow to start with, this was float and set on a small area that could not be boarded, dot and dab, a little bit of floor screeding , my Dads friend is a builder so had 2 month work with experienced Plasterers and did some renderinng with them again totally different to college,following that I had another 2 weeks work from another friend unpaid. Following this I used a web site where you have a profile, people post jobs you search and bid on the jobs if succesful you do the job and they rate your work and that's how I got experience and it is also a good measure to see if your up to standard due to the reviews. I must point out before doing anything with builders I got my CSCS card Trainee in Solid Plastering and registered as self employed as u need a UTR number and to be registered with the CIS to do subby work, you must also make sure you have public and personal liabillity Insurance. If your working alone or with a friend on your course avoid builders until you have at least 2 years of full time experience as there expectations on quality is a lot higher and we found to start with apart from that 1 builde my Dad knows, the others wont employ you if your not time served. We had one where he called us as we were recomended to him by a lad who works for him, we did 2 days boarding and skimming, he said the work was fantastic and I said yeah not bad considering I only been plastering just over a year at the time, he told me to f off and I wasn't getting paid as he doesnt do business with inexperienced tradesmen, so even though he was over the moon about the standard he wouldn't employ me or pay me, that was the hardest lesson I learned, luckily not all are like that and we tell them from that start now.bNow 3 years on I have repeat business through builders and private customers and my buisiness is going strong even through a recession. I just got a 12 month contract off of a recomendation from a customer of mine the builder knows. Its all about practice and working alongside good experienced plasterers and remember always ask loads of questions, no 2 walls are the same, fail to prepare then you prepare to fail so take your time on anything you do especially prep work and attention to detail and pride in your work is key and although it p****s off the painter always dry polish to a high shine. Don't undercut anyone if you know your good enough and your work stands up to that then you should be able to charge the same as every other plasterer i the area. We go to a job give a customer a copy of the materials invoice, remove all furniture, cover all flooring including outside where we mix, when we finish we hoover up inside, put furniture back and wash driveway or path and most of our customers like the fact we keep them updated so for example if we pass thm on the way outside we will tell them how much we have done, why we have done something a certain way such as float or dot and dab, if there is a problem and it may effect cost we think about the options the present those to customer with costs so the customer can seek our advice but the customer remains in conrol of what happens in there home but knows the pros/cons of each option they have and always remember its ot just a job or a house it is there home so be respectful, talkative and approachable at all times.
