What Makes A Good Tiler

What Makes A Good Tiler

When you are next looking for a tiler to carry out tiling jobs of any kind such as wall tiling, floor tiling, tiling repairs or simple regrouting tiles or applying a new silicone sealant seal to your shower tray, you will want to know what things to look out for when employing the services of a local tiler.  What makes a good tiler?

What Are The Qualities Of A Good Tiler?

A good tiler will often carry a portfolio of their tiling work.  They will have carried out many tiling jobs and will be proud to show you their work.  Bear in mind, using the wrong tiler for your tiling job could prove to be very expensive as, even if you remove the tiler from your job you will still have to pay for the costs of replacing tiles which have been ruined and may even have to pay for a plasterer to replaster the wall when the bad tiling has been taken off the wall.  You could say "I will get the bad tiler to pay for the tiles which were ruined", but this may be easier said than done as taking a tiler through the small claims court for damages and costs involved in a bad job can take several months.  It is far wiser to find a good tiler in the first place rather than waste time going back over the tilers work.

In addition to a portfolio, a good tiler should be able to provide references from previous jobs for their work.  Many websites now have review sections where you check tilers and other tradesmen on jobs that they have done.  Here previous customers tell you all you need to know in order to be able to make an informed decision, but bear in mind if the tiler has just recently registered with a jobs website then he or she may not have any reviews so it is important to take this into consideration.

A good tiler should be patient, have an eye for detail and be able to spot imperfections at every tile so to speak.  Again, these things should be checked with previous customers and on past jobs.

Tilers should be clean and tidy.  Tile adhesive and grout which is not cleaned up and left to dry in the wrong places can be horribly messy so a good tiler should clean up his working area as he goes along.

What Qualifications Does A Tiler Need To Have?

Currently, tilers are not legally required to hold tiling qualifications in order to practice tiling and offer their tiling services to homeowners and businesses alike.  However, there are recognised tiling qualifications which homeowners might perhaps wish to ask tilers giving quotes whether they hold.  There are NVQ qualifications in tiling and also some colleges award CITB qualifications for tiling too.  Whilst many plumbers are either time served from apprenticeships or have built up their tiling skills from working 'on the tools' it is always worth asking what qualifications your tiler holds.

What Should I Ask Tilers When Getting Quotes For My Tiling Jobs?

Nowadays, tradesmen (tilers included) need to be able to provide a complete customer service experience to homeowners when they are giving quotes for jobs.  They should be able to answer most of the following questions:

How long will the job take?
How many tiles do I need?
Are there any other materials which you would need for the job (presuming you are providing your own materials)?
How long will it be before I can use the area where you have carried out the tiling work?  (particularly important if you are having tiling work carried out in your bathroom and you only have the one loo as sometimes tiling can take quite a while to 'go off' and this means that you won't be able to walk on the tiling for some time).
Do you have references or reviews from past jobs from people who have used your tiling services before?
Do you have a portfolio of tiling work that we can look at?
What qualifications in tiling do you have?
Will you provide me with a written tiling quote for the job?
What guarantees on workmanship do you give and will you provide these guarantees in writing for us?
Hopefully that covers most areas which you may want to discuss with your tilers giving quotes.

Please always remember to get three quotes for tiling work from tilers as it is important to be able to compare quotes before committing to or accepting tilers quotes.