you can’t unless you join a union. all this stuff is a secret, you know, so people can charge up the wazoo for it. you also have to know somebody to get into a union!

I am a self employed window cleaner and after 8 years working out doors in all weathers im thinking about taking a tiling and a plastering course. Can any tradesmen in the north manchester area (rochdale) tell me if their is a demand for these services as iv’e heard they are in short supply. Thanks for any feed back. U.K. north west only please.
I heard from a plumber who can never get hold of either.

It’ll take a long time to get good (&quick) at plastering, although they are always in demand. Tilers I don’t know. The bathroom fitters I know usually do their own tiling

Plastering will knacker your back, tiling will knacker your knees. Take your pick…

I chose electrics. That knackers just about everything…

I have had the boiler removed from my kitchen and the ventilation bricked up which needs to now be plastered (patched up), this is breeze block and a few bricks. Probably a really small job just wondered if i will need to apply PVA glue and then browning before the the plaster, or can I apply the plaster direct on to the brick without any browning? the gap fill is 3mm to 5mm deep, thanks to you all in advace

no ..you will need a basecoat …by all means pva it …then either use browning or bonding coat ..finish of with multi -finish….if you try to do it without the base coat it will just become a thousand cracks and fall out

i was thinking of doing this course and will have to pay alot of money for it. has any one done it? does it provide enough experience to start a self emoplyed business? it is a 4 week course.

It is impossible to learn a trade in 4 weeks these courses are a scam and should be made illegal. It will take at least 4 years to be competent in any trade

I have old plaster ceilings and walls and I want to hide imperfections. I fill and sand, etc.. and when house settles, more cracks appear.

it does work.

Thanks to all answers.

Just out of curiosity I tried a Google search with
"plasterers required+uk" and got 266000 hits.
Maybe not exactly market research but the work seems to be there. Common sense also tells me that when the building and home improvement business is healthy then the work is there if you want it. However, having seen a plasterer at work it seems a very hard job given the time limits invoved. I don’t just mean skimming Gyprock but real plastering.
It is one of those skills that provokes admiration from the common man, especially those who’ve tried it themselves!!!
I’d say go for it.
Try the same search + hourly rates and see what you get.