I was on the bus the other morning & i notice that 80% of the people on the bus on there way to work where foreigners. I got of the bus & walked along O’Connell street Dublin city. Most of the people i saw on there way to work where foreign. Why is this? Iv been out of work now for a year, both my brothers are out of work too, most of my friends are out of work as well. I was working with 3 polish lads this time last year & the other day i bump into one of them. I was talking to him for a while & he was telling me he & the other two lads where getting loads of work, that most of his polish friends are working, he couldn’t believe me when i told him i had not been working since i was working with him. I told him i haven’t even had an interview since i got let go. He got 6 interviews within a month after he got let go & got offered 4 of the jobs. Please don’t think i’m bashing the foreigners, but i think we should look after our own especially now with the recession. I have over 15 years experience in construction, carpentry, bricklaying, plastering & operating machinery & i cant get a job in IKEA because i haven’t got the experience to assemble flappack furniture. What a joke!

I think it’s good that foreigners are getting a chance to do work over here, they’re bringing culture over. Also, they’re really hard-working.

Sayingthetruth, how dare you accuse this guy of being racist? you are such a hypocrite! how about you actually get to know some Irish people before you go around accusing us of stuff like living in a ’selfish, greed stupid uneducated environment’!

And btw, ‘We have nothing against human beings, but you are not humans’ is the single most racist comment I have ever heard!

Im looking to get into the plastering trade but I am unsure of which course to take as there is so many out there that vary in price, ideally I would like to get the City & Guilds qualification and eventually end up with my own business I have no experiance of plastering so all the help and advice that you could give me would be great.

Thank you in advance
I live in the UK

plastering like any trade is a skill that takes years to learn and perfect, anyway city and guilds was phazed out long ago you’ll need to do an NVQ instead. i’m not sure of your age but the basic paperwork is easy enough to get its the practical onsite skills with employers that matter. go to your local DWP and ask them for advice. i’m just a building site labourer no expert.

im just starting out doing jobs i have 18 years experiance in lath and plaster but i need to know how to charge a job for lath,plaster and dash thay are going to buy material its about 1100 square feet and i dont want to charge too little or too much its in fresno ca thanks

All details are on their home page.

I’m unemployed at the moment and I need to do something with my life.I feel very stuck & Limited to what I can do. I would like to take up plastering & tiling so I can go self employed.I have seen one of those private run training colleges called Trade skills 4 u based in Crawley. Does anyone know if they are any good? The courses are very expensive NVQ level 2 plastering cost £2225 for 12 weeks! & tiling NVQ level 2 £1500! I can’t get any funding from the job centre or government. Is it really worth spending this money and go out self employed on my own afterwards? I’m 34 years old and feel that no one will employ me because of my age! that’s why I thought of going self employed to be my own boss. Does anyone know of this training college & could you really be a qualified plasterer & tiller in such short amount of time? or should I not do it at all? I have very good practical skills. Any idea’s? I don’t want an office job.

if you ended up a good plasterer you will stil struggle as there is no work about

I have a 9-5 weekdays office job but I want to train in a trade so that I can do odd jobs in my free time for extra cash. Maybe plumbing, electrics, plastering….

In which trade(s) is the demand and the money made? I imagine that some will be far more sought after and profitable than others.

I would guess that electricians or mechanics would be the most sought after. A lot of people aren’t afraid to take on a plumbing job these days with the DIY craze. Electricity and engines on the other hand are still pretty intimidating for most.

I need to cut holes in common plaster walls for installation of ethernet data points (with face plates like some normal electical outlets).

What is the best method bearing in mind of course I want to avoid splitting the plaster.

Drill a hole then jigsaw the shape out?

Drill a hole then file the shape out?

other?

The previous answers are good if the plaster is new, but you are talking about a very tricky problem as plaster is going to crack no matter how careful you are. Then behind the older plaster are wooden lathing strips which tend to shake, loosen, weaken in all the wrong spots. If you have lots of time, then you can try this.
1- Use the plastic old work electrical box (they used to come with a free paper template to trace the outline).
2- Trace that outline and use the smallest drill bit and a very light electric drill, (bit should be about 1/16" or 1/32") and make a closely spaced line of holes following the trace and be sure to go deep enough to get through the lathing too.
3- Once you have these closely spaced holes all the way around then begin tilting the drill to elongate the holes until they start interconnecting with each other (you can interconnect 3 or 4 holes and slip a hacksaw blade in with the teeth facing out toward you, place a thumb and forefinger (over and under the blade to press on the wall and cut drawing the blade toward you).
4- Good luck – You didn’t mention how you got the data cables inside the wall.