Becoming qualified or not.

[DanielWRL]

Hi all.

I'm a British expat and have been working as a painter and decorator (not qualified but experienced) over in New Zealand for the last 8 years. This is not a trade that I especially planned to get into, more kind of fell into, but love the job all the same and couldn't imagine myself doing anything else.

Due family reasons it's looking likely that I might have to return to The UK for a number of years at some point in the future. IF this happens then i'd like to try set up my own business over there but I'm concerned that being unqualified might hinder me in some way. Can anybody offer any advice on this?

 

[noseall]

Qualified!

If you can pi$$ you can paint.

 

[maltaron]

Sorry, noseall, But that is an insult to the painters and decorators. True, anyone can pick up a brush and slap on some paint, but it takes years of experience to do it properly and achieve a good finish. To the OP, qualifications not necessary but quality of work and satisfied customers are.

 

[Dave54]

Agreed, there's just a bit more to it than slapping some paint on. My late father in law was a painter and decorator, and while he wasn't "qualified" he knew how to do the job properly and did a good job. He was self employed, and never short of work.
He showed me how to paint and decorate, but I hate doing more than the odd bit. The guy I get to do mine isn't qualified either, but does a good job, turns up on time and doesn't leave a mess. I generally have to book him well in advance. he's in demand.
if you want big contracts, council work and so on then you may need qualifications. Someone may reply who knows.

 

[gregers]

print some qualifications off in NZ.
so when you get back here you can produce them if asked.
if your work is crud your be kicked off site within the hour.if your still there by lunch time your be ok.

 

[DanielWRL]

Well I'm always very busy over here so I must be doing something right. At least I hope haha.

I specialise in decorating new build houses which is the majority of my work. I do the occasional house repaint and odd commercial job though. To be honest I think if I do end up coming home then I'm going to try and aim to do more reprints than anything if I can. I fancy I bit of a change from the new builds and I'd rather deal with homeowners or letting agents than pushy builders who just want the job to be done at 100mph!

In regards to "if you can **** you can paint". The amount of people I've seen turn up over the years trying to wing if is quite unreal. You can spot the difference between a professional painter and a chancer in about 5 minutes!

 

[longdogs]

Its all to do with word of mouth when working for private customers. If you are good, reliable and friendly you will get work whether you are qualified or not. As suggested, if you wish to do contract work for a council or similar, they would be more interested in your qualifications than your ability. Also, some potential customers are put off by lots of qualifications printed on a business card because they think you will be more expensive.

just avoid customers like nosebag

 

[DanielWRL]

Cheers Squeeky, that was kind of what I was thinking anyway. Nice to hear though.

 

[ladylola]

If you can pi$$ you can paint.

I've actually heard decorators say that , some very good decorators at that. They did go on to say that just being able to paint didn't make anyone a decorator , at best a "brush hand " . A good decorator doesn't just paint , they prepare , paper and know about tinting , mixing and technique. I can paint and have done work but wouldn't call myself a decorator ( my profile picture is an example of my work) as I have no qualifications but picked up all my knowledge working alongside some excellent decorators.

 

[phatboy]

When I have used decorators, I have never asked or checked if they hold any qualifications. I wasn't even aware there were any!

 

[ladylola]

To be honest I'm a time served joiner , city and guilds , CSCS card holder , plus some other certificates and I've never been asked to produce anything. Slightly off topic but with regards to the CSCS card mine had lapsed when I went to work for a company subbing to Corillion . In fact there were several of us without cards but we were told by our bosses to just say we had them . We did and were taken at our word , no one checked.

 

[leeco]

I'm not qualified in painting but I could get a job tomorrow painting if I wanted to as I'm quite good at it as I can cut in with both hands good.

To be honest I hate painting and not sure what goes through a guys mind when they think I'm off to college to be a decorator.

On one job as a painter the boss told me to cut the coving in and I cut it in good to the wall and cut it in to the roof and knocked a full tin of paint off my ladders in the proses and he asked if I was even a decorator.
I told him no I'm an electrician and he sent me to scrap a wall for the rest of the day.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

In fact there were several of us without cards but we were told by our bosses to just say we had them . We did and were taken at our word , no one checked.

You were lucky. Carrillion are one of the outfits which does check, as a rule. A lot of the bigger outfits/larger sites won't let you on unless you not only have a CSCS card - but the right one (so a blue or gold card for a chippie, not a green one - and they are starting to clamp down on that wheeze as well)

I have to say that in this world there are chancers, brush hands and decorators. Most big jobs just call for brush hands these days, though. It's always nice to work with an old school deco - the sort of guy who can hang wall paper, do marbling, etc - but there aren't that many of those guys around any more

 

[Norcon]

I'm not qualified in painting but I could get a job tomorrow painting if I wanted to as I'm quite good at it as I can cut in with both hands good.

To be honest I hate painting and not sure what goes through a guys mind when they think I'm off to college to be a decorator.

On one job as a painter the boss told me to cut the coving in and I cut it in good to the wall and cut it in to the roof and knocked a full tin of paint off my ladders in the proses and he asked if I was even a decorator.
I told him no I'm an electrician and he sent me to scrap a wall for the rest of the day.

You should have dropped the tin of paint over his head.

 

[ladylola]

there were several of us without cards

You were lucky. Carrillion are one of the outfits which does check, as a rule.

It was the first and only time I have worked on a Corillion site and yes I reckon we were lucky going by what I had heard. Doubly lucky in some respects because I also for a time used a 240v drill and jigsaw , off a generator because we weren't close to a power source but still the wrong voltage for a site. Funnily enough the thing they did pick us up on was that while we had hi-vis jackets we didn't have the trousers to match so our company had to supply us with some .