diy schools - any good??

[Guest]

hi, anyone have any experience or thoughts on these DIY schools - teaching plumbing, kitchen fitting, tiling etc over 5days per subject?

i'm tempted to do a few courses this way to renovate property. i know you cant learn a trade in 5 days, but if it teaches me the basics and gives me the confidence to tackle these jobs by myself, then surely theyre not too bad?

any replies are appreciated....

[Stretch]

hi, anyone have any experience or thoughts on these DIY schools - teaching plumbing, kitchen fitting, tiling etc over 5days per subject?

i'm tempted to do a few courses this way to renovate property. i know you cant learn a trade in 5 days, but if it teaches me the basics and gives me the confidence to tackle these jobs by myself, then surely theyre not too bad?

any replies are appreciated....

You've answered your own question there really.......and you may have come to the wrong place to ask it!!

Most of us here have honed our skills over a number of years not days and we've made errors - some costly- along the way.

If you have a smattering of DIY knowledge then I suppose these courses can give you the extra bit of confidence you need but if you are an absolute beginner then it's unlikely that you'll further yourself significantly.

Having said that, some of the people featured on Property Ladder started out knowing nothing and managed to make great careers out of it. Just don't expect to make a fortune in the first few years!!

[luke]

Unless there gonna give you an unlevel stud wall with the plaster falling off to tile on, or a dodgy set of pipe work to put right, an out of square room to fit some worktops butt and scribed into etc etc then all a course will do is maybe like stretch said give you a little extra confidence in your own abilitys. Nothing compares to being on site learning from mistakes and improvising to get round problems you won't find in a workshop with lovely square studs and pre done Walls to tile on etc. How much are they charging per course. Come and work on site with any of us for 5 days a time and we can show you what it's like in reality. Ill only charge you half what there doing it for as a gesture of good will!!!!

[big-all]

my suggestion would be to buy one off the diy books with pictures and study it from cover to cover 3 or 4 times use 2 or 3 articles to make or mend somthing
then you will get more value from a 5 day course although i would want to know how many hours actual tuition [exclude registration and breaks or early finishes]and how big the classes are and cost off course

[PREM]

well i think they are great, dont let them tell you any different. people like yourself give me on average 2 jobs a month, and i dont look for them. a good handyman must be very busy with these course cock ups.

[M Howe Joinery]

they take your money fill you full of crap and tell how much you can make but dont tell you what the real world is like these type of training coarses should be banned

[jonny round boy]

When I was self employed (as a kitchen fitter) I took it upon myself to do a plastering course, as this was an area I had never attempted and had no confidence in.

It was a 4-day course, and it cost me £300. There were (IIRC) eight of us on the course. It turned out I was the only one who had paid for it - the rest were all dole-dossers who got it paid for by benefits

Anyway, I digress. In general, I'm glad I did the course. It covered the basics, like how to mix the plaster, how to apply it, etc and it gave me a bit more confidence to do small patch jobs on the kitchens I was fitting. What it didn't give was the practice time, which for plastering is absolutely critical. That's why I would never attempt to plaster a full wall.

I also thought about doing a plumbing course too, but I decided not to. Instead, I bought a plumbing 'starter kit' (torch, flux, solder, mat, etc), some copper & some yorkshire fittings, and I started playing. As I got the hang of it I did more and more. That gave me the confidence to do my own plumbing on paying jobs, and to this day I've never had a problem.

I've also installed CH in our own house myself, aside from connecting up the boiler for which I got a plumber in.

I'm glad I decided to do it this way, as I now feel that a 4-day plumbing course would (for me at least) have been a complete waste of time & money.

Same goes for tiling too, BTW - I was shown how to tile by both my dad & grandad when I was a kid, and just built on that introduction over the years.

"but if it teaches me the basics and gives me the confidence to tackle these jobs by myself, then surely they're not too bad?"

If that's what you're looking for, then fine. Just remember that there are other (much cheaper) ways to achieve the same goal...

[Guest]

thanks for the posts fellas. points taken.

luke if i lived closer i would take you up on that offer. i really like your website! very
professional - looks like youre doing very well for yourself!

i think ill use your advice jonny and dust down my old collins diy manual and use that instead. save my pennies....

thanks again & have a good christmas & new year everyone!

[PREM]

register and the advise is allways a type away.
chat and banter all part of the trade.