Apprentice Progression

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Arti

Arti

Well-Known Member
Where would you expect an apprentice of 8 months to be in terms of skill level?

Interested to get a broad range of expectation.

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Arti
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I think a lot of it boils down to the lad or lass being trained in terms of attitude as well as ability. If they are keen to learn? Then they should be able to mix pretty much everything and be tidy, do patching up (2 coat) and fix plasterboard (to studwork not dabbing) . If they can skim a small area thats a bonus?? If their attitude is all wrong then it doesnt matter how much effort you put in? Your flogging a dead horse!?
 
Kind of hit a wall with the lad av got. Had him doing half bag hits after 8 weeks so I was expecting big things. Seems to have plateaued in the past few month and still can't get his attention to detail as good as it should be, neat angles, cleaning beads, keeping his work area clean so he's not treading plaster all over the place etc. Was wondering if I was expecting too much or not enough even.
Had him with the bloke who taught me for a week to try and bring him on. Got him his own job skimming out an office in an industrial unit for a pal of mine. Had him just watching me do a set just to go back to basics. Trowel skills. Cleaning angles etc.

Seems like he's peaked.
 
beader said:
wont that depend on what he has been taught and allowed to practice in those 8 months?
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Plenty of skimming practice plus college. Beading, boarding (Tacking). Little bit dabbing, plenty damp proofing ( floating renovating plaster)labouring on render jobs. Had him total head f**k*d using a coving mitre but he got it in the end.
 
Too much too soon @Arti ... like @Marshy said mixing being clean, screwing boards. Can tell me can he even cut boards straight with a knife and tape no straight edge?
 
I would say knowing all that he should now be able to think ahead of the game and have the mats and prep sorted out without being told what to do. floating wise defo good at devil floating allowing you to carry on floating .Skimming he should should be mixing and putting on in cupboards etc and following along cleaning up .He needs to be able to think for himself and ask if not sure what needs to be done. Encouragement is very important but sometimes you cant teach pork .
 
beader said:
I would say knowing all that he should now be able to think ahead of the game and have the mats and prep sorted out without being told what to do. floating wise defo good at devil floating allowing you to carry on floating .Skimming he should should be mixing and putting on in cupboards etc and following along cleaning up .He needs to be able to think for himself and ask if not sure what needs to be done. Encouragement is very important but sometimes you cant teach pork .
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He's a smart lad interms of academic achievement but lacks common sense which can be frustrating to put it mildly
 
Arti said:
He's a smart lad interms of academic achievement but lacks common sense which can be frustrating to put it mildly
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Its often the case, some people on paper (exam results etc) are A* etc but lack common sense. Its ashame when you have a lad or lass who is keen to do well etc but are as thick as a whale omelette and getting them to do basic stuff or to think for themselves has you banging your head against the wall as no matter how simple you explain how?? They just dont get it !?? :muyenojado:
 
He should have it in mind that if he is stood around then there is something wrong as there is always things that need doing . Does he want to be a plasterer or is he just going through the motions ? if he does not want it you will never win .This is a hard trade and its not for everyone .No offence to you Arti and am sure you are a decent bloke but perhaps it is your method of teaching that is the problem .Talk to him and ask what the problem is and go from there .
 
I think most of us if we had a tick list for an apprentice would have
Reliability
Honesty
Keen
Clean/tidy
Would definitely be on the list? Along with milf mother no wait hang on wrong list thats on my interview list ffs :oops:
 
beader said:
He should have it in mind that if he is stood around then there is something wrong as there is always things that need doing . Does he want to be a plasterer or is he just going through the motions ? if he does not want it you will never win .This is a hard trade and its not for everyone .No offence to you Arti and am sure you are a decent bloke but perhaps it is your method of teaching that is the problem .Talk to him and ask what the problem is and go from there .
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I've already suggested he find another employer as like you say everyone learns different and a new approach from another employer might be what he needs. I view the fact it's the same process day in day out nearly so shouldn't take much to pick up. It's only the trowel skill that takes the time. Setting up, prep, cleaning down is pretty much always the same
 
JohnDoe said:
My point is if a lad cant use knife and tape like a plasterer he's not going to be able use a trowel like plasterer. Especially after 8 months.
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I would disagree. It's alot easier to master a tape and knife than master a trowel
 
I'm not really bothered how he cuts a board with or without a straight edge as long as it fits and I wouldnt use that task as a guide to mastering Plastering.
JohnDoe said:
Exactly! He can't do it and it's eaiseir. How do you expect him to skim up neatly?
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I'm not sure one things proves another
 
Arti said:
I'm not really bothered how he cuts a board with or without a straight edge as long as it fits and I wouldnt use that task as a guide to mastering Plastering.

I'm not sure one things proves another
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Mate all am saying if he can't do something pretty basic how do you expect him to do something harder like using a trowel? Start from the bottom and work his way up. Does he scrap the floor like it should be or are you left finish it off for him correctly? Or doesn't matter also as it's not in the guide to master plasterer?
 
I recently let a lad go, and i found it difficult, after 18 months he couldn't cut and put a board on the wall let alone skim it. It aint for everyone!
 
My apprenticeship was frustrating, way too much time labouring and not enough trowel time. Lads will soon lose interest being a labourer.
 
I didn't say he couldn't use a trowel. My point at the start was he's plateaued in terms of progression. He can do half to 3/4 of a bag to a decent finish it's getting past that in terms of speed and meterage and attention to detail with angles etc. I was after a comparison from others who have apprentices and what there progression is.
I appreciate you saying cutting boards is easy but how he cuts boards doesn't mean he can't dab or put coving up is my point.
 
Cornelius said:
My apprenticeship was frustrating, way too much time labouring and not enough trowel time. Lads will soon lose interest being a labourer.
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Same. Very stop start, that employer wouldn't hire labourer which meant I still had a F*****g do it for years after I should have, which was particularly annoying when I left walls to better standard than some of his "plasterers" . Held me back years the c**t.
 
Arti said:
I didn't say he couldn't use a trowel. My point at the start was he's plateaued in terms of progression. He can do half to 3/4 of a bag to a decent finish it's getting past that in terms of speed and meterage and attention to detail with angles etc. I was after a comparison from others who have apprentices and what there progression is.
I appreciate you saying cutting boards is easy but how he cuts boards doesn't mean he can't dab or put coving up is my point.
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I think if he is doing 3/4 bag skimming to a decent standard he is doing quite well? I didn't progress much until after 2 years, my old boss got a new lad in and I was moved on to an improver role.
 
Arti said:
I didn't say he couldn't use a trowel. My point at the start was he's plateaued in terms of progression. He can do half to 3/4 of a bag to a decent finish it's getting past that in terms of speed and meterage and attention to detail with angles etc. I was after a comparison from others who have apprentices and what there progression is.
I appreciate you saying cutting boards is easy but how he cuts boards doesn't mean he can't dab or put coving up is my point.
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Ok forget then point I was trying to make. I think the answer is time. Giving him time and encouragement. If he's handy already with the trowel it will come with time.

I think you needed to say in the first place that you've had a lad and his skimming isn't getting any better after 8 months and I'm no closer to getting a return on his 8 months wages ;-)
 
Arti said:
I didn't say he couldn't use a trowel. My point at the start was he's plateaued in terms of progression. He can do half to 3/4 of a bag to a decent finish it's getting past that in terms of speed and meterage and attention to detail with angles etc. I was after a comparison from others who have apprentices and what there progression is.
I appreciate you saying cutting boards is easy but how he cuts boards doesn't mean he can't dab or put coving up is my point.
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Would you say you prefer to work on your own arti ? I do if I'm honest it's nice to have odd days working with others but in the end everyone gets on my tits
 
@Arti

Heres a tip for you...so assuming he has a normal day rate, start giving him the option for price for the day where by finishing a job sooner he can earn more by you pulling an additional job in for the week etc.

So for arguments sake living room reskim etc say right bang them 2 walls on all a1 and there's an extra say £50 in hand for the day etc.

Cover more jobs he makes more money, you won't incidentley you will just have to organise more work to cover the additional wage your paying.

BTW also be carefully what you wish for as once they can do a certain amount wages against output gets harder to make pay as an employer often.

You will soon want a new lad that just labours for less money again!
 
Vincey said:
Would you say you prefer to work on your own arti ? I do if I'm honest it's nice to have odd days working with others but in the end everyone gets on my tits
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He's been off most of December as he had holidays to take so once I got over the f**k on of unloading and loading the van I quite enjoyed it in my own.
 
I'm on my own again now and I'm in 2 minds? I hate the unloading and loading up of the van with a passion especially if it's pissing down and customer already has his cars on the driveway!!
But I have my way of sheeting/taping up etc and cleaning everything as I go and it used to irk me when the lad would leave certain things in a certain way I didn't like or not as clean as it should be etc.
This coming year I'm shortening my hours of work and days too as only my wage to worry about. I've too much to do on the house so needs must and all that
 
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