Hi all, I signed up for a 1 week block paving and slabbing course which started yesterday, the course involves working on actual jobs.
Upon arriving on the course we were told by the tutor we would be ‘done by Thursday giving us Friday off’ I’m on a course that I’m paying for I don’t want Friday off!
So for 2 days now me and the other 2 students have basically removed a decking structure, removed a hedge, removed all the old slabs from the front and back of the property and dug out by hand all the soil out filling a whole large building skip. We have then started to lay a membrane over the other half of the back garden and cover it with pebbles??? We are yet to lay a block and have only just started to put the mot down.
This isn’t right is it? I’m feeling a right mug paying to be a labourer, bugger it!!!!

No idea about the paving but would you be interested in buying a bridge?

I’m feeling a right mug paying to be a labourer, bugger it!!!!

and yet you answer your own question….

However watch, learn, suck it up and then nick his business

Has he asked you to fetch a long weight from the van yet? Sounds like you should be at that stage by now.

At least you’ve got Friday off!

How did you find out a about this and how were you convinced that it was a real training opportunity?

Is this your boss?

It’s an actual training company, I did a plumbing with them course recently and it was very good, this however is shite

does the training provider live here

Did you post this on the 1st of April..
Your being held against your will by those traveler types are you?

Ah 1 minute too slow

How did they persuade you that doing tasks that aren’t to do with laying block paving are relevant to your training?

Unless the course tutor is Mr Miyagi, you are being ripped off.

Worked for a block paving company for about eight months, in my early twenties. Yes, it is a technical trade (bloody backbreaking too) with a huge difference between ‘companies that can do block paving’ and ‘block paving companies that offer a ten year guarantee’. I worked for one of the latter – had to leave when I was offered a managerial post . . . but just didn’t want it (too interested in partying, at the time).

TBH that sounds like a fairly average job, give or take the presence of a mini digger. I would have thought that you’d have levels staked, boundary footings dug out and concreted in place by now, tho, with substrate laid and compacted. That said, it’s only Tuesday – you’d be surprised how quickly paving can go down. It’s the finishing bits that make a good job; accurate cutting and levelling. If they aren’t paying exact attention to screeding the sand for drainage / run off levels then you really should be worried.

Do you have an outside training provider that you can question? Or have you solely dealt with the company? Perhaps call the adult education dept at the council and see what they have to say? But stick with it – you might be surprised.

If it sucks at the end of the week, kick off and try to get your money back. But always have a realistic expectation of what level of training you can gain from a one week course. Good luck.

So why aren’t you a plumber ?

@Tiger6791 – Don’t knock someone for trying out their options, eh?

So why aren’t you a plumber ?

It’s because I buy houses do them up and sell them on, I do do the plumbing on those.
I’m currently having an extension built where I need to block pave so I thought I’d learn it to save money. The course is rubbish I bought in in good faith.

I could have taught you all you need to know (will learn in a week) from here for free in an hour. And if not, paving expert and a good dose of methodical planning using their guides would have done. I’d be sacking tomorrow off (today but I can’t sleep due to thinking of construction projects) as it’s going to piss down!

Where are you Wrightyson? I’m in! 😀

Whoever is “running” this little trainng scheme should be also offering some business strategy type courses because his is brilliant 😆

I run a lawn-mowing course, if you’re interested. We start you off small but with the skills we teach you you’ll soon be mowing lawns of all sizes.

Is it an NVQ programme – if so you will need to complete units etc. Have you paid for the course?

Let me know if you want to do a similar “Landscaping a sloping garden (in Spain) from scratch” course . . . I might be offering one soon 🙂

How much did the course cost? It’s bordering on genius BUT it does depend on how much you were paying for your week of training.

I need my front drive redoing, what should you expect to pay in the NWest?

I may be oversimplifying block paving but wouldn’t watching a few ‘how to’ videos on the internet and a methodical, details approach to your own job be enough? Or were you specially looking for a qualification/certificate?

Sounds like it.
Were you the only “student” on the “course”?
Did all the other “students” speak with an accent?
Did the gangmaster ,err tutor, look like the other “students”?

Ok, the course is offered by a private building trade training provider all legit. This particular course offered no qualification but is supposed to be a comprehensive hands on course.
Yes I have paid for the course, should of been £250 according to the website but due to a late cancellation I was offered it for £100.
I emailed the training company last night with my ‘concerns’ I’m yet to hear back. I’m not going back in without speaking to them. I’m contemplating asking for my money back and binning it as there’s still 5 tons more of materials to lug about.
In the rain!
Edit: there’s 2 other students with me on the course.

should of been £250 according to the website but due to a late cancellation I was offered it for £100.

there’s 2 other students with me on the course.

Are the others happy? What did the others pay for this training? Maybe you are getting a relative bargain.

paving expert and a good dose of methodical planning using their guides would have done

This^ Paving Expert is a great site for the clueless like me. I think you have learnt something from your course but it isn’t block paving 🙂

Just spoken to the training provider and they agree what we have been asked to do is unacceptable, they have taken my complaint very seriously and have addressed my points with the tutor.
I have been offered my money back and/or extra days block paving training f.o.c.
I will go in tomorrow when the tutor has done his share of the labouring and hopefully learn the paving side. If it doesn’t reach my expectations I will be getting my money back.

Result 🙂

They were leading you up the garden path then!

Maybe you are getting a relative bargain.

Well someone is getting a bargain, 4 days labouring and paying £100 for the privilege!

As well as the website ‘paving expert’ has done a book which should tell you all you need to know 8)

You are there now and have paid. Try to make the most of it and get as much Info of the guys as possible.

I have been offered my money back and/or extra days block paving training f.o.c.

😆
So more free labour?

TBH,

I’d expect a course like this to involve a degree of preparatory work. Making the ground level, that sort of thing. But if the site needed clearing first – digging out hedges, shifting of decking etc – I’d have expected that to be done in advance.

If I were in your gardening boots, I wouldn’t just be looking for a refund, I’d be seeking a day’s wages. What’s the going rate for a labourer these days? £100 should cover it I reckon.

It did occur to me to stick an invoice in for my labour 😛
I wasn’t against doing some groundwork as it’s prep work that needs doing it was just the amount that I objected to.

They were leading you up the garden path

😆

No input to make, I just felt this needed to be acknowledged.

a few years ago there was a company offering auto locksmithing courses quite a few hundred quids per course,looked all proffesional etc it then appeared they took you to a scrap yard and showed you how to open car doors, then sold you tools at high prices, they soon closed down.