To think about quitting my WFH job to re-train as a plasterer?

[confusedlady10]

Would I be stupid or unreasonable to consider quitting my job and re-train in a new field as a plasterer? I am a 29 year old single mum WFH in a dead end call centre job. It’s quite niche as it involves investigating specialist fraud cases but is still mainly a customer service job. The pay isn’t that great (£2k pm after tax living in London) and I’m fortunate to be able to live in cheap accommodation through family, but it’s not sustainable.

I’ve had applied for hundreds of jobs to try in earn more money and elevate, even paid someone to re-write my CV and do an extra qualification in my field within finance. But I don’t have a degree and regardless, I’m struggling to stand out. Hundreds of applicants, countless ghosting's and unfortunatelys after an odd interview. Finance, admin and banking sectors seem to be too saturated whether remote, hybrid or office.

So I was thinking to quit my job, apply for universal credit of some sort (started doing research on what they can support me with) and then hopefully retrain as a plasterer in a course to try and better myself as I heard that there’s good money if you are a skilled labour and could hopefully work for myself or another company. I would hopefully be able to work it around my son and less competition for the jobs I am not getting. Am I wasting my time and dreaming? (I have no experience in this and trying anything to earn more at the moment, whilst still applying for jobs like crazy, pls be nice!) 😣

Yup. Civil service is becoming fiercely competitive these days.

Have you considered painting and decorating? I have a lovely lady who does mine. She is highly in demand and booked up months ahead. She only takes indoor jobs.

Her favourite jobs are doing high end new builds which means she’s not forever lugging her equipment around.

Do you have a suitable vehicle for any of these roles? And the means to purchase the tools and equipment plus somewhere to store it all?

If so then I say go for it.

BTW you’ll still need the skills to run your own business, do accurate estimates and send/ collect invoices, pay the correct tax etc. so a short course in becoming self employed is a great thing to do as many skilled tradespeople are crap at keeping on top of this.

I think retraining is a good idea. But I'm curious as to what attracts you to plastering other than the loadsamoney stereotype? Because as trades go, it's not that appealing. Its boring and strenuous and like all manual work, takes its toll as you get older. If you work for a large company the pay won't be amazing, and if you go SE you'll need to be able to manage a bunch of things from cash flow to awkward customers to work voids. So unless you know and love this job, I'd at least give it a go before you jump at it.

I'm always shocked, when threads about women in the trades come up, by the internalised sexism demonstrated by some (presumably female) posters.

Pay isn’t great though, and I’m pretty sure as a profession it has the highest rate of staff being off with stress / anxiety / depression. Make of that what you will.

A 5ft 4 woman is not going to be “slightly” weaker than a 6ft built like a brick shit house man with arms of a body builder.

I would suggesting trying it out first - do some home renovations with the help of YouTube... or an evening course.
We had a lovely plasterer who described it as 'manly icing'

I don't have a degree or skill I can teach, I would need a background check and vetting/experience to babysit and would only be able to do a 9-5 (would need to get my son to and from breakfast and after school club). Many parents need wrap around care. I don't own my home either, I rent and there are no spare rooms. Will keep exploring the teaching though as an option, thank you!

Re train as an electrician or gas engineer. My relative did at 40,earns a mint. Plastering is very taxing on the joints and extremely physical. You are often at the behest of other trades having completed on building projects.

Are you serious? Electrical work is absolutely brutal. Incredibly physical unless you restrict yourself to the smallest of jobs.
Involves drilling into concrete an awful lot and I don't mean small holes.
Rewiring a house is essentially taking a house apart amd putting it back together again.
I think gas engineering is probably the least physical, followed by plumbing, then decorating and plastering, and electrician is the most physical of all.

But it is possible to specialise in things like EV charging points and that's less taxing.

Why not do plastering plus painting and decorating?

One of my friends was a TA and is now a painter and decorator..she did a course whilst working part time and doesn't seem to regret it, always has work on etc. Difference is she did it because husband got a promotion and had to work away so they did always have 2 incomes

Assuming you’ve had a go at plastering and think you can be good at it then I’d say go for it, tradespeople (especially female) are massively in demand around here (G. Manchester).

That all said having run my own business (not a trade) don’t underestimate the amount of general hassle and uncertainty and hard work that comes from being self employed. In the end it was the loneliness and responsibility of it that made me give it up. The one big trade off though is that you only do jobs on your own terms which as a parent is a big win.

Height isn't relevant but ok, how does being even considerably weaker than someone stop you from skimming plaster over a wall at pace? I am 5'6" and have build walls, mixed mortar by hand (building sites would have a mixer), lugged concrete blocks, bags or sand, bags of cement around. Yes, I could only carry one when a man would be able to carry two but even a man can only build a wall one brick/block at a time, same as me!

If I had to choose a trade, I'd go for electrician or locksmith.
I think a woman locksmith would get a lot of customers.

Can you drive? Would you be interested in qualifying to drive a bus or train?
I have a friend with two daughters, both work with plaster - one in domestic settings, the other plasters patients in the NHS.
If you pursue a career in teaching, focus on early years with a view to opening a nursery. That’s where the money’s at.

Are you got at attention to detail? Being a plasterer is quite a precise job. I’d be rubbish as I’d slap it on and think “that’ll do” and not spend all of the time necessary to get it properly smooth. You need to have that level of detail to get word of mouth recommendations which is where a lot of your work will come from. Are you self disciplined enough to work in an orderly fashion, tidying up as you go and completing each task before moving onto another? Would you actually get around to issuing invoices? And are you confident enough to hold your ground and stand up for yourself?

I think plastering would be good trade to get into. It’s skilled and saught after and pay is better than most trades. Most of the plasterers I’ve met have been fairly slight in build. You don’t need to be hugely strong, you do need to be precise. Plasterers generally just go in and plaster where other trades (like carpenters for example) might be expected to have a few other skills under their belt. You have to be strong enough to move all of your kit in and out of the van, but you don’t need to be built like a brick shithouse to do that.

@FastFood locksmith is a great idea! Especially given how many scammers operate in that space. Even I am thinking of retraining now....

I was thinking about similar roles and was wondering would you consider working in the probation services. I am sure I heard they are recruiting. One of the issues with getting a trade would be the need of attending college for a few years to qualify. I would think with the probation service it might be the case of a day at college and learning on the job.

What about tiling? I know someone who retrained as a tiler. She's self employed now and does mainly bathrooms and showers but can also do floors.

It doesn’t, I never said she couldn’t do it but I wouldn’t employ her because her lack of physical strength compared to my plasterer would mean the job would take longer and therefore cost me more as I said in my post.

The last plasterer I had in was about 5”7 and in his 50s, he did a great job. So not every plasterer is male model height and in the peak of fitness. I helped him carry the plaster boards upstairs.

Having missed so many opportunities in life I'd always say nothing ventured nothing gained. If you don't try you'll always think what if. But don't underestimate how hard a job it is. I did just a taster session at a local college and it was enough. At 48 and in perimenopause I am not fit and strong enough for that kind of work anymore, though maybe if I had 20 years experience it would be different.

You could, but plastering is one of the lowest paid trades- why not be an electrician?

plastering is really psychical too.

being self employed can be a bit crap- do make sure you really think about this- paying your own holiday, sick pay, no employers pension contribution. That stuff can easily take 20% of your pay.