Becoming A Good Joiner

Becoming a joiner is no easy task. It is not a vocation that can be entered in the same way as more traditional career paths. For a start, college education is not mandatory whereas work experience is. You can also forget about working ‘normal’ office hours from Monday to Friday. Expect to be asked to work overtime and begin work at hours where most people are still asleep. It is a job that requires a reasonable level of physical strength and conditioning and you must enjoy working outdoors. Despite all this, if you love being creative and working with your hands, joinery is a great career.

If you have not completed your GSCEs, it is still possible to become a joiner though you will be asked to finish many years of work experience before being allowed to become a fully qualified joiner. The well beaten path towards becoming a joiner involves taking part in an Apprenticeship scheme. It involves working with more experienced joiners who show you the ropes and allow you to learn on the job. For this, you do need to provide evidence that you’ve completed GSCEs in subjects like Maths and English. There are also college courses available in joinery which can be completed. This gives you a head start over those who began their career without a degree but you still need to complete work experience in order to become a joiner.

After you have started working at a joinery, you need to increase your level of skill if you want your wages to improve. NVQ qualifications are the best way to achieve this. One of the most sought after qualifications of this nature is Wood Occupations which has three levels. There are a host of options on this particular course including Timber Frame Erection and Shopfitting. The Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) card is something that all aspiring joiners should be looking to attain. It is proof that you are skilled and also shows that you meet the UK health and safety requirements when it comes to working in a joinery.

If you are looking to become a joiner, you may have to be prepared to do so as a self-employed one. There may not be a huge level of vacancies at a joinery so you could be forced to branch out on your own. Clearly, you are less likely to get jobs by yourself but for the jobs you do receive, the money will all go directly to you rather than having a percentage taken away by a company. If you do elect to go solo, ensure that you have money in your bank account in case you endure a lean period. Use local print media and the internet to advertise yourself. Some people prefer having work done by a freelance joiner rather than a company which is often far more expensive.

If you are seeking a career in joinery, be prepared to endure certain hardships as you pursue your goal. However, for those with a love of creating new designs and those who enjoy a feeling of independence, joinery is the only career they would ever like to choose. 

Finding A Good Joinery Company

There are thousands of people in the UK who refer to themselves as a joiner but few have any real claim to this term. Most of them do a bit of woodwork on the side and believe that this is enough to justify taking hundreds of pounds off unsuspecting clients. The reality is, finding a joiner with all the necessary skills is a searching task, one that can lead a homeowner down a blind alley on occasion. Nonetheless, there are certain methods that can be used to find a reputable joiner who will produce precisely what you need, when you need it. Continue reading for tips on finding a joinery company that give you what you want as opposed to what they think you need.

In the modern era, no customer should ever look for a business that doesn’t have a number of reviews to back up its claims of high quality work and customer service. If you want to hire a plumber, painter, decorator etc. you can go online and find out if they deliver high quality work. Hiring a joinery company is no different. The majority of reputable joinery companies in the UK have splashed out on a website to promote themselves. Their presence should already be well known with reviews available on demand. Use local search engine results to find out more about the joinery company you wish to hire. Several good reviews means they can be trusted. A bad review or two means you have to be wary.

It’s also vital that you learn how to compare prices. There is likely to be a difference in the quotes offered by several joinery companies. This is why you need to get in touch with as many local organisations as you can in order to get a fair idea of what the cost of your particular project will be. An interesting point that you may want to consider is that the cheapest company is not always to right choice. In fact, beware of companies that charge way below the average quote. This implies that they are far from professional and are more likely to do harm than good with their work. The last thing you need is some cowboy outfit ignoring health and safety regulations.

Qualifications are another thing that separates the good from the bad and ugly. The British Woodworking Federation (BWF) and the Guild of Master Craftsman are two of the most prominent qualifications for joiners in the UK. The BWF represents professional joiners with installers, distributors and manufacturers all included in this organisation which prides itself on maintaining high quality service. The Guild is also an exclusive club for professional joiners and only accepts members that have proven their expertise.

Finding a good joinery company requires a level of research that you may be unused to. It is vital that you take the time and effort to locate the best in the field or else you could be faced with an excessive bill for work that is nowhere near professional standard. 

What To Look For In A Good Joinery Company

Finding a joiner in the UK is pretty easy as they are a dime a dozen. However, locating one that can produce a masterpiece for your home is far more difficult. Unscrupulous companies long ago figured out that the general public would pay a small fortune to be the proud owners of a piece of bespoke furniture. Having a beautifully crafted table as a centrepiece for example is a source of great pride for the British homeowner. Sadly, this desire is taken advantage of with poor excuses for joiners creating a mess before running off with the client’s money. They give professional joiners a bad name so read carefully to find out more about what to look for in a good joinery company.

The most obvious tip is to look for a joinery company that has an established reputation. This point can’t be stressed enough. When it comes to such a specialized niche, it makes no sense to try and save money by hiring a cheap company. The results will not be to your satisfaction and you would probably be better off not hiring anyone. This means that you must avoid companies that call ‘door to door’, have no website and generally have not been heard of by anyone. High quality joiners are unlikely to be able to start work on the same day you hire them. A good joinery company have a clearly established office, an online presence (usually) and plenty of positive reviews from local people.

As this is likely to be an expensive project, you don’t want to be taking chances on the quality of the workmanship. It’s common sense to look for a guarantee off the joinery company. If they refuse to give one or only offer vague promises, go elsewhere. ‘Their word’ or a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ are not legally binding so get a piece of paper that is and get it signed. Professional companies will produce this guarantee without prompting. Guarantees vary in length but in general, you shouldn’t accept less than 10 years for any piece of joinery work. A project like the installation of new windows could have an even longer guarantee.

Although the final price may come to several hundred pounds or more, the majority of joinery companies will not charge an upfront payment. They will be more than happy with signing a contract which legally obligates you to pay if you are satisfied with the final result of the project. Therefore, there is no reason for them to seek an upfront payment of anything beyond materials they may have to purchase for the job. Companies that ask for more cannot be trusted and should be told to look elsewhere for business. It is very much a buyer’s market so remember, it is you that has the power, not the other way around.

While it’s not all that easy to find a high quality joinery company, there are quite a few in the UK. The real difficulty is finding a professional company amid all the dross that are interested in your money only and take no pride in their work

What To Look For In Good Joinery Work

While it would be incredibly handy to have the skills required to fit wardrobes, stairs and windows, it is unlikely you have this ability unless you have years of training. Attempting to complete a joinery project by yourself is unlikely to end well and it’s much better to hire the services of a professional. However, there are some companies that deploy less than skilled workmen who make a complete mess of a project. Yet they often get away with it because members of the general public don’t really know what to look for in a joinery project. Read on to find out more and separate yourself from this unfortunate band.

One of the least obvious places to look is on the staircase. This is often completely ignored when looking at the quality of joinery work but it is actually indicative of the quality of all joinery projects produced by that individual or company. If your stair rail is not steady, someone could grab onto it and fall, seriously injuring themselves. Clearly, you don’t want this to be the first sign of a bad joinery job. If a stair rail goes on to another level, this is a sure sign that it has not been fitted properly.

In contrast, everyone pays close attention to their windows, but not close enough it seems. There are still thousands of badly fitted windows in the UK. These individuals hired a joinery company to fit these windows only to find that the windows are not secure. This becomes clear when the home’s heating bill remains at or near the same level as when they had single pane windows. This is because heat is still able to escape through the badly fitted windows. When a good joinery company are used, they will be able to create the windows to your specifications, as well as being in charge of installation and finishing. As double glazed windows are relatively expensive but can save you hundreds of pounds a year in your home heating bill, it is recommended that you look far and wide for a suitable company to fit these windows.

A joiner should also have the capacity to fit a door so that visible gaps appear. If too much space is left on the top or bottom, draughts will come in and reduce your home’s energy efficiency. As doors are constantly being used with wear and tear inevitable, a poorly fitted door will soon start to come off its hinges. Replacing a door can be an expensive process so if you haven’t hired the correct joiner first time around, there could be some expensive repairs, particularly if you haven’t secured a guarantee.

A high quality joinery will design, manufacture and install high quality custom made woodwork. There will be no visible problems with the products and the wood will be flawless. This means that there will never be unintentional markings on the wood caused by a clumsy joiner. We hire joiners with the expectation of receiving high quality work. We must be on our guard and ensure we’re not paying for an expensive fraud.