Joiners Have Plane Common Sense
There are a huge number of job opportunities in the trade skills arena of the building trade. Joiner is just one of them. So if you are good with their hands then carpenter or joiner may well be for you.
Joiners make and install the wooden fixtures and fittings found in home and business construction projects. These can include floorboards, kitchen and bathroom units, window frames and doors, roof trusses and wall partitions.
As a carpenter or joiner your work will cover any one of the following areas:
-
Formwork – building temporary shuttering to support setting concrete, for example on motorway bridge supports or building foundations.
-
Machining – cutting and shaping timber for floorboards, skirting boards and window frames.
-
Bench joinery – in a workshop making and assembling doors, window frames, staircases and fitted furniture
-
First fixing – on construction sites, fitting the wooden structures of a building, such as floor and roof joists, roof timbers, staircases, partition walls, and door and window frames.
-
Second fixing – put in skirting boards, door surrounds, doors, cupboards and shelving, as well as door handles and locks on new-build houses.
With many different joiner roles available, there are a number of routes from which to choose. It could mean working in the ever-growing construction industry, helping to build roofs on the thousands of new housing estates and fitting out the rooms inside; or working in the commercial sector, shop-fitting and constructing display material.
Perhaps self-employment within the commercial or domestic sectors is more attractive to you where variety and flexibility is key. You will have to provide solutions for diverse requirements, or taking your time to create fine works of art in the form of furniture and decorative pieces.
Before you follow your dreams, though, there is the need to start somewhere; basic carpentry and joinery skills form the basis of all core woodworking practices and are essential to allow you the pick of routes open to you.
There are many training courses to start you on your way, but you must understand that one of the main elements you will need to progress within the industry – or any service industry for that matter – are communication skills: the ability to get on with people. These include being polite, friendly, understandable and easy to communicate with.
Obviously, training and qualifications are the main factors involved in actually getting you a job and allowing you to get your foot in the joinery business door, or providing you with the confidence and ability needed to start your own business.
City & Guilds and CITB-ConstructionSkills (the old Construction Industry Training Board) are the main awarding bodies providing the qualifications that matter – namely C&G 6135 and construction industry awards. But other qualifications, such as the BTEC range, are helpful to prove your skills and commitment as a joiner.
|
