YTA Training

10 day course

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Is 10 days of training enough to launch a career as a qualified tiler?

The short answer to this question is, of course, “yes”. However, it is essential to understand what is offered by a particular course of study you may be considering, and how far it will take you on your journey to working on-site as a wall and floor tiler.

It is a logical path to first complete a well-respected beginner tiling course – such as our five-day intensive tiling course, which is suitable for complete novices with no previous experience – before you take on a suitable advanced course. 

Or why not just combine a beginner and advanced tiling course in the UK by completing two five-day courses, one after the other? That’s what our NOCN Cskills 10-day Level 1 Accredited Wall and Floor Tiling course effectively enables you to do. 

Get your beginner and advanced tiling training done in one go! 

If you have already been browsing the YTA website in search of tiling training options, you will be aware that along with the aforementioned five-day beginner course, we make available a five-day intensive advanced course. 

Our 10-day Level 1 course combines these two training avenues, while providing Cskills Level 1 assessments. 

As a learner on this course, you will be trained and assessed in two NOCN Cskills Level 1 units: Tiling a Wall with Decorative Features (Square Tiles) and Tiling a Floor with Obstacles. Achieving both these units will give you six credits at Level 1, and a Cskills ‘Skills for Tiling’ unit accreditation certificate. 

Your achievement of these units will show to potential employers or customers that you are competent to this level as a tiler. It can serve as a strong foundation for a tiling career, particularly when you bear in mind the other content that we provide on this course in relation to starting out in business, marketing, insurance, tax, and progression to other training. 

What aspects of tiling will you get to grips with on this course? 

You can learn more about the core content of this 10-day combined beginner and advanced tiling course on the relevant page of our website. 

To summarise, though, you can expect health and safety to be the first topic of instruction on the opening Monday of the course, before you proceed to the preparation of surfaces and the setting-out of kitchen tiling. 

As the course’s first week continues, you can expect to carry out such tasks as cutting tiles, polishing, silicone sealing, marking and cutting tiles around obstacles, battening out, drilling holes in tiles, and full measuring and quoting. 

Moving into the Monday of the course’s second week, you can look forward to… well, kitchen tiling again. This time, however, you will be tiling with a diamond splashback going up to the funnel. This day will also see you grouting the kitchen, followed by silicone and polishing on the Tuesday. 

The remaining days of our 10-day combined beginner and advanced tiling course in the UK give the learner the chance to work with wet rooms, tanking, plunge cutting, and even the installation of underfloor heating, before tiling on top of it. 

The last day of the course will then conclude with any final questions being answered, and the presentation of certificates.

If this tiling course interests you, what should your next steps be? 

Don’t forget that you’re welcome to arrange a visit to our West Yorkshire training centre before you go as far as booking your place. Taking a tour will also present you with an opportunity to chat with students who are actually on the course. To discover more about this course, please don’t hesitate to contact the YTA team, whether by phone or email. Enrolling in this training route could yet turn out to be one of the best career decisions you ever make!

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From Unfulfilled Job to Skilled Trade: Build Your Future with YTA!

Many people reach a stage in life where they realise they want something more — more satisfaction, more flexibility, and more control over their future. If you’ve ever thought about changing direction and learning a practical, rewarding skill, now is the perfect time to make it happen.

At YTA, we specialise in helping people just like you take that next step — retraining in trades such as plumbing, tiling, plastering, kitchen fitting, and carpentry & joinery. Our courses are designed to give you the skills, confidence, and qualifications to start working for yourself and build a career you can be proud of.

Why More People Are Turning to the Trades

Across the UK, skilled tradespeople are in high demand. From new builds to home renovations, there’s always a need for qualified plumbers, tilers, plasterers, kitchen fitters, and joiners. That means consistent work, great earning potential, and the freedom to choose how and where you work.

One of the biggest attractions of the trades is the opportunity to go self-employed. Many of our students finish their training and soon start taking on their own clients, setting their own hours, and building their own businesses. With a solid reputation and good workmanship, self-employed tradespeople can enjoy a steady flow of work and the satisfaction of being their own boss.

The Freedom and Flexibility of Working for Yourself

Imagine being able to choose your own projects, plan your schedule, and decide how much you earn. Self-employment in the trades offers exactly that. Whether you’re fitting kitchens, plumbing bathrooms, plastering walls, or crafting bespoke furniture, you’re in control of your career and your future.

At YTA, we don’t just teach you the technical skills — we help you gain the confidence to work independently. Our training gives you a solid foundation in both the practical and professional aspects of the trade, preparing you for real-world work from day one.

Hands-On Training, Real Skills, Recognised Qualifications

Our courses are fully accredited and taught by experienced tradespeople who know the industry inside out. You’ll learn in a supportive, workshop-based environment where you can practise real techniques on real projects.

We offer fast-track, hands-on training in:

  • Plumbing – learn pipework, bathroom installation, and fault finding.
  • Tiling – master wall and floor tiling, cutting, and setting out.
  • Plastering – gain experience in skimming, bonding, and surface preparation.
  • Kitchen Fitting – learn installation, measuring, and finishing to professional standards.
  • Carpentry & Joinery – develop core woodworking skills, joinery techniques, and on-site know-how.

Whether you’re starting from scratch or upskilling, our CSkills accredited courses and NVQ Level 2 assessments provide the practical expertise and recognised qualifications to help you stand out.

Success Stories That Inspire

“After years in retail, I decided to retrain as a kitchen fitter. The YTA course gave me everything I needed — hands-on experience, a qualification, and the confidence to go self-employed. Now I have my own business and a full diary of work!”
— Mark S., YTA Graduate

“The tutors were brilliant. I’d never picked up a trowel before, but by the end of my plastering course I felt ready to take on paid jobs. I’m now running my own plastering business, and I love it.”
— Joanne P., YTA Graduate

Build a Career You’ll Be Proud Of

Retraining in a trade isn’t just about learning a new skill — it’s about building a future that offers independence, stability, and satisfaction. With the right training and support, you can turn your ambition into reality and create a career on your own terms.

At YTA Training, we’re here to help you make that transition smoothly and confidently. From the moment you step into our training centre, you’ll be guided, supported, and encouraged to achieve your full potential.

👉 Explore our courses today at www.ytatraining.com and take the first step towards a successful, self-employed future in the trades.

YTA Training – Your Future. Your Trade. Your Success.

YTA – Bradford, West Yorkshire.

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Level 1 or no Level 1, you’ll learn a lot on our 10-day intensive plumbing course

Plumbing has long been a choice of career associated with an impressive level of job security and earning potential. However, it might not be entirely obvious to you what steps you should take to actually learn the relevant skills and enter this trade.

We can provide an answer to that question here at YTA, in the form of our 10-day intensive plumbing course in the UK. 

This very “hands-on” and practical course is based at our West Yorkshire training centre, and it can be taken on by someone who doesn’t have any prior experience in plumbing at all. Alternatively, if you are seasoned in another trade such as tiling, plastering, or joinery, this course can present an excellent pathway to expanding your skillset. 

What does the ‘Level 1’ element of this course mean? 

If you do commit to this 10-day intensive plumbing course, one key decision you will need to make, will be whether to go with the optional Level 1 add-on. 

Presuming you decide to include the add-on, your successful completion of this training will earn you a nationally recognised qualification – the Level 1 Award in Preparation for Plumbing Operations. 

To get the qualification – which is accredited by Ascentis Awarding Organisation – you will need to pass an assessment process for two units. The first one introduces construction work, while the second unit focuses on how plumbing operations can be carried out. 

Is the Level 1 add-on truly necessary? 

The short answer to this question is… it depends! 

While it could be highly advantageous for your later career to have this Level 1 award under your belt, you will need to pay extra to add it to our 10-day intensive plumbing course in the UK. 

So, you are advised to think carefully about whether the Level 1 add-on will be worth the investment for you, bearing in mind the actual content of the training will be the same regardless. 

What can you expect to find out about through the 10 days of our course? 

It all begins on the Monday of the course’s first week. You will be working with and using 15mm and 22mm copper pipe and fixings, in addition to fitting isolation valves and pipe bending. 

Over the next few days, this will continue through to the planning and installation of a bathroom, and a full strip-down and explanation of internal cistern fittings and different types of flush mechanisms. 

Moving into the second half of the first week, you will be installing a small two-radiator or three-radiator system, using copper pipe and fittings. Then, on Friday, you can expect to be plumbing up a kitchen sink, hot and cold pipework, and a tee-off for a washing machine or dishwasher. 

That leaves the second half of the course, which will aim to build on your knowledge and skills acquired during the first five days. It will involve you completing the fitting of a domestic hot water storage system, in addition to learning more about the bathroom side, rainwater guttering, hoppers, and drainage. 

Would you like to commit now to the course that could launch your plumbing career? 

With this intensive plumbing course in the UK running every week, it shouldn’t be too difficult to find a booking date that works for you! 

To find out more about this course and to secure your place, simply navigate to the relevant part of the YTA website now, or get in touch with us directly. 

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Our 10-day NOCN Cskills Level 1 carpentry course can provide an excellent foundation for a lengthy career

There are certain qualities and skills that anyone who wishes to become a joiner or carpenter will need to possess if they are to succeed in this profession. 

It will be essential, of course, for such a person to be able to work well with their hands, on their own, and with other people. 

They must also apply a high level of thoroughness and attention to detail to their work. Plus, there is the specialised and in-depth knowledge of building and construction that they will need to acquire. 

A career as a carpenter or joiner requires the skilful execution of a wide range of tasks 

Once the given individual is actually working as a carpenter or joiner, they can expect to be engaged in all manner of tasks on a day-to-day basis. 

Yes, they will need to be skilled in such processes as the cutting of timber, and the making and fitting of items like staircases, door frames, roof timbers, and partition walls. 

However, it will also be crucial for them to be proficient and confident in their work with clients or site managers, including when it comes to discussing plans and job instructions. 

You hopefully get the idea by now; there is a lot that any carpenter or joiner will need to do on the average day of their life in this trade. 

There is also, however, a need to know where to start. Well, as a would-be carpenter or joiner, you could barely choose a better start than our accredited 10-day NOCN Cskills Level 1 carpentry and joinery course. 

What makes this course such a well-suited starting point for prospective carpenters? 

This 10-day course, based at our West Yorkshire training centre, doesn’t require the person enrolling in it to have any previous carpentry or joinery experience. So, if you really are starting from the “ground floor” in this trade, this course could be an excellent choice for you. 

If you successfully complete the units that make up the course, you will gain a unit certificate for each of them. This will show your competence in these aspects of carpentry to potential employers or customers. Once you have gained some experience in the trade, you might then look to move up to NVQ Level 2 training. 

The units that this course consists of are listed on our dedicated page for the 10-day training; they encompass such areas as door lining, hanging a door, and skirting and architrave. An additional Cskills Level 1 unit is available as a “bolt-on”, focusing on window frames. 

A comprehensive grounding in a potentially hugely rewarding career field 

This 10-day course will begin with an introduction to how to use the basic hand tools associated with the trade. It continues through to the processes of marking, cutting, and chiselling, before learners will be expected to take on more advanced tasks.

Those tasks will include chopping in hinges using a chisel into a door and door frame, as well as building a door frame with a half lap joint. This will be followed by the construction of a stud partition with a doorway, as an entrance to the learner’s own training bay.

Architrave and skirting will be the next areas of focus on the course, as learners get to grips with miting a skirting board on internal and external angles, as well as straight-angle cuts. 

All in all, when you do take on this course, you can expect to be more thoroughly trained than you might have imagined would even be possible in “just” 10 days. 

Do you have any further questions about our intensive carpentry courses, or would you like to book your place on this one? Whatever the nature of your query, you are welcome to get in touch with YTA via email, or by calling 01274 682199.

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3 reasons to choose our 10-day Level 1 course to get your plastering skills up to speed

The application of plaster to walls and ceilings in readiness for decoration and finishing might not seem like the kind of process for which a high level of skill or training would be required. But of course, the UK’s skilled and experienced plasterers know differently to this. 

There are good reasons, after all, why seasoned plasterers in the UK can potentially earn north of £48,000 per year. One of those reasons is that plastering isn’t a job “just anyone” can do; it is a trade that demands thorough attention to detail, a good level of fitness, and the ability to cope with working at height, among many other things. 

If, though, you do believe you have what it takes to become a capable plasterer, you might already be browsing the various plastering courses that renowned construction training centres like YTA make available. 

In that case, why should our 10-day Cskills Level 1 Accredited Plastering Course be one of the options you consider? We’ve set out several of the reasons below. 

  • It’s an ideal course for people with no prior plastering experience 

Broadly speaking, there are two “types” of people who are likely to find our 10-day Level 1 plastering course an excellent fit. 

Those people are people who have no prior experience of plastering or any other skilled trade, and people who are already tradespersons and have an interest in expanding their skillset. 

To be fair, we could also potentially add a third group to this list: enthusiastic DIYers. Anyway, you get the idea; this course won’t present too steep a learning curve even if your current capabilities in plastering are modest or non-existent. 

  • You’ll cover a serious amount of ground over the 10 days 

Even if you’re approaching the trade of plastering via this course from a complete “standing start” (in other words, with no experience at all), you can expect to make rapid progress. 

By “rapid progress”, we mean that on successful completion of this course, you will be equipped with a clear practical and theoretical understanding of plastering. More than that, you will be in a position to set up as a plasterer straight away, if you wish. 

This Level 1 course will see you trained and assessed in three NOCN Cskills Level 1 units – specifically in relation to the preparation and fixing of plasterboard, as well as non-solid internal backgrounds, and the application of plaster to solid backgrounds. 

  • This course will give you more than just enhanced plastering ability 

You will certainly learn about and get to grips with so many different aspects of plastering over the 10 days of our course – encompassing the use of plastering tools, the plastering of walls and ceilings, “feathering in”, the plastering of arches, and more. 

However, this course will be no less valuable on account of the knowledge it gives you about health and safety, business start-up, and even marketing techniques. 

This course is, after all, a starting point. So, there is rightly a strong emphasis on enabling the learner to put down sturdy foundations for subsequent training and the gaining of experience in plastering. 

Would you like to discover more about this accredited training or any of our other plastering courses at YTA? If so, it is a quick and easy process to give us a call on 01274 682199, or to contact us by email, before you make the final decision to book this highly regarded and trusted pathway.  

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‘Two in one’: how much can you get done in 10 days on a Level 1 wall and floor tiling course?

The high-quality tiling of spaces such as bathrooms, kitchens, shops, and restaurants will always be required. Sure enough, the popularity and demand for wall and floor tiling skills has remained durable down the years. 

So, when you are looking for a “safe bet” in your chosen career, you could hardly do better than training to become a tiler. That still leaves the question, though, of what tiling courses would best suit your needs and ambitions. 

In today’s blog post, we’re showing that you don’t necessarily need to book just one beginner’s tiling course, when you could have two courses in one go! 

We are, of course, referring to the NOCN Cskills 10-day Level 1 Accredited Wall and Floor Tiling Course. 

What do we mean by “two courses in one”? 

As our “range-topping” wall and floor tiling course here at YTA, this 10-day accredited course effectively combines our five-day intensive tiling course in the first week, with our advanced tiling course in the second week. 

Given that the aforementioned intensive tiling course is suitable for people with no prior tiling experience at all, much the same can be said for this complete 10-day course. 

However, a crucial thing to know about the “full” 10-day course, is that it incorporates Cskills assessments. Specifically, those who enrol on this course will be trained and assessed in two Cskills Level 1 assessment units: Tiling A Wall with Decorative Features (Square Tiles), and Tiling A Floor with Obstacles. 

Achieving both these units will give you six units at Level 1. This means you would be awarded a ‘Skills for Tiling’ unit accreditation certificate from the highly respected construction NVQ awarding body, NOCN Cskills – a demonstration of your tiling competence to potential employers or customers. 

You could hardly hope for a better foundation for your future tiling career, as you leave our course to gain more experience and look towards NVQ Level 2 training. 

So, what is involved in this tiling course? 

As we stated above, this 10-day course can be effectively seen as two five-day courses combined. So, let’s quickly take you through what you can expect over those two weeks: 

  • The first week will begin with coverage of health and safety matters, before you proceed to the preparation of surfaces and setting out tiling for kitchens. You will go on to learn about such aspects as the cutting of tiles, grouting, silicone sealing, marking and cutting tiles around obstacles, drilling holes in tiles, and full measuring and quoting. 
  • The second week will see you tiling a kitchen that has a diamond splashback going up to the funnel. You will also spend this week setting out with windows, diamond drilling around waste and supply pipes, and tiling in the bathroom on the floor. You will even, on the final day, install underfloor heating before tiling on it. Final questions will be answered, and certificates will be presented. 

To learn more about what is covered in this course, please feel free to check out the relevant page of our website. Alternatively, you may be interested in browsing our wider range of acclaimed tiling courses. 

You are also welcome to reach out to us to arrange a visit to our West Yorkshire training centre, prior to booking this course. Simply give us a call now on 01274 682199, or enquire via email.