In article ,
Dave Plowman writes:
In article ,
Lobster wrote:
However, with all due respect to the pros, plastering is not rocket
science, is it?! It's a matter of knowing how to do it right, and
*then* practice, practice, practice. I'd certainly leap at the chance
of attending a course if there was one available near me.

I wonder how much can actually be taught, and how much is just down to
practice? I'd think it's mostly the latter.

Having done a plastering course, I would say mostly the former.
I could plaster perfectly immediately after the course, as could
all the others on the course. What has improved over time is my
plastering speed.

Doing plastering as a job has lots of other things you learn over
time. The teacher mentioned some examples. One I recall -- if you
are plastering and only the housewife is at home (sorry, terribly
sexist;-), ask to borrow the vacuum to clean up after yourself.
Most housewives will bring the vacuum in and then do it for you,
since they are pleased you want to leave it clean and tidy, and
they often don't like the thought of someone else using their
vacuum cleaner! You'll go away and get glowing recommendations
on how tidy you were, but actually you did nothing different
than just walking out and leaving the place dusty - the housewife
did it. However, you left a completely different impression as
a result of trying to do it...

--
Andrew Gabriel