Gareth Roberts

G. W. Roberts Plastering

Gareth Roberts travelled all the way from North Wales to attend the Tywi Centre Lime Plastering course because there was no other course of its kind in the area.

A plasterer by trade, Gareth, who runs G. W. Roberts Plastering, was keen on obtaining a professional qualification in lime plastering to help with his business.

“I saw the advertisement in the newspaper,” said Gareth.  “The course offered everything I wanted to learn about. I really enjoyed the classes at the centre and was lucky enough to have a bursary to do it. They don’t teach these courses in college for youngsters to learn which is a great shame.”

Gareth says that having the qualification has turned his business around.

“Customers have told me they struggle to find anyone qualified in using lime to work on their homes. People are caring for their old buildings a lot more and when they do their research, they find lime is the answer. Using cement and modern materials just doesn’t work well on them. Lime is natural, it’s better for global warming, costs less to produce and works better with stone.

“Some customers have told me they have had the same job done several times, but when I’ve done it using lime, it’s been sound as a pound. That’s not to say the builders they had previously were bad, it’s because they were using the wrong materials for the work.”

Its certainly made it a lot easier to look for work. I now employ two lads and can charge a lot better rate so enjoy a much better standard of life