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Level 3 NVQ Wall and Floor Tiling
The tiling qualification behind the Gold CSCS Advanced Craft card, assessed on the backgrounds you prepare and the tile, mosaic and stone finishes you already produce. Seven units, no options, no college and no exam. Register any week and your assessor plans it around the work you already have on.
Why candidates choose Acadame
What makes our Level 3 NVQ Wall and Floor Tiling different
About this qualification
The Level 3 NVQ Diploma in Wall and Floor Tiling (Construction) is the qualification CSCS accept for the Gold Advanced Craft card in tiling, and the one experienced tilers hold when they are the person who takes the job from bare background to finished surface. It is not taught. It records, against the national occupational standards, the work you already do: confirming the method of work before you start, confirming the activities and the resources, keeping the working relationships straight on site, preparing the backgrounds, tiling wall and floor surfaces, and producing tiled, mosaic and stone finishes.
It is awarded by GQA Qualifications under qualification number 603/3240/2. All seven units are mandatory, so there are no pathways and no options to choose between. That makes it a straightforward qualification to plan: your assessor knows from the start exactly what has to be evidenced, and the only question is which of your jobs produces each piece.
Assessment is a portfolio of photographs, setting out drawings, product data and witness testimony from your own jobs, an observation of you working and a professional discussion with your assessor, most of it from your phone and by video call. There is no fixed duration and no cohort. This qualification is not open for registration yet, so the page is an enquiry: tell us what you tile and we will tell you where you stand.
- Nothing new, if you are already preparing backgrounds and producing finished tile, mosaic and stone work. The qualification records what you do rather than teaching it
- How to evidence Level 3 tiling competence: what a set of stage photographs, a setting out drawing, a product data sheet and a witness testimony from the site manager each prove
- How to capture the mosaic and stone work the qualification needs, which is the unit most tilers have to plan around
- Where the Level 3 Occupational Work Supervision sits if you already run a gang of tilers
How completing this qualification helps you
- The Level 3 NVQ Diploma in Wall and Floor Tiling (Construction), certificated by GQA
- Eligibility for the Gold CSCS Advanced Craft card, once you have passed the health and safety test, issued by GQA under their own CSCS card scheme
- A temporary CSCS card on registration, in case you need one while you complete
- A Level 3 that never expires, and the base for the Level 3 Occupational Work Supervision if you go on to run a gang
Who is it for?
Experienced wall and floor tilers who prepare their own backgrounds, set out the job from the drawings and produce tile, mosaic and stone finishes to a commercial standard, with no formal qualification at this level. Also tilers with years on the tools and no card behind them, and anyone whose card has run out without a qualification to renew it against.
Entry requirements. There are no formal entry requirements and you do not need a lower level qualification first. What you do need is live tiling work to evidence from, because every unit is assessed on real jobs: the method you confirmed, the materials you checked in, the backgrounds you prepared, the surfaces you tiled, your site manager's word. GQA developed this qualification for achievement in a real workplace, so you have to be working to take it. The initial assessment below confirms your fit before you commit to anything.
Ready to find out if you qualify?
The initial assessment takes a couple of minutes and nothing is typed: you click through what you do and what you can evidence, and it tells you the pathway, the level and what to gather. Or ask MB and get an answer straight away.
Initial assessment
Check you qualify, in a couple of minutes
Nothing to type. Click through what you tile, what you prepare and what you can evidence, and it shows you whether the Level 3 fits and the evidence your assessor will ask for. All seven units are mandatory, so this is about what you can already show rather than which options to pick. Anything you cannot evidence yet is something we plan with you and your employer. These answers are your initial assessment, and you can email yourself a PDF of it.
The online check needs JavaScript. Without it, tell us what you do and we will run the initial assessment with you over the phone.
What you evidence
The units behind the qualification
All seven units are mandatory, worth 69 credits in total. There are no pathways and no options. 231 guided learning hours, 690 hours total qualification time. Nothing is taught: each unit is evidenced from your own work.
The seven units everyone completes (69 credits)
- A/617/0371 Producing tiled, mosaic and stone surface finishes in the workplace (17 credits)
- A/616/8264 Tiling wall and floor surfaces in the workplace (13)
- R/503/2924 Confirming the occupational method of work in the workplace (11)
- A/503/2772 Confirming work activities and resources for an occupational work area in the workplace (10)
- T/616/8263 Preparing backgrounds to receive wall and/or floor tiling in the workplace (8)
- M/503/2915 Developing and maintaining good occupational working relationships in the workplace (8)
- A/503/1170 Conforming to general health, safety and welfare in the workplace (2)
Method of assessment
How the wall and floor tiling NVQ on-site assessment works
Competence based, which means no exam and no written test. You build a portfolio of evidence from the jobs you tile, your assessor watches you work and you talk the knowledge through in a professional discussion. GQA require evidence of both performance and knowledge, and note that assessment at Level 3 is not normally carried out by ticking a checklist. The online check above is your initial assessment; there is no separate skills scan.
1. Initial assessment, online
The questions you click through above are your initial assessment. They tell us whether your work covers the background preparation, the wall and floor tiling and the mosaic and stone finishes the qualification needs, and whether you have enough live work to evidence it.
2. Register with GQA
Once the qualification opens we register you with GQA under qualification number 603/3240/2. That registration can also release a temporary CSCS card in case you need one, once we have your HS&E test result report, a passport style photograph and the right postal address.
3. Evidence from your own jobs
Photographs of the work at each stage, from the bare background through the preparation, the setting out and the fixing to the grouted and finished surface, setting out drawings and tile layouts, adhesive, grout and primer data sheets, delivery notes, job sheets, witness testimony from the site manager, the RAMS you worked to and the CoSHH sheets for adhesives and cleaning products. Your assessor tells you exactly what each unit needs.
4. Workplace observation
Your assessor comes to the job and watches you work: preparing and priming a background, setting out from the datum and the centre line, fixing and levelling the tiles, cutting around a service or into a corner, grouting and finishing, and records what they see against the standard.
5. Professional discussion
A recorded conversation about why you work the way you do. It covers the knowledge a photograph cannot show: how you decide the background is fit to tile, which adhesive and grout suit the substrate and the exposure, movement joints and where they go, tanking and falls in a wet area, what you do when the floor is out of level or the background will not take the weight.
6. Certificate, then the card
Internal quality assurance, then GQA issue the certificate. Pass the CITB Operatives test, or GQA's own health and safety test, and we apply to GQA for your Gold Advanced Craft card.
After the qualification
Getting the Gold card, not just the certificate
The qualification is only half of it. The Gold Advanced Craft card, the one CSCS used to call the Advanced Craft card, needs the Level 3 qualification and a pass in a health and safety test taken within the last two years, either the CITB Health, Safety and Environment test for Operatives or GQA's own test. Not the Specialist Supervisory test, and not the Managers and Professionals test. We book the right one for you. GQA issue their own CSCS cards, so the certificate and the card both come from GQA, and the card carries the CSCS logo and is read on site like any other.
You do not have to wait for any of that to be on site. GQA issue a temporary CSCS card as soon as we register you, in case you need one while you complete, and post it to you direct. It lasts up to twelve months and it cannot be renewed, so it is a bridge and not a destination. You give us your CITB HS&E test result report, a passport style photograph and the exact postal address, because GQA send it once and we will not pay for it twice if the address is wrong. It is not a free Gold card: that follows the certificate.
- CITB Health, Safety and Environment test at Operatives level, or GQA's own test, booked with us
- Gold Advanced Craft card application, which we make to GQA for you, valid five years
- Temporary card on registration, in case you need one, posted by GQA, up to twelve months and not renewable
- The Level 3 Occupational Work Supervision alongside it if you run a gang
Level 3 NVQ Wall and Floor Tiling FAQs
Yes. Level 3 on the Regulated Qualifications Framework is the same level as A levels and an advanced apprenticeship. It is a competence qualification rather than an academic one, so it proves you can do the job at that level rather than that you have studied it, which is what CSCS and main contractors want from a tiler on the Gold card.
No. All seven units are mandatory, so everyone does the same qualification. That makes it simple to plan: your assessor knows from the start what has to be evidenced, and the only question is which of your jobs produces each piece. The mosaic and stone unit is usually the one to plan around.
No. There is no classroom and no exam. Everything is assessed on the tiling you already do, through photographs and documents from your own jobs, an observation of you working and a professional discussion with your assessor. GQA developed the qualification for achievement in a real workplace, so you have to be working to take it.
The Gold Advanced Craft card, which CSCS used to call the Advanced Craft card, valid five years. You need the Level 3 certificate plus a pass in the CITB Health, Safety and Environment test for Operatives, or GQA's own health and safety test, within the last two years, then the card application, which we make to GQA for you. It is the trade card, not the Gold Supervisor card, which needs a supervision qualification.
Yes, in case you need one. GQA issue a temporary card as soon as we register you and post it to you direct. It lasts up to twelve months and it cannot be renewed. We need your CITB HS&E test result report, a passport style photograph and the exact address to send it to, because GQA send it once. It is not a free Gold card: the Gold card follows the certificate.
It is the unit to plan around rather than a reason not to start. Producing tiled, mosaic and stone surface finishes is mandatory, so your assessor will want a job that produces it. Tell us on the enquiry what comes up in your work and we will be straight with you about whether it is close enough or whether you need to line up a job first.
As long as you take. There is no fixed duration, no cohort and no term dates, and the qualification is led by you. A tiler with a phone full of stage photographs from recent jobs can be quick. The mosaic and stone work needs the right job, so your assessor plans it around what is coming up.
Photographs of each job at stages, from the bare background through preparation, setting out and fixing to the grouted finish, setting out drawings and tile layouts, adhesive, grout and primer data sheets, delivery notes, job sheets, witness testimony from the site manager, the RAMS you worked to and CoSHH sheets for adhesives and cleaners. Your assessor maps each one to a unit and tells you what is missing.
Any week. There is no intake and no waiting list. Click through the initial assessment and send it to us, and we will confirm your fit and what happens next.
Yes, employers can be invoiced and can put several tilers through as one booking. A CITB grant may be available to CITB registered employers. Tell us who is paying when you enquire and we will set it out properly before anyone commits.
£950 + VAT. That is the whole qualification: registration with the awarding body, your assessor, the visits, the portfolio and the certificate. There is no separate exam fee and no course fee on top, because there is no course to attend. The CSCS card is applied for separately and CSCS charge their own fee for it.
Yes, and for an experienced tiler working on large or complex jobs that is the normal route. There is no set length. You are assessed on the work you are already doing, so the pace is set by how quickly the evidence comes together rather than by a timetable. People who already have photographs, job records and a supervisor who will sign a witness statement often finish inside a few weeks. Nobody is held back waiting for a term to start.
Your assessor comes to you, on your own jobs, in your own working week. They watch you work, take photographs, ask you why you did it that way, and record it against the units. Between visits you upload evidence and your assessor tells you what is still missing. There is no college, no classroom and no written exam.
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Putting several people through?
One assessor and one invoice for the whole team
Group registrations are common on frameworks and large sites. We assess on site so nobody leaves the project, and we handle the awarding body, the certificates and the cards in one place.