Qualified plumbers..can you help?

[waynej]

Hello,

sorry, I'm sure you guys get asked this all the time and are probably sick of seeing the same questions...I have looked at the FAQs and it's fine if you're a school leaver but not if you're an older person looking to re-train.

Like many people, I am looking to re-train. With a wife and family to support I can't just stop work and spend 2 years doing an NVQ - I have to be earning an income. The NVQ route doesn't seem an option as it is too long besides which I would need to be employed in the trade to be considered for the course ( which is a "catch 22" situation)

There's a lot of companies charging £5k and upwards for 2 month intensive courses which only seem to give very basic city & guilds qualifications and are not part of a "proper" qualification.

Can somebody, please help me by telling me how I can get the essential qualifications to start doing basic domestic work (with the obvious exception of the boiler). I don't mind paying to do a rapid course but I need to know that it's a good qualification at then end.

It seems that the NVQ route is closed to me and the private training companies are just there to make money!

[antony b]

Hi Wayne

I did exactly waht you want to do some years ago.I was in a good paid job with all benifits sick pay etc and decided to do plumbing.I had to be working in the plumbing industry 6 months before the college would consider me as a mature apprentice.I was lucky as my friend owns a plumbing company and took me on and arranged a college place,This was a scary change as i took a £8000 per year pay drop and no benefits for six months on the chance the college would accept me.Some times i wonder what ive done as plumbing is not as great as the media make out and nowhere near as good pay as they say.I also think that the goverment is going to flood the building trade if they keep pushing new people into it.My advise would be if you are in a good job now think realy hard before you jump in , it was a hard few years for me and my family

regards ant

[Paveway]

Read this, and if it isn't enough, search for 'Paveway' on the site and I think you'll find everything you need, but possibly don't want, to know:

http://forum.plumbingpages.com/7-months-as-a-plumber-vt3096.html?highlight=paveway

Cheers,

Joe.

[antony b]

Hi Joe

I also was a mechanical/electrical engineer and read your post and it was very intresting.Ive worked for my friends company now for 4 years and not yet had the guts to go self employed ,I want to but just worried about the book keeping .One point to inform people is the ongoing costs of plumbing training every 5 years you need to renew certificates like unvented G3 , energy efficiency and corgi and these dont come cheap.

all the best ant

[Paveway]

I'm neither Corgi or G3 approved so I don't do that type of work and so far I've never needed to. I wouldn't worry too much about doing gas and the unvented cylinders as there should be enough work without them.

As to book keeping, I run an Excel spreadsheet which I developed myself (it's very simple so that's not as clever as it might sound) and I'm lucky because my wife does the tax return for me. I simply 'do the books' on my spreadsheet each time there's something to fill in, ie my income ('sales'), if the business buys something ('expenditure') and drawings from the bank. This is usually three or four times a week.

As long as you keep on top of it, it's pretty straightforward.

Cheers,

Joe.