calling all professional plumbers

[fp]

Calling all professional plumbers. I am about to start three years plumbing course (2 evenings aweek) with the hope of starting a plumbing bussiness at the end with my son. To get experince on how to deal with the general puplic, I was thinking on advertising for small plumbing jobs, do you think it's a goon idea? or can you suggest other alternatives? I have under taken small plumbing jobs for friends and in my house and seems to do alright! Also I will be near retiring age when I have completed the course ,do you advise starting on a plumbing career at my time of life? I am fit and willing very much to learn the trade. I have been in my present employ ment for 32 years and I do need a change I feel. Your professional opinion will be most welcombed.

 

[2scoops0406]

do you think it's a goon idea? or can you suggest other alternatives?

I don't think it's a bad idea. But then I'm a little young to remember the goons

Seriously though, I can't see why not, if you're fit, why not go for it. Obviously you can't touch gas installations until you're CORGI registered, but I'm unsure what the position is legally on plumbing. In all eventualities, I'd be tempted to get professional indemnity insurance.

Oh, BTW, I'm most definitely not a professional plumber.

 

[corgiman]

I would strongly advise a decent bit of experiance before you tout for your own work, without it you public liability insurance will be huge

 

[breezer]

as my late father would have said, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

I my self can solder pipes (no leaks) bend pipes with a bender, doesnt make me a plumber. what if you get a call for a job that you soon realise is too big, there goes your credability.

also you MUST have insurance (but as mentioned cost will be phrohibitive, untill you are qualified)

dont run untill you can walk, sorry

 

[ChrisR]

WHAT COURSE?!!

You do not need prof indemnity insurance; that's for consultants etc. But you will need 3rd part liability insurance. No prob if you say you're a handyman/ general builder who does a small % plumbing.

Careful about the physical side - many find it a bit of a grind - especially if the lad wants to go fly helicopters after a few months.

A little knowledge.... is all you need for bathrooms etc. Heating rapidly gets more involved but if you've been around diy on houses for 30 years you'll be surprised how much you know. Plenty of money in bathrooms, and its mostly just a kit of bits. You'll find that recent rule changes make it impossible to become corgi registered, which is a farce but there it is. Go for it and good luck.

 

[2scoops0406]

WHAT COURSE?!!

You do not need prof indemnity insurance; that's for consultants etc. But you will need 3rd part liability insurance.

Sorry, prof idemnity is what I used to have, but then I was a consultant !

 

[fp]

Thanks for the tips boys.The course C&G NVQ2.

 

[ollski]

It is a good course to learn the basics of plumbing, but I would give it a year or so of small jobs for friends before you unleash yourself on the public, if you have to keep going out for new tools or fittings or struggle to answer all the questions they throw at you you will get a bad reputation before you have chance to work up a good one, people are very wary of wannabe plumbers these days.

 

[ChrisR]

Plkease excuse me I'm going to offend some people here. I did C&G/NVQ2, 2 years 1 day a week.
I'd read the book the weekend before the course started, so learned nothing knoledge-wise about pipe plumbing (ie a bit about lead) from the course itself. I learned plenty by asking questions about other stuff, from the lecturers who were ex plumbers. The course material is trivially basic. It is intended for school drop-outs so it isn't surprising I suppose.
2 parts of the corse are "number power" and "word power". Can you add up/use a calculator, and can you understand basic English?

Possibly the most useful part for you will be the chance to use loads of pipe to practise bending. But you could spend £20 on 30m and get much the same benefit, if there was someone handy to help if you had q's about that.
So without the "craft" aspects , of lead, and bending of copper, I believe its all tooo simple stuff. Practise is all very well, but you get v little of that from the course itself. If you're doing it while getting experience working for someone, that's the useful bit - the course doesn't help. It enforces a structure but includes too much you may not want to know about so will waste time on (Lead/roofing, lead for drainage).
One exception - I learned a fair bit about about H&S regs& law - though a lot of that would be covered by common sense.

NVQ2 is neither a necessary nor sufficient qualification to be a plumber.

NVQ3, goes off onto more commercial scale stuff - more interesting but not much relevance to domestic. And you still have to do some lead bashing!

None of the above tells you what bits to buy to fit a bathroom - a Wickes leaflet would be better. Then a load of manufacturers' leaflets to see what you can theoretically get, and a visit to an actual plumbers merchant to see what you can actually get.

Then you fit the bits together and it works as long as you remember rule number 1. - Sh*t goes downhill, except when it's coming in your direction.

 

[ollski]

It does get you the opportunity to join the iphe and also in the mids you can get onto the severn trent watermark scheme of approved plumbers. I did a nvq2 plumbing and learnt a bit but not as chris says, not a lot. I did a nvq2 gas installation and maintainance at a different college and learnt ALOT to a much higher level, so if you want to specialize I would say go for a more specific course than just plumbing.

 

[ChrisR]

Very fair comment. Benefits are there, if not not overwhelming in the technical area!

It looks like we're moving towards a situation where "a qualification" will be needed for some things at least. So it would be good for fp's son.

For actually doing smallish domestic work which I believe would be appropriate for fp as a very late starter, less of a benefit. Though people do respond well to someone having taken a responsible route (ie "getting trained") at any age.

 

[2scoops0406]

Perhaps you could recommend a course (or course of action) instead then? It's easy to grandstand (i.e. bitch about the course.... I don't know never been on one) far harder is to give practical advice to someone who has an interest and wants to move forward. Sorry, but's that's the truth.

 

[ChrisR]

I think I did give advice - "go for it". If you can do it, do it more, just absorb all the info you can. Forums like this are worth reading - I learn a lot from them.

 

[aarontp]

Hi all,
I have been discussing with fp (as I am his son) and I know that my Dad has experience in plumbing but no qualification to prove it. The point of the NVQ II was for him and me to gain a recognized qualification and then proceed to level III and I want to go through all the way to CORGI level (I know it will take a while). Personally I don't have plumbing experience apart from the very few times I have watched and helped my Dad (fp) so I personally think the course will benefit me. Now, it seems that some of the talk on here is advising that the course for fp would be a bit of a waste of time but if we are eventually to go into business together (and leave our current careers behind) then people would want plumbers with qualifications and a little bit of experience then a plumber who says he has been doing plumbing for years and no qualifications to prove it. You can't always rely on word of mouth these days and also would you let a guy loose on your house plumbing problems if he said he had years of experience but nothing on paper to show what he is capable of? Would it not seem right for fp to complete the course and, although I know he will fly through it, show that he has been willing to participate and give up his time, after work, to learn the correct ways of plumbing and to achieve a result in a qualification??
Look forward to your advice. I am coming for an IT background so my view points may be differnet from the trade world of plumbing but I really look forward to your advice. I am personally aiming to start the course and maybe after completing the level II approaching some plumbing companies to see if they will take me on whilst studying for the next exam and learning on the job before eventually branching on our own.
Look forward to your advice.
Sorry for any typo's!! Late and tired

 

[oilman]

.......then people would want plumbers with qualifications......

Not in my experience. (I haven't got any). They want someone they can trust. I get asked for all sorts of jobs. I just draw the line at ground level (or toilet pans). A cock up with underground drainage can be EXPENSIVE.

As has been said, courses are often a joke nowadays. If you can stand and breathe at the same time, you've passed. I look at work done by some "plumbers" (they're qualified) and I wonder how they got it.

If you have a water pressure gauge, a flow meter and a hydraulic test pump, you will be streets ahead. Just admit it if you don't know something. It's no loss, better that than talk yourself into something you shouldn't have.