Work experience

Servotech said:

experienced tradesman giving up their gas work because of the ever increasing gas safe registration fees.!

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That's not the problem. the problem of our overheads is that when we quote for jobs people forget that we have to cover them. they think the money we take is all ours. Whereas many other trades or work in houses jobs (like piano teacher or whashing machine repair) apart from a vehicle to get to the job, all the money is for the individual.

combine that with lack of work and you would find many of the ghuys on here if honest would tell you they haven't yet made a full contibution to fixed costs and oveheads yet so their wages have been zero so far this year.

Why iur overheads are high is equipment that costs a lot and perishes and requires callibration, amortisation of our training and certification so that we seem to be paying for something new every five minutes and some things we trained supposedly once and for all for, we are now told we have to pay again for every five years, and so on.

We have helped the unemployment figures though keeping people in jobs training us and watching over us and administering those two roles.

d247806y said:

Well guys i have to agree with all your comments, i would start an apprenticeship tommorow if i could, its not about money for me i expected more from my training, but as you say, you cant get enough experience, and i want to learn the job inside out, thats why im on here. Plumbing or gas work
Im in doncaster area, got transport and will travel.

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Well you are trying anyway.

round here in Scarborough there is hardly any work. If anyone asked me "should I do this gas course?" I would say chuck £3,000 over the marine drive it will be less painful and quicker. Becoming a self employed gas fitter is a slow death these days. Absolute dead loss of a career.

Paul Barker said:

d247806y said:

Well guys i have to agree with all your comments, i would start an apprenticeship tommorow if i could, its not about money for me i expected more from my training, but as you say, you cant get enough experience, and i want to learn the job inside out, thats why im on here. Plumbing or gas work
Im in doncaster area, got transport and will travel.

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Well you are trying anyway.

round here in Scarborough there is hardly any work. If anyone asked me "should I do this gas course?" I would say chuck £3,000 over the marine drive it will be less painful and quicker. Becoming a self employed gas fitter is a slow death these days. Absolute dead loss of a career.

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couldn't agree more. this lad has an excellent attitude tho well done when things pick up an when companys start taking on again am sure you will get sorted

As he is so far away then I would offer him free accommodation in London and he could come with me on an unpaid work experience basis.

However, he will decide he is too far away, doesnt want to leave the wife and kids and needs to be paid to keep up the morgage.

Hello mate,

I'm absolutely chuffed with your offer and will gladly accept, when would be the best time to call?

thanks again

David.

Sounds an excellent offer all round well done to agile that was a really nice thing to do

I will be at installer live on Thurs/Fri where some phones dont work and quite busy before I go but you should email me with your address in the subject and your CV in the text as well as you phone numbers.

Also say how late you can speak because I work the late shift.

Ton

onlyfitidealboilers said:

[
round here in Scarborough there is hardly any work. If anyone asked me "should I do this gas course?" I would say chuck £3,000 over the marine drive it will be less painful and quicker. Becoming a self employed gas fitter is a slow death these days. Absolute dead loss of a career.

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couldn't agree more. this lad has an excellent attitude tho well done when things pick up an when companys start taking on again am sure you will get sorted [/quote] Even bloody slower death if you don`t do gas - just old skool plumbing When co.s start taking on again the E. Euros. will flood back then because the companys don`t want to pay us UK rates

be positive man

Who says there is no money in gas? I am down 50k over the last 2 years through companies going bust on me. I have still managed to hold onto everything and make a good living. Still averaging around 6-800per week

It all depends how good you are and how good your reputation is. I have trained 5 apprentices up over the last 10 years and ALL of them are doing well.

Agile said:

I will be at installer live on Thurs/Fri where some phones dont work and quite busy before I go but you should email me with your address in the subject and your CV in the text as well as you phone numbers.

Also say how late you can speak because I work the late shift.

Ton

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Yep thats right as you are a one man band with limited work and experience, testament to the fact that you are on here nearly everyday all day/night.

Now don't say you've got people working for you because you don't, just you and that nice old picture of yourself on gas safe.

OP you have been had pal, what qualification oops sorry worthless certificate did MET UK give you was it:

Master Plumber with Solar
or
Master plumber with electrics
or
multi skilled gas blah blah etc etc

Vermin like these organisations prey on naive individuals like you! hell a Plumbing and Heating apprenticeship with gas is a wide ranging subject that cannot be learnt short course.

Your technical certificates are worthless and not recogniseable without prolonged on the job experience with a timeserved professional.

Just google short course or fast track trianing rouges and read and weep. you will be directed to organisations like CIPHE, SNIPEF and APHC. They all say the same.. YOU are not qualified and the APHC have just recently announced they will no longer affilliate themselves with BPEC and or there training centers due to bad practices i.e. the plethora of short course idiots now being churned out.

When things were really busy, you would have been given a job on cr4p money as a dogs body but not now.

Ring any of the trade organisations or local reputable businesses and see what they say, you really should have done more research before parting with your cash and for that reason I have no sympathy.

I have very close to me 3 people like you who did short training and couldn't get a job so went self employed with no experience...they are...

1. Franchise trained 28K, franchise went belly up and now has no work and about to loose house.

2. Short course at college, no work/not enough contacts/experience, split from wife and house on market.

3. 12 Month gas trained at local college, scratching about for work, subbying to Bg on £18 an hour self employed. Struggling with the work they give him and is looking to go back to what he was doing but can't get a job.

Only timeserved experienced operatives/businesses will survive...the rest will fail or plod alond working thmselves into an early grave making a wage.

This is a fact that CANNOT be disputed!

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but without prolonged on site training to achieve an NVQ...you will never be a graded operative/timeserved. The industry is hardening now to your kind, this can be seen by the various other courses training providers are moving into..

they have made their money out of your kind, time to scam someone else.

d247806y

I was in the same boat as you 4 years ago, I've worked for a few companies now and starting to do OK and feel competent, I'm still a fair way from feeling ready to be self employed which was my original plan.

Your situation is definitely not hopeless, but I won't lie to you there is a lot of truth in what has been said here, these colleges are a disgrace and I really do feel I was scammed. These places are dangerous, I defiantly wasn't anywhere near 'competent' when I passed my ACS, neither was I when I successfully applied to CORGI, (what a joke that was) the system is badly broken.

For me it's been a really hard 4 years, like you I want to learn the job properly, its been a lot harder than I thought it would be. There is a hell of a lot to learn, but your attitude seems great so far, try not to get too demotivated by all the negative comments, I'm sure if you stick with it and stay motivated you can succeed.

I wish you the best of luck.

onlyfitidealboilers said:

be positive man

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Luckily I don`t need to be - I`m retired Offered to do a bit @ £50 a day for a poster here ( proper gasfitter/plumber) didn`t even reply - perhaps he thinks I`m a cc. ccc.

looneyfitter said:

make a good living. Still averaging around 6-800per week

ll.

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Same money as my boy then -. Learned to spread and gets same £ as you with materials @ £5. a bag tools cost £400 max inc. stilts . Van another £500 . Customer don`t pay . Bunch of fives - simples You an me both must be the loonies .

Paul Barker said:

Servotech said:

experienced tradesman giving up their gas work because of the ever increasing gas safe registration fees.!

Click to expand...

That's not the problem. the problem of our overheads is that when we quote for jobs people forget that we have to cover them. they think the money we take is all ours. Whereas many other trades or work in houses jobs (like piano teacher or whashing machine repair) apart from a vehicle to get to the job, all the money is for the individual.

combine that with lack of work and you would find many of the ghuys on here if honest would tell you they haven't yet made a full contibution to fixed costs and oveheads yet so their wages have been zero so far this year.

Why iur overheads are high is equipment that costs a lot and perishes and requires callibration, amortisation of our training and certification so that we seem to be paying for something new every five minutes and some things we trained supposedly once and for all for, we are now told we have to pay again for every five years, and so on.

We have helped the unemployment figures though keeping people in jobs training us and watching over us and administering those two roles.

Click to expand...

You can't just pass on your overheads to the customer though can you?
If you did you simply wont get the job.
The reality of the matter is that the average working man of Britain just doesn't have a grand in savings to keep paying for a course in doing the gas work that he's done for the past 20 or even 30 years!
His choice often is either a well earned holiday or a gas course in the year that his renewal is due.