Becoming a plumber

[onlyfitidealboilers]

sorry mate but the industry is desimated by late starters. only intrested because of the media 70k a year..bla bla

you carry on giving it all that you wont have a job in 5 years.

 

[nogoodatfaultfinding]

i am now a service and breakdown guy, i will not call myself an engineer yet as the breakdown part can have me in tears somedays but i love my job and was only 23 when i started
Money wise i now earn £33k + per year includes Van, Fuel, Insurance and Phone which is all paid for.




Good Luck
Charles

Like I said Plumbing as a trade is DEAD ..Long live the Service Engineer...And Good Luck to you both Seriously. PS only way to be good @ install is to be fast ,is it not[/quote]

Nige you are spot on mate and in an empty shell and wether on Plastic or Copper i bet i could give anyone on here a run for their money but in an occupied house where i have to lift boards and work out where pipe and runs have to go i feel like an apprentise.
However if my boss just needs a combi swap then he sends me as i can have one out and one in even if its non HE to HE in roughly 4/5 hours including electrics so i think hes happy at that.

Even done 2 in one day on the 22/12 last year so they would have heating over chrimbo.

 

[nogoodatfaultfinding]

sorry mate but the industry is desimated by late starters. only intrested because of the media 70k a year..bla bla

you carry on giving it all that you wont have a job in 5 years.

You really beleive that i wont be doing this in 5 years?

Please state why?

My current employ is with a large company whom have been trading for 40 years + and have no need to let me go, and within 5 years the housing market WILL be back on its feet so i could easily go back to site which i get calls from companies foreven now and could earn even more although as my previous post am loving the servicing side of things.
Trust me if your good enough and fast enough 100K + is easy on a site dont forget they pay all at JIB Rates (on the sites i was on) 12 hours for a bathroom (in an empty shell), 3 hours for a radiator which sometimes there were 20 in a house (in an empty shell), 20 hours to fit a boiler ( in an empty shell).
If you cant manage these times your fooked!!!

 

[onlyfitidealboilers]

the key is NOT fast but it is however NEAT

i know of plenty of fast but ruff so called gas engineers.

i only no of 1 person who is fast&neat an that is me

 

[nogoodatfaultfinding]

the key is NOT fast but it is however NEAT

i know of plenty of fast but ruff so called gas engineers.

i only no of 1 person who is fast&neat an that is me

I won a national prize once for my pipework but that is neither here nor there as the one of the installation kids at our place makes me look like an amatuer.

This topic is not about who is better but should the kid (original OP) have a go at it, if not please give a reasonable reason why instead of saying mines is bigger than yours.
I told him in several paragraphs why to do it.

You now tell him why not to bother!!

 

[dextrous]

I won a national prize once for my pipework but that is neither here nor there as the one of the installation kids at our place makes me look like an amatuer.

So you won the "worse pipework in the nation" prize then

 

[nogoodatfaultfinding]

I won a national prize once for my pipework but that is neither here nor there as the one of the installation kids at our place makes me look like an amatuer.

So you won the "worse pipework in the nation" prize then

No i was second worst

Only joking i won the national award for Pipework And Brazing a good few years ago.
Thought that was all that mattered to make you a good engineer got on site and found out all that mattered was if you knew where a collett/insert went, so much for that award.

Still pride myself that i know how to use a former or a bender and can solder properly

 

[onlyfitidealboilers]

the key is NOT fast but it is however NEAT

i know of plenty of fast but ruff so called gas engineers.

i only no of 1 person who is fast&neat an that is me

I won a national prize once for my pipework but that is neither here nor there as the one of the installation kids at our place makes me look like an amatuer.

This topic is not about who is better but should the kid (original OP) have a go at it, if not please give a reasonable reason why instead of saying mines is bigger than yours.
I told him in several paragraphs why to do it.

You now tell him why not to bother!!

thats easy. real trades men dont want to bother teaching you this life time skill because you will... take there work,money,standard of living away and so on....... there is to many un-skilled people doing this job who dont know where there a*$e hole is. they can solder two bits of pipe together
an they think there gas men.

 

[dextrous]

Only joking i won the national award for Pipework And Brazing a good few years ago.

Belated congratulations for that, then.

However, back to the post - personally I think that is would be worth the op's while to multitask and not specialise in a particular trade. Funnily enough, a basic plumbing principles course for a few hundred quid and three or four days will give the op an inkling of bending pipework properly and for sweating joints.

For a 25 year old who's already followed one career and now wishes to change, he sounds a bit "fickle" (no offence intended), and pursuing a long period of career training an development may not be his cup of tea.

 

[nogoodatfaultfinding]

Only joking i won the national award for Pipework And Brazing a good few years ago.

Belated congratulations for that, then.

However, back to the post - personally I think that is would be worth the op's while to multitask and not specialise in a particular trade. Funnily enough, a basic plumbing principles course for a few hundred quid and three or four days will give the op an inkling of bending pipework properly and for sweating joints.

For a 25 year old who's already followed one career and now wishes to change, he sounds a bit "fickle" (no offence intended), and pursuing a long period of career training an development may not be his cup of tea.

Hey you brought it up

Do you really find that multi tasking when starting out would be benificial?

You revert back to the bending and sweating joints however (if that was a dig) i sweated and bent joints for 4 years on peanuts and i mean kids probably earnt more on a paper round than i did but i stuck in there.

I started this game at 23 and did not think i was fickle im now 33 and still dont know what i want from life do you.
Trust me plumbing nor Gas will be my be all and end all but it pays the bills.

 

[nogoodatfaultfinding]

I won a national prize once for my pipework but that is neither here nor there as the one of the installation kids at our place makes me look like an amatuer.

So you won the "worse pipework in the nation" prize then

By the way the kid i speak of.
His pipework is summit else you would actually beleive he uses yorkshire fittings and bought bends!!!
Its summit else

 

[dextrous]

Do you really find that multi tasking when starting out would be benificial?

You revert back to the bending and sweating joints however (if that was a dig) i sweated and bent joints for 4 years on peanuts and i mean kids probably earnt more on a paper round than i did but i stuck in there.

I started this game at 23 and did not think i was fickle im now 33 and still dont know what i want from life do you.
Trust me plumbing nor Gas will be my be all and end all but it pays the bills.

No dig at all. You are an experienced professional in your field and good luck to you. We're all different; it depends on what the op really wants to do. If he is really serious then whatever is said on here will have no real bearing on his final decision, and if not then it may be that he just gets bored easily in in which case taking a big (initial?) paydrop and spending years getting up to scratch may not be worth it for him.

 

[Jezzy]

Seriously. PS only way to be good @ install is to be fast ,is it not

Not really, the money is in installs, if you can just do one system a week, you should get a grand in for that, that's 48 grand a year with 4 weeks holidays, i would kill for that, servicing and breakdowns doesn't pay these days, people won't have their boilers & fires serviced when money is tight, instead they'll wait till it's broke down and get it done then.

Whereabouts in Yorkshire are you? Wakefield skillcentre do a few good courses, check them out, they are on the monckton way trading estate, next door to the plumb centre.

 

[tamz]

the money is in installs

Thats true if you can do it in a day.

servicing and breakdowns doesn't pay these days

Also true, not the big bucks anyway, but you can make a good living if you know your stuff.

if you can just do one system a week that's 48 grand a year with 4 weeks holidays

Also true. If you are fast enough and good enough to be able to do an install without even thinking you could get twice that, or more working for yourself. That would be over £100 grand a year Dream on

There are some catches though

It is not as easy as you think to find 48 jobs a year every year or even near that.

If you are employed you would be lucky to get £450 for an install and if you have a mate you are halving it.

So your 100K becomes 50-60K books in. Have you any idea how hard it is to do 5 installs a week every week? Let me tell you, unless you have done it you know nothing. Boiler on the wall, flue cored and rads up before 9 or its gonna be a BAD day.

There is also the abuse you put your body through shot knees, arthritic hands, broken bones (you might get a tea break for some broken ribs) your mate giving you stitches, lungs knackered with dust and soot because you haven't got time to go to the van for a mask. Health and Safety? whats that? Family? Wife? Never see them! Everything takes 2nd place to the work. Believe me i've did it all just to chase the money.

Was it worth it?
At the time it seemed so.
Would i do it again?
Possibly, because i could, probably not because i missed out on lots.

Don't fill the OP's head with sh1t£ about what he could make. It won't happen mainly because he will never be in the company of many different tradesmen who could or would teach him the ways to do things quickly and easily.

If he gives it a go and is half decent £25 -30K is well within his reach after a while but even that won't be easy.

BTW
There are many on here who knock the 1 day guys. There are a lot of good ones out there. I did it over 14 years and know the toll it takes. Respect to you guys

 

[noodledamus]

i worked alongside a super-fast plumber for a good 5 years. We basically did a **** load of new installations within the hampshire region, working for companies like barratt, kingsoak, persimmons, wimpey etc... and it did pay very well... towards the end of my time with him i was prob on between 25-30k per year...

The problem for me was that although i could install radiators, bathrooms, ensuites etc very quickly, i never really learned anything about the breakdown/service side of things, which i never really gave any thought, until i finally went solo... and then you realise that you need to be able to think on your feet and get over the problems yourself.

i then took some time out and studied my ass off, in the hope that in the next couple of years i can get back into it... whether i can find a suitable company or not remains to be seen...

but as for you making a career change, i would say go for it. Do a night-course or something, read as much stuff as you can, and start asking around for the opportunity to 'jump in the van' with someone...

having said all of that - the guys on here are right when they say that NOW is probably a bad time, maybe in a year or two it may pick up.

goodluck mate.