Delta its 16k they charge if youre over 18, and while what you say is partly true, some isnt, reading your post you seem to have a chip on you're shoulder about BG or most people realy
Why do they need plumbing skills, they can solder, bend pipe, fit condensate (all relevent to their jobs) Why the **** would BG teach them to hang a gutter or fit a bathroom suit, they're neve going to do it
Do not get me started on lead welding and flashing chimneys, thats a roofers job these days, i did that s**t in my long a**e 5 year apprentaship and guess how many times ive done it since, erm never, tell you how many roofers i see doing it though, hundreds, oh but i did get taught how to make and weld the upstands for Flues and Soil stacks to come through the roof, oh wiat a minute they are alll pre fabbed now, so again not needed
Lets see why dont BG, teach them to use steel pipe, and commercial/ industrial instalation, because they dont **** do it, they do domestic only, i also did steel pipe installs, bending, threading etc etc on my long a**e apprentaship, never used it since, i dont need 2 , and im not ashamed to say i do domestic nat gas heating, im a qualified plumber also but dont do much plumbing anymore, i dont need to, Most of the long apprentaships are long because you do a load of s**t you never use
Oh 1 thing it didnt teach was how to patch walls/ ceilings/ make boxes s**t like that learnt all that on the job with my mentor, although i know 4 a fact BG install engineers get taught to plaster and patch and other RELEVENT things which are obviously needed
I went to Salford College mate, full apprentaship even worked a year b4 i started so was round 5 years, and i can say the College has1 boiler to work on, and nowhere near as much money to throw at training as BG, have you ever seen their workshops, so what is it that make Government run colleges so much better, i think nothing, its all down to the length of the course, BG is now 3 years, 3 years specialising in just fixing/ installing boilers, not doing every poss job you may ever need 2 do, so some might say they will be better trained than you or i now,
I take it you still have your putty on the van, for glazing because plumber USED to do that, i think they should also teach them to lead line wooden gutters
Also why does it bother you, if they're more specialised in 1 area, then its less competition 4 bathrooms, gutters, and lead flahing although i think the roofers might nick that 1 off you