B.O.B DOLE
I totally agree with you , I gave up on gaswork/corgi/acs Bullshot years ago ,the thing is alot of replies are from the snidey office junior/IT guy who cannot get on a plumb course at his local poly ,an is just jealous,lol..lol
A lot of my mates who still trade in manchester as Gorgi Regd Firms are always bothered by these agency firms asking/begging for them to work for them as firms for them ,
the pitfalls of agency work as you mentioned
AND THEY REQUIRE the engineer TO have is own van, own corgi ,own insurance
+NO JOB security
no holiday pay
fixed rates an TIMES for each job , so many jobs needing to be done in a shift ,
(at least at the The Gas board ,when you got a shotty job like a multipoint in an awful property /position ,the supervisers who came from the "tools" allowed you for the pig-of -a-job ..)
unsociable hours as normal ,
AND THE MOST WORRING IS LIABILITY IS ON THE WORKERS BACK ...NOT THE AGENCY
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These agencies are steadly creeping in through Insurance companies(WHO ARE ANOTHER SCUM BUSINESS !)who use them, an you as the fitter are given the work through your agency , I have heard some real horror stories where Agency staff have tried to tell Gas Fitters what "is" an Emergancy or "not" an leave it til next day ,lol
It was wonderfuel when I gave up the Gas side an the only thing I write up on a job is a Estimate now , an receipt
although ,about 13months ago I had Dolphin Bathrooms pestering me to run teams of their fitters , I told them to do one !!!
as that firms a nightmare agency so Im told (an very dear for a complete refit upwards of 8k lol
if I come in at half that Im laughing ..)
best thing I would do B.O.B DOLE is ring a few local gas firms up an see if they are taking on ,or you as S/E for them , other than that you gotta trade yourself ,
or do like I did an knock the Gas on its head , all that EXPENSE an all the ex Brit Gas fitters are flooding the job market + these clowns doing "micky mouse " gas courses at the poly wanting a slice of the pie ,