looking to work for free to gain experience in plumbing

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Whitespirit, do you know what you are actually saying here?

Forget the white supremacist sH!!£. That is a wind up and a load of pi$h.

What he is saying is if you are paying your guys £50 a shift (cash in hand no doubt) can a quality job be expected from someone who does this or is willing to take unpaid! help?

If you are skimping on the payments to your "helpers" that makes us think you are skimping on other things.

Any one can fit a load of speedfit but do you do a quality job? or are you at the lash?
 
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Its an old post i know but as i've just read through most of it and found it an interesting read i thought i'd post a reply rather than start a new thread.

I too am in a similar situation to the OP and looking to work with someone in my area (Lancashire, more specifically the BB postcode area - would also consider West Yorkshire).

I have completed my NVQ2 and pretty much finished the technical cert 3 (only GOLA exam to complete) - I'm currently doing NVQ 3 and gearing up towards doing the ACS examination before x-mas).

Preferably i would like to find a company to employ me full time, however, i'm open to all options... From part-time paid, to working a day or two a week for free. At the moment i could manage a 4 week trial working for someone for free, however, mortgage and family wouldn't allow me to continue any longer.

I have my own van which i am willing to use.

PM me if you would like a chat over the phone or more info.

Thanks.
 
try bg they advertised for aload smart meter traniees

just had a quick look into it ( http://gs7.globalsuccessor.com/centrica01/?newms=jj&id=24607&aid=13478 ) I think u already need to have passed the ACS don't u? or maybe thats what the 23 week training is for.

It is something that i could consider doing, but i think it would be a last resort option. It sounds a bit monotonous to be honest - basically installing meters all week long...

it a start try it
 
try bg they advertised for aload smart meter traniees

just had a quick look into it ( http://gs7.globalsuccessor.com/centrica01/?newms=jj&id=24607&aid=13478 ) I think u already need to have passed the ACS don't u? or maybe thats what the 23 week training is for.

It is something that i could consider doing, but i think it would be a last resort option. It sounds a bit monotonous to be honest - basically installing meters all week long...

it a start try it

Why would anyone want an apprentice is beyond me.

I have an ex corgi man to plumb in all combi's I fit. I fit the jig and run the gas. Whilst I hang it & flue it, he pipes the the rest. Mains in, & hot out. Flow and returns, pops the magna clean in & condense pipe. All clipped and neat pipework done within an hour and a half. He usually moans beucase he is done before Ive done the flue. Im slow I guess.

A lot of these jobs involve altering all the domestic and c/heating pipework to suit the new boiler.

I just cannot see how an appretice could do this, as my father had one years ago, and it took him one whole day to pipe an old combi to a new one. He then wondered why the boiler would not fill. Double check valves need to be on the right way round. :eek:
 
surely the idea of an apprentice is that they are there to learn, not to pipe combis up quicker than you can. they wont learn without experience.
to the OP, really sorry mate, but there is a massive que! where did you train? 4 yrs at college??
 
Well, I'm doing a couple of days this week for free to get some jobs for my ACS portfolio - My attitude is to be as helpful and useful as possible, not to hinder my mentor and make sure that I am a help not a hindrance, and will hopefully get asked to do more unpaid gas work. I am likely to work harder and do a better job than if I was getting paid. Accomplishment is a far greater thing than financial reward.

Of course not all rookies engage in life with that mindset, and I am always wary of taking on trainees myself for my water plumbing because even close trusted friends are a liability when let loose with a spanner in a client's house!
 
At the moment OP, although this is not what you want to hear... let me put it this way...

You have entered the Dragons Den, you tell them the time you have invested and what you now need to put it. To the last woman they would say "don't invest any more in this worthless career!"

Go and get a minimum wage job, you will be a lot better off than most gas safe registered folk.
 
At the moment OP, although this is not what you want to hear... let me put it this way...



Go and get a minimum wage job, you will be a lot better off than most gas safe registered folk.
And that`s for Gas Safe - let alone water only ( plus a bit of lead roofing) Plumbers . :LOL: Apart from that the supply chain is C-Rap . I`ve just waited 6 weeks for a bit of trim for my own house bathroom :rolleyes:
 
really sorry mate, but there is a massive que! where did you train? 4 yrs at college??

it would be nice to know where to join the queue! ;)

i have heard of a few mature students being taken on (separate companies) since the start of this term at my college (accrington) so it isn't like nobody's taking lads on. Just need to get lucky i guess.

i don't see why someone like me wouldn't be beneficial to the right person - if i were to find a one man band to work with for example, start off with four weeks free work to get to know how things are run and for them to suss out my capabilities. then after that to go to one day a week free. i've got my own van which i don't mind using (again handy for sending me out on small jobs or to picks stuff up etc) - if there are no strings attached and i were to stay self employed (currently self employed doing various types of building work plus non gas plumbing) then they aren't really taking any risks.

there seems to be a lot of negativity towards taking learners on - probably because employers are scared of them taking their work, or maybe because most of them are too young to actually care about doing the job right - which in turn the rest of us get stigmatized.

For me i've got this far with it all there is no way i'd give up now - i'll have the ACS done by x-mas it might just take a bit longer to get the experience not working alongside someone full time. So one way or another i will be yet a Gas Safe registered plumber out there jobbing it...
 

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