plumber shortage over ...

[Moz]

I was reading my monthly copy of HVP mag today an they say the skills shortage of plumbers has been flooded , (sorry,lol)

the IOP/iphe ,
say the influx of IT bods changing careers has seriously under valued a wonderful profession ,

with these fly-by-night be a plumber in 4 weeks courses ,
an blokes not getting proper training

+ the Polish workers here working at under min wage ..

its a dying Quality profession ..lol ....

do these NVQS train as good as acops ..lol ?....proper leadwork any one .., sweating ferrules eh lol

its all plastic cr*p an throw away repairs ..lol...

My bathroom refit business run now by my Manager Darren gets upto 20 letters a week off lads wanting starts ... all think they are worth IOP/iphe rates after doing these quick couses ..lol ,lol

anyway rant over what do you think ?
is the plumbing industry flooded now with half trained plumbers /cowboys ...?

do you think the media has brought this about with their sensational stories of plumbers earning £100k etc ,?

 

[ACOperson]

I hope that the media publicises that the shortage of plumbers is over with as much fervour as they decried the shortage of plumbers.

I'm going to Australia...

 

[chrishutt]

There's still a chronic shortage of competent, experienced plumbers. Those ex IT guys might be a blessing in disguise. They could help bring bring higher professional status for all of us in due course. And don't knock short courses - I started plumbing after a two day course!

 

[Moz]

ACOperson
I here in NZ acop lads are earning very very good money ...

nah the media wont .. the iop/IPHE keep ranting an moaning but I think its due to the fact these cowboy courses arent training lads too the iop/IPHE min spec to join them ..lol


chrishutt
after them two days did you do anymore ..lol ..only kidding ..
an you are right in the very long term regarding sh*te plumbers, but as plumbing dumbs down ...I can see the industry going the same way ... maybe Corgi will start doing a special membership for the "pedantic know it all DIYer" who can talk an type a good gas job ...lol..lol..lol

 

[chrishutt]

but as plumbing dumbs down ...

Dumbing down? My impression is that the technical requirements increase daily, what with combis and now condensing boilers, plus the huge variety of controls, valves, showers, pumps, water conditioners, ...not to mention the exponential growth in regulations. At this rate we'll all need degrees in plumbing before too long.

 

[Moz]

chrishutt
Im talking "Jobbing Plumbing "

I understand you point totally but most "jobbing work" has dumbed down ...

lets look at your plumber all work , you forget "jobbing work" I meant

combis
corgi an lecky compt plumber

controls, valves, showers, pumps, water conditioners,... lecky compt plumber ..

you mention regulations, but you an I know if you quote £125 for a job cowboy charlie /new guy having no come back will do it cheaper ...
BTW
the customer doesnt know wether polish charlie is fully competant , as he wires her shower never working with an earth wire ,lol

 

[noonespecial]

I've been in the industry for 37 years.

During that time there has always been a shortage of good plumbers.

'Good' being those who can produce high quality work continuously, even higher quality if they are given the time to do so, understand what they are doing and how it should be done, understand what they should not do, work reasonably hard and most importantly be proud of what they do.

There has never seemed to have been a shortage of bad plumbers who don't care what they do as long as they are paid at the end of the day, leave problems for others to sort out, rip off the little old ladies, etc.

Good training of a potentially good plumber means that that guy can get up and running in the field with confidense in the shortest possible time. But there are also many good plumbers who have got to that standard by experience rather than training.

A bit of paper is really only a small part of the equation and does not prove that a plumber is good. It does prove that the plumber has had the opportunity of being taught theory, rules, regulations, etc but it does not prove that he is good.

Those IT guys who come into our industry for the money alone will never be good plumbers. Those who want to become a craftsman and who have the ability to become one will succeed if they are lucky enough to get the opertunity.

 

[2scoops0406]

Funnily enough there is a shortage of IT people now in this country. Sure we have loads of dabblers and engineers, but very few programmers 'cos it's a bit hard!! Fair enough, a lot of IT work has been outsourced to the Indian subcontinent, and Y2k and the Internet bubble caused a big recession in the industry, but sadly for those guys who jumped ship, rates are up, salaries are massively up, and the number of vacancies is massively up. Tee Hee!! THe guys who left, will now most likely be out of touch, deskilled ad unable to rejoin the industry. As they say, no such thing as a fast buck.

 

[lor]

installing has become alot easier . Repairing alot harder

 

[Agile]

Although the top IT professionals are often older, its generally thought of as a profession for the under forties.

Its not surprising that the over forty IT people come into plumbing and the few I have seen have been very serious although not terribly good at it. Perhaps they were not very good at IT either?

I do have to say that the basic pipework skills of the Polish is mostly excellent. They only fall down on the gas pipework and boiler installations because they dont have the training and qualifications.

During the last three months I have seen more flue installation faults by British CORGIs than the East Europeans.

Tony

 

[JohnD]

Funnily enough there is a shortage of IT people now in this country.

Only because employers are looking for people with 5-10 years of experience who are under 25.

 

[Moz]

Agile
I wasnt knocking the polish invasion ,more how they are undervaluing the price work for plumb work ..
you being London based guy must surely see that ? surely
I know as youre a corgi man the plumber side of work isnt much to you maybe ?an gaswork is your thing ?
I was refering to these new IT guys who do a NVQ upto level 3 , set up 1 man firm then dont find its a 100k a year industry ..lol

of course plumbers need to be multi taskers now , Gas , Lecky , trained/competant ...
I think manufactuers need to put more back to the skilled competant guy as well , not just with sales extras/tech support ?lol but "free" training an
better incentives to remain loyal to their products ...
+all these competant plumber membership schemes are Rubbish as well ..lol

 

[Paul Barker]

You don't have to look to the Polish to find people undervaluing our work.

We have a firm up the road with 3 or 4 vans of two blokes fitting heating systems for very little, you'll have them ion your' manors'. Last summer their add was £1,500 all in, not sure what they do it for now.

They are barking mad with no business acumen, but they are spoiling the market for everyone.

Next week I should have been installing full heating, when I rang a fortnight ago to confirm finalities there was a long silence, then the woman said, oh no we aren't using you Steve someoneorother was a lot cheaper than you... My quote was very fair and sensible, Steve whoever just has to be cutting massive corners.

Never mind I have loads of jobs to finish and two hospital jobs I can't get time to do, so I don't begrudge it, would have been nice to have been informed though.

 

[Paul Barker]

If you know a good p-lumber in Scarborough I'll pay him a good wage. there is no shortage o0f crap plumbers in Scarborough, and plenty of great guys who work alone, but no good plumbers on the job market.

 

[corgiman]

as i have said before paul i am bang up for a bit of sea air

come london lads lets head ooopp north ee by gum (see i am already talking like a native, i will blend right in me )