Work experience

[onlyfitidealboilers]

experienced tradesman giving up their gas work because of the ever increasing gas safe registration fees.!

That's not the problem. the problem of our overheads is that when we quote for jobs people forget that we have to cover them. they think the money we take is all ours. Whereas many other trades or work in houses jobs (like piano teacher or whashing machine repair) apart from a vehicle to get to the job, all the money is for the individual.

combine that with lack of work and you would find many of the ghuys on here if honest would tell you they haven't yet made a full contibution to fixed costs and oveheads yet so their wages have been zero so far this year.

Why iur overheads are high is equipment that costs a lot and perishes and requires callibration, amortisation of our training and certification so that we seem to be paying for something new every five minutes and some things we trained supposedly once and for all for, we are now told we have to pay again for every five years, and so on.

We have helped the unemployment figures though keeping people in jobs training us and watching over us and administering those two roles.

You can't just pass on your overheads to the customer though can you?
If you did you simply wont get the job.
The reality of the matter is that the average working man of Britain just doesn't have a grand in savings to keep paying for a course in doing the gas work that he's done for the past 20 or even 30 years!
His choice often is either a well earned holiday or a gas course in the year that his renewal is due.

Well am not going to pay for my overheads out my own pocket am i how do you suggest i do it? buy robbing a bank maybe??

 

[Servotech]

Well am not going to pay for my overheads out my own pocket am i how do you suggest i do it? buy robbing a bank maybe?? [/quote]



No, of course not you silly pillock!

I've already told you the answer which is you have to give something up! i.e. You have to make some Financial sacrifice in order to pay for the training!!

 

[onlyfitidealboilers]

ok then ill do that, Ill pack in now an join the dole il be better off!!!

 

[Paul Barker]

Who says there is no money in gas? I am down 50k over the last 2 years through companies going bust on me. I have still managed to hold onto everything and make a good living. Still averaging around 6-800per week

It all depends how good you are and how good your reputation is. I have trained 5 apprentices up over the last 10 years and ALL of them are doing well.

but you live in merseyside. Where I live is vertually rural, and like living on an Island. Sea 180 degrees and other 180 degrees further to nearest town for them to consider me.

In our town for some time now the well established family firm, the boss I am friendly with told me he had to say to the men "we are all doing a four day week or someone has to go" another local building firm with 100 men 20 of them plumbers went belly up, countless similar situations, nobody is talking like you round here. Count your blessings, and don't assume it is the same everywhere.

Anybody starting out in plumbing here would need his head examining. Actually anyone sticking with it also needs to think hard if he is doing the right thing. It is an absolute certainty that we don't achieve minimum wage.

The recession the country is in is far further reaching than the suits in offices have any idea of. the fact that in this day and age people are making a killing out of benefits and us self employed are taking home a lot less than those folk is leading to a very weak society structure. We wouldn't feel so bad if we didn't see it every day with our own eyes. When the will to battle on of the huge number of us whose work is unproductive (in respect of puting food in front of our children at the table) as compared to scroungers, we will give up supporting them and join them instead.

Then who will pay all the taxes it takes to pay for the welfare state?

The welfare state has turned into a monster. People must be told they cannot expect to be comfortable on benefits before it is too late for the stability of the nation.

Only the other day a family customer told me she now only does 2 four hour days instead of about double that, and she is now much better off for it!

The system which allows that to happen is senseless and imoral, as are the people exploiting it..

 

[ServiceNumpty]

To the Op,
If it doesn't work out with Tony (Agile), email me you can tag along with us if you wish, as we're about 30mins from you.

Mike

 

[Nige F]

Paul - You know who put " the system " in place don`t you Promise me you didn`t vote for Her way back - or buy your council house . If, Hand on heart you can say no to those Q.s Then you still have my respect and agreement in your statements Problem is M8 no- one wants to know And we aint got to the demographic time bomb re; pensioners yet .

 

[Paul Barker]

Well I think there are more than one party to blame and more than one parliament, isn't Europe responsible for working family tax credits? i don't know it's what someone said.

The trouble is, and I don't mean it selfishly as realistically I will only ever go onto benefits when I am old or disabled, that the rightfully drawn benefits put a large amount of people better off than the self employed working for under minimum wage. Yet the self employed are still taxed and still have to pay all there own way for everything in life like dental transport to college for their kids (I have first hand experience of this stealth cost) council tax etc etc.

Why this is a problem is that the self employed on marginal money will throw in the towel soon. I shan't, but we are on the edge of a massive back reaction.

essentially the whole system of minimum wage and benefits prejudices against the self employed. With very poor employment prospects which is why they are self employed in the first place the only other thing they can do is become a drain on the welfare state themselves, and sure enough they will be much more comfortable and will have loads of time for Jeremy Kyle.

 

[looneyfitter]

Paul hope it picks up in your neck of the woods mate.