Plumber Training?
Discussion
Hey Everyone
I have recently been thinking about training as a plumber. I dont enjoy my current job at all and its been like that for at least a year now. I have a few friends that are plumbers and they all love there job. They all earn very good money (one friend owns his own business and earns stupid amounts).
I have a plumber training centre about 10 mins from my house so I popped in there the other day to ask some questions. They showed me round there huge centre and explained how everything was done and how I could go from knowing nothing about plumbing to being almost fully qualified in 12 weeks!
After the tour we sat down and I was shown how the course was broken up into different sections. 1 section = 1 week. I was hoping they would have the option of evening or weekend learning so I could carry on working while learning but they dont offer that. So the guy basically said to manage it I would have to spread the whole course over a few years, using my annual leave to go and do each section of the course.
Me and my partner have been talking about this over the last couple of days and I am now trying to work out if it would be viable for me to leave my job and do the training while working in the evenings at a pub or delivering food etc. Once you get about 3 quarters of the way through the course the training centre start looking for a job for you. So far they have placed 100% of there plumbers since opening in 2002.
Now the other problem is the cost of the training. Its going to cost me somewhere in the region of £11k for the course. Now they pretty much guarentee I will be a plumber at the end (as long as I am willing to put in the hard work of course) and they will find me a job aswell. I will need to take out a loan to cover the cost of the training btw.
So the question is, has anyone else done this? Do you know of anyone that has done this? Is it a good idea?
I am tempted to do it but its just the whole not having a job thing thats making me doubt it.
Any advice right now will be greatly appreciated
Cheers
Sammo
I have recently been thinking about training as a plumber. I dont enjoy my current job at all and its been like that for at least a year now. I have a few friends that are plumbers and they all love there job. They all earn very good money (one friend owns his own business and earns stupid amounts).
I have a plumber training centre about 10 mins from my house so I popped in there the other day to ask some questions. They showed me round there huge centre and explained how everything was done and how I could go from knowing nothing about plumbing to being almost fully qualified in 12 weeks!
After the tour we sat down and I was shown how the course was broken up into different sections. 1 section = 1 week. I was hoping they would have the option of evening or weekend learning so I could carry on working while learning but they dont offer that. So the guy basically said to manage it I would have to spread the whole course over a few years, using my annual leave to go and do each section of the course.
Me and my partner have been talking about this over the last couple of days and I am now trying to work out if it would be viable for me to leave my job and do the training while working in the evenings at a pub or delivering food etc. Once you get about 3 quarters of the way through the course the training centre start looking for a job for you. So far they have placed 100% of there plumbers since opening in 2002.
Now the other problem is the cost of the training. Its going to cost me somewhere in the region of £11k for the course. Now they pretty much guarentee I will be a plumber at the end (as long as I am willing to put in the hard work of course) and they will find me a job aswell. I will need to take out a loan to cover the cost of the training btw.
So the question is, has anyone else done this? Do you know of anyone that has done this? Is it a good idea?
I am tempted to do it but its just the whole not having a job thing thats making me doubt it.
Any advice right now will be greatly appreciated
Cheers
Sammo
I did listen to a documentary about a lad who had completed his plumbing training . He was the best student of that intake. He was struggling to get a job. I use a lot of tradesmen and they are not as busy as before. Please make sure you have work available before you make a commitment. Having said that I have a good friend who is a self employed plumber and he is very busy. Thing with him is he can tile / plaster and turn his hand to most things, so he can take on a complete project. Are you able to do this? It puts you at an advantage over other people. Good luck with whatever you decide
Sammo123 said:
Hey Everyone
I have recently been thinking about training as a plumber. I dont enjoy my current job at all and its been like that for at least a year now. I have a few friends that are plumbers and they all love there job. They all earn very good money (one friend owns his own business and earns stupid amounts).
I have a plumber training centre about 10 mins from my house so I popped in there the other day to ask some questions. They showed me round there huge centre and explained how everything was done and how I could go from knowing nothing about plumbing to being almost fully qualified in 12 weeks!
After the tour we sat down and I was shown how the course was broken up into different sections. 1 section = 1 week. I was hoping they would have the option of evening or weekend learning so I could carry on working while learning but they dont offer that. So the guy basically said to manage it I would have to spread the whole course over a few years, using my annual leave to go and do each section of the course.
Me and my partner have been talking about this over the last couple of days and I am now trying to work out if it would be viable for me to leave my job and do the training while working in the evenings at a pub or delivering food etc. Once you get about 3 quarters of the way through the course the training centre start looking for a job for you. So far they have placed 100% of there plumbers since opening in 2002.
Now the other problem is the cost of the training. Its going to cost me somewhere in the region of £11k for the course. Now they pretty much guarentee I will be a plumber at the end (as long as I am willing to put in the hard work of course) and they will find me a job aswell. I will need to take out a loan to cover the cost of the training btw.
So the question is, has anyone else done this? Do you know of anyone that has done this? Is it a good idea?
I am tempted to do it but its just the whole not having a job thing thats making me doubt it.
Any advice right now will be greatly appreciated
Cheers
Sammo
Hi Sammo,I have recently been thinking about training as a plumber. I dont enjoy my current job at all and its been like that for at least a year now. I have a few friends that are plumbers and they all love there job. They all earn very good money (one friend owns his own business and earns stupid amounts).
I have a plumber training centre about 10 mins from my house so I popped in there the other day to ask some questions. They showed me round there huge centre and explained how everything was done and how I could go from knowing nothing about plumbing to being almost fully qualified in 12 weeks!
After the tour we sat down and I was shown how the course was broken up into different sections. 1 section = 1 week. I was hoping they would have the option of evening or weekend learning so I could carry on working while learning but they dont offer that. So the guy basically said to manage it I would have to spread the whole course over a few years, using my annual leave to go and do each section of the course.
Me and my partner have been talking about this over the last couple of days and I am now trying to work out if it would be viable for me to leave my job and do the training while working in the evenings at a pub or delivering food etc. Once you get about 3 quarters of the way through the course the training centre start looking for a job for you. So far they have placed 100% of there plumbers since opening in 2002.
Now the other problem is the cost of the training. Its going to cost me somewhere in the region of £11k for the course. Now they pretty much guarentee I will be a plumber at the end (as long as I am willing to put in the hard work of course) and they will find me a job aswell. I will need to take out a loan to cover the cost of the training btw.
So the question is, has anyone else done this? Do you know of anyone that has done this? Is it a good idea?
I am tempted to do it but its just the whole not having a job thing thats making me doubt it.
Any advice right now will be greatly appreciated
Cheers
Sammo
I retrained as a tiler and have branched out into wet rooms etc 2 years ago and had the same problem-courses etc. Other than work coming in on a fairly irregular basis, I am now at the point of going full time early next year. A bit of a slog but well worth it. My only advice is research, research and then research some more...£11,000 seems like an awfull lot of money though? This might help you on your way...
www.ukplumbersforums.co.uk
Hi Sammo, A mate of mine did a fast track course a few yrs back and couldn't get a job with the qualifications he got. Now he is on local college course doing it properly. The thing with trades is that experience counts for a lot as nothing tends to be straight forward when you get in customers houses. He even went to trading standards to complain about the "fast track become a fully fledged plumber in 4 wks" course and they told him there's nothing they can do even tho they get lots of complaints about them. Try your local college mate where most of them do night courses and will ony cost around £500-700 a yr. It might take longer but you will get the right qualifications "not some loop hole around them" and be employable.
Sammo, why not ring a plumbing company local to you and ask what qualifications they look for if they were hiring a plumber and compare that against what you get out the back of it.
All the plumbers I know are self-employed (I'm a self-employed plasterer) and the big bucks come from gas work but thats stirct stuff.
If you are going self-employed bear in mind that when thigns are tight (ie recession) sparkies,chippies,plasterers etc etc will all start fitting kitchens and bathrooms to make ends meet as water isnt regulated the same way as gas or electrics are.
Get the right course and put in 12+ months hard slog and you'll be over the worst of it if you're going on your own.
All the plumbers I know are self-employed (I'm a self-employed plasterer) and the big bucks come from gas work but thats stirct stuff.
If you are going self-employed bear in mind that when thigns are tight (ie recession) sparkies,chippies,plasterers etc etc will all start fitting kitchens and bathrooms to make ends meet as water isnt regulated the same way as gas or electrics are.
Get the right course and put in 12+ months hard slog and you'll be over the worst of it if you're going on your own.
11k is a hella lot for a colledge course. given it will never prepare you for the job in the same way as an apprenticeship.
First of all, don't believe the hype, yes you can make good money but you can make good money in recruitment, car sales, anything if you have enough BS. Big money isn't automatic and in fact basic salary for skilled trades (spark, plumber etc) can be pretty poor compared to a lot of white collar jobs that require less training, knowledge, aptitude, responsibility, and are clean and back-friendly.
that said I'm a spark and I ain't going anywhere. different place every day, different people, different challenge. I couldn't sit in a grey office with grey people looking out a grey window at the same grey scenery every damn day.
First of all, don't believe the hype, yes you can make good money but you can make good money in recruitment, car sales, anything if you have enough BS. Big money isn't automatic and in fact basic salary for skilled trades (spark, plumber etc) can be pretty poor compared to a lot of white collar jobs that require less training, knowledge, aptitude, responsibility, and are clean and back-friendly.
that said I'm a spark and I ain't going anywhere. different place every day, different people, different challenge. I couldn't sit in a grey office with grey people looking out a grey window at the same grey scenery every damn day.
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