Plumber & Electrician

[st_files]

I was hoping to tap into the collective PH knowledge for some advice/experience/tips about the following:

I'm planning on doing part time courses to qualify to be a Plumber & Electrician. Longer term I am planning on renovating houses and these two skills would be very useful especially as I can pick them while I do my current 9-5 job. I have a couple of queries:

- is it realistic to become fully qualified & competent in these areas in 12 months (ie 6 months part time study on one, followed by 6 months on the other)?
- anyone who's done either of these part time - how challenging are they?

TIA.

[AJS-]

I had a crack at being an electrician many years ago. It is - or was then - a 5 year apprenticeship. After a few months of doing labouring work with them, I figured out that I had no apptitude for it whatsoever and moved on.

A course is probably not a bad place to start if you have no idea, but IMO nothing beats hands on experience.

[BoRED S2upid]

I wouldn't be buying a property with DIY electrics after 6 months part time study. Wouldn't you need a whole raft of certificates? Plumbing may be a different matter, im not going to be too concernd whos fitted a new bathroom suite (See my bathroom post on the homes and DIY forum).

[Steamer]

A friend of ours did the 'Plumber' part in about 12 months - left an mundane factory job and went straight our self employed. He hasnt looked looked back, doing more contract type work than domestic and think he got his fingers burnt slightly when a developer went bust recently, but even so, it beats working shifts in the same factory day & night!

All the best with it.

[theshrew]

To be a spark you certainly need to be qualified and have the certificates etc. I dont think you could do it in 6 months few of my mates are sparks took them a few years to be qualified. Not sure on the plumbers side of things but i would think it was the same.

The one thing you are missing is on the job experience. In my eyes that counts just as much as a piece of paper with qualificatins on it.

[AJS-]

You need the certificates before you use it, but there is nothing to stop you doing the work yourself and getting a qualified electrician to approve it or recomment changes. Stuff like putting plugs in, replacing old wiring or fitting new lights is pretty straight forward if you understand the basics, and could save you hundreds of pounds compared to hiring an electrician.

[chevykevv]

You can't do any wiring in bathrooms, kitchen or external unless you are part P registered.

[elster]

Maybe if you took a domstic installer type course (not sure what is out there), this will give you the knowledge of how to do things.

Then you will need to find someone who thinks you are capable and willing to sign his name to your work, so his ass is on the line.