Trade Qualified Domestic Gas Engineer Course

[Sudburys]

I've replied in a seperate thread but thought I would post this to see if it gets more reponses... Apologies if you've read it twice.

I'm looking to start a Gas course with a college called 'Trade Qulaified' that guarentee me work with a mentor in order to build up my portfolio for the ACS exams. The course is 8 seperate weeks practical training and costs £4000 if paid in full at the start.

I'm aware of all the people saying there are not many oppertunities left in this industry but all I am looking for (untill I have a few years experience under my belt) are simple boiler services and my current and fulltime job gives me a wide network of potential customers so thats not a big worry to me at the moment.

All I'm after is peoples experiences with TQ and wether they think the course is worthwhile to do. Is it all a complete newbie like me needs to get into this line of work? (I should add that I intend to work with a Gas Safe engineer a couple of days a week throught out my course duration ((extra)) to gain even more knowledge and experience).


Many thanks,

Suds

[stevetheplumber]

lots of these course have gone bust owing lots of money do all the checks you can on the company try and speak to others who are at present being mentored or are part way through or indeed have qualified through this company

[Hybrid]

I'm aware of all the people saying there are not many oppertunities left in this industry but all I am looking for (untill I have a few years experience under my belt) are simple boiler services and my current and fulltime job gives me a wide network of potential customers so thats not a big worry to me at the moment.

We'd all love simple boiler services. Servicing is good money, don't think everyone is chasing installs and not bothering with servicing, there's not much of either.

[tamz]

I think i am in the wrong game. I should start charging £500 a week to work someone like a dog and show them the realities of life in this game. The £500 fee is mainly a stress handling fee

[Sudburys]

We'd all love simple boiler services. Servicing is good money, don't think everyone is chasing installs and not bothering with servicing, there's not much of either.

Thanks for taking the time to read and reply...

Everyone is saying there are'nt many jobs out there and that the trade is dying but I can't understand why that is? Is it because there are too many big companies offering cheap yearly deals for looking after customers boilers or is it that people just want cheaper rates these days and business' aren't adapting accordingly?

The number of boilers are not reducing, in fact its quite the opposite. Is it not fair to think that if someone is privy to a wide range of friends and colleague that may show smidge of loyalty when deciding who services thier boiler (especially when a very cheap price is offered) then they may stand a small chance of making this trade a succesful part-time skill?

Suds

[kirkgas]

Thanks for taking the time to read and reply...

Everyone is saying there are'nt many jobs out there and that the trade is dying but I can't understand why that is? Is it because there are too many big companies offering cheap yearly deals for looking after customers boilers or is it that people just want cheaper rates these days and business' aren't adapting accordingly?

The number of boilers are not reducing, in fact its quite the opposite. Is it not fair to think that if someone is privy to a wide range of friends and colleague that may show smidge of loyalty when deciding who services thier boiler (especially when a very cheap price is offered) then they may stand a small chance of making this trade a succesful part-time skill?

Suds

the number of boilers fitted is increasing, but as everyones expendible income reduces then the first thing to go is boiler service etc, if it isnt mandatory then lots of people wont get it done especially if they have to pay for other things like MOT and car tax etc, loyalty has gone, re a career in gas, it needs to be your choice where you try to earn a crust for your family, i work in training, so before anyone starts saying im feathering my own nest getting you to train in gas, im honestly not, the gas industry doesnt pay as much as it used to, this is partly due to the number of people in the industry as others will tell you but it isnt the only reason, the world is in recession and there simply isnt the same money about, some talk on here of earning £1000+ per week 15 years ago, i have ran a gas department with 35 guys and can still remember being squeezed for money by guys not worth what they were asking for but i had to pay it cause there wasnt any guys to replace them, so when sites started to shut and trainees started to filter through it was obviuos i would get pay back by off loading guys not worth the £18ph (plus, van, fuel, mobile, hol pay, and me supplying kit for all their homers) for guys who would do a decent job for £15 ph till they built up to speed, i dont think £1000+ per week will come back again and maybe thats too bad, but there are plenty of guys earning a good wage in gas depends what you want and need, again ive trained people in their late 40's/50's who have little mortgage, kids grown up and honestly just want to earn £20k+ per year, so why should they be excluded from entering gas, you need to research well before you pay £4-5k for a course to see if it is worth it for you, it is for some and isnt for others only you will know,
i think i have answered another post from you on this which i dont know if you have answered, i dont understand how you can do the whole course in 8 weeks, i work for bpec and our course is 28 weeks (theory and practical) and costs about £5k

[sparra1100]

i have been doing this 9 yrs now and am fed up to the back teeth of it so much so am thinking of trying something else part time and just doing this as an extra ,as the work is a nightmare so many rules ,regs you carnt get nothing wrong, as its bye bye customer plus everyones trying to undercut you i got so undercut a few weeks ago the bloke doing the boiler in the end must have had his eyes shut in the plumbers shop as i would have been doing it for £150, there was just no way was i doing that amount of work for that ,think long and hard before you do anything all sound rosey in the garden but its not ,trust me, if your gunner do it then go with someone like kirkgas were you wont get ripped off and it will take at least 18 months to do it no matter what anyone tells you then you have to no all the systems 4 pipe systems 2 pipesystems combis,all the little tricks that you,ll never find out in five mins and then theres all the worry i still owe 8 grand and i done my gas 3 yrs ago

[Koogatubac]

Well said sparra!!