VIY Plumbing Training - Page 2 - Plumbing Forum | Plumbers Forums

taurus77 · 22-04-2008

Wow joebaxi, what an amazing and most importantly reassuring review of VIY

. By nature, I am a very cautious person so thinking about parting with the best part of £7000 has had me in a frenzy

! Your response has certainly put my faith in fast track training centres such as VIY. With this in mind, I will now start to make positive steps enrolling on the next available course with VIY (sorry to disappoint you 'oldplumbers'). Will keep you all posted on my progress

.

A word of caution though everyone...I am reliably informed that the City & Guilds 6089 (NVQ 2) through VIY comes at an extra cost i.e. the visiting costs of the assessor. This will be around £150 a visit (more if they have to stay overnight) , with around 3 visits to be able to gain the C&G (NVQ 2) 6089.

joebaxi · 23-04-2008

hi tauruss77,yes you are right about the extra cost for the assessors to visit onsight for the 6089.From what i can gather it would be difficult to include this in the price of the course because it wouldn,t be the same for everyone and also because not everyone may choose to go on to gain their 6089 so you,d be paying for something you,re not gonna use.Also it may be possible to gain more than 1 assessment in 1 visit depending on the size of job you are doing thus maybe saving money but don't quote me on that

.You are however registered for the 6089 through viy which is included in the course fee and you have 2 years to achieve this if you wish.You probably already know this mate but there isn,t a single course out there that will give you the full 6089,beleive me i've looked everywhere.Whether any of the others include the onsite visits in their price i don't know but i have been told the visits vary in price depending on where you live and as you say the assessor has to stay over, so you may be paying more than you hav e to for hte course.Good luck with the course mate if you decide to do it

Phil · 25-04-2008

Wow that is the longest thread I've ever read which is why I feel obligated to carry it on. I myself trained at VIY November/December last year and I have to say I was very impressed with it all. For anybody thinking why is it so much money for only 10 weeks, look at it from George's point of view, Joe takes a fair slice of the cake I expect (rightly so in my opinion as he's vastly knowledgeable and always happy to stay behind after 5:00pm to help you), then there's Simon, Mark, Brian and Steve (Mr Toad)- sorry Steve if your reading ! all these wages, rent for 2 building's in Leeds and of course MATERIALS! I mean just think about all that copper and lead, yes it gets weighed in as scrap but....
And toolkit of course. Don't get me wrong George is doing very well as well I expect but why shouldn't he ?
But on the whole its well worth the money - and if your within traveling distance its even better.

taurus77 · 25-04-2008

Thanks for the words of enouragement 'joebaxi' and 'Phil'.

Phil, I understand the running costs of such a centre and I have never had a problem with the cost of the course. I merely approached this forum looking for reassurance that somebody like me with no plumbing knowledge, could come away after 10-weeks with competent plumbing skills (and as a bonus plumbing qualifications). Afterall, having a mortgage and giving up a full-time job to re-train as a plumber is going to be a life-changing event and I have to make sure, with the help of forums like this, that I am doing the right thing (which I now feel confident that I am).

I would like to thank everybody who has participated with this thread. Your advice and critism has been invaluable.

In closing...Phil, how are you honestly getting on in the real world since qualifying 4-months ago?

25-04-2008

so if you have a morgage how you gonig to get on when you pass with no job.
better inform the morgage that your gonna be falling behind with payment.

cause you won't be earning a great deal and have much work
then theirs a van, tools, p l insurance, advertising the list gos on

taurus77 · 25-04-2008

'ajs heating'...I wouldn't be considering a career change if I didn't already have my finances in place which, include being out of work both during and after the course. As mentioned earlier, I am a very cautious person so this is not a fly-by-night decision. Thanks for your concern, but my personal finances are my business and nobody else's.

25-04-2008

with that attitude you won't get far or a job.
wait till the day comes and it will in the plumbing game when you need advice or help and the pro's won't give a jack sh*t.
you got a lot to learn a peice of paper won't get you anywhere you need experience and loose the attitude

bishbosh77 · 27-04-2008

Hi Phil
Nice to see you have done the VIY course just before me, how much work have you got in? are you still in touch with any of the people on your course?

When i put my bit on here about my course i said what i thought and agree that the guys in workshops were top notch no questions were left unanswered.
I have taken a job to bring some cash in to pay the bills (contract for 5 months only)like someone pointed out and i have the odd job on a weekend.
I have spent £8000 on a van, tools & sign writing, and the van looks the dogs watsits and i have had no work from it....... so make no mistake it is very hard out there i am saving as im working to spend a large amount on advertising a month before i finish and would be willing to work with someone in the same position as me to spread the costs and invest more cash.
By the way i talk to a few lads every few weeks and everybody i have talked to have gone back to what they used to do which should be some kind of warning to people going down this route.

All the best to everybody who is going down this route as i want to make this work so hopefully you will to.

Cheers

Bishbosh77

taurus77 · 27-04-2008

AJS Heating, sounds like somebody's a little bitter to me.

Thanks for trying to rain on our parade, but at the end of the day, winners like myself, 'Phil', 'joebaxi', and 'oldplumbers' (to mention a few) have simply formed the habit of doing things losers can not and do not like to do.

Attitude or not, here endeth the lesson.

bishbosh77 · 27-04-2008

Hi
I dont think AJS is bitter, just saying its dog eat dog and people love to see new plumbers fail, as we only start to learn when we start working in the real world and no course can prepare you for that.
I dont realy know what you mean by your post aimed at AJS but its not realy helping people viewing this post for advice on courses so chillout ant tell us all how much work you have to give us all a boost knowing we are taking the right steps