Singularity

Has anyone tried the OLCI Home-Study courses? OLCI also offer practical training sessions as well, so I would complement the theory with the practical sessions.

I am looking at doing a course and ideally would have gone for one of the 8/10 week courses but due to work constraints, I am unlikely to be able to get that amount of time off work. So I need other ways to get into plumbing.

Pete

uug197h

you have to do the course thats best for you at the time but thats the easy bit its getting the work when you first start out. I know people that have been on courses and make very good plumbers but they are no good with people and fail when going self employed. the things they dont teach are the things you need the most like dealing with people, sales, pricing they will tell you that a plumber is on £25 to £40 per hour thats crap, you can charge prices like that but you will not get any work. the price you charge has to include pipe , fixings, fuel, tax, insurance, extras like gas, solder,flux, If you charge £250 for a bathroom installation it sounds good as it can be done in less than a day but you have 5 service valves, 5 flexi pipes, copper pipe, plastic waste pipe, water traps all to buy first then there is the rest of the expence you will be lucky to get half that for your wage than can you get 5 of them per week i'm not trying to put you off but you best know what the score is before you spend your cash,



PS it was the best thing i did (hard but worth it)

Singularity

Yea, I'm going to be putting a lot of thought into the business side of things. I'm not really getting into this business because of the money (although if I make lots, I wont complain). Its more about independance and not having to report to anyone apart from myself and my customers.

I'm from an engineering background in the RAF and spent a lot of effort trying to get into university. I then got into computers. 12 years later, I want to get back out and work with my hands again. I know, there's no pleasing some people.

Pete

John t

Hi Pete. After 30 yrs in engineering I was made redundant so I did a four week course at VIY in Leeds. Don't think they still do it but it was enough to get me going. As in all walks of life you don't really start learning until you get out there. I also did a tiling course at NETT in South sheilds and the two gel together quite nicely. As Uug says, hard work but best thing I ever did as well. repeating Uug again, where are you going to get your work from. Yes I would happily change taps or change rad valves etc all day but not enough of those around to keep you/me busy. So as you say Pete, do your homework well and you'll be alright. Good Luck

Varley

I am currently doing my 6129 through OLCI, must say it is not the best option, go through a college if you can, the reason I went through OLCI is because my local colleges have huge waiting lists. The OLCI course is a good course, don't get me wrong, you just have to do all the theory on your own. You would get so much more tutor time at college.

Tosh

Hi mate,
I'm doing the home study course with OLCI. I'm half way through and it's taken me 4 months to get this far. You just have to be ruthless with your home study time. I'm working full time and trying to organise my wedding in August but set aside that study time and keep to it.
The practical sessions are good but not always over a weekend as I was told whern I signed up hence why it's taking so long to do. Roughly you get one weekend a month for a course/assessment and they fill up really quickly. Other than that it's use up your holiday days from work and do a few mid-week runs. The best thing about it all is that the NVQ level 2 is really just the foundations of plumbing but it's enough to get you started but it's better to be in work looking for a job than qualified and out of a job looking for work.

Personally I'm looking to join a company as a plumbers mate and continue studyingto get my level 3, ACS and finally CORGI so a fair bit of training left to go yet.

Good luck and let us know how you get on with it.

Tosh

Confusios say: man who go to bed with itchy bum, wake up with smelly finger.