Can you do it without an apprenticeship?

[Gone Fishing]

I had a meeting with my local college about an NVQ level 2 and City and Guilds course, but the guy who was showing us around seemed to state that you would need to do an apprenticeship afterwards and that is the only way of qualifying properly.

I had it in my mind that I would be ok to do this and then take a more intensive course at a training centre, but he's ****ed on my chips a bit. This place seems full of people scrambling around trying to gain experience in the field in order to finish their training and I was hoping that I could physically carry tasks out in a training environment and get signed off to work eventually.

An apprenticeship at my age is a bit difficult because I need to work and bring the money in around my learning.

What is the legal requirement before I'm allowed to trade on my own? I'm not expecting miracles in several weeks, I'm willing to put the time and effort in.

 

[Killy Bing]

Can trade on your own as a plumber with sod all qualifications.
will you know what your doing and leave customers problem free?
quite unlikely.
offer to work evenings and weekends for free with local guys to get experiance.

why do you want to be a plumber?

 

[jefaz]

As Killy says,why?
There certainly isn't 50-70k a year in it and it's tougher and tougher now to win jobs as the market is saturated. Starting on your own when there are maybe quite a few established and experienced plumbers in your area will make it difficult. But honestly all the best to you buddy.

 

[Gone Fishing]

Firstly, I am under no illusions and I know it's not the cash cow that some people would lead you to believe. What I want is a trade, something that I can do with my hands and something that allows me to work for myself. I think that plumbing is the best fit for me in comparison to other trades, I did my work experience in plumbing 12 years ago and I enjoyed it but for numerous reasons I never managed to get on as an apprentice back then.

I have a job at the moment where I take home £400-£500 on average per week, but I have to work 60-70 hours to obtain that and I can't carry on like this without having a heart attack and the only other options are to better myself and gain a trade, or get a standard badly paid job that I hate and work for some rotter of a boss. I think I'll carry on down this path and try to better myself.

I have taxi driving as a back up if the business takes time to pick up so I'll never struggle too much. There's always work for a daft lad.

 

[Killy Bing]

If you take your time its achievable.
if you want to do it its likely you'd have to free up time and work for free to gain the experiance

good luck !!

 

[Mr Carter]

yeah you would have to work for free but how many companies or plumbers are giving people chances to work for free?

 

[jezza]

I was in a similar situation 9 years ago - mortgage, family etc. I did 2 years, 2 evenings a week at the local college, and was given some time after the courses had finished to complete my workplace assessments for my NVQ. I got my first job refitting a bathroom for a friend, which was my first assessment if I remember rightly, quit my regular job and haven't looked back.

The hardest part for me was the massive learning curve once I actually started plumbing for a living, and I am a practical person - but I survived..

Best of luck.

 

[twitchboy]

What was the worst part of the learning curve for you Jezza?

 

[gasmanrob]

Take my advise. Run get out before you Fall in

 

[jezza]

What was the worst part of the learning curve for you Jezza?

The constant stress and worry due to having little practical experience. Having to work things out for myself (I didn't know about this forum). The inevitable mistakes and putting them right whilst having to pretend to the customer that I knew what I was doing.