Search the forum,

Discuss fully qualified plumber in two weeks. in the Plumbing Jobs | The Job-board area at PlumbersForums.net

Status
Not open for further replies.
Messages
1,590
have these so called plumbers damaged the industry,a straight YES or NO answers only,i have heard all the arguements ,some are genuine,hard working,good etc.it would be interesting aswell if you stated if you are an apprentice, qualified n.v.q level 2 & 3, or a fast tracker. my answer :YES. qualified level 3, through an apprenticeship
 
level 2... still learning daily!

I believe there's two types of plumbers 'Juniors' & 'Master' and to become a master plumber is a life time goal and doesn't come easy

You cant learn much in two weeks, can you?


My father is a retired bricklayer, he done a 5yr apprenticeship, He spent last 10yrs of his working life fixing other peoples mistake (He still is in shock now about what people think they can do)....... One guy done a job for his neighbour (an extension) and it was hardly up! Any way the guy done a 5 week evening cause and had a ticket to do that kind of work!
 
Yes I have to agree that eduction has been replaced with training.

We all need refreshing on current Regs etc and that is what training is there for

but it is not proper to extend a training course by a few weeks to try and educate folk
 
I must admit I'm fairly ignorant of many building regulations and have to try and use common sense when required.*

An example happened today: I was instructed by the customer to create a new hot and cold water supply to a different part of the house. Seems easy enough; just drill a few holes through the joists, push some pipe in and fill it with water.

BUT, the joists had already had holes drilled through for central heating under one floor board (four holes for this due to the radiator placings) and there was another hefty notch for all the cables. I decided it would be better to lift another board to place the hot and cold supply.

How much are you allowed to remove? There are measurements for where you can cut holes/notches and how big depending on the size of joist. There was also a brick in the way. Could I remove the brick or should I notch instead? I'd no idea what to do. So I guessed.

Luckily for me, an experienced electrician was also there so after I'd had a good think I asked him and he told me that in this instance I could remove the brick and then told me where to drill the holes to ensure all was safe.

However, if he wasn't there I'd have guessed and tried to use common sense (in this case I'd have done what he suggested as it happens.) It does concern me that I've been let loose to dig up peoples' houses without PROPER teaching. So far I don't think I've been dangerous but I don't know for 100% sure. I'm also lucky that I'm not too proud or frightened to ask more experience tradesmen for help and advice and view this as common sense.


* Perhaps I'm too hard on myself as I'm very self critical in what I do, including things like how neatly I've soldered and how tidy I am when working.
 
yes - some have damaged the trade and at the same time no. ive worked with a few fast trackers some have been really bad one or two have been pretty good,

im not apprentice trained although i have my level 2 plus my domestic gas quals and lpg.
did them all part time whilst working with a time served plumber, he set me loose on a new build after only 6 months. turned up at the job i got out he handed me some tools and materials and said, do the 1st fix for the rads, ill pick you up at 5. i was shaking when he buggered off, but ive now been in the trade 5 years ish, have one builder i work with who is 25years time served and he has told me im one of the best hes seen.

i think it depends on the person doing the course, one fella could have a habbit of bodging things whereas another person could be in the mind set of perfect is the only thing acceptable. when i was doing my courses i met some right idiots that were already trading as self employed. one of them couldnt solder a joint that was water tight.

in all honesty its down to the person doing the course, he has to have the right mental attitude aswell as the skills.
 
Last edited:
The theory side of plumbing/heating is easy to learn & understand,putting it into practice it a totally different thing.

To be qualified in two/three years,I would say yes in theory only,but in practically speaking ( doing the job ) my answer is no not in two weeks!!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
YES - Friday night used to be fish n chip night, now its a pot noodle or spam sandwich.
 
I'd have to say, in the main yes.
Serving your time is not only about learning how to be a plumber or how to pass an exam. It is about learning a whole multi trade skill set which is (or never has been) taught in a classroom.
1st year apprentice (quick learner);)

Btw
he has to have the right mental attitude as well as the skills.

I had a right mental attitude when i was younger (especially on the sites and renovations) but the fuse takes longer to burn as i get older.
 
Course you're not qualified to call yourself a plumber after 2 weeks. Silly question really. Or 2 months, or two years.

In the US you have journeymen and master tradesmen, I don't know if they have a grey are in between, or if they wake up one day and they're no longer a journeyman but a master!?

Anyway in this business you never stop learning, the minute you think you know it all, Karma will come and bite you on the ars*.

But after TWO poxy weeks, I wouldn't let you change the water on my kids goldfish, let alone come swinging in my home with a wrench and a blow torch. Yeeehaaa!

Abridged: Yes - NVQ Lvl 2 - plus various gas qualifications, solar, ground & air source, unvented, few other random quals too. Served my aprentice time working for time served plumber/heating engineer (my darling father!)
 
Last edited:
Im a plasterer 8 years in too the trade this year and im still lerning each day.
i spent years working hard with a plasterer kepted my nose clean and head down studied
started as a tea boy.
and some of the work iv seen from the TWO week courseers well im still going.
i still get thrown back now and then as I bet some of you plumbers do
well after i failed my induction test the uther week (for my plumbing course)
im getting my nut down and getting on with it as i have one more chance at it.
well when i put my tattoo gun away LOL
im in the plumbing game for the long run and im going too do it TOO
 
Last edited by a moderator:
time served to advanced craft

I actually got 3 distinctions for that (still pride of place in a frame in my ma's front room alongside the 3 inter collage shields lol).
1st ever in the collage. Fk knows how cos i never read a book or carried a pencil until my time was out:p
Think i just had a good memory and a major hunger to make cash (married at 18).
1st solo heating job at 17 making twice the money of most by 19 (with a day off for collage)
Went to collage until i was 24 -5 because i liked a 4 day week and had a desire to learn:):D
 
I actually got 3 distinctions for that (still pride of place in a frame in my ma's front room alongside the 3 inter collage shields lol).
1st ever in the collage. Fk knows how cos i never read a book or carried a pencil until my time was out:p
Think i just had a good memory and a major hunger to make cash (married at 18).
1st solo heating job at 17 making twice the money of most by 19 (with a day off for collage)
Went to collage until i was 24 -5 because i liked a 4 day week and had a desire to learn:):D

or because you kept getting held back cause you couldnt finish the work!!!!!!
 
Yes they are damaging the industry
I have been an employer of over 10 staff for over 15 yrs and in our 30yr of trading and have always had 1 or 2 aprenrances at a time and still do.
They I am gad to say have all been a credit to me but I employed them for 1 yr before putting them into collage then after thier time I upgraded them to a plumber improver although some moan then 1yr later to a plumber
They need the exeriance, there is no classroom that can replace hands on
The classroom is great but only alongside the hands on
 
yes - but only some of them! as said before it depends on the individual. i was a fast tracker:eek: but i wasn't about to let anything get in the way of achieving my goals. i have nvq 2 and 3 and unvented ticket and i'm now self employed. i know there is no substitute for experience and i recognise that there are gaps in my skill set but i know what my limitations are and certainly won't undertake any work that i'm not competent to do.

i suppose i'm one of the lucky ones because i work one day a week with a time served plumber and heating engineer and i'm builing my portfolio of gas work experience ahead of the acs. this also gives me the opportunity to take on bigger and more complicated jobs myself as i can get advice and assistance when required.

i would have preferred the traditional apprentice route but it wasn't an option for me. i am however getting the required experience albeit quite slowly.


KJ
 
YES - through apprenticeship and gas qualified learned my trade at a good company with some good tradesmen who taught me alot of stuff mostly worked on commercial though, now I'm out on my own mostly the domestic market n its a all new so needing to read up on regs etc so I'm out of my comfort zone basically but the money is better and I'm competent so all's good :) I believe we don't get payed enough for the work you do when you work for a company so that's why I went self employed.

I know that I am still inexperienced but I know alot of good plumbers so any big jobs I get like heating systems etc I can get someone in to help me who is more experienced.
 
Last edited:
ive noticed a sharp drop of in small jobs over the last year which i atribute to the rise of plumbing insurance scemes to get these jobs covered as cheap as possible these companies will take on anyone who has the right qualifications as this will cover them for liabilty
as they only pay on completed jobs and the guys have to go back if its wrong they dont care what their skill levels are
unfortunatly this is a world of box ticking
ive heard through the grape vine some of these companies pay as little as 25 quid a call ,pot luck if you get a 5 min or 2 hour job
 
The theory side of plumbing/heating is easy to learn & understand,putting it into practice it a totally different thing.

To be qualified in two/three years,I would say yes in theory only,but in practically speaking ( doing the job ) my answer is no not in two weeks!!

i wouldnt say it was easy to understand. its easy to learn a minimum and then go out and make a mess
 
think there is 2 types of people, people who take pride in their work and admire there work after they have finished it, wanting to better themselfs and the others who are only interested in the wage at the end of the week
 
well said quigley67, tradesmen and chancers is another way of putting it
 
445 views yet only 24 responds,says it all really.

I'm one of the 445 who viewed and didn't respond. Mainly because I couldn't answer yes or no! I still class myself as a trainee even though I'm level 2 qualified. The reason for that is I've not been plumbing for long, therefore i dont have a vast amount of experience and keep coming across problems that I need help to resolve (hence the reason I'm on here so much). However there are a great many who feel that once they have the tech cert they have enough knowledge to tackle all jobs. In essence I think it's all down to people not being able to identify their own skill levels that has caused the problems, the reasons behind that is also debatable and probably linked to fast track courses.

Hope the above makes sense!
 
I'm one of the 445 who viewed and didn't respond. Mainly because I couldn't answer yes or no! I still class myself as a trainee even though I'm level 2 qualified. The reason for that is I've not been plumbing for long, therefore i dont have a vast amount of experience and keep coming across problems that I need help to resolve (hence the reason I'm on here so much). However there are a great many who feel that once they have the tech cert they have enough knowledge to tackle all jobs. In essence I think it's all down to people not being able to identify their own skill levels that has caused the problems, the reasons behind that is also debatable and probably linked to fast track courses.

Hope the above makes sense!

in plumbing you have to make a commitment to life long learning,when you say level 2 is that n.v.q. and are you doing an apprenticeship
 
in plumbing you have to make a commitment to life long learning,when you say level 2 is that n.v.q. and are you doing an apprenticeship

My level 2 is an NVQ, I'm not in an apprenticeship at the moment but I do want to try and get with a bigger company with training or with an experienced plumber to teach me further. Don't get me wrong I wasn't disagreeing with your earlier post or defending fast tracks just trying to explain why I didn't post yes or no!
 
Hi There

Just browsing and came across this sight. I guess you could say I was one of those fast trackers.Did the 16 month course with NCS, Doncaster & Southampton, passed my water regs & 6128 unvented. lets face it these are only pieces of paper and by no means make up for practical/time served on the job experience. I would have loved to have been able to do an aprenticeship but I was forced into a change of career later on in life.

I took the leap and went self emplyed just over a year ago and every day Im aware of how much I have to learn. My business revolves arround me getting it right, because, lets face it call backs are no good for your reputation and your profit. Pride in my work is paramount, and if I have to re do something because I got it wrong first time then so be it. Conseqauntly I have had quite a few referrals from satisified customers who have recomended me to there friends, so it pays to do it well and get it right. Yes I follow the money, but I want to able to walk away satisfied the customer is happy with my work whilst following best practice.

Plum Bob
 
That's exactly how I operate, Plum Bob. I've been lucky to have met up with a more experienced plumber and we now work together from time to time. I pick up jobs and want his expertise or nowdays another pair of hands and he has lots of customers and starts drowning so asks me to give him a hand.

Great experience for me but for him I've been useful because I knew the basics and so he teaches me the more interesting parts. (One example recently was a huge boiler not getting heat to some radiators.)

I've now improved to the stage where last week he even took me up on a tip!!
 
Result then, well done !!
That's exactly how I operate, Plum Bob. I've been lucky to have met up with a more experienced plumber and we now work together from time to time. I pick up jobs and want his expertise or nowdays another pair of hands and he has lots of customers and starts drowning so asks me to give him a hand.

Great experience for me but for him I've been useful because I knew the basics and so he teaches me the more interesting parts. (One example recently was a huge boiler not getting heat to some radiators.)

I've now improved to the stage where last week he even took me up on a tip!!
 
its good to have more experienced guys to fall back on, I worked for a large firm so aren't short of phone numbers for advice or if I need a hand, If I got a job which I wasn't comfortable doing myself I'd probably get another experienced guy in to help with me. Also picking up some stuff on this site which is great.
 
One of the things I like about plumbing is the constant challenges though. Every job has it's own unique set of difficulties - at least to a newby!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Reply to fully qualified plumber in two weeks. in the Plumbing Jobs | The Job-board area at PlumbersForums.net

Creating content since 2001. Untold Media.

OFFICIAL SPONSORS

OFFICIAL SPONSORS

Back
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website. For the best site experience please disable your AdBlocker.

I've Disabled AdBlock