GSR costs

[CXR100]

how much does it cost to become gsr? done the exams in collage about 6 months ago but didnt register, id only want to do boilers really , and then how much does incurance cost?

 

[Whn1]

I paid 2000 when I did mine 3years ago. but had no previous qualifications.

 

[tamz]

An arm and a leg.

 

[lame plumber]

An arm and a leg.

and your right ball!

 

[Whn1]

Oh and two weeks wages..

 

[AMGasServices]

And an assessment with the inspector

 

[kay-jay]

Then registration for 400 stripes then an fga at another 400. Best send the kiddies out begging.....

 

[Dotty]

And put the missus on the street corner!

 

[REDSAW]

£4k will see you home, you will get it back within 3 years imo....

 

[AWheating]

i agree about 4K should get you there.

 

[Koogatubac]

Think the assessment should be altered,

Think the GAS SAFE inspector should be inspecting employees aswell as employers/sole traders

I asked this question to gas safe and they said that they only inspect employers. Alot of employees who work on gas i think shouldnt be touching wet plumbing works never mind gas

 

[newagegasman]

You need experience.... i hate these fast track courses.

 

[Deleted member 25704]

Think the assessment should be altered,

Think the GAS SAFE inspector should be inspecting employees aswell as employers/sole traders

I asked this question to gas safe and they said that they only inspect employers. Alot of employees who work on gas i think shouldnt be touching wet plumbing works never mind gas

You need experience.... i hate these fast track courses.

I agree, but how could this situation be changed, when the majority of gas installers seem to be for it...according to the competence review and the fact that this system exists.

 

[Koogatubac]

Totally agree clanger.
Seems gas safe are only interested in either money money money or if any1 dies.

Such a shame when alot are working on gas illegally etc

 

[warrington]

Bloody tablets can't write with these things ended up thanking koogatupac. By the way koogatupac I agree with you.

 

[Deleted member 25704]

Such a shame when alot are working on gas illegally etc

When you reflect on this long enough and start to look behind the gas safe mantra, you will understand that illegal gas installers are not really the problem...it's the legal ones who think they are competent through said ACS courses and dubious assessment processes. The hard working family businesses, and those who have worked hard for decades to build up good reputations are the ones that have lost out, along with the public, who no longer know who to employ.

 

[newagegasman]

Probs is the illegal workers get away with it, while GSR registered people get it rough. its the owners responsibility to make sure the person working on the appliance is gas safe.

 

[JAH HEATING]

When you reflect on this long enough and start to look behind the gas safe mantra, you will understand that illegal gas installers are not really the problem...it's the legal ones who think they are competent through said ACS courses and dubious assessment processes. The hard working family businesses, and those who have worked hard for decades to build up good reputations are the ones that have lost out, along with the public, who no longer know who to employ.

agree, you have loads now jumping on board who are becoming gsr after doing a poxy course, with hardly any on site experience ?

Just makes it worse for people who've been at it for years really if you ask me

 

[Deleted member 25704]

Probs is the illegal workers get away with it, while GSR registered people get it rough. its the owners responsibility to make sure the person working on the appliance is gas safe.

Probs is you believe this. Ask yourself what led you to this belief.

GSR people get it rough because there is a system in place which is not geared for them, its geared for CAPITA, training centres, awarding bodies and employer representative organisations - who looks after the self employed?

Its time to think beyond the 'illegal installer' which is the red herring put there by Gas Safe, to help you to look no further, and accept this scandalous system which allows people to work on gas after a few hours of assessment and a few weeks of work experience at best.

 

[CXR100]

"The cost of a new application is £365 plus VAT. This includes one engineer and registration fees for one year." this is according to gas safe website

 

[CXR100]

and am i right in saying that it cost 155quid to renew that the next year?? (as 2013 prices anyway) i have done boilers, water heaters, analyzers and pipework in collage, so for any additional appliance i require how much does it cost? and how much does this last for?

 

[tamz]

We must be the most heavily regulated trade of all and no one will pay the premium rate to cover it so you soak it up.
If i was starting out in any trade i would choose some unregulated trade that needs minimum start up costs like joiner, plasterer or brickie who get paid the same rates (sometimes more).
It beats me why people see an attraction in this dross (i've done it all my life so know no better)

 

[CXR100]

just had a look at my qualifications now, (this was after a 4 year apprentacipe and in collage 1 day a week) i have CCN1 , CENWAT , and CPA1 (also have nvq 3 in plumbing ) these expire 2017 , so do i have to pay the £365 plus vat for the first year, then i am allowed to install boilers legaly?? and the following year i pay the anual renewal cost of around £155?? , an then in 2017 i have to pay to re sit the ccn1, cenwat, cpa1 ect ect??

 

[ambrosia]

You need experience.... i hate these fast track courses.

you shouldnt underestimate the determination of those fast track guys to start a new career, many have invested their savings and are absolutely committed to learning and becoming a good gas engineer.
with a cronic lack of available apprenticeships we need new entrants to the industry

 

[TBServices]

We must be the most heavily regulated trade of all and no one will pay the premium rate to cover it so you soak it up.
If i was starting out in any trade i would choose some unregulated trade that needs minimum start up costs like joiner, plasterer or brickie who get paid the same rates (sometimes more).
It beats me why people see an attraction in this dross (i've done it all my life so know no better)

Agree, I wish I'd been a joiner/carpenter.

 

[Deleted member 25704]

you shouldnt underestimate the determination of those fast track guys to start a new career, many have invested their savings and are absolutely committed to learning and becoming a good gas engineer.
with a cronic lack of available apprenticeships we need new entrants to the industry

I don't doubt the commitment of human beings when faced with survival. My concern is for the sustained business of those who have invested so much, so my comments are not a dig at fast trackers in this instance. However, I have my doubts about the type of knowledge that is learned in college contexts, and how it differs from that which is learned at work.

In addition, there is no 'chronic shortage' of apprenticeships, you find that large firms are being paid to take more apprentices than they need e.g. morrisons and the BBC panaroma apprenticeship scandal - this is actually a government policy. It is only micro firms that are not employing apprentices on mass or in the equivalent levels of pre-2008 for obvious reasons...they have no work themselves because of the shrinking economy.

I am interested to know why you think we need more entrants to industry, when Gas Safe added 6,400 or more to the register last year in the most depressed economic market on record.

Finally, we do not seem to know what the consequences are or will be, to gas operatives learning without experience and then going to practice by trial and error in the work context. However, when this evidence starts to emerge, then I hope the people who are promoting this nonsense are held accountable as we are in our fields of work.

Note: Teachers rejected their mandatory licence to practice last year, which had been paid for them for the previous three years by the tax payer. Why is it one rule for them and another for us?

 

[ambrosia]

hackney council in 2011 had 2 plumbing apprenticeships for which they had over 350 applicants

I personally have come out of the merchants and found CVs on my van, kids just trying to get into the industry, its not easy for them

to counter that I know there has been a huge influx to the uk of plumbers from abroad

I cant give you any facts and figures but to me it seems theres a lack of skilled tradesmen coupled with a difficulty to get into the industry

6400 new people registering for gsr doesnt seem like a very big figure, and i have to wonder how many people are retiring while those are joining

fast track is an imperfect route in an imperfect system

 

[CHBurgess]

I have recently completed a "fast-track" ACS course.

I understand completely the feelings of those on here who do not agree with them and in many ways I too agree with those feelings.

However, I too have passed the same exams that established trades people have passed. I have passed all my papers, both open and closed book with no less than 90% on my first attempt and 100% on my second attempt whilst established gas engineers have had to take verbal questioning to pass. (Closed book passed at 100% on the first attempt).

I have sat in the same revision sessions as gas engineers with 5 years or more experience and have been bemused at the lack of knowledge around some critical areas of the job that those established gas engineers have.

As I see it, the big difference between myself, a new entrant, and established gas engineers is the simple fact of experience - which gives the ability to diagnose and repair combi-boilers for example more quickly than I currently can.

So yes, the fast track courses do miss out years of experience which is beneficial, but they do, in my experience, equip individuals with similar regulatory knowledge to that of established gas engineers, and EVERY job I carry out in my probationary period is notifiable to the GSR and I am led to believe each one is checked too, so If my work is substandard I will soon be found out and weeded out of the trade.

 

[ambrosia]

As I see it, the big difference between myself, a new entrant, and established gas engineers is the simple fact of experience - which gives the ability to diagnose and repair combi-boilers for example more quickly than I currently can.

Its worth remembering the ACS teaches you how to be safe, not how to do the job.
I did my fast track course 2 years ago, since then I've concentrated on my weaknesses, I can now fault diagnose boilers better than friends who have completed apprenticeships. A friend of mine did his apprenticeships with an engineer who only did installs, now every time he gets a breakdown he has to call me to help him.
A colleague at my companys looks down on me because I didnt enter the industry through the established apprenticeship method, he critises everything and trys to pick holes all the time, but the fact is i'm a 100 times better engineer than his apprentice whos been an engineer a year longer than me


they say women in the workforce have to be twice as good as their male colleagues to be taken seriously, well fast track engineers have to be 3 or 4 times as good, theres a stigma, but we're part of the industry now

However, I have my doubts about the type of knowledge that is learned in college contexts, and how it differs from that which is learned at work

when colleges charge students to get their portfolios done, i concede you maybe right, 15 students watching one engineer do a landlords while photographing everything are not going to learn much and it seems to be bypassing the point of doing a portfolio

 

[Koogatubac]

I have recently completed a "fast-track" ACS course.

I understand completely the feelings of those on here who do not agree with them and in many ways I too agree with those feelings.

However, I too have passed the same exams that established trades people have passed. I have passed all my papers, both open and closed book with no less than 90% on my first attempt and 100% on my second attempt whilst established gas engineers have had to take verbal questioning to pass. (Closed book passed at 100% on the first attempt).

I have sat in the same revision sessions as gas engineers with 5 years or more experience and have been bemused at the lack of knowledge around some critical areas of the job that those established gas engineers have.

As I see it, the big difference between myself, a new entrant, and established gas engineers is the simple fact of experience - which gives the ability to diagnose and repair combi-boilers for example more quickly than I currently can.

So yes, the fast track courses do miss out years of experience which is beneficial, but they do, in my experience, equip individuals with similar regulatory knowledge to that of established gas engineers, and EVERY job I carry out in my probationary period is notifiable to the GSR and I am led to believe each one is checked too, so If my work is substandard I will soon be found out and weeded out of the trade.

Your first name isnt chris is it?

 

[CHBurgess]

It is, yes. But I don't think it's a crime!

Do I know you?

 

[Koogatubac]

Lol did you train at darlington college?

 

[CHBurgess]

No, I am based in Southport and trained in Aintree.

 

[Koogatubac]

Aaa right lol saw ur 2nd name and thought it was a friend i started plumbing with, definately ant you lol hes in nottingham now