Plumbing courses?

[Ddevian]

Hello, need advice for plumbing courses. I contacted one of the college and a guy came to my house to talk everything over for plumbing NVQ lvl 2 i would need to pay £5k for the courses where i would study at home do the tests and then attend the collage for practice bit i can work and attend whenever i can and take as long as i need to to finish the course. Since it's supported by the government i can pay instalments from £30 a week, i have some exp as i've worked with a friend i could change a toilet, bath or a basin but i'm not too confident working alone and need more understanding in plumbing i know i like this job so i was wondering whether i should take these courses? Could anyone please advise me please? Thanks in advance

 

[newcastle phill]

That wasnt a college.
Goto a proper college. Save 50%

 

[Deleted member 25704]

Do a search online for mainstream Further Education colleges. These are arguably your best bet, but this is not always the case because there are some excellent independent training providers.

And a big gamble this is, so do your research in regard to supply and demand - do post-code searches for plumbers and gas fitters that live within a mile of your house. This will also come in handy for applying for jobs or getting a feel for competition.

 

[rocketmanbkk]

How old are you? College in evenings is best rather that short course & home study is crap. Takes time to understand

 

[Ddevian]

Well i couldn't go to collage as i'm working so i could only attend the weekends for practice

 

[rocketmanbkk]

Evening course

Forget £5k for home study imo

 

[chris watkins]

Hello, need advice for plumbing courses. I contacted one of the college and a guy came to my house to talk everything over for plumbing NVQ lvl 2 i would need to pay £5k for the courses where i would study at home do the tests and then attend the collage for practice bit i can work and attend whenever i can and take as long as i need to to finish the course. Since it's supported by the government i can pay instalments from £30 a week, i have some exp as i've worked with a friend i could change a toilet, bath or a basin but i'm not too confident working alone and need more understanding in plumbing i know i like this job so i was wondering whether i should take these courses? Could anyone please advise me please? Thanks in advance

Hi
These course from training centres where you complete the theory side separate & some time apart from the practical side both in a classroom but mainly the on-site, are in my opinion a very poor & ineffectual way to try to learn this trade.

Stop & think about it for a while, this trade require a great deal of knowledge & skills these are both acquired & then remembered by actual work on site. Then are homed working along side experienced trades persons for a good while. What do you think the chances are of you remembering all this new knowledge / practical skills for months or years without putting it into practice?
Then trying to find someone who will let you work along side them both teaching you & allowing you to complete the work evidence required for the NVQ, chances are it isn't going to happen & you will have wasted £5k as so many have done before you.

I have seen nothing from the Government that suggests they support schemes like this, they are finding it hard enough finding any money to fund all though Apprenticeships they have promised.
These people are just taking it off you slowly (167 weeks worth) or until you get fed up & stop.

BTW thats just the Level 2, employers want the level 3 thats the same on top again.

Just cos something fits around your current work / life commitments doesn't make it right or worth while.

 

[Ddevian]

Hi
These course from training centres where you complete the theory side separate & some time apart from the practical side both in a classroom but mainly the on-site, are in my opinion a very poor & ineffectual way to try to learn this trade.

Stop & think about it for a while, this trade require a great deal of knowledge & skills these are both acquired & then remembered by actual work on site. Then are homed working along side experienced trades persons for a good while. What do you think the chances are of you remembering all this new knowledge / practical skills for months or years without putting it into practice?
Then trying to find someone who will let you work along side them both teaching you & allowing you to complete the work evidence required for the NVQ, chances are it isn't going to happen & you will have wasted £5k as so many have done before you.

I have seen nothing from the Government that suggests they support schemes like this, they are finding it hard enough finding any money to fund all though Apprenticeships they have promised.
These people are just taking it off you slowly (167 weeks worth) or until you get fed up & stop.

BTW thats just the Level 2, employers want the level 3 thats the same on top again.

Just cos something fits around your current work / life commitments doesn't make it right or worth while.

Thanks for your time to answer my question

 

[Ddevian]

I found on ebay a book : "The City&Guilds textbook : Lvl 3 Nvq Diploma in Plumbing And Heating 6189" would this kind of literature help me learn something usefull or its just a waste of time as those colleges?

 

[rocketmanbkk]

You need to start at L2 diploma

As said speak to you local college of fe

 

[Unregistered]

so what should i ask them when i call them? what literature i should buy to learn something?

 

[rocketmanbkk]

Call who? You need to log back in to further discuss

 

[Millsy 82]

Do a search of this site as the same question comes up all the time.

There are plenty of training companies willing to take your money and charge extortionate amounts for there services, which if you were guaranteed a job at the end.

If you do the course you need to know exactly what you get, a lot of companies don't give you an NVQ as you need to do work on site to pass it. Do they give you that or do they only give you workshop based practical which as far as I know is not enough.

Do you want a job at the end of it? You will have no experience of working out in the field and may not have the qualifications you need, this will put you at the bottom of the list for employers and there are a lot of plumbers out there looking for work so you will be taking on experienced qualified plumbers, apprentices who are relatively cheap to employ whilst they are training and then there is the likes of yourself who has no experience or NVQ so you are just like an apprentice.

You could go self employed but with no experience it is not advisable as the learning curve will be extremely steep and very lonely when you come across a problem you can't work out. You will also be against a lot of competition! My local yellow pages came out the other day and there was 5-6 pages of plumbers in there and that doesn't include the builders etc that will do "plumbing" for themselves.

There are plenty of people around that have done these courses and some will get jobs but a lot don't get them.

It is a great job to get into and I still enjoy it (sometimes) but leave the short courses alone and as a minimum do night school, it will take longer but will stand you in slightly better position than a short course.

 

[Ddevian]

Well the guy said that after all the practic is done i would be doing jobs at their site to get NVQ lvl 2... Or is it better to just buy NVQ lvl 2 for around £500 and just try to get easy job like doing a bathroom plumbing and improve from there?

 

[rocketmanbkk]

I think you need to have a rethink me old mate.

It ain't as easy as you think.

 

[joni os]

Plumbing 3rd Edition by R D Treloar is now on E bay at £2.99 inc. postage. This is the best investment any potential plumber will ever make. Don't waste money on £5K courses.

 

[Ddevian]

Plumbing 3rd Edition by R D Treloar is now on E bay at £2.99 inc. postage. This is the best investment any potential plumber will ever make. Don't waste money on £5K courses.

Just ordered one, saved me £20 thanks mate

 

[rocketmanbkk]

It's a good book

 

[Ric2013]

At my college it's £1800 for the level 2 NVQ. This is a day a week in college with the workshop practical assessments and theory. The on-site work experience is courtesy of a friend of mine at the other side of the country who acts as my on-site assessor and rightly gives me a hard time to make sure I learn. The college assessor is happy to assess some other installation work I carry out as a self-employed tradesman in Wales.

The whole point of the NVQ is that you do it gradually while working on site and getting experience. You're unlikely to find someone to take you on with a crash-diploma-course. If you can find a plumber who can be your on-site assessor, and who will give you the experience, you're really lucky, but your crash course... you may as well just learn what Treloar has to say (except for his strange obsession with Plumber's Mait).

College and the real world are a bit different. And try and find a college where the teachers have worked or still work as plumbers. A dead giveaway is teaching people to bend pipe with the pipe bender in a vice. On site, you work with the bender on the floor (on a workmate if you're lucky). So what's the point, as my teacher said, in teaching people ways of doing things they'll never be able to use on site? My plumber friend was over the moon to hear this.

 

[chris watkins]

College and the real world are a bit different. And try and find a college where the teachers have worked or still work as plumbers. A dead giveaway is teaching people to bend pipe with the pipe bender in a vice. On site, you work with the bender on the floor (on a workmate if you're lucky). So what's the point, as my teacher said, in teaching people ways of doing things they'll never be able to use on site? My plumber friend was over the moon to hear this.

Absolutely agree with your comments on teachers who have or are working (I have seen too many ex-storeman, ex-students etc)
I also agree that you don't have vices on-site, nor would you want to bend copper in the same way as you do in college.

But there is good reason why you would want to stick a scissor bender in one if you were trying to teach someone - how long did it take you to get co-ordinated i.e holding up straight putting the pipe & slide in without it coming straight out ? Add to this trying to get the little angels to pull to a certain angle / measurement!!! They just haven't got enough hand & I certainly didn't have enough copper or time to let them practice until they did get co-ordinated.

College is were you go to learn the mechanics of pulling bends (or anything else for that matter)
Site is were you put it into practice & then perfect it.

Which is why we say it is so important to do the college & the site bit together not months / years apart.

 

[lame plumber]

seen one student teaching the following term! loads of experience behind that one

 

[rocketmanbkk]

seen one student teaching the following term! loads of experience behind that one

That's crazy.

A chap I knew years ago did a fast track

The chap on the course with him after completing the L2 was then teaching the first week of the course!

I agree with other who say college & take time.

No point in home study alone as who will you ask at 9pm when your reading & need questions answered? It'll be a hard way to do it I think.

 

[chris watkins]

seen one student teaching the following term! loads of experience behind that one

That's crazy.

A chap I knew years ago did a fast track

The chap on the course with him after completing the L2 was then teaching the first week of the course!

I agree with other who say college & take time.

No point in home study alone as who will you ask at 9pm when your reading & need questions answered? It'll be a hard way to do it I think.

Still at least it is still fresh in their minds!

Better than my local FE who recruited from Oz, didn't seem to occur to them to check if the plumbing systems were the same. (which they aren't)

 

[lame plumber]

Still at least it is still fresh in their minds!

Better than my local FE who recruited from Oz, didn't seem to occur to them to check if the plumbing systems were the same. (which they aren't)

doesnt their water get transported in pipes then?

 

[chris watkins]

I think you might need a tad more than that to teach it effectively lame.