Tradesmen

[nightjar]

By graduates or by plumbers?

Colin Bignell

[The Natural Philosopher]

Just charge more.

Shovelling shit for money is always more profitable than doing jobs others find appealing.

[PoP]

What you say is correct as far as it goes.

However, there appears to be nothing to stop you doing the job and leaving the onus on the homeowner to get the certification done.

Perhaps not a good idea in so far that if the homeowner doesn't get the certification and subsequently an accident happens then the blame fixing game will start.

And after contacting the local council about this, the end result of asking the council to come out and certify an installation may actually be the job subcontracted out to an electrician. You might as well try to form that relationship directly with the electrician is my thinking.

PoP

[PoP]

IT support is less prone to get you covered in shit. Working as a plumber downstream of a total blockage does tend to make the IT career seem much more enjoyable ;)

PoP

[PoP]

That may be true. However I have experience of working on the Rover Testbook software design some years ago.

The problem is getting hold of a Testbook. Without that I don't believe you can interrogate the onboard systems, let alone adjust them.

Rover were (and probably still are) very selective about releasing Testbook to "back street repair outfits". This was to stop the competition beating them up.

PoP

[Andy Hall]

This would have real meaning for a Saniflo fixer.

Semper in Excretum - sed alto variat.....

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[Rick Hughes]

neither ... the big bucks is if you train and then obtain certification and registration as a heating engineer.

Plumbers unblock sinks .... Heating engineers install heating systems (at high cost) and can also unblock sinks.

Rick

[Ed Sirett]

If you _really_ can't put up with the shit you can still do quite well on less demanding contracts.

However the Megamoney stories the press like to put forward are somewhat exagerated. The 50-70k/year stories would be for someone who worked nearer 70 hours weeks than 35 hour weeks, was also a registered gas fitter, and worked for a legal but essentially predatory agency (the agency would also make the same money as well).

[tarquinlinbin]

Get into gas,every man and his dog is getting into it. Just throw some money at your local tech college and they will give you a certificate to practice. Dont worry about competence as Transco are there to wipe the nations' arse and ensure that not too many people get killed or injured.

Once you;ve got your bit of paper you are licensed to fleece the British public who foolishly believe that becuase you are CORGI reg'd you are 100% competent and trustworthy.

joe

[John Stumbles]

Evidence is basically from your employer to say you've done gas work under supervision of someone registered. (Alternatively you can be sponsored by a registered business which is not your employer but which has supervised work you've done.)

[tarquinlinbin]

Isnt this then a dumbing down of what used to be a three year craft apprentice?. i.e your employer needs a certified gas man so it is in their interests to produce evidence.

How long will it take to amass and produce that evidence though?.

It sounds very much like a kind of .."well i learned how to do it of my mate" scenario. Very under the railway arches kind of stuff.

Why do we no longer have proper structured training so that we turn out competent,well qualified individuals? It seems like if you want to be a member of the "professional classes" i.e lawyer,doctor,dentist then fine,hey lets away to university and shelter in those hallowed portals for a few years and come out wearing our mortar boards and clutching our hard earned scrolls.

However if you want to learn a trade ,well its tag along with a mate in a battered old tranny,pick it up as you go along and have a bit of an assessment at college which lasts a few days.

I know of guys who have been certified and passed NVQ's and they have hardly seen the paperwork for them!. Most of them didnt even see their college enrolment forms and didnt even know they had been enrolled!!.

The current system is a dis-service to the public ,the industry and the individual who has been bestowed with a licence to practice when really,many of them are not fit to practice.

I will reveal my own interests in this matter because its not about oneupmanship or anything. I do feel very personal concerns about the industry i work in and i have real concerns about the safety both physical and financial,of the public.

I entered the gas industry in 1981 as a school leaver and joined the old British Gas Corporation as a craft apprentice.

At that time they had training centres and organisations that were second to none and we served a basic three year craft apprentice which was a mix of training centre,college and district work,out in the field with other engineers.

We became competent with everything from basic jointing techniques like copper joints,lead joints,wiped joints (!),everything right up to megawatt forced draught burner systems and combustion analysis.

I tehn did further study relating to industrial gas utilisation and went on to do an ONC and then an HNC in Building Services engineering.

I left BG about 15 years back and now work for Transco. Many of my skills and knowledge that i have gained in the past are not used but they are still there when required. I now have a leaning toward distribution and transmission systems.

Every week i see the results of work done by CORGI regd engineers who have taken money from the public and delivered mediocrity and danger. True they are not all bad but for gods sake,dont they even know the basics of testing a domestic installation for tightness?.

I see the rise of the DIY gas fitter,people who practice unlicenced,people who do their own gas and plumbing work because (a) they think they can do it (b)getting someone in is too expensive (c) they think that if it all goes worng,Transco will call round free of chrage and wipe their arses for them.

Many of these dangerous occurences are no longer reported via RIDDOR to the HSE becuase they dont take action on them.

It is my assertion that the ACS certification is being used as a vehicle for certification and training on the cheap. True there are many competent people who need to get ACS to practice but my original statement still stands.

Please can someone tell me how ACS can replace a 3 year craft apprenticeship?.

regards

[Rick Dipper]

This is a great selling point, the fact that you pay the Building Inspector to check you work ..........

Rick

[StealthUK]

Yes, you can trust Transco. Like the Contracted Transco engineer who replaced my meter and left one of the nuts totally loose letting the gas leak. Luckily it was fitted to a cupboard just outside my door so it could have been worse. When the Transo emergency guy came the cheeky bastard tried to imply that I had interfered with it. Rant Over.

Back to the thread.....I'm in the same position and have just started by doing an electrical and alarm installation job for a friend. I'm taking my time to do a clean and professional job and have probably underestimated the work price wise but its all experience. So far I have uncovered numerous bodge-ups that supposed qualified experts have done previously.

[Danny Burns]

In message , Rick Dipper writes

Why is it any different from having to have the Building inspector check the brickwork, footings etc.?

That raises an interesting point, when building an extension and fitting new sockets and lights will the L.A. Check everything on the same building notice or do you apply for two different building notices?

[tarquinlinbin]

Exactly,a Transco contractor,not an original Transco engineer,becuase all the original Transco engineers are ex British Gas time served tradesmen. Slowly they are drifting away/retiring and being replaced by contractors. Of course they are all CORGI Reg;d and have an ACS cert so they are competent arent they??,see my point?.

A lot of the Transco contractors actually work for TML, Transco metering services,they are meter changers,often not front line emergency engineers.