Plumbing Courses are they worth it? All aspects of plumbing questions and answers, help, tips and information

[smsingo]

Not to sure if this is the kind of question you pose in this forum, sorry if its not, but ill give it a go anyway.

Im shortly due to leave the army after 22 years service and need to re-trade and plumbing really does take my fancy. Having no plumbing exp whatsoever i have been looking around the net for courses to do, and there are lots of firms out there willing to train beginners. Can anyone help with ths.... If i conducted a 10 week crash compact plumbing course which costs approx £6000 and after successful compleation gained the following quals City & Guilds 6129 technical certificate and City & Guilds 6089 NVQ2
My questions are this
1.what do these quals actually mean in the plumbing world?
2.Would i have enough experiece in plumbing to start working?
3.Would i be employable
4.And the big one...would it all be worth it, by which i mean spending all that cash trying to get qual up - or is it just big firms offering to train people up they take your money and in return you get a couple of certificates that mean in the plumbing buisness absolutely nothing?

Any other help or advice woul be greatful.

[jack_of_all]

My son is in the Army and is taking the plumbing course for free, how come you don't, or didn't? Surely after 22 years they'd train you even if you had to stay in for another year or so.

[smsingo]

Hi there Jack_of_all
Is your son learning the trade because he is in the Royal Egineers and therefore needs it as a trade whislt still serving in the forces?

Basically the Army will pay for whatever course i want to do ...within a certain price bracket!!! (for a leaving present so to speak) obviously i dont want to waste the cash on a course that will not stand me in good sted when i leave the army.

So if anyone out there can answer my questions or give any good advice it would be greatly appreciated.

[peter the plumber]

[size=18]Ok where to start with this.

City & Guilds 6129 technical certificate and City & Guilds 6089 NVQ 2?

NVQ2 Mechanical Engineering Services Plumbing level 2 6019/02 is the conman one for plumbers, we all did it at college and takes 2 years part time.

A technical certificate is not worth having, it’s just the paperwork side and no practical work.

You have to be careful now, the main problem with the certs is they all changed in 2004, before you just did the NQV 2 and did class work in the morning and workshop in the afternoons 1 day a week at your local Tec college, the rest of the week you worked has a plumbers mate.

I have been told my current trainee/waste of space/ tea boy that all practical tests now have to be done in the work place and few have to been watched an NVQ assessor at £120 ago, the rest have supervise by a plumber and video.

These short courses are ok but unlike the rest of the plumbers you don’t have 2 years work behind you and not learn a few tricks to get you out of trouble.

But I have work with a few people who have done these types of courses and they work has pipe fitters on building sites with pays about £13 per hour. I think its ok for that, all the stuff is new and your not stuck dealing with crumbling walls and non-metric pipes.

I am sure you would not be able to deal with domestic plumbing with only 60 days training.

Them main problem with the training programs is that they always give you up-to-date stuff to fit and when you are facing with ½ inch steel pipes, you don’t have a glue.

Its still easer to do CORGI, all you have to do is prove that you have worked with a Corgi registered plumber for 6 months and then take the test which cost about £3,000.

But before you pay out for this course have a word with JIB and ask them about the certs before you pay for it. If they say that the certs are not good, you can’t get a CSCS card and can’t get onto a building site.

A remember you are still going to need about £300 worth of tool before you can start work.

Hope it helps.

If you have anymore questions let me know.

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[peter the plumber]

What do you think about 60 day plumbers?

[smsingo]

Thanks for your feed back peter the plumber.... it is very helpful i am too very dubious about these type of courses but thought i would seek the advice of those who know better ... such as yourself. if you or anyone else for that matter has anyother advice ....then im all ears once again thanks

steve

[peter the plumber]

Now I know what your thinking, why is it so hard to get into plumbing?

The reason is simple, there are so many people trying to work has plumbers, they have had to put new regs in to stop the “cow boysâ€