Tradesman

[NorfolkAYA]

Hi all, 

I'm looking to retrain and get a trade. Last 12years I've been in Engineering, 6 in the forces and 6 in agri.

I have an interest in sparky, plumber, carpentry and refrigeration and AC. 

Can anyone offer any insight into these, pros cons etc. Not the whole sparkles are better than plumbers visa versa.

ATB

Pete

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, gas boiler engineer, ? 

[Agriv8]

3 minutes ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, gas boiler engineer, ? 

As a curve ball How about wagon driver - if you enjoy driving?

Seems very short supply at the moment 

atb Agriv8

[mgsontour]

I started as a sparky but realised quickly that if you increased the numbers of wires and decreased the voltage the wages were much better so as above gas boilers are an example of putting a twist on a particular basic trade. . . . . take a look who is busy and charging fortunes and there should be the answer

[ditchman]

gas and oil are becoming so yesterday

 

ground/air source heat enjineer

 

or become a thatcher

[NorfolkAYA]

Yup when I say plumbing I mean heating engineer aswell. I presume heating engineers now install ground/air source heating ditchman? 

[Wilts#Dave]

Gas is due to be phased out, renewables i’d assume would be the thing to go into if starting out now (plumbing mainly).
In my opinion (and my area), electricians seem harder to come by than plumbers/heating guys which seem to be everywhere due to the ‘boiler change’ cash cow which can undoubtedly be good money. 
If you’re good at what you do any of the trades you listed can earn good money! 
I’d go with whatever interests you most and the best training opportunity that comes along. 
I’m an electrician, fell into it through a chance job offer when I was 21 rather than through choice as such but has given me a good living so far, and the opportunity to run my own business which is rewarding in lots of ways and potentially quite lucrative if you find the right work/contacts. 
I always fancied being a carpenter to be honest! 
 

34 minutes ago, mgsontour said:

I started as a sparky but realised quickly that if you increased the numbers of wires and decreased the voltage the wages were much better so as above gas boilers are an example of putting a twist on a particular basic trade. . . . . take a look who is busy and charging fortunes and there should be the answer

What line of work are you in now? 
Always interests me where people start and what they can end up doing one way or another!
Often you just don’t know what opportunities are available for your skill set. 

[Rupert]

I am a Bricklayer, dont really lay bricks anymore as i have evolved in to more of a bathroom fitter for the disabled/elderly as an approved contractor to the Local authority.

As a tradie its a decent living, varying degrees of luxuries entirely dependant on effort and or risk taken. The clients spoil the job, they all have the internet to dissect your bills/quotes on Mumsnet and will waste a ton of your time just to find out the guy they really want is not robbing them.Late evenings trailing about looking at work that you probably wont get,non payers,legislation and bureaucracy will be a test for you. Select something where you are "Needed" boiler repairs or call outs. Put the shoe back on your foot and will allow you to cherry pick other work to fill your diary as you see fit.

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, I cannot see gas being phased out this century, new homes are still having boilers fitted, old boilers need replacing, a friend does 3 services a day between 9 till 4 and travel, £150 a full service, but am not sure on cost of gas certificate ?

[udderlyoffroad]

To my mind, sparkie no question.

On the domestic side - Solar PV, EV charging points, heat pumps of various flavours, plus storage batteries will all need to be fitted by a qualified spark farmer.

On the industrial side...well as you're already in engineering,  a sparkie who understands how to say commission pumps or generators will never be short of work.

Obviously there's paperwork aplenty to manage, both for yourself and for the job, but you could find yourself quite in demand.

Either way, I hope you like fault-finding and solving problems, because that's what distinguishes a good tradie from a mediocre one.

[ditchman]

1 hour ago, NorfolkAYA said:

Yup when I say plumbing I mean heating engineer aswell. I presume heating engineers now install ground/air source heating ditchman? 

im sure they do ...but it is a whole different ball game....and the designs are being modified all the time

[stumfelter]

24 minutes ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, I cannot see gas being phased out this century, new homes are still having boilers fitted, old boilers need replacing, a friend does 3 services a day between 9 till 4 and travel, £150 a full service, but am not sure on cost of gas certificate ?

That seems expensive! Round here (derby) it's between £50 and £65.

[eggy74]

Carpentry covers a lot of jobs, (roofer, kitchen fitter, 1st fix, 2nd fix, joinery, timber framing etc... ) you may need to decide what you want to focus on as tools for each discipline are expensive, that said you can do a level 1 course and start work pretty much straight away while you complete the other levels. top whack outside of london is around £180 a day.

Sparky or heating engineer you are going to have to understudy/ be someones bitch for a couple of years until you are qualified, during that time your earnings will be **** but once qualified you can look to earn £250/£300 a day easily.

brickies and plasterers earn well and have minimal outlay on tools etc... so enjoy more profit 

[Wilts#Dave]

1 hour ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, I cannot see gas being phased out this century, new homes are still having boilers fitted, old boilers need replacing, a friend does 3 services a day between 9 till 4 and travel, £150 a full service, but am not sure on cost of gas certificate ?

Gas boilers won’t be fitted to new builds within the next 5 years if the government stick to their plans, 2025 is the current deadline), never mind the end of the century 😂

Obviously won’t affect the millions of existing homes for a good while, but will still impact gas safe engineers that work on the vast number of new home installs……renewables (and electric) will be where it’s at until they can find something actually green (hydrogen maybe). 

Servicing a waste of money in a lot of cases, from what I’ve been told by gas engineer mates (although they love doing them) as you say the money is good! 

[oldypigeonpopper]

2 hours ago, stumfelter said:

That seems expensive! Round here (derby) it's between £50 and £65.

Hello, it's a full service, minimum 2 hours including VAT 

Edited August 2, 2021 by oldypigeonpopper

[Spr1985]

Hvac is certainly worth looking at, good money to be made once qualified. Plenty of opportunities around in that industry at the moment. It’s also not going anywhere anytime soon with domestic and commercial sides getting busier and busier. 

[team tractor]

Don’t do joinery. 
im the only joinery shop for 30-40 miles of our type as far as I’m aware and although busy you need £400k to set up on your own, the wages aren’t great after you pay £5000 a month in rent , rates , vans, van insurance, public liability insurance, tool and machine insurance. 
you can’t learn my trade within 10 years it’s impossible as I’ve grown up in it and after almost 40 years old I’m still learning. 

[daveboy]

My son is a sparky...£50k a year at a plant and as much extra work he wants doing the new

landlord safety checks that started in April at £150 a time.

[JDog]

19 minutes ago, daveboy said:

My son is a sparky...£50k a year at a plant and as much extra work he wants doing the new

landlord safety checks that started in April at £150 a time.

Good luck to your son but he wouldn't get any business from me charging £150 per Landlord's Safety checks. The electricians I use for those certificates are long established, well respected and charge £75 per property.

[daveboy]

8 minutes ago, JDog said:

Good luck to your son but he wouldn't get any business from me charging £150 per Landlord's Safety checks. The electricians I use for those certificates are long established, well respected and charge £75 per property.

Yes I got one done for £80 with new LED outside light and extra earth bonding and one new  switch (my sons mate)

but at the moment it's £150 in Leeds city centre......supply and demand. plus the sparkys near you all have six fingers so they can work faster.😁

Edited August 3, 2021 by daveboy

[Wilts#Dave]

12 hours ago, JDog said:

Good luck to your son but he wouldn't get any business from me charging £150 per Landlord's Safety checks. The electricians I use for those certificates are long established, well respected and charge £75 per property.

Must be an area dependant thing, cost wise. 
I’ve come across varying levels of competence when it comes to EICR’s on rental properties, and none of the ‘cheap’ ones have ever been filled out correctly, and some of the coding / comments and subsequent remedial works I’ve come across are laughable.

Impossible to carry them all out properly on a one price fits all policy, but if they’re being done so for £75 by a reputable company that’s a very good deal JDog. 

It’s a part of the job I don’t overly enjoy, and I’ll not do one for less than £150 either. 

 

[mgsontour]

On 02/08/2021 at 19:35, Wilts#Dave said:

Gas is due to be phased out, renewables i’d assume would be the thing to go into if starting out now (plumbing mainly).
In my opinion (and my area), electricians seem harder to come by than plumbers/heating guys which seem to be everywhere due to the ‘boiler change’ cash cow which can undoubtedly be good money. 
If you’re good at what you do any of the trades you listed can earn good money! 
I’d go with whatever interests you most and the best training opportunity that comes along. 
I’m an electrician, fell into it through a chance job offer when I was 21 rather than through choice as such but has given me a good living so far, and the opportunity to run my own business which is rewarding in lots of ways and potentially quite lucrative if you find the right work/contacts. 
I always fancied being a carpenter to be honest! 
 

What line of work are you in now? 
Always interests me where people start and what they can end up doing one way or another!
Often you just don’t know what opportunities are available for your skill set. 

Retired

[daveboy]

7 hours ago, Wilts#Dave said:

Must be an area dependant thing, cost wise. 
I’ve come across varying levels of competence when it comes to EICR’s on rental properties, and none of the ‘cheap’ ones have ever been filled out correctly, and some of the coding / comments and subsequent remedial works I’ve come across are laughable.

Impossible to carry them all out properly on a one price fits all policy, but if they’re being done so for £75 by a reputable company that’s a very good deal JDog. 

It’s a part of the job I don’t overly enjoy, and I’ll not do one for less than £150 either. 

 

I think things have changed since the new rules came in... My latest check came with a 6 pages of paperwork.

Edited August 4, 2021 by daveboy

[Wilts#Dave]

13 hours ago, daveboy said:

I think things have changed since the new rules came in... My latest check came with a 6 pages of paperwork.

They’ve not changed really and always been there, just recently become mandatory to have a satisfactory eicr for the rental sector. The company I worked for over 15 years ago specialised in periodic inspections back then, but never targeted the ‘get in and out as quickly/cheaply as possible’ market so I had a really good insight into the testing side of the job. 
They take time if you’re to do them thoroughly and not make up half the test readings (which is very easy to do)! 

15 hours ago, mgsontour said:

Retired

Thanks for the in depth reply. 

[Remimax]

On 03/08/2021 at 12:30, JDog said:

Good luck to your son but he wouldn't get any business from me charging £150 per Landlord's Safety checks. The electricians I use for those certificates are long established, well respected and charge £75 per property.

Its impossible to do a proper EICR for £75 quid sounds like you paying for a visual or a watered down version with no sampling.

either that or they've tested before and re-using the results on current cert.

if your going to be a  domestic sparky be prepared to put up with loads of time wasting ********'s who have a M8 with nowt who can do it loads cheaper.

The whole Part P scam is a joke.

go into commercial if you can.

loads of call round here for fixing crappy ground/airsource heat pumps might be worth a punt to get away from the crowd .

On 04/08/2021 at 08:27, daveboy said:

I think things have changed since the new rules came in... My latest check came with a 6 pages of paperwork.

No M8 nothing has changed its always been that way in one form or another.