BTEC HND/HNC and BA Hons Degree Building Services Engineering

[ginge]

Hi Mate

I'm new on here although i've followed threads in the past.

I stumbled across yours and had to add this.

I'm currently doing the course at leeds met and it is rock solid.

I managed to skip the foundation year due to past qualifications, vocational experience etc. However some of the lads on the course did the foundation year and found it no help what so ever!

I'm 38, Own firm, 75/25% domestic/commercial plumbing and heating. No real qualifications when i left school just a handful of GCSE's but loads of vocational stuff - gas, oil, electrics, NVQs H&S etc and so managed to get straight on the course. So it could be worth pushing them a bit to see if you could skip the foundation/bridge year.

Believe me, forget all that DIY and system design stuff that other guys recommend and get a maths tutor! Everyone on my course has one and that includes the guys that did the foundation year and the young lads not long out of college with A levels etc. The maths is HARD.

Take a look at Engineering Maths by John Bird and you'll get an idea. (dont bother buying it yet)

Equally, most of the Services Science work is maths based - Bernoulli, heat flow, sound attenuation, interstitial condensation all revolves around maths work & formulas etc.

The thing is, if you fail the maths (Analytical Methods) unit, you cant progress with the rest. You cant just carry on and re-sit the maths unit, it all stops and holds you up a year.

As Fuzzy? said, the rest of the stuff, you will be told when you get there. But if your looking to prep yourself, nail the maths.

Interestingly I still use Maths for Technicians by Greer too, although mine is the 1988 edition and could do with some updates but still a good reference.

A good place to start would be GCSE Mathematics Higher Level by CGP from Waterstones.

Dont be put off by the GCSE bit, its a good point to start from and get the basics. Gets you back into study mode and only costs a tenner.

Also, dont bother looking round plant rooms etc, there are lads on my course that are project managers & trainee design engineers for big outfits and wouldnt know how to get into a plant room. I guess thats just a sign of the times.

Just so your aware, I do 09.00 - 18.00 day release, plus most nights and weekends involve some form of assignment work. I'm enjoying it but be prepared for some hard work.

Good Luck.

 

[Bernie2]

Basically degrees tend to equip you with the theoretical knowledge required to do a job. In other words you will require stuff on the likes of Bernoulli's theorems and so on. All these are useful in designing systems, but maths is a big part of it. Although being fair now days they use calculators and computer programs so all you really need to do is concentrate on the theories. Its interesting stuff at the higher level but not really Plumbing.

Lets be honest, Plumbers are usually only vaguely interested in materials and principles at perhaps the molecular level not the sub atomic. Simply because you don't need to know what a bath is made of at the molecular level to fit it. Even central heating sizing is now just plonking in room sizes and construction materials as well as a few other details on a PC pressing a button and out comes the results. No more working out resistivity, cold bridging, thermal lose and so on on a piece of paper. Hooray!!!!

I would tend to look toward Physics for the sort of stuff you need. Also management seems to be part of most things now and so perhaps you should consider looking toward management processes as well.

 

[fuzzy]

HNC/D are not vocational quals, they are not hands on. If your looking to upskill practically these are not the courses, level 3 is the highest you can go in plumbing. There is a level 4 NVQ but its a bit more general and looks at managing BS etc.
I would really recommend doing a NHC/D, they are tuff but intersting, it widens your scope, you think differently, can communicate more effectively with managers when they enter sites as you get to know buzzwords and where they are coming from, a new different way of looking at things. Im half way through a management diploma at the moment and have learnt so much, i didnt think i would!
Maths is the big stumbling block, i started with the old ONC, the maths started with adding up, some pople thought it was a joke, by week 5.6 we were on triganometry, i was glad of the steady flow inot it! dont be put of by going back to basics and starting there. out of all the people who dropped out my courses around 80% of them was because of the maths. It is built inot other subjects too

good luck all

 

[GQuigley67]

HNC/D are not vocational quals, they are not hands on. If your looking to upskill practically these are not the courses, level 3 is the highest you can go in plumbing. There is a level 4 NVQ but its a bit more general and looks at managing BS etc.
I would really recommend doing a NHC/D, they are tuff but intersting, it widens your scope, you think differently, can communicate more effectively with managers when they enter sites as you get to know buzzwords and where they are coming from, a new different way of looking at things. Im half way through a management diploma at the moment and have learnt so much, i didnt think i would!
Maths is the big stumbling block, i started with the old ONC, the maths started with adding up, some pople thought it was a joke, by week 5.6 we were on triganometry, i was glad of the steady flow inot it! dont be put of by going back to basics and starting there. out of all the people who dropped out my courses around 80% of them was because of the maths. It is built inot other subjects too

good luck all

I'm currently doing the HNC Construction course, few months into it have finished building services(knew already) and CAD drawings now moving onto Science which is starting to get harder with the U Values etc and Building measurement and costing, I'm on this curse tue wed nights for 2 years but seems like a good course to widen my knowledge of the construction industry.

Did you go on to do any other courses after this course fuzzy? I have my SVQ3(NVQ) etc I was looking to go on a HND or go to uni and get a degree in something which will get me off the tools later on in life.

 

[Mick Helpful]

Having got an HNC and a degree I can only say you've got your work cut out. I generally tried to get away without buying text books if at all possible. A lot of lecturers recommend their pet books or even worse the ones they've written and you may find they're ok technically but as learning tools useless. As for the maths you definitely have get familiar with the calculus, first and second order differential equations. There are loads of books dealing with Calculus , if you want a cheap good one look for the Technical College Series National Certificate Mathematics. There's a series of them, a bit old but good & you'll probably find them on seebay or junk shops.Vector algebra,matrices and determinants come to mind as well. Add in imaginary numbers,napierian logs and a decent knowledge of the trig functions and you should be able to cope. Good luck

 

[fuzzy]

i went to do a management course after the hnc, the hnd is a good progression route and the easiest and simplist

 

[TGor]

You have to look at the purpose and objectives of the courses and your own ambitions .. what is it that you expect to be doing after you have qualified? There are a multitude of reference books some good, some bad. For example if you want to work in a design office doing water and drainage installations you will need to know how to estimate the building loads for water & drainage, Heating and possibly air conditioning .. fire services also. You need to then arrive at the most cost effective piping solutions to ensure a consistant supply and trouble free drainage etc.. you will need to have an understanding of plumbing and drainage codes and their design constraints. The actual math is not so difficult in this age of computers but you will need to have a knowledge of hydraulic principles and the various formulae associated with calculation of friction losses in pipework and ducting. a good design engineer also needs a good knowledge of available materials and their suitability in various applications.
TG

I wish you well in you endeavours PM me if any specific questions.

 

[gasmanrob]

HOLY THREAD REVIVAL BATMAN!

everyone who posted to this have long since dissipated into the ether but one of them might get an email alert. how have people got on? have people stuck with their courses or dropped out? aqua whats his name should now be in his final year. what are the job prospects looking like? and what avenues of employment are people pursuing?

 

[SimonG]

I have the hnc in building services. It was interesting. Sort of stuff you need to go into consultancy imho.

 

[Rickster123]

HOLY THREAD REVIVAL BATMAN!

everyone who posted to this have long since dissipated into the ether but one of them might get an email alert. how have people got on? have people stuck with their courses or dropped out? aqua whats his name should now be in his final year. what are the job prospects looking like? and what avenues of employment are people pursuing?

Hope fuzzy gets an email. He was great on here.

 

[GQuigley67]

HOLY THREAD REVIVAL BATMAN!

everyone who posted to this have long since dissipated into the ether but one of them might get an email alert. how have people got on? have people stuck with their courses or dropped out? aqua whats his name should now be in his final year. what are the job prospects looking like? and what avenues of employment are people pursuing?

not been on here in ages! got Ya email

I finished my HNC in construction(grade A) thinkin of doin HND construction management full time, which would be 2 1/2 days a week for a year, part time is 3 years. similar plumber I know with same qualifications is now contracts manager with commercial mechanical firm.

 

[gasmanrob]

Thanks for stopping in. So worth the hard work and cost then?

 

[GQuigley67]

Thanks for stopping in. So worth the hard work and cost then?

i found the HNC challenging, don't really find plumbing challenging anymore so I enjoyed that. I want to pursue a career in management also, don't want to be on the tools when I'm 50 as I have back problems as it is due to an accident. Dont think I can do much with just the HNC, but if I have the HND that gets me into 2nd year of uni, and would be more valuable to a company over a school leaver as you have x amount of experience in the industry not just the theory.