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First job

  • Thread starter Thread starter Liam - Trainee
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Liam - Trainee

Hi all
I'm currently training to be a plumber and have decided to advertise for evening/weekend jobs to gain some experience.. (currently in full time employment)
I've been called today by a customer who've "dropped a hot saucepan in his 'plastic' sink which is now burnt and needs replacing".
I'm visiting the customer tomorrow morning to take a look. Can anyone give me any advice or hints an tips for my first job??
Approx how much would you quote for a straight swap kitchen sink and how long would this take???
Any advise would be appreciated!!
Thanks
Liam
 
hi liam,
unless you can get the exact sink, proberbly a colored one at that, it will not be the same cut out in the work top. be aware of that. try to convince them that a stainless one will be better for them as they will not have the same problem again.
if you do this you can get a pretty close match to the hole if you size up carefully, you may still need to cut worktop out though.
by the way it could be covered in the insurance policy and you could charge more.
i charge £120 cash, £180 on insurance plus parts.
good luck.
 
See if you can get same make (and same cutout), makes life easier.

Obviously you can only use same or larger cutout on width and length. Check position of wastes and cupboard sides underneath.

As to price it depends on how much messing about you have to do. If its all plastic push fits its easy enough, if soldered copper may take longer.
 
What I would advise you to do, would be to cut a paper/cardboard template of the sink cut out, as close as you can and then use that to try and get a sink the same size so that you do not have to do too much "wood butchery" , also check the hight of the waste and services, compare the heights and positions of what are there now and how they will be when the new sink is in position

The depth of the sink bowl is about the most critical one to make sure of, especially if existing bowl is shallow, and the waste goes straight through the wall, or into a soil stack, and you can only get a deeper bowl sink, you can be in trouble

Good luck with how you get on, every body has to start somewhere
 
Thanks for the advice guys I'll take it all onboard. Really appreciate it!!
I'll update this post with what I find tomorrow morning.
Cheers!!
Liam
 
Hi Liam. Sounds like a caravan, my advise would be let the client get the sink / basin. Just do labour only and a bit of pipe. Good Luck
 
Hi there,

Your first few jobs are the hardest when you're starting out for the first time as you never have anywhere near the proper tools and parts to do the job properly in one go so you have to keep going out for parts. There's alwyas something you need!

My first job was a simple toilet siphon job but I made such a meal of it as I didn't even have a close couple kit and I had to go back.

After you complete the job you will no doubt go to the merchants to stock up on items you need for next time, alot of your earnings will be spent on tools and stock over the next few months.

I'm two years in now self employed and its very rare I have to go out for parts half way through a job, get stocked up properly and you will be more efficient and thersfore a bigger earner.
 
Liam - Trainee said:
Hi all
I'm currently training to be a plumber and have decided to advertise for evening/weekend jobs to gain some experience.. (currently in full time employment)
I've been called today by a customer who've "dropped a hot saucepan in his 'plastic' sink which is now burnt and needs replacing".
I'm visiting the customer tomorrow morning to take a look. Can anyone give me any advice or hints an tips for my first job??
Approx how much would you quote for a straight swap kitchen sink and how long would this take???
Any advise would be appreciated!!
Thanks
Liam
Click to expand...


hiya matey - im looking to do this also - im free on tuesdays and weekends. how did you go about setting up your self-employed and your insurance etc? or are you just still doing this as a bit on the side so to speak ?
 
Thanks for all the advise guys. I visted the customer on saturday who has asked me to replace his kitchen sink. He also wants me to find the sink for him which ill be doing this week and ill hopefully get this replaced on the weekend. ive taken the measurements for the sink which is 1.5 bowl with drainer. The job does look straight forward (fingers crossed) with push fits etc.

q-plumb.
Im not registered as self employed yet... I started advertising in work (LTSB call center) last month and this is the first job ive been given and it did come as a bit of a shock as i didnt really think i would get any work from it really... but obviously i will ASAP.

Ill be taking a guy i know to the job with me on the weekend as he is self employed plumber and is registered with insurance etc to give me support on the job (just incase of any issues)

The customer wants to go through the insurance for payment so will i need to put it in my friends name as hes registered??

thanks again for your comments!.

Liam
 
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