help i want to become a plumber and not sure which course or which training centre.

[jrb]

hi there i'm looking at a carer change and want to do plumbing i have looked at a few training centres and courses and am not shore as to which way to go i have been to able skills, plumbing academy and OLCI looking at doing an intensive 8 week coarse can anyone recommend a good centre to me i live in basildon. i don't mind travelling a bit if it is a good one. also which coarse to take i am looking at doing the 6129 city and guilds then the 6089 NVQ. or the new 6189 not shore which way would be best. and eventually move on to the gas one.
once i have done the 6129 i need a to be in the industry to do the nvq. so if anyone would be willing to take me on after that that would be great. any help or advice would be greatfully appreciated many thanks.

 

[REDSAW]

Re: help i want to become a plumber and not sure which course or which training centr

hi jrb and welcome.

just think by march you could be earning £30k a year and there is a shortage of plumbers in uzbakistan.

 

[PlumbBobBob]

Re: help i want to become a plumber and not sure which course or which training centr

welcome along

 

[jrb]

Re: help i want to become a plumber and not sure which course or which training centr

any one got any advice?

 

[Simon F]

Re: help i want to become a plumber and not sure which course or which training centr

Hello jrb,
traditionally as you say the 6129+6089 are the chosen route, then progress to level 3 or a gas NVQ course.
probably not to much enthusiasm towards your question as its so often repeated. take a look at other posts with a similar theme.

 

[nickelarsed]

Re: help i want to become a plumber and not sure which course or which training centr

Hi mate. Did the plumbing academy myself. But did my part P and tiling at Able skills. I would recommend the academy. My advice is try and sort out someone to work with in the industry first. The NVQ is definitely needed, and to be fair the academy do their best to get gas hours for people.

 

[jrb]

Re: help i want to become a plumber and not sure which course or which training centr

thanks for that i have ruled out olci read lots of bad things about them. narrowed it down to able and the academy drawn towards the academy at the mo they are a bit dearer and longer to travel but the corse is 10 weeks not 6 or 8 as others are and the groups are half the size so training should be better i hope.
nickelarsed how did you find the corse overall and did you manage to find work in the industry after to do the nvq difficult. how is it going for you now.

 

[GlennB]

Re: help i want to become a plumber and not sure which course or which training centr

Hi jrb,
just be careful with the temptation of becoming a plumber in 8 weeks! It is just not possible and you could encounter a lot of hidden/extra cost. Try to find a college offering a part time/full time course if you are thinking of the 6129-22 route as this will not be withdrawn in the immediate future, and then hope that the units can be mapped to the new 6189-11 so that you can then ahieve the nvq part if you find employment in the industry as I do no t believe that the 6089 NVQ qual will be available for new registrations. Otherwise at the momentI believe that there is only funding for apprentices if they register on the new 6189 qualification and a lot of centres are still feeling the way with this. The 6189 has a few differences to the 6129 but a lot of the content is similar with a bit more added.
Best thing perhaps is find a local training centre/college and ask the tutors there or contact City and Guilds directly. Cheers, best of luck,.

 

[nickelarsed]

Re: help i want to become a plumber and not sure which course or which training centr

jrb, what glenn says is bang on. I have found work and am enjoying it, but honestly there was a lot of extra costs and I found someone to work with but I had to start off working for free and it took a long time before I was getting a half decent wage. Those short courses will give you the basics but they won't make you a plumber. They have made the plumbing academy one shorter than when I was there. I did 8 weeks then went back and did another 8 i think to get the level 3 and the gas. And then I had to go out and get the experience. It can be done but I had to spend the same money again on tools and a van and then as I said made no or little money for a good while before things worked out. So good luck if you go for it, but don't underestimate the challenge it will be

 

[Kyle87]

Re: help i want to become a plumber and not sure which course or which training centr

a college will probably work out at half the price if able skills is one of these 4k courses. im in leicester college over half way through the 6129. i do part time evenings and work full time in retail. i paid about 2200. would have been cheaper but i had my education in ireland which worked out to be equivelant to a-levels. so many a-levels is classed as a level 2 so technically this was not my first level 2 therefore i didnt qualify for extra funding. one of the lads who was on jobseekers and all sorts only paid about 800......lucky sod.

 

[FPCPlumb]

Re: help i want to become a plumber and not sure which course or which training centr

Hello and welcome.
Trained with olci in london, i got some good feedback from the place. i wanted to start training asap and they ticked all the right boxes when i was doing my research.

 

[GlennB]

Re: help i want to become a plumber and not sure which course or which training centr

You tend to find you get quoted a price for the theory and knowledge assessments. After that each day in the workshop is billed per day or per assessment. For someone who has little experience, carrying out the practical assessments can take some time to get right, bear in minf that there is something like 72 practial tasks in the 6129 portfolio ranging in difficulty and time allocation. This can work out quite costly.
Also it is o.k. doing intensive learning/training programmes, but where do you get ther relevant experience or the situations to relate to the things you are learning about.
I have seen some training centres advertising full NVQs. How? If you don't have employment, you can't get the experience. These training centres cannot guarantee the work based evidence. If they do it is questionable to say the least. I have been plumbing for 27 years and learn all the time, I dispute the fact you can become a plumber in 6-10 weeks. Underpinning knowledge and work experience go hand in hand.

 

[dkitson]

Re: help i want to become a plumber and not sure which course or which training centr

ive heard bad stuff about a lot of these skills training centers including plumbing academy. my experience was good but you have to be careful most of them i wouldnt trust.