Plumber Shortage

[village idiot]

According to the BBC The One Show, & Balfour Beatty, there is a massive shortage of Plumbers etc. According to them, 85% of companies are having difficulty recruiting due to the shortage.
For anyone looking for a job, check BBC Iplayer (the one show today's episode). No one should come on here again and say they can't find work.

 

[newcastle phill]

Hardly surprising.
Was looking a couple of days ago and one place wanted a plumber for 13k basic.

 

[Rickster123]

Hardly surprising.
Was looking a couple of days ago and one place wanted a plumber for 13k basic.

A weekend job?!

 

[newcastle phill]

If it was id have taken it lol

 

[village idiot]

As a result of the said shortage, Balfour Beatty are now taking on returning army personnel and training them. I'd like to know the pay package?

 

[gasmanrob]

There is no shortage of plumbers.

But there is a shortage of skilled plumbers and further more a shortage of satisfactory pay for said skilled plumbers. Why work for 26k on the cards when any half decent plumber can go on price and make more then double that! But big boys such as Balfour, carillion, Laing and the likes want to pay £100 day rate and work you like a yard hound

 

[gasmanrob]

In fact anyone know how you'd go about writing an "open letter" that could be viewed publicly but written to specific people. I'd like to challenge mr Mullins, those nice chaps at Balfour, the BBC and anyone else that suggests there's a shortage of plumbers. And put it to them that in fact there isn't the said shortage of plumbers but a lack of skilled plumbers, and that constantly telling people there is a shortage is only adding to the lack of actual skilled staff available. As more people see big £ signs hop on a fast track to rush out and find there is no work or apprentices finishing an nvq packing up employment and heading to the smoke without knowing half of what they should.

i really feel quite passionately about our profession and genuinely part of me dies a little when I look through hall of shame and various plumbing pages on Facebook to see what people are doing and charging ridiculous amounts for. Our little blot of gravel on the worlds stage used to be revered as the hub of the best trades in the world be it plumbers electricians carpenters or builders now I don't feel we are, and it makes me sad to see something like that slip away in full view of everybody and nobody doing anything to stop it.

 

[tomplumb83]

I went for a job a year or so ago with Balfour Beatty. And funnily enough I didn't get it
In fact , they told me they'd get in touch either way but never did
I must have made such a good impression...
They were paying 14-15ph, 26k.
I cant understand why that's such a bad wage considering most on here are agreed that it costs a lot of money to run a business, £10ph is ofter touted and the general pay for a plumber is £30-£35ph .Take the travel time out and there isn't much left.
After 11years on my own, im seriously considering it

Besides , isn't it the agencies that are paying the crap money? I would have thought Balfour are paying 45-50

 

[jefaz]

Getting a job for an ESP pays well too. The work (in my opinion) isn't that difficult. There are some busy days but it's the same with every other job.

 

[gasmanrob]

I went for a job a year or so ago with Balfour Beatty. And funnily enough I didn't get it
In fact , they told me they'd get in touch either way but never did
Interveiw must have been bad.
They were paying 14-15ph, 26k.
I cant understand why that's such a bad wage considering most on here are agreed that it costs a lot of money to run a business, £10ph is ofter touted and the general pay for a plumber is £30-£35ph .Take the travel time out and there isn't much left.
After 11years on my own, im seriously considering it

The work isn't glamorous but on new build you'd get £12 for hanging and piping a rad plus £1.50 for covering it in bubble wrap. I could do 2 plots a day (properly I might add) and be finished by 3pm £130 for piping a combi £55 for a gas carcass £40 for kitchen sink finals £180 for unvented cylinder with solar.

app is doing well out of HA boiler swaps

and villa tom does well for servicing boilers for BG

I think there should be £30k minimum for a fully qualified time served plumber and I'd struggle to get by on that these days

 

[tomplumb83]

Rob I think youre getting mixed up. Those prices youre quoting are for self employed plumbers.
Balfour employ
Agency I spoke to today offered me a start when I have my cscs. I think its a 4year contract fitting new bathrooms and piping up the sink
youre right though, it is crap money. A decent gas plumber should be earning 50k plus

 

[gasmanrob]

I know they are self destroyed prices but there is very little running cost in doing so

 

[stevetheplumber]

sites in london are paying 14/15 an hour and they want blood out of you for that i wouldnt do site work again unless it was price work
as rob says there not a lot of running costs with site work when self employed 250 a year for some insurance and keeping your certs you need up to date thats about it tools and traveling are the same whichever way

 

[zzzjim]

According to the BBC The One Show, & Balfour Beatty, there is a massive shortage of Plumbers etc. .

As bad as reading national news papers ..full of lies / distractions....

 

[Ray Stafford]

In fact anyone know how you'd go about writing an "open letter" that could be viewed publicly but written to specific people."

There are three ways you could do it.

1) Write a "letter to the editor" of all the newpapers. One of them might print it.

2) Send out a press release. The trouble is, if doesn't come from a source of some authority, you would struggle to get traction. You would probably be better lobbying the CIPHE or similar to do it.

3) Link it to another story. For example, there was a story the other day about the Church of England lecturing companies about paying the living wage, but paying less than that to their own employees. If you could find a plumber employed by the church on a pittance, you could get airtime based on that connection.

But the honest truth is that the public doesnt get the difference between a skilled plumber, and a plumber. Any more than they get the difference between a good teacher, and a qualified teacher.

 

[Stanios]

It all depends on what kind of plumbers they are talking about..
5 years apprentice + experience with tickets - shortage there yes.
5 years in UK electiricianplumberbuilder - no shortage of those.
And then they want to pay same for both

 

[gasmanrob]

I actually know a few people that work in a national tabloid although they are a little pre occupied at the minute what with being suspended and currently on trial so might be a little difficult to get them on board to fight the cause so to speak.

As as for the church it is out that they advertised two jobs bellow living wage. But I get your direction.

Have any unskilled forum members been touched by Rolf Harris or paid cash for access to lords and the like?

 

[SimonG]

Plumber shortage? Great, that's my prices going up again.

Might start sending a copy of that news story out with my estimates

 

[Neil K]

There's an awful lot of people out there calling themselves plumbers, heating engineers, gas engineers etc believe you me I've met a few now. All top blokes but ......I think there's too many ways here to become a plumber. As far as I'm concerned, everyone should do the same 4 year apprenticeship and that's it

 

[SimonG]

There's an awful lot of people out there calling themselves plumbers, heating engineers, gas engineers etc believe you me I've met a few now. All top blokes but ......I think there's too many ways here to become a plumber. As far as I'm concerned, everyone should do the same 4 year apprenticeship and that's it

Ooooo controversial

Now where you are coming from, but disagree. I've seen cack work from both time served and fast track people. Like wise I've seen top work from time served and fast track people. Some of the worst work I see is from Builders or home improvement companies, jack of all master of none.

Its all down to the individual. My rules are simple, its got to be good enough for my own home, if not I will do it again.

 

[cr0ft]

Problem is that the world doesn't work that way any more - a job for life from school is incredibly rare now. Also (in my opinion) the college courses are a waste of time - apprentices would be better served working in the job for 5 days a week. They spend huge amounts of time at college learning skills that most plumbers will never use unless they work in commercial settings. Mild steel pipe fitting being one. Yet the college doesn't teach them anything useful like how to read a tape measure, how to use a spirit level etc. Both of my lads say they learn so much more being on the job than they do in college.

Personally I think apprenticeships are incredibly over rated and that the most important factor is the person's desire to better themselves. I did a fast track course and I'm doing fine now because I've joined this forum and read up on things I don't know about.

 

[stratplus]

The work isn't glamorous but on new build you'd get £12 for hanging and piping a rad plus £1.50 for covering it in bubble wrap. I could do 2 plots a day (properly I might add) and be finished by 3pm £130 for piping a combi £55 for a gas carcass £40 for kitchen sink finals £180 for unvented cylinder with solar.

app is doing well out of HA boiler swaps

and villa tom does well for servicing boilers for BG

I think there should be £30k minimum for a fully qualified time served plumber and I'd struggle to get by on that these days

180 for an unvented, we get 85. 130 for a combi, we get 60. £7 for the core hole AND flue. What site you on?

 

[SimonG]

Problem is that the world doesn't work that way any more - a job for life from school is incredibly rare now. Also (in my opinion) the college courses are a waste of time - apprentices would be better served working in the job for 5 days a week. They spend huge amounts of time at college learning skills that most plumbers will never use unless they work in commercial settings. Mild steel pipe fitting being one. Yet the college doesn't teach them anything useful like how to read a tape measure, how to use a spirit level etc. Both of my lads say they learn so much more being on the job than they do in college.

Personally I think apprenticeships are incredibly over rated and that the most important factor is the person's desire to better themselves. I did a fast track course and I'm doing fine now because I've joined this forum and read up on things I don't know about.

You also need skills that can't be taught. Common sense, problem solving, people skills etc.

 

[Ray Stafford]

Personally I think apprenticeships are incredibly over rated and that the most important factor is the person's desire to better themselves. I did a fast track course and I'm doing fine now because I've joined this forum and read up on things I don't know about.

People learn things in different ways Keiran. You clearly have an incredibly inquisitive mind and an overwhelming desire to keep learning. To be honest, blessed with those two attributes, it wouldn't matter if the only training material was written in Ancient Greek - you would figure it out.

But other people don't have your advantages, and need it delivered in more digestible chunks - and thats where colleges come in.

I'm fed up with coming across so called "qualified" tradesmen who don't know the difference between flow and pressure, or who couldn't draw a system schematic from first principles.

 

[drip-dry]

I think you will find the shortage of Plumbers call and bringing it to the main stream media is just designed to allow the influx of cheap labour o continue into the country for the greedy,inefficient,incompetent,badly run big building company's.....
If they ran their business correctly,there would be plenty to go around in fair remuneration for all...even taking into account their greed factor......