Terrible state of affairs for us trainees' trying to break into this career

[Marty32]

The lack of opportunities for apprentices/trainees is staggering! Just wonder if this will ever get any better as so many people (including me) offer to work for free outside the normal commitments.

To the plumbers that are time served - have you ever seen the lack of work so bad?

:rant:

 

[hunterseye]

Thats why i've had to go it alone and learn the hard way. And there is no question its hard. I have to research everything before i do it. I have the basics from college but what they teach you comapred to the real word is oceans apart. However, i am enjoying it greatly, even though its taken over my life. And the moments i leave a job with a happy customer is very rewarding. Slow and steady wins the race mate.

 

[Marty32]

I'm really glad you're getting on well mate - just wondered how the hell you get the confidence to do jobs coz as you say it is oceans apart!

Have you ever had any jobs that have almost been beyond your capabilities or knowledge?

What part of the country are you from out of interest?

Thats why i've had to go it alone and learn the hard way. And there is no question its hard. I have to research everything before i do it. I have the basics from college but what they teach you comapred to the real word is oceans apart. However, i am enjoying it greatly, even though its taken over my life. And the moments i leave a job with a happy customer is very rewarding. Slow and steady wins the race mate.

 

[Hybrid]

The trade can't take any more, if there isn't enough work out there that an established business can't grow by training up another tradesman it won't be there when you have your piece of paper from college. If you have to work for free to make a start that's telling you something you're refusing to acknowledge.
It's seems the doors are closed but they haven't been closed by plumbers, they've been closed by lack of consumer demand and their changing spending habits.

I don't mean you personally. I mean anyone wanting to train as a plumber.

 

[Marty32]

I totally agree with Hybrid - I'm in the predicament in that I'm half way through a course that I've already paid £1500 for and not sure whether to carry on and pay the further £1500 (3k in total) as cutting my loses seems like the only thing to do if there is no room for trainees.

At 33 years of age I know what I want to do but opportunities are lacking and I feel sorry for sole traders and small firms trying to keep afloat!

The trade can't take any more, if there isn't enough work out there that an established business can't grow by training up another tradesman it won't be there when you have your piece of paper from college. If you have to work for free to make a start that's telling you something you're refusing to acknowledge.
It's seems the doors are closed but they haven't been closed by plumbers, they've been closed by lack of consumer demand and their changing spending habits.

I don't mean you personally. I mean anyone wanting to train as a plumber.

 

[Guest123]

There is work out there and given half a chance and a lot of effort, you will succeed. It's not all doom and gloom.

I've just secured 2 good bathroom contracts and some maintenance work today. That is because as well as being a plumber, I know how to sell and market my products and services as well as having a first class reputation. By the way it's easier to get a bad reputation than a good one so keep this in mind too!

You'll find that you not only have to be a plumber, but negotiator, salesman, customer service and nowadays be good at a whole host of other trades like tiling and joinery if you want to succeed. As there are so many plumbers chasing fewer jobs, you have to show your customers why and how you are better than the rest and price is not always the main factor in this.

My advice to anyone starting out in this industry is if you want to succeed, instead of spending your money on additional industry courses, spend it on a really good marketing course as this will be money well spent and show you how to bring in profitable work. Other courses can be applied later.

All good tech colleges offer marketing, either as a full time course or part time and some even in the evenings, and they don't cost that much especially compared to the return that they offer.

 

[jtsplumbing]

Hi system3 most of what you are saying is true, work in Scotland seems to be plentyfull and I am glad that you are doing well, but a lot of places in the rest of the uk are not so lucky, no matter how good your marketing skills or how long you have been in business work is hard to come by, you seem to be a person who is lucky enougth to be multi-skiled (tileing, joinery ect) but not everyone is that able ! People wanting to do plumbing find it hard enough without thinking about haveing to do other trades work, Did you start off as a Plumber ? or were you a Carpenter / Tiler who got into plumbing, I know a few guys who have gone down that route, on the other hand I know a lot of Plumbers that cant stick a tile up or knock a nail in a piece of wood,

 

[Deleted member 25704]

To the plumbers that are time served - have you ever seen the lack of work so bad?

Its not just the lack of work, its the competition to get it, then do it, then get paid. I do not think running a micro one-man-band is viable in some regions. I accept that there are more talented and widely qualified people than I, who run successful plumbing businesses, but the reality is that even your above average plumber will be struggling at the moment.

 

[Hybrid]

System3 is right, it isn't all doom and gloom. There is some work out there but it's exhausting just chasing it let alone doing it lol
Kind of breaks my heart a bit. This trade has been good to me but it'll never be the same again. It's been reduced to a service industry like working in a call centre or mcdonalds. It's a job like any other now.

 

[Phil]

Every time I see another new plumbers van in my area get increasingly worried, I mean where the hell are all these guys coming from?? :ack2:

 

[hunterseye]

Marty i live in lincs. and there is work out there. however these guys are right. securing it is very difficult. you spend alot of time driving round quoting. but its when i get the work i start researching if i feel its a big job beyond what little college taught me. when i'm quoting i ask questions. look at the system and even take photos if unsure. i'm honest with customers and they appreciate that. but the most important thing for me is that when i leave the job its done right. like i said its hard work but if you have the drive it can be done mate.

 

[PlumbersMate]

Very good advice system im rubbish at marketing or selling myself and feel a bit shy and sometimes even guilty for recommending customers get certain work done

 

[Guest123]

Hi system3 most of what you are saying is true, work in Scotland seems to be plentyfull and I am glad that you are doing well, but a lot of places in the rest of the uk are not so lucky, no matter how good your marketing skills or how long you have been in business work is hard to come by, you seem to be a person who is lucky enougth to be multi-skiled (tileing, joinery ect) but not everyone is that able ! People wanting to do plumbing find it hard enough without thinking about haveing to do other trades work, Did you start off as a Plumber ? or were you a Carpenter / Tiler who got into plumbing, I know a few guys who have gone down that route, on the other hand I know a lot of Plumbers that cant stick a tile up or knock a nail in a piece of wood,

I've always been first and foremost a plumber, the other skills were self taught. I started a printing firm in 1998 and went on a day release course and became qualified in this, graphic design and marketing which has been tremendous in helping me with my plumbing.
Contrary to what you think, Scotland is NOT a utopia for plumbing work. In fact there are by ratio just about as much new plumbers chasing fewer jobs as you have in England.
Because of the overflow of tradesmen out there, customers can pick and choose who they want. In my opinion (and experience), price is NOT always the major factor on how a customer picks a company to carry out their work. They have to like you first and feel confident in your abilities, because after all you're a stranger to them and they could have you working in their home for 2 weeks.

That's where the marketing course comes in and the confidence to be able to sell yourself to a customer. You can be the best plumber in the UK, but if you grunt when you speak to a customer, avoid eye contact and worse still, don't smile, you'll bomb.

Why spend thousands on yet another industry course when you have no work, or hundreds on yet another barely used tool? Spend it on a marketing course, learn how to bring the work in and THEN you can afford the luxury of a additional industry course, or that super expensive core drill. Try the marketing course and I bet in 6 months you'll be back here saying thanks for the advice.

 

[Guest123]

Every time I see another new plumbers van in my area get increasingly worried, I mean where the hell are all these guys coming from?? :ack2:

Mainly the UK government forcing redundancies on public sector workers. When you're in your 30's and 40's and have only done the one specialised job all your working life, and you suddenly find yourself thrown on the scrapheap. Along comes some clever marketing guru offering easy earnings to retrain as a plumber on a fast track course, and voila, too many plumbers chasing not enough work.

Nothing parts so easy as a fool with his/her money.

 

[hunterseye]

The other thing to remember marty, is that there might be a lot of plumbers about but they're not all good ones. so like i stated previously. make sure your work is bang on and thats a good chunk of advertising.

 

[Nostrum]

Also the many large companies who have sunk in the recession and left a lot of engineers redundant. With hardly any other companies taking on, the only option is to go it alone self employed. This if you ask me is more the reason you see a new van every week!

The big companies need to be able to expand to be able to take up some of the excess who to be fair, can't run a business. I was reading the back of a local advertising magazine the other day and someone was offering cookers installed for £29.99?

Trying to compete to be the cheapest will only benefit the customer pushing you. They are normally customers you don't want and if you put your prices up they won't stick by you for the favours you did, they'll find the next cheapest. Don't get sucked into the race to the bottom!

 

[Bob Hill]

Think the issue is also with colleges and training centres promising the earth and not really being honest with the difficulty of getting going. Unless you've got someone lined up to work for before you start then I wouldn't advise someone to start a course (i'd give myself this advice if I could go back a few years and thankfully i've been able to get on ok).

I started out offering just to do people's taps - re washering etc then I started doing little repalcements and now i'm about at the stage of doing small installs like dishwashers, radiators etc. I found that at first you had to focus on doing a good job (no matter how long it took) and not on making money.

 

[cobey321]

This thread was created around 2 years ago but if you look at British gas they are recruiting apprentices all over the country. Ive recently been accepted but it is a pretty long recruitment process. Long application form, if that progresses then goes onto phone interview, if that progresses then goes onto the assessment center were you do a team building exercise, mechanical reasoning test and a competency based interview. Its long because they do invest alot alot of money into their apprentices