Thinking of becoming gas safe engineer.

[Hussain Dakri]

Hi Guys new on the forum and i have to say what a great forum. You guys truly help each other out.

I am thinking of a career change and i am looking into becoming a gas safe engineer. I want to concentrate on boiler inspections for letting agents and i now 3 to 4 letting agents who would give me work.

My question is what fast track training center in london do people recommend? i have no time to go college so fast track is my only option.

I have looked into RF Training for foundation gas course which includes 4 weeks basic plumbing and 4 weeks basic gas. Once i complete that RF Training will then provide me a gas safety engineer to help me with my portfolio.
Is this company a good place to go or are there better cheaper options?

Thanks for your time.

 

[unguided1]

Hi and welcome to the forum there are loads of threads about this subject but I would suggest that you do a comprehensive heating and plumbing course first, as many faults are not boiler related, they are system related and you will need knowledge of systems to be able to sort em

 

[Hussain Dakri]

thanks for the replay and i will take your advise however financially it would be difficult to do the plumbing course followed by the gas. The Adviser for RFtraining told me that the first 4 weeks is strictly plumbing based.

 

[nysk2008]

Hi there mate, I am a newly qualified engineer but have been plumbing a while now. I appreciate what your saying but I really recommend a comprehensive course in gas safety. I don't doubt what your proposed training provider can offer but knowledge comes with practice and doing the job itself rather than paying well over the odds which leads me to suggest maybe working with an engineer for a week or so to see if you even like the job?

I also read your thread about Landlord certs, I have found this is mega competitive and I am coming up against guys that are doing these things for 25 quid and there is no chance I am doing a Landlords for that amount of money. Appreciate you have letting contacts etc but please dont expect to pass your exams and to earn £200 - £300 day rate from day one.

On the flip side I love what I do, have met some great mates and am proud to be gas safe but having a browse around the porsche dealership is light years away for me.

Best of luck but please try it for a week before you commit and research all angles.

P.S. I'm from just outside London

 

[Bartdude]

I've looked at their website,they use the £50K a year ploy too.How much is the course?

 

[SafeGasInstall]

go to able skills in dartford for proper theory training

 

[metaldust9]

really dont no how its possible to be able to do gas with no plumbing experience the 2 go hand in hand, its so hard to earn anything and ive been doing it yrs an am still learning as its peoples lifes your dealing with,it scares me to death this type of post, landlord checks are the most dangerous for the least amount of money and these 50k adds should be banned as theres no way you get that plus you,ll need to go with a gas safe engineer for about a yr to get the jobs and hours in on your portfiollio and no one will pay you as its compertion against them soz to be negetive but been there done it, eat the soup etc and wouldnt have bothered if i new then what i no now ,thats why am sat on here on a monday afternoon at 3pm cos am earning 50k i rest my case

 

[Hussain Dakri]

@ bartdude the course cost around 5k and that is not including the ACS exam! the only reason i am interested in them is because they guarantee to set me up with an experienced engineer to do my portfolio which no other provider does.

nys2008 thanks for the info and advise well appreciated. i would never think i would start making crazy money from the off because nothing ever works like that in life. However 1 of the agents is my cousin, 2nd agent is my neighbor and 3rd is my former boss! and finally the 4th agent i know most the employees there. I would be more then happy to start with 8-10 a week. Plus i enjoy working alone and doing things my way in my own pace.

safegasinstall, do they also teach practical?

 

[Hussain Dakri]

metaldust thats the problem i know a few engineers but they would never take me on as they know i would be competition i also know i can not work for free with a plumber to gain the valuable experience needed as i have a wife and house to pay for!

 

[SafeGasInstall]

mate do consider it with wife as there is work but is just about ,by the time you done your college and get your reg with gas safe you are looking 10k ,by the time you get your van and tools you are looking at another 10k ,and then work for your agents who will not pay you £50.oo per landlord certificate more likely 25-30 per property ! and then out of this you got your home mortgage and all your daily cost ! economy is not in pick time for this type of investment
do you know how many people i did college with know do work different type of jobs as there is lot to do before you get your own customers and make living this is my HONEST OPINION

 

[Hussain Dakri]

@ safegas i understand were u coming from and sadly your right. i have a few months to think about it and il try find someone who will take me on even for free a couple of days a week.

 

[themyth3]

@ bartdude the course cost around 5k and that is not including the ACS exam! the only reason i am interested in them is because they guarantee to set me up with an experienced engineer to do my portfolio which no other provider does.

I know someone who paid £8500 with them at their Manchester centre and was 'guaranteed' a placement before he started. When it came down to it, they let him down. Don't do anything unless they put it in writing.

 

[metaldust9]

the trouble working for freinds and family ect is the "are go on pass it it will be ok" and cos your related your under presure to pass it or let things go that you carnt or wouldnt if it was a normal job plus i,d be supprised if ye get £20 cos ye no them it cost me £8000 and i havnt paid a penny off it yet as i was told ad get it paid for by funding i only got £1800 rest on credit card as ad already agreed to do it and signed ,ad been working around gas safe/corgi people for 3 yrs or more so had an idea of what i was doing that was oct last yr when i got passed and i was told id get a placement but had to find it myself cos there wasnt any

 

[GrahamM]

To be brutally honest. If I had my time back again I would not pick gas as a career path. It is too fickle a business. Things are very, very quiet at moment and a lot are struggling to make ends meet in this game, me included. Every day I am hearing of guys getting hours cut or loosing their jobs.

 

[northcarr]

I have been on my tools for 20 odd year and finnaly got back into gas. more and more people have gone onto plastic pipe for ch ect and am now finding that builders are just doing it themselfs and geting me to sort out probs so had to up my game and go into gas have to say am begining to wish i had'nt 1000 refresh training 700 for sprint 438 gas safe. seams a lot harder to find work or at least work that pays

 

[metaldust9]

sounds like you guys are like me paying out loads for little gain and being undercut all the time cos ye carnt be as cheap as illigal people or people on the dole working ect ive priced up four boilers this month and got none of them and am only working for a wage now cos margins are so tight have nothing left to put by for extras or emergencys

 

[SafeGasInstall]

sounds like you guys are like me paying out loads for little gain and being undercut all the time cos ye carnt be as cheap as illigal people or people on the dole working ect ive priced up four boilers this month and got none of them and am only working for a wage now cos margins are so tight have nothing left to put by for extras or emergencys

sorry to hear that you have lost 4 of your boiler change jobs

 

[metaldust9]

to many doing it safegasinstall markets flooded and credit crunch plus people who are out of work, are probs doin a bit to ,cheaper

 

[leelister6]

The first job I did after getting GSR was a service on an old (30+years!) Glowworm floor standing B/F boiler for me best mates dad. Did everything according to M.I's, and found several cracks in both burners causing flame lift so obviously it was unsafe (A.R. for incomplete combustion? Kirkgas will correct me if I'm wrong!!) He tried to blame me as he said it was ok before I touched it! Bearing in mind I got half a bucket of crap out of the boiler, it was the only thing holding it together! Turned off boiler, isolated gas, put sticker on and filled out the paperwork and left it at that. Next thing I know, he's only gone and had the cracks welded up and put the burners back in then wants me to go and make sure it's ok. Told him it's more than my jobs worth and as far as I'm aware, it's still rumbling along. My point is, don't do work for friends or family, they expect you to bend/break the rules:banghead: