Question.
What qualification do you need to work as a plumber in the UK?
Answer.
None!
If you want to be a plumber, get yourself a van, a bag of tools, contact your local tax office and
register as a self employed person, (click the link for more information) take out a Public liability insurance policy, and you're a plumber.
The trouble is, there are a lot of cowboys out there who have done exactly that!
But you're not a cowboy, becase you've had training!
So, if you want to get plumbing work.... and assuming you have the basic practical skills after completing a year at college, there are two ways of going about it.
First way is to be an employee working for somebody. Go to the job centre - buy the local paper every day and look for plumbing jobs - ring around places looking for maintenence plumbers such as hospitals, local council, that kind of thing.
DON'T TELL THEM YOU'RE A TRAINEE!! There are so many crap plumbers out there that with your training, you are an expert!!
September to May is the best time to get work in the plumbing industry.
Everything dies in the summer time - customers on holiday - nothing breaking down - it's a famine out there!! But when October comes, and the cold weather kicks in.... It's showtime!! This is especially so for the next section of this information.
The second approach is to do those things I've mentioned above about becoming a self employed plumber, then open up the yellow pages to 'Plumbers' - phone up the companies advertising there, tell them you're a plumber, and I can almost guarantee that you will soon get work - especially if you live in or around London. You will need a van of your own to do this kind of work. Plus, of course, you can do it at times to suit yourself. Just do weekends and evenings until you get the confidence to go for it full time.
That's the kind of work I did for years, and I loved every minute of it!
It's all working self employed. They get the work, which is all emergency call out repair work, you go and do it, and you split the labour charges 50/50. You might think that's a bit of a bummer if you're doing all the work while they sit in the office. But it's worth it. They will be paying a fortune in advertising, answering the telephones, dealing with the crap the customers throw up at them, and doing all the admin stuff.
Be warned though, like I said a little earlier, it's always quiet on the repair work in the summer months. Lots of sitting about in your van waiting for things to happen. And it's not a nine to five job either.. You may get called out at all hours of the day or night to deal with emergencies. The thing is with this kind of work, is that you're on your own. It's all down to you to carry out the repair with no back up! But.. and I don't want to sound cynical here. If you screw up, look upon it as good experience and learn from it.
The other good thing about this kind of work is that you can make absolute mega-bucks!
Taking a chance:
One of my students a few years ago, (David, mature student in his 50s) only did nine months of the first year at college and didn't get a qualification at that time.
What he did, was those things I mentioned above re: self employment, but instead of approaching yellow page plumbing companies he put an ad in the local paper.... When he first started I was getting a HELP ME! call off him every couple of days. Once he was up and running, he went back to college and finally did get a qualification. Now he's working his nuts off and employing people!
When you're looking to make such a massive change in your life, sometimes you have to get out there and hustle.
So there you go,
