Not such a quick introduction – Stick the kettle on….

[Heat Kent]

Hello All.

Just a quick courteous introduction before I get active onthe rest of the forum… I’m a “career change” plumber, so I know lots ofexperienced guys will be rolling their eyes, huffing and puffing about me (andthat’s just the ones I’ve met face to face). That being said I don’t expectwork to fall in my lap and I am putting in the hard graft with a 20+ yearexperienced plumber to learn the trade properly before I go off pretending tobe a proper plumber myself.

I’m 30 years old and based down in Thanet, Kent.I come from an insurance background having been both a loss adjuster and acommercial underwriter. My wife and I then set up a small bar and I also havean entertainment company, which I’m still running on the side. Plumbing hasbeen something that has interested me for some time, but unfortunately I wasone of those teenage parents so earning good money to support my family tookpriority over spending years as a low paid apprentice. My son’s 11 now, my wifehas a good job in Londonand we’re comfortable, so we figured now’s the time to get re-training. I alsowant to give my son some options when he finishes school in 5-7 years, so it’sjust enough time for me to get experienced, qualified and established.

I’ve been doing site work for just over a year now and canbe left to my own devices with most aspects of the job. Things I do include:gas carcasses, first fixing, all sanitary ware, radiators, cylinders, boilers(hanging, flue and piping up – I don’t touch gas yet), kitchen sinks, outsidetaps, piping up solar, filling up and pressure testing. Obviously I’m under thesupervision of my friend/boss, so we either work in adjoining units or togetherin the same unit and he does all of the gas work.

Training wise I have had the mother of all headaches with Canterbury College, if you’re not a kid on a fundedcourse with a conventional apprenticeship they are about as useful as a chocolateradiator! This has meant I have had to dig deep and pay £3,000.00 for my level2 at Able Skills up in Dartford. I start my 6week course on 4 March, so fingers crossed it goes ok. I am planning on doingmy level 3 and gas by the end of the year, which comes in at a whopping£7,000.00 in total. I would be interested to hear opinions on these adultcourses as I know they get mixed reviews in the trade…

With my business experience and my bosses trade experiencewe are considering joining forces and setting up as a partnership once I havefinished all of my training. I’m looking at web design, quoting software,advertising and overall company image i.e. sign written van, logo work wear andthese kind of things. I’m also hoping to invest in new up to date equipmentsuch as flue analysers, power flushing machines and perhaps training up on renewables.This is really why I’m here, in the hope that some of you will have experienceand advise for me, with a bit of luck I might even be able to contribute a bitmyself ;o)

Anyway, that’s me in a nut shell, perhaps not such a quick introductionafter all, but well done if you kept reading all the way to the end :dizzy2:…

Paul

 

[Leo21]

Good luck in your venture, but to be honest. For the life of me I can't understand why if your comfortable you'd start up plumbing and not fishing or golf perhaps.

 

[Blake]

Welcome

 

[TomLane]

That's also an awful lot of expenditure on training & tools before you can guarantee you'll even have any work to justify having all that kit! Surely would it not be more financially savvy to build up little by little & see where the majority of your work leads you. Heating repairs, system installation, kitchen/bathroom installation etc, lots of differing areas. Some do all, some specialise. It takes time to find out what's best for you.

Good luck though in the new venture. Hope it all works out for you. It's certainly a big risk to take at the minute.

 

[Alpha man]

Hello.

 

[Heat Kent]

I think any new business is a gamble, but I have myentertainment company to keep me going and my wife earns a good wage so it’snot like I’m remortgaging the house and putting all of my eggs in the plumbingbasket. :wacko: I'm an optimist, so money is never lost in business, just experiencebought. I like to fully commit and start as I mean to go on rather than half heartedlybuying cheap gear or not having everything I need to do the job right the firsttime round. The idea is to specialise in the gas and heating side of the joband I would like to work with renewables (we already work with solar on site),but I guess that’s what everyone wants to do? If I need to do bathroom andkitchen installs and replace tap cartridges then so be it, plus we have loadsof site work at the moment with a few thousand homes being built localy. Don't forget my boss/partner is already qualified, experienced and has most of the tools and equipment needed, so we're just adding to what we already have and spliting cost/profit down the middle. Generallyin life I think you can build up a good personal reputation for being polite,honest, reliable and presentable. Then, so long as the standard of your work isup to scratch, jobs will start to find you. I’m lucky to live in an island typecommunity (the Isle of Thanet) where it’squite easy to put yourself out there, network and build a good reputation, it’svery cliquey down here and it’s definitely a case of who you know.

We’re comfortable, not mortgage free and over 60 :wacko:. However, funnyyou should mention golf and fishing as I’m finding these are great ways ofnetworking. My best friend is a site manager for Persimmon and I’ve met loadsof useful contacts through him on the golf course, in the pub and on fishingtrips. There's a Go Karting day and Paintballing coming up, which is right up my street...

 

[Heat Kent]

Where do my spaces keep going? They’re all there before Ihit reply???

 

[lame plumber]

dont just buy tools, get what you need when you need it. hire if need be at first, youll see a lat of magnacleanses and power flushing units on sale, used 4 times etc, theres a clue there! Specialising in one areas is good, but remember a lot of people specialise in gas so youll have to do better than that to get a niche market. site work is ok as long as the builders dont cut you short and knock you back, personally i prefer to leave that side well alone, seen to many fall into the trap and lose out recently. otherwise good luck out there

 

[nicro3]

Good luck, wish you well in your future ventures.

 

[Heat Kent]

Hmmmm... Power Flushingis something I'm keen to research. There's a part of me that thinks it soundsgreat and I can see how it would be easy to sell it to the customer. However, Ican't help but think that perhaps it's often mis sold? If I have a TF1 filteron the return and there are no cold spots or obvious signs of excessive corrosionor system noises, then is it really necessary?

A few yearsback my mother in law had a new boiler fitted and the guy said it wascompulsory to have a power flush when replacing boilers? They didn't replaceany rad values and it caused most of them to start weeping, presumably it brokedown/loosened corrosion around the valves?

Surely thechemicals would need to be introduced to the system some time prior to the flushin order to break down the build up, but many people say they can flush asystem in a couple of hours? I’m also not convinced microbore systems could withstanda flush and I wouldn’t like to put it on the 10mm plastic I have throughout myhouse.

We do quite afew boiler installs, four in the past two weeks, and they all just get a scalereducer on the cold feed and a TF1 on the return.

I’d like tohave the kit and offer the service. Not to push on people as a must have, butrather just to use when it’s of real benefit. We had a customer turn us downbecause the BG guy told them it was really important to have a power flush andwe contradicted him by saying it wasn’t necessary (obviously BG only employ themost honest, knowledgeable staff, so they know best).

Definitelyworth hiring out a unit and perhaps have a little play on our own/familieshouses first? Likewise with the flue analysers, we get to use the firms kit when we’re on site so at least we get to trysomeone else’s before we spend out.

 

[Leo21]

Open forum!

 

[SimonG]

We do quite afew boiler installs, four in the past two weeks, and they all just get a scalereducer on the cold feed and a TF1 on the return.

Most manufacturers require a chemical clean and flush as a mnimum for warranty.

 

[michael c]

welcome along heat kent

 

[Heat Kent]

Open forum!

Thanks a lot guys – Very helpful indeed, I’ve just spent mySunday afternoon reading building regs and trying to fathom out exactly what isrequired and by whom… I’ve put a new post on the heating forum RE the PowerFlushing if anyone wants to join in?

I take it that’s what you mean by open forum Leo21? Hope I've put it in the right place now.

 

[SimonG]

Welcome along Forgot it before

 

[Leo21]

Thanks a lot guys – Very helpful indeed, I’ve just spent mySunday afternoon reading building regs and trying to fathom out exactly what isrequired and by whom… I’ve put a new post on the heating forum RE the PowerFlushing if anyone wants to join in?

I take it that’s what you mean by open forum Leo21? Hope I've put it in the right place now.

No worries, just bear in mind everyone can see on the open forum. Pros and cons of power flushing may not help us as a trade.

 

[turnpin]

Hello Heat Kent and welcome regards turnpin:dizzy2:

 

[Rickster123]

Welcome along heat Kent!