Training advice needed

[Emm]

Hi all,
I am new to posting in forums, but I could really do with some advice so here goes.
I have been looking in to some of the training courses to become a plumber, my first question is, are there jobs out there for a female plumber? And if so who are the best people to train with. Have had the sales patter from a guy at OLCI and another one from New Career Skills. The list of “qualifications” that the New Career Skills course gives you seemed more impressive, or longer at least, but does not include an NVQ. Form looking at some of the other threads this seems like the most important one???
Like there rest of you I don’t want to give my 5k over if I’m not going to get what I need from the course!

 

[fuzzy]

Hi all,
I am new to posting in forums, but I could really do with some advice so here goes.
I have been looking in to some of the training courses to become a plumber, my first question is, are there jobs out there for a female plumber? And if so who are the best people to train with. Have had the sales patter from a guy at OLCI and another one from New Career Skills. The list of “qualifications” that the New Career Skills course gives you seemed more impressive, or longer at least, but does not include an NVQ. Form looking at some of the other threads this seems like the most important one???
Like there rest of you I don’t want to give my 5k over if I’m not going to get what I need from the course!

check out my thread on the 6129 in plumbing courses. there are lots of changes going on so make sure you ask questions. there is to be no 6129 or 6089 NVQ from summer

 

[Gedpen]

At this moment you can do a n v q course for free at certain colleges (try kingston upon thames) as part of train to gain. BUT remember the nvq 6129 etc are all changing, (go to city & guilds website) do not beleive all what the private training centres tell you. BE careful you DO NOT NEED TO SPEND OVER £ 2000 and thats to be come gas safe with joining fee. Best to check and double check then check again.

 

[Blackcatgas]

Before you do anything, work with a plumber for a week for free, see if you like it before spending any money on a training course.
One thing I have noticed about female plumbers and please dont take this the wrong way, they dont have the strength in thier hands to tighten/untighten fittings, or the core body strength to lift on, lift off boilers etc. sometimes there might only be room for a pair of 9" pump pliers and one hand, or you might be installing a boiler in an airing cuboard and theres only room for one person to get in and lift it on.
I had a young female apprentice working with me at my old firm, she now works for sombody else doing maintenance and gas servicing successfully.
Best of luck Emma, let us know how you get on.

 

[joe brown]

One thing i have noticed is that a lot of people will try and talk you out of it yet they seem to still plumbing...lol.

I got all the same info and decided to go for it. I did however get it done through a college near by, i was on the waiting list for 2 years but why pay £5000 when i can pay £1000 for much better training.

Anyway you cannot get an nvq level 2 through train to gain unless you are working as a plumber and are doing the 6129

Also even though the 6129 is changing you can still do the course and it will still be reconised. They are still enroling for this year up until september and then the whole of city and guilds are changing, this means each subject can crossover - For eg - if i was to do health and safety in plumbing and then decide plumbing is not for me, i can keep that module and take it to another course - say joinery etc...and i would already have the health and safety module. The only difference in the 6129 and the new course is that 3 of the modules you can carry over to other subjects but all the other training is the same, I mean there is no point in carrying bending copper module to joinery lol.

Anyway this is your last chance to get a 6129 technicle certifiacte as from when it changes you will need to be in work as a plumber otherwise you cannot enrol !!!!

After the 6129 you can become self employed - at the end of the day the customer doesnt care about the difference between a city and guilds and an nvq they just want a good job doing.

Also after you have been working for yourself and getting quite a bit of work you can arrange with the college to call tou your places of work to do your nvq if you choose.

My college will be enroling in august for the last group of 6129

 

[Blackcatgas]

One thing i have noticed is that a lot of people will try and talk you out of it yet they seem to still plumbing...lol.

I got all the same info and decided to go for it. I did however get it done through a college near by, i was on the waiting list for 2 years but why pay £5000 when i can pay £1000 for much better training.

Anyway you cannot get an nvq level 2 through train to gain unless you are working as a plumber and are doing the 6129

Also even though the 6129 is changing you can still do the course and it will still be reconised. They are still enroling for this year up until september and then the whole of city and guilds are changing, this means each subject can crossover - For eg - if i was to do health and safety in plumbing and then decide plumbing is not for me, i can keep that module and take it to another course - say joinery etc...and i would already have the health and safety module. The only difference in the 6129 and the new course is that 3 of the modules you can carry over to other subjects but all the other training is the same, I mean there is no point in carrying bending copper module to joinery lol.

Anyway this is your last chance to get a 6129 technicle certifiacte as from when it changes you will need to be in work as a plumber otherwise you cannot enrol !!!!

After the 6129 you can become self employed - at the end of the day the customer doesnt care about the difference between a city and guilds and an nvq they just want a good job doing.

Also after you have been working for yourself and getting quite a bit of work you can arrange with the college to call tou your places of work to do your nvq if you choose.

My college will be enroling in august for the last group of 6129

Hi Joe, to take you up on your first point, I would try and talk people out of plumbing if they were going into it for the wrong reasons ie they think that they will earn lots of money etc.
Emma should try it out before she commits any of her hard earned money on a course.
I as a whole do not like what I do as a job, why am I still plumbing? because its the only thing Iam good at that I can earn a certain amnount of money from, Id love to retrain, but I cannot afford to take the paycut and lose my current standard of living.
I went into plumbing because I left school with a few GCSE, I wasnt thick just a bit lazy and more interested in chasing teenage girls.
I wish that Id gone to uni, I could now be earning more money mincing about in an office looking at women in short skirts all day, maybe stopping to photo copy some sh$$ and flick rubber bands at my co worker in front of me. Bitter? me? naaaaa.

 

[joe brown]

Well when you put it like that i cant argue. I totaly understand about not liking it but having no choice, I am currently in the same possition with my current job in the steel industry but i am retraining to be a plumber, I wont lie to you when i first came to this forum i had big idea's thinking i would be earning £1000's and would walk in to any job, Slowly though i have accepted the harsh reality of i will have to find my own work and work very very hard to get a decent wage let alone £1000's. The good thing about this forum is it has helped me build a long term plan, I am slowly meeting my targets and hopefully when i have completed my training i wont be going into it blindfolded. Luckily for me when i compltete my course i will get invited by to do Gas. I have r4esearched going self employed on this forum and feel that will be the best option, It seems a lot of plumbers dont want to train up their competition and introduce them to their customers even on a free service.... So as the site suggest's i will be having leaflets made up, website, local advertising etc.. everything i have learnt from here really. Its good to read other peoples mistakes on starting up and also other peoples achievments...like i said iv learnt a lot

 

[fuzzy]

Well when you put it like that i cant argue. I totaly understand about not liking it but having no choice, I am currently in the same possition with my current job in the steel industry but i am retraining to be a plumber, I wont lie to you when i first came to this forum i had big idea's thinking i would be earning £1000's and would walk in to any job, Slowly though i have accepted the harsh reality of i will have to find my own work and work very very hard to get a decent wage let alone £1000's. The good thing about this forum is it has helped me build a long term plan, I am slowly meeting my targets and hopefully when i have completed my training i wont be going into it blindfolded. Luckily for me when i compltete my course i will get invited by to do Gas. I have r4esearched going self employed on this forum and feel that will be the best option, It seems a lot of plumbers dont want to train up their competition and introduce them to their customers even on a free service.... So as the site suggest's i will be having leaflets made up, website, local advertising etc.. everything i have learnt from here really. Its good to read other peoples mistakes on starting up and also other peoples achievments...like i said iv learnt a lot

who started these rumours that you earn 1,000s as a plumber????????? i heard someone say a few years ago, if you get on a college course in plumbing you will never be out of work??? another one asked a work colleague of mine, does getting the 6129 garauntee me a job?
This shows how strongly rumours can influence a whole sector of society, worrying reallly, its totally inacurate.
One post the other day said im on 19k a year, if im not going to earn much more whats the point in re training? that was after saying they want to be a plumber? shows you why they wanted to be a plumber in the first place and were did that inaccurate info come from???

 

[Emm]

Thank you all for the advice, i will defiantly look at my local collage rather than the private training providers, i was already feeling rather wary of them, i know that NVQ qualifications are work based because my sister is an assessor but the guy at OLCI assured me it could be done in a class room, i have done lots or research and would say to anyone else out there looking at the courses the course advisors are salesmen!!!!!
Blackcatgas, I will get right to work doing some exercises and am already in touch with a local plumber about doing some work with him. No offense taken its a biological fact that we girls are usually not as strong as the boys.

 

[Gedpen]

Hi
don't worry too much about the strength thing, the big positive you will have is empathy with female cilents, because most of the time we deal with the wife who normally chooses all bathrooms, and often are more anxious when there's a leak, who better to talk to than a fellow woman.
Get out there and be proud to be a female plumber,
All the best to you.

 

[helpsy]

Emm
I would think you would do quite well being a female plumber, probably not that many about and some people may feel more comfortable having a woman in their house. Use being a female to your advantage.
Good Luck.

 

[WHPES]

Plumbing work is generally a lot lighter than it was years ago. A large proprtion of baths are acrylic these days as opposed to cast iron, and there are many power tools and electric chisels which make light work of what was once very laborious. On the few occasions where a plumber is asked to install a cast iron bath etc, you can often get round it by getting help in moving it.