jeeez, 25k in the 80's must be equiv of 50k nowadays, £200 a day doing lead work..!! were lucky to get that now doing gas work
how come you still working clanger.? i would be sitting in the sun if i were you
i have been self-emp for over 10 years if i had been a plumber/gasman from leaving school (the 80's) i'd be retired by now...
Its funny how gas work has become the gold standard. During my career, it was just another aspect of being a plumber, along with electrical, oil, lead-work and sanitary pipework. The gas guys and fitters were always paid less than plumbers, which was the same for teaching the subjects in in FE.
It would take me around 2 years to train someone at work, to do lead-work to a 'competent' standard that a decent architect would accept - it would take me a matter of weeks to train someone to get through an ACS practical gas assessment. For central heating contracts, six weeks to train someone to do rads and pipework. The general plumber, takes ten years to achieve master status in England, in Germany its only five.
However, gas fitters would argue that many plumbers who do gas, are not competent, and I think they have a good argument. The same could be said for plumbers that do electrical.
When I think of the amount of work, which was required to make 50K doing plumbing, its collosal, if you are working on the tools. I really enjoyed the job so I was never destined to make loads of money; I don't think you do if you really enjoy what you are doing. But, I think I have been priveleged in being able to land steady work for decades - not so much through my own skill, but because there was hardly anyone doing the job - no competition.
This is no longer the case, because of the economic situation and the influx of people into the trade. I have work diaries covering decades of jobs that came in over the phone, ten or more calls a day. Now I am lucky to get two or three calls a week. Even to make 25K clear, you will have to land stacks of business, see loads of people and write lots of estimates, make calls, order, organise, do, get money in etc.
If I were asked a few years ago what I earned, I would probably have said more than 25K, because generally I think we do - so as not to look like a failure to others. The reality is different, and I wonder how many are actually being accurate with their estimates of what they earn.