What would you do?

[Niallmat]

Hi

Basically I am intrested in what you lads would do in my shoes.

I first done my 6129 at college back in 2006/07 when I first left school. I did it full time so no experiance then. Although at the time I was working on my days off from college with a heating engineer. He did no plumbing though only boiler servicing and repairs. I then went on to join the army, Royal Engineers as a plumbing and heating engineer. Made sence to me at the time! Well until I realised I wasnt getting any extra qualifications! I ended up doing the 6129 course again but this time I never had to do any of the tests. So the start of last year I got medically discharged after 3 years in the army. I still wanted to do plumbing. I rang a load of plumber..... none intrested in taking me on.

Untill about March/Aprill last year where a local plumber said he would take me on for some experiance. Finally someone helped me out. A really nice guy very experianced done it all his life. Things where going well I was seeing things you dont get taught, doing actually plumbing work in peoples houses and the plus side was I was enjoying it and gain more confidence in doing the work. Things where going well untill he went away on holiday, he had lots of work before he went, and when he came back he didnt have much. So I carried on with him for a bit longer untill it came to him saying theres no point in coming out with me anymore as I dont have enough work.

Hmmm what to do now.... I came on this board where I was told by a few just to go for it myself, start with small jobs and build up. I started doing a few jobs for family and freinds and thought maybe I can do this. As I was going to go for it though, my old boss with the heating firm I used to work with when I was at college offered me an apprenticship with him, just doing heating. I thought brill am going for this, snapped his hand off at the offer. He said well you can start january this year obv. So january came no word... went and seen him as he lives across the road from me. He said no local college would help him out because they didnt just do heating. He said leave it with me al get back to you. So went and seen him a few weeks back, he said he was going to take me on, he just wasn't sure, he thought the earliest would be May

So now I am thinking is he really going to take me on or not? Do I just go for it myself and wait for him to get back to me? I was close just to packing the plumbing in and doing something else. So basically what would you do?

Sorry I have went on for ages but if anyones intrested in either saying what they would do or adivce that would be great!

Thanks for reading,

Niall

 

[TomLane]

Stick at it Niall!

You've come this far, don't throw it all in now!

I would keep doing work on your own & if this job materialises with your old boss then take it. Don't wait about for him, as you say he can't guarantee when he can take you on!

Go for it mate, times are hard for everyone but sometimes you've just got to bit the bullet & go for it. I did over 4 years ago, I struggled at first but am building a good reputation & customer base day by day, week by week!

Good luck & keep positive!!

 

[Niallmat]

When people tell you to stick at it and go for it, it dose give you a little morale boost so thank you!

 

[plumber0808]

If you give it up now it would be a waste. Carry on and hope for a bit of luck.

 

[lame plumber]

your trained up with experience, hit the streets simple jobs etc, build a customer base not easy but what have you got to lose, dont spend a mass on tools etc just what you need. good luck

 

[Niallmat]

Problem I have with starting up is I have little money for tools etc.. I mean I cant sell my car buy a cheapish van and have some profit left for starting up. I get that lads who have started up when time served already have tools so thats no really a factoe for some guys. Any lads here get any funding loans? Or how did you go about it?

 

[Simon F]

you have a level of qualification and experience,
that would be enough for some to go it alone and make a success of it.
level of confidence is a different subject
you had a post earlier about repairing/replacing a stop tap that wasn't fully closing,
this should be a basic job,
you will probably benefit by getting the extra experience working with someone for a while longer to gain more experience and the confidence that will come with it. at the same time be able to build up your own tool collection.

 

[Niallmat]

I was just looking for a bit of advice with the question. I understand I could do with some extra experiance.

 

[iain85]

As previously stated you have the Nvq so why does this guy want to speak with the college? There are so many people on here looking for opportunities so if you have even a sniff of a chance then take it and don't burn your bridges. Like already said start of with a few little tap changes etc and hold out I'd say. Maybe offer to work for nowt till he is ready to start the apprenticeship ?

 

[SimonG]

Dont wait about. Be the master of your own destiny. If the bloke comes back with something then you have options. If you wait then before you know it the time will fly and youll be no further forward.

Good luck.

 

[Niallmat]

Dont wait about. Be the master of your own destiny. If the bloke comes back with something then you have options. If you wait then before you know it the time will fly and youll be no further forward.

Good luck.

Yeah I have kind of been on hold since December when he offered me a job!

 

[michael c]

Sign on job seekers you can get money to help tide you over (not much but it will help) when going self employed. You can also get low interest loans and they may be willing to put you through your gas qualifications aswell. Then you could contract for your old boss instead of apprenticeship.Good luck

 

[Niallmat]

Sign on job seekers you can get money to help tide you over (not much but it will help) when going self employed. You can also get low interest loans and they may be willing to put you through your gas qualifications aswell. Then you could contract for your old boss instead of apprenticeship.Good luck

Do you mean sign on while I start up? Thought about signing on but then I actually have to pretend am looking for work. I don't mean that in a bad way, I do want to work! I mean last time I went to sign on they made a fuss about me wanting to do work experiance with a plumber, so I told them I didn't want their money. I had just got a pay off from the army that I lived on. Unfortunatly I only have a couple hundred quid left from that!

 

[michael c]

basically mate i was just about to register my buisiness and got told not to. basically if you sign on you can discuss going self employed straight away and put in for a new enterprise allowance. If you get it its £65 a week for upto 13 weeks then £30 a week for a further 13 weeks while your buisiness gets started. I have also been told they have abolished the 6 month wait before you can apply for training grants and that i may be entitled to funded training to enhance my prospects i.e i will be looking into doing further training to expand my acs.

 

[Niallmat]

Because I am not fully qualified would they be funny about that? As in would the say I couldn't start up?

 

[michael c]

say you want to go self employed as a plumber and see what they say mate. I'm afraid thats all i know so far but id advise speaking to your local buisiness innovation centre or just go and speak to the job centre and see what they say.

 

[Niallmat]

Ok cheers mate!