How can I check a brickie is qualified please?

[Franalogue]

Hi all,
Please can someone tell me if there is a way to check if a brickie has the level 2 qualification he says he has on his website ? I have tried contacting the college he says he went to but they are saying that due to data protection they cannot advise me. I cannot ask him to show me his certificate as I have told him my dog can lay block better and things have gone past the speaking and merrily sharing document stage.

Who can I contact please?

 

[Bonni]

He/she would have a City & Guilds certificate.

Having said that, when I did my training 15 years ago, many kids came out of college with City & Guilds certificates and you wouldn't let them within 500 yards of a trowel. Old school bricklayers that do a sterling job likelies don't have such qualifications.

Simply best word of mouth and look at their past work.

 

[Franalogue]

Hi Bonni, thanks. It's really that I have locked horns big time and am going to court to get him to pay me for the materials he has wrecked. I want to prove he is lying about being qualified and about having insurance as I think it will help my case. Seriously, I have things growing near my pond that could lay masonry units straighter and with actual wall ties too! Is there a central body I can contact to find out if he holds the C & G certs he says he has?

 

[Mottie]

Why not ask him for a copy of his certificate and insurance? If he fails to respond, that will surely help your case. If he is using the City & Guilds in his advertising, I’m sure they will either confirm he has it or take action against him.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Post pictures of his work so far.

Andy

 

[Franalogue]

Hi, I had the BCO officer out to look at it and he said it had to go. I had to quickly find another builder as I had scaff on hire and a schedule of works. I took photos on a digital camera and on my mobile though. I will have to find out how to download them to the computer. Between the pumice flue sections there was a metal wall tie presumably because he lost level and used that to regain it? No worries about us all dying on our beds of CO poisoning? The wall was just about serviceable but not level by any means but the wall ties had been shoved in after and only then by about half an inch or so. Some of them you could see the return and the BCO was able to just pull them out using very little effort. It was also not possible to get the insulation boards snug against the cavity side as there was so much mortar sticking out everywhere. The wall would not have functioned or been safe basically. I have asked for details of his qualification and his insurance but I have had an email telling me that he will report me to the police for harrassment. I am well out of pocket on the flue sections and blocks, jointing cement etc. and it has taken me many hours to shift it all and clear up the mess. Oh God the mess! I had no idea that someone could make so much mess in just two days. The wastage of mortar has been indescribeable. Six bags of mastercrete used and nothing to show for any of it. Bucketloads of mortar dumped in the garden when they just randomly decide to go home.

 

[Franalogue]

OK so I've just had another look at his website and it says NVQ level 2 brickwork. Is that the same as a City and Guilds qualification please does anyone know?

 

[Franalogue]

How the chuff do I find out if he's lying?

 

[stuart45]

Without photos an opinion is difficult.

 

[Mottie]

An 'NVQ' (National Vocational Qualification) is an agreed government recognised national qualification. It can be offered by any 'awarding body’ of which there are about half a dozen. Could be City & Guilds, BTEC, ABC awards etc but they will all have to be done to a set of standards laid down by the Government body, the QCA (Qualification Curriculum Authority). Level 2 is not a particularly high level though. Very basic but it sounds like your guy shouldn’t have even passed at that level. A qualification is made up of a number of units. If he doesn’t state that he has a full qualification, he might only have one unit that might not even be brickie related - Health & Safety on site for example.

 

[pilsbury]

I'd look past whether he has any qualification and concentrate on small claims court to get your money back for materials and remedial work.

His qualification is irrelevant. I have a GCSE in French I earned 25 years ago. Ask me if I can speak a word of it now.

Anyhow, post a picture of his work. I could do with a laugh.

 

[stuart45]

Does not really matter what he has if his work is no good,

 

[acurachris]

Ask me if I can speak a word of it now

Est-ce que tu parles français?

Sorry, couldn't resist!

 

[Franalogue]

Thanks all. Interesting. I know the college he reckons he went to so I will ask them which body awards from there perhaps and take it from there. I fully intend to go to small claims court. I am reluctant to post pictures at this stage but pretty well every sin has been committed I suspect. He was laying mortar for the first level over the top of joist seals. The joist seals had a sheet of black plastic to keep the weather off and he had mortared the black polythene in in at least three places. Blocks not level in both directions, very little striking of joints, Joints varying from none (ie two blocks butted up with zero mortar between) to 37mm. Impossible to attach snug insulation boards due to huge outcropping of dried mortar preventing same. BCO said the mortar was too dry and no bond is formed in large parts of it. Wall ties retrofitted leaving the horozontal holes for them to just slide back out again so not even hooked in. Built off unpropped lintel. There's probably more that I don't recognise and the BCO said after the first glance that it had to come down due to the wall tie issue alone and thus he didn't continue to list. It was only as we stood there discussing it that he rambled about all the rest of the crimes against masonry that lay before us as it were

 

[pilsbury]

Est-ce que tu parles français?

Nein.