Retraining to Boiler Engineer - any advice ?

[Pengwyn]

leakydave,
thanks for the reply.
I don't expect it to be easy, I expect 2 years before earning a salary to not choke at. But coming from a shift job, the simple idea of sleeping at night makes it worthwhile.
Like I said I do have family and friends in the business so this should give me a head start, even in these tough times. And I believe the gas and elec choice will open doors and hopefully give me an edge.

As for boiler engineer ? I am sorry if I use the wrong term. I was trying to differentiate from an installer because I would prefer to repair and service than get involved in installation.

leakydave how did you go about retraining ?

 

[Goldspoon]

I think that a major problem here is that you are asking people for advice when you wish to join their trade. When there is a downturn in work they try to put you off. Tis maybe that simple as to lack of constructive response.

All you have to do is to be better than the lower rungs of those already out there and there are a reasonable number of those - if 25% are not able to run an effective business then your task is to be better than that bottom 25%. Being better is not just your plumbing/gas/electrical skills (these need to be good as a minimum) - its your personality/looks/smile/attitude/motivation/intelligence/marketing skills etc. etc.

 

[Pengwyn]

Golfspoon,

That is my logic also. The experience obviously gives you speed to do a faster job and thus make more money, however my experience and many others of builders in general is that the customer service can often be very poor.
I accept my experience will slow me down but if I get the other things right (customer service, good comms, turn up on time etc) then I can make a success of it.

I was hoping to get advice from other "retrainers", that's all.

 

[lawrance]

I am afraid you are dreaming mate. You cant just repair boilers working for yourself, you will never keep customers. Any decent engineer who works for themselves will install and maybe even do plumbing. As other posts have stated there are too many engineers out there and not enough work to go around. Stick to being an electrician and growing a business, in this climate it will take more than 2 years to get a decent salary.

 

[powermaxer]

look for training and assessments courses,yes you could be a trainer/assesor/teacher.
most guys here have been in the industry since leaving school so their experience is what matters.
you will probaly find the courses and assessments easy and pass but experience will let you down.
you also need to be flexiable on your choice of work as gas repairs are only needed when needed some people are cutting back on serviceing to save money.
gas fitters i know also do all plumbing,electrics,painting/decorating,labouring etc etc just to keep the cash rollong in.
i would like to be a gas fitter but experience and a damaged back have kept me away from the industry.
good luck.

 

[twgas]

and a few friends who are gas fitters

have you asked them what they think

 

[powermaxer]

they say its to late to retrain as a gas service engineer down to experience.
better off being an instructor/trainer if he can speak most european languages it will help.

 

[Deleted member 105431]

people like the OP are flooding the market with cheap labour!

Boilers and heating systems are more complicated than ever before, customers more demanding and parts and materials are more expensive. One incorrect diagnosis could easily cost over £200, a cost that a customer is not willing to bear (pcb's etc cannot be returned to the merchants for credit). Having a certificate saying you can do the job does not an engineer make, stick to being an electrician would be my advice.

 

[Pengwyn]

Yep.
There is definately alot of "don't want any more competition" replies. That seems to be the problem with prefessions.

Thanks for the replies guys, I was hoping for a few more responces to the original post and not just a "you can't do it" responce but that is fine, I understand.

I will leave it there and find my own way. btw My friends and family who know me believe I will make a sucess of it because of my previous experience. I guess we will find out.

Thanks again.

 

[kirkgas]

i think the problem tradesmen have with retrainers is a perceived lack of respect for the trade, as the OP says here he doesn't want a job he wants to be self employed, therefore bypassing years and years of learning from his peers while working as a tradesman learning from both the good and bad boss to run your own business properly, he wants to retrain in both electrical and gas and jump right in, i have been an apprentice then plumber for 31 years and feel i am still developing and learning all the time, yes others can join the trade and learn but it needs to be done slowly and properly which are not conducive to being self employed and needing to work/earn.
i don't think the comments are sarky but more realistic as the current climate dictates most of us are earning less than we were before and feel we should be earning more but the comments at the moment seem to be like it or lump it, starting a new business now is brave and requires a lot of hard work and luck but needs to be in a field that you are an expert in not something you are trying to learn as well, my wife has just become a self employed childminder but with 27 years experience of doing the job with our own kids and working in schools etc she has the expertise to give it a go as a second business for us while i am the main bread winner which is a vast difference to being the main earner, my sympathies on being made redundant but IMHO a more sensible/cautious approach may be to find work as an employee and have the comfort of a weekly wage (or at the current rates should that be weakly wage!!)
best of luck in your decision

 

[Pengwyn]

Kirkgas,
thanks for the post. I fully agree with what you say about new entrants and the percieved lack of respect for the trade. Trust me when I say that I have total respect for the gas trade and the high standards that are expected, that is largely why I want to be a part of it.

In my defence I would say that I have served my time, essentially twice. First electrical/instrumentation with 4 years college to HNC. Instrumentation is the engineering term encompassing everything from regulator/guages/thermocouples/valves and much much more. I feel that my previous training gives me a huge introduction to your trade.
My 2nd "trade" was when I went into the operations side of things which includes very complicated control systems and diagnosis on a daily basis.
The reality of it is my industrial equipment is very similar to the equipment in on and around a boiler but just much bigger.
So I wouldn't consider myself to be the typical NEW ENTRANT.

Why self employed ?
I believe my skill will be in the diagnosis of faults and after talking to a good few CORGI fitters they all agree that there are loads of installers but a shortage of GOOD repairers. I dont for one minute believe I can contend with the experienced guys on the installation side of things but maybe on the repairs I can.
I also intend to get my Part P certs to enable me to take on domestic electrical work. Maybe doing the Gas and Elec certs will also give me an edge. And as stated I will be providng a "handyman" service while the business is starting up to keep me busy (hopefully busy). The handyman service will obviously charge a lower hourly rate.

I apologise if I came across as the "know it all" new entrant, that is not my intention. But I do feel my previous experience gives me a head start on the typical "marketing exec" who wants to retrain.

I have found the guys on this site to be great in the past and I hoped they would give me some valuable advice on starting up.

Maybe I was naive to the obvious sensitivities that a new entrant enquiry can bring.

 

[gremlin16]

Why is it when a company announce redundancies, a % of the work force become plumbers or electricians overnight ?

No qualifications, no clue about water regs, no clue about building regs, no insurance, no intention of paying tax, and only experience they had was connecting a hose pipe to a tap.

They start by installing bathroom suites, and quickly progress to illegal gas work.
Their overheads are so low, which in turn reflects on their installation prices.

In the current climate the above scenario is happening on a regular basis.
Even large plumbing & heating companies are cutting back on staff, who now go self employed (with qualifications).
Even these will be working for cash.

I worked as a factory maintenance fitter for 17 years. I worked on 240/440v electrics, hydraulic and pneumatic systems, refrigeration plants, h/c water, high pressure steam boiler and pipe work, welding, fabrication, wood work, minor construction work, painting (ugh) ect.
It all went well until they got into difficulty and the redundancy notices went up.

Little did i realise that my qualifications and experience were worthless out side in the domestic plumbing & heating world.

So it was back to college. Sounded easy until they said that to progress to level 3, I would have to be either working or gaining site experience with a qualified engineer or a company.
Luckily I manage to get in with a company (carp one at that ).
4 years later got my qualifications, water regs, G3, gas, oil, part P.

Been self employed 7 years and made a reasonable income.

Now I think what a waste of time. Current climate has encouraged more cowboys, who mussel in on venerable customers.
Getting pi55ed off with fly by night so called plumbers under cutting prices for cash.

More worrying is the amount of heating work we are loosing. The price these rouge installers are working for is rediciously low.

The old saying "something fatal will happen eventually" , unfortunately it wont be long coming.

With the country saturated with plumbers and heating engineers, less work to go around, it makes me laugh when some one says they are are setting up as plumbing/gas/oil company.

Good luck to pengwyn

 

[htgeng]

there is just as much shortage of good electricians. You have to do a lot of onsite gas experience before you can even sniff getting a corgi number. In the past I had a guy shadowing me to get his gas exp. TBH he doesn't have a hope in hell of getting it, but people can dream.

 

[powermaxer]

i still think with your past experience you should go into teaching what ever you are good at/interested in.good luck.

 

[gas4you]

One of the most understaffed trades at the moment is a watchmaker/repairer.

One of my customers runs his own business employing several and he just cannot find enough trained staff.

He does work for all the big outlets such as Harrods etc.

Apparently when digital quartz wathes came in every stopped trainin new recruits because they saw the end of traditional watches and clocks, but they now realise how wrong they were.