Is it really that bad ?

[jono1987]

Ok now I know I cant offer an opinion based on knowledge on the following but please hear me out,

I keep seeing all this news about too many plumbers not enough wok etc or at least its harder to find work.

All of the people who i hear say this though are self employed. I can understand people wanting to be there own boss but surely there are jobs for bathroom/kitchen fitters or other big plumbing firms like british gas ??

 

[WHPES]

The bathroom and kitchen fitters are very quiet here too, and the larger companies are not taking people on.

 

[Guest123]

One of the reasons that there are too many plumbers is because of these fast tract plumbing courses churning out "plumbers" in 4 months, while the rest of us do a 4 year apprenticeship. These courses are marketed with false promises of over the top earnings which never materialises.
Diy is having a big effect to as due to the current economic climate, people are attempting to do their own plumbing projects as they think it's cheaper. Unfortunately in many cases it costs them dear as they have to get a professional plumber in to fix their **** ups!
I hate diy! I got my own back a few weeks ago and got 5,000 professional leaflets designed and printed and stood outside B&Q handing them out to people going in their doors. Got loads of work! Revenge is oh so sweet....

 

[jono1987]

The bathroom and kitchen fitters are very quiet here too, and the larger companies are not taking people on.

Ok, to be fair i thought maybe this was the reason but i didnt no whether it was just a reluctance to work for big comapnies, i know for eg that british gas' plumbers just try and powerflush as much as possible !! regardless of the actual problem- i didnt know whether this ethos was frowned upon by self employed tradepeople who dont just try and spin as much money as poss whether or not its needed. I suppose it would also be a big change from being your own boss to answering to someone.

One of the reasons that there are too many plumbers is because of these fast tract plumbing courses churning out "plumbers" in 4 months, while the rest of us do a 4 year apprenticeship. These courses are marketed with false promises of over the top earnings which never materialises.
Diy is having a big effect to as due to the current economic climate, people are attempting to do their own plumbing projects as they think it's cheaper. Unfortunately in many cases it costs them dear as they have to get a professional plumber in to fix their **** ups!
I hate diy! I got my own back a few weeks ago and got 5,000 professional leaflets designed and printed and stood outside B&Q handing them out to people going in their doors. Got loads of work! Revenge is oh so sweet....

Yes these fast tracks are doing damage, people get the tech cert and then are legally allowed to trade as a plumber despite having no on site experience. The new diplomas should start to halt this though.
That is brilliant what you did outside of B&Q !!! another problem with the diy issue is that people think they can do things because you can find a guide on how to do anything on the internet !!

 

[ringw]

did you get away with standing outside b+q surely they moved you on ,i tried to put flyers under windscreen got a right bxxxxxxg

 

[Bernie2]

The thing is many jobs in Plumbing are easy.

Its just that a DIYer may not always know which ones are within their capabilities and which aren't.

Its pointless saying things like "lets restrict sales of this or that to registered people". A factory making the article may employ thousands of people who produce thousands of the same article each week. They need to sell those thousands of articles by the thousands not the one or two a month a registered person may require.

The DIY market is probably worth many Billions more than the self employed market, so unless the self employed market can use the factories output as much as the DIYers do, it would seem that things may very well stay the same.

 

[WHPES]

Came to a DIY project earlier in the year. Someone had put a valve on the vent pipe of a cylinder as well as on the feed pipe, and the valves had been accidentally closed. The cylinder had popped the bottom out and was leaning at a crazy angle. I explained to the homeowner that it could have caused a serious explosion. The plumbing had been done by the previous occupant and was a constant headache for the new owners, with leaks, airlocks, long waits for hot water to come to the taps and poor pressure, plus umpteen faults I could see with a cursory glance. To cap it off there was a second hand oil boiler which had obviously been installed by the same DIYer and the boiler room had no natural air coming in when the door was shut and was full of sooty deposits!

The upside was I got the job of ripping it out and starting again.

 

[Guest123]

Yes it's good that you got the job to rip it all out and start again. Unfortunately I get asked to fix Diy bathrooms, showers, kitchen sinks that have gone horribly wrong. The problem with these that once you start to fix them, you are "Opening up a can of worms" and you inherit their **** ups in all their glory. Once you fix something, it leads to having to fix something else and so on and unless you have the luxury of being able to rip it out and start again, these jobs are a nightmare.

Yes ringw, I got away with it as the B&Q there was one of their superstores and the staff don't get let out much. Anyway, unless you are actually on their premises/property they can't touch you. The car park was a communal one for several stores in a retail park, so I could have put the leaflets on car windows too. The one thing you have to watch with this though that with thousands of leaflets being chucked away by car owners, you can get done for littering. Best to hand them out as people put them in their pockets and some read them later too.

 

[ringw]

nice one !

 

[Bernie2]

Hmm!

Interestingly DIYer or not it seems the person could put pipes together, what they seemed to lack was the knowledge of how to put them together properly.

Should have bought a good Plumbing book and read that first.

 

[easyt]

I doubt if there are more people doing DIY plumbing because of the recession. From my experience (as a sometime diy-er). Some folk do jobs themselves and some don't. I've rebuilt car engines, changed clutches, done full service and the same with the caravan. Gas servicing was left to experts. I've laid flags, tiled floor and walls, fitted kitchens (including scratch built), put in the odd electrical socket, changed a few ballcocks, put in a couple of header tanks, plumbed several bathrooms and kitchens etc. But I always believed I was in the minority.

Some folk diy some don't.