Are Electricians Being De-Valued?

[PGTips]

Sausage, if these people are not qualified to carry out thework then they shouldn't be doing it, simple as that. These people are takingthe food out of Electricians mouths all over the UK.
I don't know about your back ground in the electricalindustry but I did a five year JIB apprenticeship. I gained my paper andpractical qualifications up to Technician including my AM1 and AM2 and I’mregistered with the JIB. This took me a number of years of study and exams, anda lot of my personal time to pass these necessary exams and practicalqualifications to boot.
So how is it right that a labourer who brushes up against anElectrician in the pub can get on to a building site 1st and 2nd fix electricalsystems with no paper qualifications, on the proviso that a qualifiedInspection and tester certifies it all? With respect that is just madness.
I could teach a sibling how to terminate a socket, light, 3phase distribution board, a mechanised process etc etc etc. The point is thatthe person I was showing wouldn't understand why they were doing it andwouldn't officially be allowed to carry this work out unsupervised, but thistype of person is being left to their own devices on construction sites andcarrying out a qualified man’s work.
This attitude towards the electrical industry is what iskilling the trade, and skilled men’s jobs. Imagine if you could leave schoolthick as two short planks and then walk straight in to this industry with noregulation as an Electricians Mate, then start installing electrical systems onprice.
Very scary, but that is what's happening all over the UK.The dumbing down of a very dangerous and skilled industry and the allowing ofmorons to carry out works within this industry at the cost of qualified skilledmen.
Perhaps these Electricians Mates should be thrown in at thedeep end and left to their own devices on let’s say 11KV, and then there wouldbe a lot less of them.
Apologies for thefirst posting regarding this issue you raised about the grammar etc. I wrote itin word with paragraphs etc. Copied it and pasted it to the reply box and itdid what it did to the text, don't ask me why but there you go. Hope this one isn'tas hard for you to read.

 

[PGTips]

Its gone and done it again. What is it with this site and copying and pasting from Word? Sorry everyone.

 

[Guitarist]

Unfortunately, while other trades just choose to see that we "throw in a few wires", they will assume that it's all easy work that anyone can do.
It's actually part P which is keeping a lot of us going, as many trades think they can do the job, but realise that it will have to be signed off and notified.

 

[Sausage]

the situation you describe above where people thick as planks with no qualifications installing on price is something i have experienced first hand. I'm not saying i endorse it! I chose to go to college, get my 2330 levels 2 and 3, AM2, NVQ 3 and 17th edition. I wanted to do it properly and my ticket means I can go wherever I want and get paid the rate.

Although I have worked with these chancers, the only thing I'll say, is that they are trapped in the company that gives them this price work, and we all know who's pockets are getting lined!

 

[shagbite]

Unfortunately, while other trades just choose to see that we "throw in a few wires", they will assume that it's all easy work that anyone can do.
It's actually part P which is keeping a lot of us going, as many trades think they can do the job, but realise that it will have to be signed off and notified.

customers don't want to pay us what we're worth because at the end of a job, all they see is a 40 bob socket and a pendant drop. but they'll pay a mechanic 50 quid an hour, no problem. my mechanic wanted to charge me £200 to replace the osr caliper (mot failure). i sourced the part myself, for £43 + vat, and had it swapped over in 35 minutes. it's crazy.

while we're at it, i know a bloke who paid £800 to a roofer, to take down a chimney stack. it took the roofer, and his labourer, 6 and a half hours to complete this job. now, if we assume that the scaffolding cost a couple of hundred quid and the labourer £100 (it was a saturday), this fellas raked in 500 notes for just over half a day's graft - and it was cash in hand! i'm in the wrong job.

 

[Guitarist]

customers don't want to pay us what we're worth because at the end of a job, all they see is a 40 bob socket and a pendant drop. but they'll pay a mechanic 50 quid an hour, no problem. my mechanic wanted to charge me £200 to replace the osr caliper (mot failure). i sourced the part myself, for £43 + vat, and had it swapped over in 35 minutes. it's crazy.

while we're at it, i know a bloke who paid £800 to a roofer, to take down a chimney stack. it took the roofer, and his labourer, 6 and a half hours to complete this job. now, if we assume that the scaffolding cost a couple of hundred quid and the labourer £100 (it was a saturday), this fellas raked in 500 notes for just over half a day's graft - and it was cash in hand! i'm in the wrong job.

You can also say this about many plumbers who get called out. I constantly get told stories by my customers who have paid hundreds out for an hours work (plus materials) to replace a ballcock or fix a leak.
The best one I heard was someone who had a header tank replaced on a Sunday. Took the plumber about half the day (including a trip to a certain DIY store) and the bill was £1.5k !!!

 

[whitestu]

You can also say this about many plumbers who get called out. I constantly get told stories by my customers who have paid hundreds out for an hours work (plus materials) to replace a ballcock or fix a leak.
The best one I heard was someone who had a header tank replaced on a Sunday. Took the plumber about half the day (including a trip to a certain DIY store) and the bill was £1.5k !!!

Read more:

So why aren't there loads of people competing for this type of work thus driving the price down. It doesn't make any sense.

 

[Guitarist]

So why aren't there loads of people competing for this type of work thus driving the price down. It doesn't make any sense.

Basically, people panick and get the first plumber out who can sort their problem. It's only once they get the bill that their eyes pop out. Also, every plumber I've spoken to in my area is booked up for at least 8 weeks.
I definitely chose the wrong profession...

 

[imago]

customers don't want to pay us what we're worth because at the end of a job, all they see is a 40 bob socket and a pendant drop. but they'll pay a mechanic 50 quid an hour, no problem. my mechanic wanted to charge me £200 to replace the osr caliper (mot failure). i sourced the part myself, for £43 + vat, and had it swapped over in 35 minutes. it's crazy.

while we're at it, i know a bloke who paid £800 to a roofer, to take down a chimney stack. it took the roofer, and his labourer, 6 and a half hours to complete this job. now, if we assume that the scaffolding cost a couple of hundred quid and the labourer £100 (it was a saturday), this fellas raked in 500 notes for just over half a day's graft - and it was cash in hand! i'm in the wrong job.

The thing is, by making assumptions like that you're doing the same thing as the people complaining about electrician's rates. So lets look at the roofer's costs for that half day. Scaffolding the front of a house, @£300:00, a skip £120:00 because all waste has to be carried by a licensed carrier, the labourer more like £80:00 to be honest. So that's £400:00. Out of the remaining £400:00 he has to pay public liability which is almost double the usual because he's working above the roof line, tools like ladders have to be commercial grade, running a van, materials to cap the hole where the stack was. Then account for him loosing half his weekend.

Bitching between the trades is OK as a bit of banter, but when the green eye comes into play no one wins.

 

[Guitarist]

The thing is, by making assumptions like that you're doing the same thing as the people complaining about electrician's rates. So lets look at the roofer's costs for that half day. Scaffolding the front of a house, @£300:00, a skip £120:00 because all waste has to be carried by a licensed carrier, the labourer more like £80:00 to be honest. So that's £400:00. Out of the remaining £400:00 he has to pay public liability which is almost double the usual because he's working above the roof line, tools like ladders have to be commercial grade, running a van, materials to cap the hole where the stack was. Then account for him loosing half his weekend.

Bitching between the trades is OK as a bit of banter, but when the green eye comes into play no one wins.

Unless he's one of those guys who works off a ladder. We can't assume anything, good or bad