general builder looking for basic electrical training(without wasting time and money)

[Robson689]

Re: general builder looking for basic electrical training(without wasting time and mo

A couple of years is not enough

My main point was to go to a local college and see what they offer.

 

[stuartcourt]

Re: general builder looking for basic electrical training(without wasting time and mo

Well said and also I as I am sure most of us feel this is not just a part time job we do. Our trade changes all the time and you need to be part of it 24/7 to move with it.

 

[telectrix]

Re: general builder looking for basic electrical training(without wasting time and mo

putting it another way. if the building trade was as bad as ours - thousands of semi-skilled builders undercutting your prices to the point where you could not get enough work at a decent price to pay your bills, would you encourage someone to enter your trade and take even more work off you?

 

[trev]

Re: general builder looking for basic electrical training(without wasting time and mo

Well said and also I as I am sure most of us feel this is not just a part time job we do. Our trade changes all the time and you need to be part of it 24/7 to move with it.

No Stuart that's obviously bull and our trade is a piece of ****. Tell you what OP, just go to B & Q They have friendly helpful experts there that will tell you its 1.5mm cable for lights 2.5mm for sockets and 6mm for showers and cookers. They'll even tell you how to install a consumer unit. Don't worry about calculations for cable derating and selection, safe isolation, prescribed zones, protective device selection or anything else of that worthless crap, just buy what the expert tells you and chuck it in any old how. Never mind about pre work surveys, or initial verification inspection, testing and certification because no one else is interested. You don't even have to worry that what you've done is safe because it's not like electricity is dangerous is it? Oh hang on a minute, it is. they used to use it in America to execute murderers

 

[esubmarine]

Re: general builder looking for basic electrical training(without wasting time and mo

hey dude dont mean to have touched a nerve about your trade.... i get that its complicated and was only asking for advice, if i came across the wrong way or explained my goals in a nieve manner.... it because yes your right! i dont have a clue about your trade. you've kinda just jumped off the handle and got all angry and wound up with me, so I guess I can only apologies for belittling your trade in whatever way i have done.

im not looking to do you, or the guy that works with me out of work.....the guy is a legend. but i hate on a personal level not being able to do something or understand it.

I just want to learn more and expand but didnt know where to start. thankfully i think ive got enough out of this post to get me thinking.

 

[Floody]

Re: general builder looking for basic electrical training(without wasting time and mo

College college college!! There is NO other way to learn. (Unless u want to take an apprentice wage which I'm sure as a builder, you don't)

stick to building, get through college like the rest of us who want to do rewires and make money, then work with a spark. Electrics aren't to be F'ed with if your not competent, but I'm sure as a builder you already know that.

house rewiring isn't something you pick up quick either, you may know how and where to put cables, but then there's all the calculations and cable choices behind those for about 50 different reasons....and that's what separates a 'domestic installer' from a good spark.


And I'm going to make my own quote up here that I think stands for the Electricians trade...(feedback too please)

​knowing 'why' is better than knowing 'how'

 

[LlandrilloSpark]

Re: general builder looking for basic electrical training(without wasting time and mo

You shouldnt be "checking off rewires"?? as a builder, In fact you shouldnt be doing anything electrical as a builder, If you want to be a spark then fine, go through the correct training, but you wont be checking off anything for at least 4-5 years, and rightly so

- - - Updated - - -

 

[esubmarine]

Re: general builder looking for basic electrical training(without wasting time and mo

@floody i think your quotes great and thanks for the clarfications

 

[trev]

Re: general builder looking for basic electrical training(without wasting time and mo

Look mate, I'm sorry for coming across all bolshie and arrogant as if I'm some kind of electrical god who's black arts and secrets passed down to him by the mystical forebears during his apprenticeship are not for the uninitiated because that's not usually me. It just annoys the life out of me when we get the plumber/joiner/plasterer etc on here with the attitude that you can get a reasonably intelligent monkey to do this stuff. That's perhaps not you and once again, sorry for picking up your questioning the wrong way

 

[Darkwood]

Re: general builder looking for basic electrical training(without wasting time and mo

As a builder.... and the state of the domestic electrical market and the salaries we have had to take due to thousands of get qualified quick courses you are probably on more than most domestic sparkies now, stick to it and find the niche in your own market.

 

[markc123]

Re: general builder looking for basic electrical training(without wasting time and mo

Aye, there's alot of competition in the electrical trade at the moment - most of it unwated due to the way things are currently done. So, if you can stick to building and find your own niche as Darkwood said it would probably make more sense financially.

 

[esubmarine]

Re: general builder looking for basic electrical training(without wasting time and mo

Look mate, I'm sorry for coming across all bolshie and arrogant as if I'm some kind of electrical god who's black arts and secrets passed down to him by the mystical forebears during his apprenticeship are not for the uninitiated because that's not usually me. It just annoys the life out of me when we get the plumber/joiner/plasterer etc on here with the attitude that you can get a reasonably intelligent monkey to do this stuff. That's perhaps not you and once again, sorry for picking up your questioning the wrong way

I completely understand why that would get you riled up, sorry we got off on the wrong foot! I should have just spent a little more time researching before blurting out a question. I did oddly enough gain a quite realistic insight to the state of the industry and your post did make me wiki cable derating so i did learn something from it.... so let not call it a negative experience

Am going to have a think about what I want to do, might be worth checking the college but it seems like the level i want to achieve is a bit beyond the training and time I could dedicate at the moment.

 

[Sparkie30]

Re: general builder looking for basic electrical training(without wasting time and mo


some people cant wait to 'have a go' at anyone who asks a basic question.

@esubmarine
if i was you i would pay attention how your sparkie does his work then find a college
and when tutor explain things you will understand them.

good luck

 

[markc123]

Re: general builder looking for basic electrical training(without wasting time and mo

It's the way he worded his OP sparkie30. That's the reason it was a semi-hostile response.

I've tried to point him in the right direction the best i can, but like you've said...he needs to be enquiring at a local college and getting enrolled onto the 2357 whilst working alongside his friend.

 

[trev]

Re: general builder looking for basic electrical training(without wasting time and mo

Sparkie30 I wasn't "having a go at someone who asks a basic question" maybe it was the result of a pretty bad day and Esubmarine got the back wash from it, probably more my fault than his, but you have to admit when you read the first post in this thread it comes across as a wind up and it's not the first one of the night. I've apologised for some of the knee jerk reaction that he got from me, maybe that should be the end of it. I've let it go and it seems to me like he has (kind of) forgiven me.

 

[Sparkie30]

Re: general builder looking for basic electrical training(without wasting time and mo

It's the way he worded his OP sparkie30. That's the reason it was a semi-hostile response.

Yeah i agree with you Markc123 the way he worded his OP did not help him but he didn't offend anyone.

Im led to believe alot of people in here think they are Gods gift just because they are electricians.

 

[Toonlad]

Re: general builder looking for basic electrical training(without wasting time and mo

If you look at your beer through the base of the Geordie Schooner glass, you’ll not only see a star shape, you’ll also look like an idiot. #No********

 

[Geordie Spark]

Re: general builder looking for basic electrical training(without wasting time and mo

you want basic electrical training / you want to know how to do re-wires / you want to cert everything ....

Go to college and learn properly?

Aye, but he says he doesn't want to waste any time or money.

 

[esubmarine]

Re: general builder looking for basic electrical training(without wasting time and mo

so I checked out the courses available at my local college today and they do 2 part time courses, the one that seemed most suited to me was the Certificate of Domestic Electrical Installer Part P. The result of the qualification was 'you will be nominated as a qualified supervisor with a Competent Persons scheme'. Don't quite get what this means I'd be able to do? It hints that this is a course for builders/kitchen fitter who want in the foundation knowledge to commence working as domestic electrician, so it seems like it would suit my needs......anyone had any experience with a similar course?

Also it costs 1327 + vat for 10 weeks part time, is this a fair price?

 

[trev]

Re: general builder looking for basic electrical training(without wasting time and mo

These courses were designed for the kitchen fitter or gas installer so that they could do what they needed to do. Instead they have been switched around by the training centres so that people who are taking them are thinking that they're qualified electricians. We refer to them here as 5 week wonders.