Solar pv training course

[Newsome3]

Got a letter through the post today offering this course
Just wondered if anyone done it and if worth doing and had much work from it?
Cheers

 

[sparkylad]

Skillworks funding at 50% was available in my area until the Tory / Lib Dem mob arrived.


Sparkylad.

 

[mad frankie]

done the course in march with ecoskies cost over £700.00 you then have to be mcs accredited to get the fits for customers this could work out to another£1500.00 by the time you join the scheme do a course on the paperwork for mcs a working at heights course and public liability ins plus joining the R E A. i havent bothered with the mcs as i cant afford it unless i have system to install.
cant install sytem as i am not mcs.
cant afford to install on my own house to get the mcs.
catch 22
looks like i have wasted £700.00 unless somebody out there who has mcs wants me to install their system for them and they do the paperwork.

 

[Noshocks]

I dont want to fan the flames but I think you would do well to get MCS registered for £1500, I did it on a shoe string and it still cost well over £3,000, there are so many fees and kit to buy not to mention the hours spent on the QA manual, its not cheap.

 

[Martin Dawes]

I agree with Noshocks. It has cost us nearly £3500 so far, and this obviously isn't counting the man hours spent sorting out the QMS document.

 

[Markc]

And I will be the third man to agree. £3K ish no problem.

 

[mad frankie]

its very expensive unless you have the money or the clientele its awkard to advance. what is also annoying is that you dont have to be a qualified electrician to qualify for mcs.
hope martin and no shocks do well. if you want a hand on installs[for payment of course ]im in the surrey area.

 

[andyb]

what is also annoying is that you dont have to be a qualified electrician to qualify for mcs.

Are you sure Mad Frankie? It seems to me that you must be registered with a competent person scheme at the very least, as this is notifiable work.

 

[jedisparks]

Just out of interest. Is this line of work worth the investment in time, money, hard work? Do you enjoy doing this now instead of other electrical work done previously or is it better financially? Tell me to bog off if you think im being cheeky by asking, it would just be usefull to know before making that big investment.

thanks

 

[mad frankie]

you dont have to be an electrician to be a competent person there are plenty of 5 day wonders out there. organisations like elecsa throw part p in with the mcs course.

 

[mad frankie]

did you read my earlier posts jedisparks? if you havent i suggest you do.
i think there is profit be made from it but the way the process is administered makes it very difficult for sole traders. large companies have the money to invest and will have different people to do the install and assessment for the size of the array that is needed taking into account the shading factors and which way the building is facing.

 

[jedisparks]

Hi mad frankie

Yes i have read your posts in this thread. it is interesting to hear the costs involved. my question was for those who are have actually been trading in this field for a while; have they found it a worth while investment either financially or rewarding in other ways? Sorry if ive hi jacked a bit, i thought it was relevent to the thread and am just interested to know.

regards

 

[mad frankie]

you havent hi jacked at all
i think the others who have been trading in the field would say theres money to be earned more so now than later. if you can afford to do it go for it, the feed in tariffs are going to get less as the years go by and more people will come in to this type of installation forcing prices down at the moment the tarriffs are attractive and are for 25 years indexed linked.i cant afford the mcs stage at the moment.

 

[jedisparks]

It definately sounds interesting work. but as you say for a sole trader, which i am, its going to be hard to compete and it sound like theres ALOT of paperwork to do.

 

[mad frankie]

martins browsing he will probably be able to enlighten you. the problem is the paperwork you have to be able to do all this before you can install and get the fits. it wouldnt be so bad if you could install and guarantee the fits and be assessed on the work you have done. this does happen but you cant get the fits unless you pass the assess. one or two jobs would probably pay most of your outlay.

 

[andyb]

you dont have to be an electrician to be a competent person there are plenty of 5 day wonders out there. organisations like elecsa throw part p in with the mcs course.

Sadly you're correct Mad Frankie. What you really meant was that you don't have to be an electrician to be an electrician.
But this has always been the case.

 

[mad frankie]

no i didnt mean you dont have to be an electrician to be an electrician. you can get the mcs do all the paper work do the pv course install the panels do the dc side of the work then get some one in to do the ac side of the work who is able to sign this part of the work off. you can get a scaffolder to erect a scaffolding a roofer to fix the panels, then plug in the arrays in fit the appropriate isolators and invertor then collect final payment after every things been signed of.

its like when you have someone design the electrics for large companies he doesent install although he will have a good knowledge of the regs and eletrical installatons etc.
regards mad frankie.

 

[mad frankie]

as i said earlier mep they dont make it easy for sole traders.
where you based?

 

[mad frankie]

shame to far away i would have came along to help with your first install