Where to start????

[T50GSW]

Hi everyone,

I know this has been asked a lot before and I've been trying to find the information I need but I can't seem to get my head around it all and everyone seems to offer different advice.

I am looking to completely change my career path and start a career as an electrician. In the future I want to start my own company for property maintenance and after a lot of talking with my father in law who does the same stuff (jack of all trades) I've decided it's what I want to do.

I want to focus on domestic installation and repair work, and I'm assuming appliance testing would be part and parcel to all of that so I will do that too. The problem is, I don't know where to start with qualifications as some people say you need 'x', some say you need 'y' and some say everything is changing soon so 'x' and 'y' will be replaced.

Can anyone guide me as to what I would need to take to self certify my work and be recognised as a qualified spark? I'm not planning on going into commercial property and wpuld like to focus purely on domestic households, and hopefully I will be getting work site experience with my father in law too if he gets the contract he's hoping to get in the next few weeks. If that doesn't work out, I'll be trying to find someone to take me on as a mate or something to get some experience.

Thank you

Gary

 

[malcolmsanford]

Hi everyone,

I know this has been asked a lot before and I've been trying to find the information I need but I can't seem to get my head around it all and everyone seems to offer different advice.

I am looking to completely change my career path and start a career as an electrician. In the future I want to start my own company for property maintenance and after a lot of talking with my father in law who does the same stuff (jack of all trades) I've decided it's what I want to do.

I want to focus on domestic installation and repair work, and I'm assuming appliance testing would be part and parcel to all of that so I will do that too. The problem is, I don't know where to start with qualifications as some people say you need 'x', some say you need 'y' and some say everything is changing soon so 'x' and 'y' will be replaced.

Can anyone guide me as to what I would need to take to self certify my work and be recognised as a qualified spark? I'm not planning on going into commercial property and wpuld like to focus purely on domestic households, and hopefully I will be getting work site experience with my father in law too if he gets the contract he's hoping to get in the next few weeks. If that doesn't work out, I'll be trying to find someone to take me on as a mate or something to get some experience.

Thank you

Gary

And that is why your getting two different answers.

To certify your own work all you need to do is register with an appropriate scheme and away you go. To register you will need the 17th edition for that, to show them 2 jobs you have done and if you haven't any formal qualifications then you may need to do a Domestic Installers course which started off at being 5 weeks, but I'm sure they have condensed this by now

But to be a qualified sparks you will have to do the City and guilds ..............whatever it is now a days which will most likely take 2-3 years and then do a NVQ

 

[T50GSW]

So to start my own company and carry out maintenance work on other peoples property and sign it off, I don't have to be a qualified electrician?

Are the qualifications everyone keeps talking about (like the 2330 and 2356 if i remenbered the codes right) only used if I wanted to be employed by another company?

 

[malcolmsanford]

So to start my own company and carry out maintenance work on other peoples property and sign it off, I don't have to be a qualified electrician? Unfortunately that is exactly what you can do. If your going to work in peoples homes then joining a scheme is really the only practical way of working when doing notifiable work, and to join a scheme you do not have to be a fully qualified electrician, just what a put in my OP

Are the qualifications everyone keeps talking about (like the 2330 and 2356 if i remenbered the codes right) only used if I wanted to be employed by another company? Basically yes to get employment in the industry via a company they will want you to have a formal industry recognized qualification which is normally City & Guilds

..........................................

 

[SirKit Breaker]

Hey up mate,

The upshot is, that to be an Electrician, you do not need any qualifications whatsoever! But you must be competent. How you prove competence without qualifications is another matter, but this would only come into question when something goes wrong.

Whether or not you only want to do domestic, as opposed to commercial or industrial is irrelevant. Electric is electric wherever it is used, and it presents the same dangers in all of those applications.

As an "Electrician" qualified or not, you have a duty under the various laws and regulations to certify your own work, whether that is for design, Construction or Inspection and testing, or all of those. So when you have done a job, however large or small, you will generate either a certificate, or a report, along with other accompanying documents.

If you dont want to do the apprenticeship route, then you need to find someone who has been there and done it, then learn from him. Once you have some experience, then 17th edition course, and after that and once you have gained sufficient knowledge, you need to do one of the testing courses.

You will then be in a position to look at Part P registration with one of the scheme providers.

I dont want to dampen your enthusiasm to run your own company, or get into electricity, but it is a case of learning to walk before you can run.

Good luck,

Cheers...................Howard