Becoming self employed as an electrician

EagerLearner

Hello everyone - please can anyone help.

Mr EL is not happy in the job that he is in selling tools, although it does bring in the bacon, he wants to work for himself and I know he's be amazing at it because he is very conscientious and hard working so he'd get great recommendations from clients.

He would like to be an electrician but obviously has no training in this, only home knowledge (which he is good at).

We have £5k in savings to buy a house but we are now thinking we will never be able to get on the property ladder with prices getting more and more out of our reach.

Therefore we want to invest in training for him - but there seem to be so many courses available - he wants one that will be 'real' and that electricians will recognise.

Where is best to start?

Thanks for anything you can advise :beer:

Gettin_me_own_back

He will need proper formal qualifications, Takes approx 2/3 years. Will also have to registered as an electrician with one of the governing bodies. Who call out once a year to check work etc. Will need to hold all appropriate insurances. Will most likley have to self fund college course.
Speak to your local college,they can pick and choose who they take.
Our local college has waiting list and is already full for this sept.

Its a long old road and the paperwork and government regulations are making it harder and harder. (I run an electrical company) Sometimes its not worth the agro.

Try plastering instead, does not take as long and you can charge more.

EagerLearner

Thanks for that - so for electrical courses the first step might be to contact Brighton & Hove City College? That's the only main one I can think of.

Then in terms of plastering, would he contact them first as well to see what courses they have?

I know he looked into various electrician courses that you see advertised but he got the feeling that some of the qualifications weren't worth the paper they were written on, and were very expensive.

That's why i appreciate someone like yourself advising us - can you advise if the plastering work will be intensive on his wrists? he gets sore wrists sometimes, hence looking at electrician rather than plumber.

adr0ck

go here and download factsheet on how to become an electrician:

http://www.iee.org/EduCareers/ProfDev/electrician.cfm

plastering is intensive on wrists.....so is being a plumber .....and so is being an electrician!!!!!!!

Its also very intensive on your hands, fingers etc on your back.....on your knees...on your neck etc

However if worried about wrists perhaps should do PAT testing works etc

adr0ck

if you also have a look at napits website...you can see how long courses take and cost for inspection and testing and PAT testing etc

http://www.napit.org.uk/

note you have to be qualified electrician (via college) first before doing these courses

EagerLearner

Thanks all - he will have a look at these at the weekend.

So does this mean he has to proper as a proper qualified electrician anyway, and then choose to do work that is less intensive on the wrists like PAT testing? I just want to be sure I have understood correctly.

Thanks everyone

Nobleck

HI, if Mr EL is young PAT testing is very boring and more suited to a retired electrician. I am fairly young and my Knees are wearing out already (i'm not 40 yet). A trade that pays the most at the moment is a Corgi registered Gas Engineer.
If Mr EL is still interested in becoming an Electrician then i would suggest City and Guilds 236(pt1+2) and then City and Guilds 2391 (test and inspection) i think 16th edition wiring regulations is incorporated into the City and Guilds course. Personally if you can, get an apprenticeship (it's fully funded).

I like being an Electrician, but the paperwork is becoming more tiresome than the installation work.

(an apprenticeship takes 4 years to complete)
You need to have all the qualifactions in order to call yourself a proper Electrician,don't cut corners by being a cowboy.

richt71

Has he thought about being a plumber? You can get qualified for this relatively quickly and theres huge shortages in most towns and cities! In fact I know a lad in london that makes a 6 figure income as a plumber (he does work very hard I might add).

EagerLearner

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the info - I guess the thing is that he wants to work for himself but it has to be something not too intensive on the wrists (I mean he sells tools at the mo and has to lift and shift, that's fine, it's the repetitive strain that hurts more).

Maybe he could be a gas engineer rather than an engineer, as I imagine the plumbing would be enev more intensive.

For me it's so frustrating seeing him work so hard (customers come back to the tool shop because he is so knowledgeable and thorough). His bosses make all the money.

He is 35 in April and is feeling really stuck, so as I am on MSE more I thought I would see what info there was and what people who have been in these trades think. His skills can be applied in any industry I suppose, but he is technical so that type of industry woudld be better (than say an office job) as he'd be much happier. He did a mechanics couse and is knowledgeable in electrics so that's why we were thinking that area.

If he wanted to train as a Corgi registered gas engineer where would he start?


Sorry for picking your brains so much, it's just that if we don't start now then another year will go past just like that. He's tried researching before and found so many levels of qualification it was hard to know where to start, plus we had no money then. We are prepared to invest our house deposit in him becoming trained in something where he gets independence and is happy.

Nobleck

If Mr EL is so good at selling tools, then maybe he should look at running his own business ( a snap on tool franchise) or a tool hire shop may be the way to go. After all the knowledge is there and if the customers always go to pick his brains, then those customers would most likely follow MR EL to his new own business.
I would like to just point out that being a tradesman is not as simple and easy as most people think. (i had a customer that wanted some extra sockets installing around her house. When i started to chase the walls, she asked me why was i doing that. I replied that the cables were going to buried into the wall. Cables she said you don't need cables just a socket.
All tradesmen are more at risk from RSI , lifting, chasing walls, screwing ,etc.

EagerLearner

Thanks Noble - problem is there is apparently a ScrewFix opening soon near his work = direct competition, so even if he started on his own they would be in Brighton for good. I have seen a person at the sunday market selling tools, makes me wonder where they get their tools from as they can undercut the company Mr EL works for - he mentioned before how could they possibly make any money...