Apprentice gets job !!!!

[Evans Electric]

As some will remember  I have a local apprentice working with me /us  basically for experience .   Gone so far at college  but now needs to be employed .

However with just him & his Dad , local carpenter / builder . ... in the house , his Dad needs him to be earning & contributing ....not a chance of getting a start as an apprentice  and he's really tried  so......................

................. he's up in Sheffield for a weeks training as ...a meter fitter , they'll be giving him a van and he 'll be driving back  on Friday  I think,   ready to start.  

Not the best job in the world but at least he's got off his butt and started  to  earn a living .     Just a shame  apprenticeships in our trade are few and far between.      

 

[Lurch]

It's in the right area, wires and electricity at least. Probably not a bad idea, never know who he'll meet on his travels. I did some days with a meter fitter when on work experience and met quite a few electricians.

 

[Evans Electric]

Yes  as you say , I always think think of it as keep opening  doors as you never know whats behind them . 

I said before on here of deciding to call at a certain Greasy Spoon  Cafe  one morning ,  was re-united there with Bob the Breakdown  after many years .  

"Just the man"  Says he .   He was covering breakdowns at numerous printing companies  but had no time or inclination to do any installs ,  lighting maintenance,  re-furbing   etc .  Do I want to do it ,  directly for the clients .    24 years later those printers have gone bust one by one  except the one I still do work for.    

 

[Blue Duck]

I was considering meter monkeying,  pays ok, mocopa & AP training plus bounds schemes for helping them meet targets in the race to build the words greatist white elepant. 

Down here though all the good jobs are going and it's a race to the bottom with 5ww style courses and paid for 'appentiships' being most of what is advertised as jobs.

I keep my eye on it and if I see something good I may do the same.

Hats off to the lad.

 

[pewter]

I was considering meter monkeying,  pays ok, mocopa & AP training plus bounds schemes for helping them meet targets in the race to build the words greatist white elepant. 

Down here though all the good jobs are going and it's a race to the bottom with 5ww style courses and paid for 'appentiships' being most of what is advertised as jobs.

I keep my eye on it and if I see something good I may do the same.

Hats off to the lad.

Blue Duck If you can go solo, you will earn better money.

I get asked asked about rewires up your way every now and then, im not interested for double money as i hate travel, your in the area, people are desperate for work to be done. We also have a couple customers up there still who often need bits doing.

When i have done little bits in West End, I have been approached by desperate people wanting me to do something. Lots of work if you can organise yourself.

I have heard of a Spark 100+ miles from london who comes in 4 days a week, stays in digs. He operates from a motor bike and charges a fortune in the west end, doing little bits for £50-100 per hour.

I would like that kind of work myself, operate from a bike in the city, charge travel time, £75 per hour day time, undercut Pimlico at £175 an hour for out of hours emergency. Advertise on all the internet places suits would search, trying to get anyting done in central London is hard, Emergency spark on a bike is gold dust.

 

[Doc Hudson]

As some will remember  I have a local apprentice working with me /us  basically for experience .   Gone so far at college  but now needs to be employed .

However with just him & his Dad , local carpenter / builder . ... in the house , his Dad needs him to be earning & contributing ....not a chance of getting a start as an apprentice  and he's really tried  so......................

................. he's up in Sheffield for a weeks training as ...a meter fitter , they'll be giving him a van and he 'll be driving back  on Friday  I think,   ready to start.  

Not the best job in the world but at least he's got off his butt and started  to  earn a living .     Just a shame  apprenticeships in our trade are few and far between.      

I don't think this is a backward step though. Many years ago, probably like when you were leaving school, people talked about getting into a good company and a job-for-life. Those types of jobs don't exist anymore. More typical is one career for 3, 4 or 5 years, then change onto something new. So if he can stick with this  for a few years and keep eyes open the next jump, who knows what will come up

Doc H

 

[Evans Electric]

I agree with you Doc ,   he's spent two years trying to start an apprenticship  , all to no avail.         

You're right , there was a different climate & attitude  when I left school ..........everyone had a job ,  The dole, unemployment , benefits, were things in films from the 1930's    everyone was starting apprenticships in engineering , construction trades,  plumbing , draughtsmen ,   maintenance  fitters,  toolmakers, car mechanics ,    obviously we were factory fodder ,  no one in my social position would be going into accountancy , the law,  of course.   But I'd say that every kid  who left my school  went straight into a job ...OK  many into factories on assembly.. piece work ,  others into the Army   but many  going on to day release, night school , college .  

You're right when you say people were looking at jobs for life  in big nation wide companies   or the nationalised industries  like  the GPO , steel, mining,  road transport , British Rail,   so called safe jobs  .   

My Dad told me to get a trade because you'll always have  a skill that will be needed , theres always a need for the plumber , Sparks, Chippy  etc   other jobs like , say , driving , anyone can do.      I think he was right . 

 I started in heavy industry  as an apprentice electrician but changed to contracting halfway through ......  one piece of useless advice  I had frequently was  .." You want  to get into  mending tellys  thats where the big money will be ,  not ordinary sparkying  "      Little did they know that TVs  would lose their valves, become  , cheap , reliable , throwaway items  with hardly anyone bothering to repair them . 

Mind you they also didn't know that the British motor industry would be wiped off the face of the  Earth...that we would become "Europeans" ... that our fishing industry would be taken off us,   all the nationalised   industries with their safe jobs for life  would be privatised ,   our mines would run out of coal , shipbuilding would disappear and England would win the World Cup .  

 

[Blue Duck]

Blue Duck If you can go solo, you will earn better money.

I get asked asked about rewires up your way every now and then, im not interested for double money as i hate travel, your in the area, people are desperate for work to be done. We also have a couple customers up there still who often need bits doing.

When i have done little bits in West End, I have been approached by desperate people wanting me to do something. Lots of work if you can organise yourself.

I have heard of a Spark 100+ miles from london who comes in 4 days a week, stays in digs. He operates from a motor bike and charges a fortune in the west end, doing little bits for £50-100 per hour.

I would like that kind of work myself, operate from a bike in the city, charge travel time, £75 per hour day time, undercut Pimlico at £175 an hour for out of hours emergency. Advertise on all the internet places suits would search, trying to get anyting done in central London is hard, Emergency spark on a bike is gold dust.

Appreciate that pewter, am in a **** PAYE job at the moment because it works for me as I have two young children, so I get holiday and sick pay etc which is useful.

When they are both in school I may go down that route. 

I am bored of domestic work though and would have to compete with the rewire for a grand mob.

We were like a lot of people, considering moving out your way, we're sticking it out for a bit as we've a good community here but will struggle to buy a house even with £500k behind us!

 

[roys]

Appreciate that pewter, am in a **** PAYE job at the moment because it works for me as I have two young children, so I get holiday and sick pay etc which is useful.

When they are both in school I may go down that route. 

I am bored of domestic work though and would have to compete with the rewire for a grand mob.

We were like a lot of people, considering moving out your way, we're sticking it out for a bit as we've a good community here but will struggle to buy a house even with £500k behind us!

Buy Daves house up North

 

[Evans Electric]

Yeah but he'd have to live next door to him then   :innocent

I said to  The Duck before , he could sell  up and move to the Midlands  ....but he thinks its near the Arctic Circle .   :C

 

[Blue Duck]

Where is Scotland anyway, somewhere near Newfoundland?

Don't think I've got the time to learn a new language...

 

[Lurch]

They all seem to speak some sort of pseudo pidgin English up there so you'd probably be able to muddle though.

 

[pewter]

Last few years i have gone from working for firms/subbing/builders to generating all my own work direct with the customer. It has been the best thing i have ever done.

I now limit my working radius to <10miles, do my own hours (I can do school run in morning), I can earn 2x what i used to get. I spend a lot of time doing admin and looking at jobs and meeting people. I am booked for months, i often turn work away. `Lots of my regulars ask me to do a job (extra socket to full install) no question on cost, and i just give them a bill after.  There is so much work out there if you can organise yourself.

I never have any trouble competing with prices, i did one house last year priced £6K (£4K labour £2K materials). Owner said they had a quote half that price, yet they still went with me. Final bill was £6.5K labour in the end. Im doing a HMO at the mo, each room and its bathroom i have priced at £1K ish (not including tv point + data). Most people i meet are so happy i can get it done for them.

If i had £500K behind me i would buy 2 houses on the south coast, rent one out and sell ice creams for a few hours a day.

 

[Evans Electric]

Last few years i have gone from working for firms/subbing/builders to generating all my own work direct with the customer. It has been the best thing i have ever

You've got it right  there Pewter,  thats the main objective  IMHO  .   

I come across some who are constantly subbing ,  because they don't want the hassel  of quoting , meeting customers, invoicing , buying materials etc ....but IMO there not a great future in it .     Many won't even open a trade account  ,  but it takes all sorts. 

 

[binky]

with the shortage of trades, prices are definitely up! But also has to be said, a good service and reputation counts more than prices, and the cheap end of work isn't worth doing anyway.

 

[Lurch]

A few years ago I couldn't move for electricians round my way, hence why I moved back up north. Now it seems a lot of people have realised that a lot of these other guys are useless so it has picked back up again. In the meantime though, work keeps coming in from the north. Gist is, if you are good and do a decent job word gets around, I still haven't advertised in 18 years of business.