Career change; career as an electrician

[Skip Donoghue]

Just been reading this thread. I’ve been a sparks for 35 yrs, self employed since ‘92,. I need to keep checking that I’m not posting under the name Skip Donohue!! Every single word he has said in this thread is my experience in the trade, 100%!

Haha....when you've been in the industry as long as we have mate, there is no doubt our experiences will be very similar....i used to enjoy the job but can't wait to get out of it now...the games gone and it's harder than ever to make a buck

 

[Skip Donoghue]

The relativists would shit themselves. I agree an electrician (a person that is trusted with making a building electrically safe) should be on a decent whack, but the joiner/bricky/plumber? - we smash these together as a 'building trade'

Due to the skills shortage I wouldn't be surprised if all those trades were earning more than a spark mate

 

[DavidWhitesBoots]

I'd always been employed in industrial electrical engineering since uni, got made redundant a few years back, took the test and inspection exams and regs joined the nic, got lucky on a couple of contacts early on I do ok but as others say cost of transportation, materials, nic reg (some clients now only accept nic, don't acknowledge napit or others) etc are making it tighter by the month. Trouble is I've gotten used to keeping my own hours and doing as I please I'd struggle going back to 8-4, 5days a week.

Sent from my Armor_2 using Tapatalk

 

[MellowJoe]

Due to the skills shortage I wouldn't be surprised if all those trades were earning more than a spark mate

So you agree sparks carry more responsibility. (I'm not a spark, but it's not rocket surgery) The doing of the work carries more risk than other trades. Happy to see sparks earn a little more, but how much more? If you think £25 p/h is right, should the lesser trades see an increase?

 

[the plasterer]

The relativists would shit themselves. I agree an electrician (a person that is trusted with making a building electrically safe) should be on a decent whack, but the joiner/bricky/plumber? - we smash these together as a 'building trade'

Phew!!!!, thankfully you left us spreads out of it ;-))

 

[MellowJoe]

Phew!!!!, thankfully you left us spreads out of it ;-))

By accident! the decorators put your work right anyway

 

[Skip Donoghue]

So you agree sparks carry more responsibility. (I'm not a spark, but it's not rocket surgery) The doing of the work carries more risk than other trades. Happy to see sparks earn a little more, but how much more? If you think £25 p/h is right, should the lesser trades see an increase?

Oh yes without a doubt the money across the building trade should be a lot higher

I've heard it said that along with finance, the housing market, small businesses, construction is the glue that holds the economy together....I'm sure some one with better knowledge of this kind of thing can confirm this or not
Oh and I wouldn't call them lesser trades, we all play a part ;)

 

[Skip Donoghue]

Phew!!!!, thankfully you left us spreads out of it ;-))

Haha the Sparks nemesis ;)

 

[Barcon]

So you agree sparks carry more responsibility. (I'm not a spark, but it's not rocket surgery) The doing of the work carries more risk than other trades. Happy to see sparks earn a little more, but how much more? If you think £25 p/h is right, should the lesser trades see an increase?

You wouldn't want somebody that doesn't know what they're doing to install a sprinkler system or some dough head build you a house.
Lesser trades eh?

 

[MellowJoe]

You wouldn't want somebody that doesn't know what they're doing to install a sprinkler system or some dough head build you a house.
Lesser trades eh?

Lesser as in risk to life.. A wavy plastered wall, poor cutting in, a bog that doesn't flush.. it's not gonna kill anyone. Sparks legitimately must hold higher standards. (No fan of sparks on site mind you)