If you're looking to become a fully-qualified plumber, then now is a great time to start! The UK government currently plans on building around 300,000 houses a year, and with a national shortage of plumbers, it is truly an excellent time to take up the trade. Overall, plumbing is an extremely exciting, invigorating and varied career pathway. 

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If you want to become a plumber, there are several different pathways that can get you there. Options include:

• Completing a college course or apprenticeship
• Training 'on the job' while working as a plumber's mate
• Learning your new trade at a training centre

The best option for you will depend on your personal circumstances and your career aspirations.

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Plumbing and gas engineering are two very attractive career paths. Both trades come with relatively lucrative salaries and good workplace flexibility.

If you're interested in becoming a gas engineer, you might have found your way to this blog post by researching about what kind of qualifications you need to get started. So, exactly what qualifications do you need to be a gas engineer?

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Who earns more, electricians or plumbers?

On average, it would appear that electricians earn slightly more than plumbers, but both earn a significant annual salary. The average annual salary of an electrician in the UK is £36,134. The average annual salary of a plumber in the UK is £33,836.

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There are a lot of reasons you might call a plumber to your house; maybe you’re planning a large scale bathroom renovation, have a leaky tap that needs fixing, or are looking for an emergency fix to a DIY mishap that has left your bathroom flooded. Either way, you’ll be picking up your phone and searching for “good plumbers near me”.

While there are lots of different scenarios that might require you to call a plumber, have you ever wondered when might be the best time to call? When are plumbers the busiest? Whilst plumbing might not be a profession you’d typically associate with seasonality, research has shown that there actually is a busiest time of year for plumbers.

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One question we get asked a lot here at Access Training is - am I too old to learn a trade? The short answer is no! Our courses are available to people of all ages and abilities and can work around your pre-existing responsibilities. Whether you're finishing school and looking to become an electrician through a full-time course, or 40 and hoping to become a plumber through one of our part-time courses, we can accommodate you.

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Over the last year, millions of people across the country and the globe, have been forced to take their working lives into the home. Life under lockdown has meant that the home has taken the place of the office, with staff having to retreat to their living quarters. Leaving your work at the front door has long been impossible. It goes without saying that this has brought its various challenges, obstacles, and situations to adapt to. 

It might not be a stretch to suggest that our boilers have felt this added pressure more than any of us. At first glance, there might not seem to be an immediate connection between increased time spent at home and the conditions of our boilers. But the surprising truth is that hours and hours spent working from home have given our boilers quite a job to do. 

Hometree, a boiler, heating and home cover specialist, has reported a 12% year-on-year increase in boiler breakdowns over the winter of 2020. 

An important consequence of working from home has been that millions of homes have required heating for many more hours of the day. Throughout the winter lockdowns this is especially true, with some homes needing heating during the entire day while they work. 

Kemley Sellars, a spokesperson from Hometree, has noted: 

‘the additional usage [of boilers] whilst working from home has meant increased wear and tear.

It really highlights the importance of having your boiler serviced in the coming months, ensuring that it’s working for next winter where many may have transitioned post-Covid to working from home more often’.

What does this mean for gas engineers? Firstly, it’s that they were in particularly high demand over the winter period, after months of increased boiler usage led to these boilers breaking down. It shows us that, even during a lockdown, during a pandemic, boilers are ever more essential than they always have been. 

Secondly it shows us that gas engineers will continue to be in high demand this year, as the public are being made increasingly aware of the importance of having your boilers serviced annually. Hometree offered some important advice to their customers and readers, one piece of which was to ensure an annual service by a Gas Safe Registered engineer. This increased awareness of the importance of servicing your boiler will put many engineers in work over the coming months. 

It’s highly important to make sure that your boilers and radiators are in full working order at this time of year. During winter time, low temperatures can cause standing water in pipework to freeze. Not only this, but having your boiler breakdown at the time of year when you need it most is the last thing you need. 

Thirdly, this information shows us the increased likelihood of gas engineers being in even higher demand as the years go by. Thousands of people are likely to have found the convenience of working from home to their liking. The ease of this new model, which some studies are suggesting to be more productive and efficient than working from the office, might be difficult to leave for many. 

We could be witnessing the beginning of the end of the office as the dominant working environment, meaning that our boilers are going to have to put up with this increased usage on a long term basis. This is only a good thing for those looking to get into the industry; it will secure an already rising demand for skilled workers and qualified tradespeople. 

Boilers will always need servicing, replacing, maintaining; but now, as our need for them is increasing due to these unprecedented times, demand for qualified gas engineers is only going up.

It’s a career for the future. It’s a career for life. 

Learn your trade. Get qualified. Make it happen.