Becoming a domestic electrician

[john86uk]

Hi guys,

Looking for a little bit of advice on becoming a self employed domestic electrician in Scotland. Below is a list of my current qualifications and career history. Specifically what I am looking for is what training should I now be looking to complete in order to tick all the boxes.

Career History
2002-2008 Marine Engineering Technician - Royal Navy( mech & elec bias)
2008-2011 Nuclear Power Station Maintenance Electrician
2011 - present Electrical Engineer for a vegetable processing company

Qualifications
2011 HNC Electrical Engineering
2010 SELECT Inspection & Testing Electrical installations
2006 Foundation Modern Apprenticship Engineering Maintenance
2006 NVQ2 Engineering Maintenance
various other workplace courses such as partial discharge , Switchgear overhaul, PAT Testing, transformers, Health and Safety etc

My current job sees me doing 60% installation, 30% fault finding and 10% routine maintenance. as I am the only electrician on my shift this is done with no direct supervision with me seeing a project through from design to completion.

Any advice would be much appreciated

Cheers

John

 

[Engineer54]

Are you being serious here, You have HNC in E/Engineering and your ambition in life, is to become a Domestic installer??

Don't you think, that you could raise your outlook horizon's a little higher than a DI?? That basically only needs to have a 17th cert, The training centre's are churning these DI'S out by the cart load these day's!! !! ...What a total waste that HNC is going to be!!

 

[Knobhead]

I’m going with E54 on this one. Industry is crying out for you. There’s a conveyor belt turning out electricians, non of which have a clue in the wider world of industrial electrickery.

Please don’t waste your talents.

 

[Marvo]

Looking at your qualifications and experience I can only reiterate what's already been said.

 

[john86uk]

I hear what you's are saying, I just really fancy the idea of becoming self employed and I am trying to look at the best options for this.

 

[Marvo]

Going self employed is risky, I know a lot of great tradesmen who are terrible businessmen, how good you are at your trade is not an indicator of how much money you'll make. If you want to go that route I would highly recommend doing a business qualification first.

 

[john86uk]

My partner does business management and accountancy so I feel I am in a good position for this.

 

[Marvo]

Please don't think I'm tying to put you off the self employment thing but 9 out of ten new businesses fail in the first 3-4 years. If you and your partner are involved full time in your new business and relying on it for income then this might be putting all your eggs in one basket so to speak.

I would also still avoid the domestic installs like the plague, I'm not in the UK but from what I can see the only people making serious money in this sector are the agencies. Isn't there a more niche market you would be comfortable in which is somewhat less saturated?

 

[john86uk]

Really I'm up for doing anything my training allows.

My current job is 12 hour shift work, 4 on 4 off, it was my intention to test the water onmy off days and see how things go and take it from there.

 

[timo1]

Hi John,

In answer to your question you could sit the 17th edition regs exam (city and guilds 2382) which is an open book exam and would pose you no problem. You can then apply to join a self certification scheme such as NICEIC or ELECSA NAPIT who will come out and asses two pieces or work one a "major" which can be a consumer unit change in your own home, the other a minor which would be a spur or a similar installation.

The assessor will ask you questions on testing, examine your test results and certification and knowledge of wiring regulations and part P. There are loads of threads on this process but it will end up costing about £500 per year. Once a member you can then self certify work via the local authority.

It depends where you are based but there is work around, Ive been trading for about two years and now have enough word of mouth trade to keep me going, but I only work about 20hrs as a D/I as I have another job as I also tested the water.

Quotes and costing for parts is a bit of an art and TBH i'm not very good at it, I tend to pass on the savings re parts to the customer who pays all the parts and I just come out with a price I'm happy with for my time, seems to work for me, but I dont do loads of rewires, mostly smaller jobs.

Good luck, this forum has answers to just about all the questions you need. Tim

 

[mackers]

as already said you seam abit over qualified, but theres nothing wrong with that! i know where your coming from,its all about enjoying your working life as it does make an impact on other areas of your life. no point doing something u dont like even if moneys good!
as said test the water if you can and build up some customers.but you need more than 20 hrs a week to leave a job best bet is to get enough work on yours days off plus enough to be working weekends to.even sub contracting if you can get it! just remember when theres no big construction /house building jobs as at the moment all the sparks that dont usually do domestic are all competing for anything thats going! good luck it maybe the best thing u ever do!

 

[asqs342]

Mate,

I have been in the same boat as you. I am in my last of 24 years in MOD and also have quals coming out of my ears. Ba Hons in Business, BSc in Civil engineering, NEBOSH Diploma etc etc. But have just done the 4 week package with a company in Kent looking at going in the same direction as you, being self employed. If it doesn't work after 3 years, i will get a job doing what i know. I for one don't want any regrets and you never know it may work out....Good Luck mate and i wish you well.