Been offered 5 day C&G 2399 for free - is it worth the time?

[cornburn]

Hi all! Now as I've been long bored of house bashing and have been increasingly shying away from commercial too with the amount of annoying fault finding and fix work coming in, would you say it's worth taking a week off to do this course for free? Now I know all of you won't be rolling in work at the moment and the thought of someone else in the game with you might not be appealing but locally I only have one other indy installer, with most work getting snapped up by the national companies.

I'm interested in the technology but if there's not enough work out there then free course or not my 5 days would be better spent making some money. Plus it's something else for NIC to sting for each year whether we do any installs or not.

Opinions / Insults / Thoughts all appreciated

 

[grandfortune]

Its well worth it m8, even if you dont take it any further, the initial course is just the start m8, Lots more to do before you get going, but i'd say its deffo if its free.

 

[cornburn]

Thanks. Like most on here I enjoy learning new things and it does seem interesting, time's just in short supply at the moment so thought I'd gauge some opinions on whether it's worth a whole week off work. The course might be free but my time isn't. When you say lots more's needed can you elaborate a bit? After that course, joining the scheme and installing a couple for family and on our own perfectly south facing roof wouldn't that put you in a good enough position to start advertising?

 

[trev]

How come you're getting it free mate? I'm after taking it and if I can get a freebie, well it's got to be worth a punt

 

[cornburn]

Local council funding through some European grant or something. After doing a lot of reading this morning though I'm not sure it'll be worth the time. In fact I'm not sure the new rates of the FIT would even make it worthwhile installing one on my own house after the end of this month.

The industry seems saturated with installers and I think any domestic customers who are interested in it will have jumped on the wagon while prices were high for the last 2 years. Why would people who haven't bothered so far be tempted to have a system installed when the rewards have just halved?

Think I'll turn it down, still weeks of my time and £000's with all the testing kit, NIC etc so if there's going to be no work left in the summer what's the point?

 

[grandfortune]

mate its free and only 5 days of your time, people would jump at the chance, yes the market is saturated, but alot of the big guys have gone,and youll only need 2 installs to get your money back if you do it on a budget, you dont have to go down the QMS and MCS route just yet, get the course done as its free then decide.

cheers Grand

 

[powervan]

i would say GO on course learn something new! your best bet would be to do odd fit for mcs company BUT DONT bother with mcs its not worth it now but give it a year or 2 it may all be worth it to join!!

 

[Gavin A]

Why would people who haven't bothered so far be tempted to have a system installed when the rewards have just halved?

The installed price has also pretty much halved, which puts it within reach of a hell of a lot more people at £7-8k a pop than when it was £15k.

There's also the whole code for sustainable homes thing for new build that we're starting to get work from as builders realise it's cheaper and simpler all round to bump up their CFSH score using solar than it is trying to do it all from insulation, triple glazing etc.

Possibly not the best time to be starting a new business in it, but there must be the potential for sub contract work with the national companies you mention etc.

 

[PC Electrics]

Can I have your free place if you don't want it?

 

[cornburn]

Thanks all, some useful opinions and facts there. If the qualification doesn't expire (too soon at least) then as has been suggested it's probably worth doing to have the option of registering further down the line if things improve. Also if some of the huge companies that shot up overnight are now unsustainable things are likely to pick up for smaller installers with lower overheads.

I've had the place confirmed so will go ahead on a quiet week. PC Electrics - Best to check with your local council as it's all funded from them, depending on how much they've allocated to PV, heat pumps and all the other bits they're trying to raise awareness for. I can't see that Leicestershire is covered but Warwickshire is, could be that yours is being dealt with by a different trainer so best to give the council a call and ask

 

[mogga]

if I had 5 free days and someone offered me a CnG course id take it like a shot no matter its another string to your bow

 

[powervan]

my string snapped yrs ago (IVE GOT A GUN NOW