Cost of Electrical Courses

Dr Drew · May 17, 2012

Hello all,

I would like to get an understanding of why electrical courses cost what they do? I understand that there are exam fees, equipment costs, building related costs, wages, etc, but let me give you some examples of some I’ve done in the last year.

City & Guilds 2382, 5 days including exam, taken at my employers premises, 10 students at £400 each.

AM2 prep course, 6 hours, taken at training centre, 7 students £120 + VAT each.

City & Guilds 2392, 4 days including exam, taken at training centre, 8 students £700 + vat each.

I am also looking into taking the City and Guilds 2394 and 2395, which are about £700 +vat each for a 3 day course.

Are the companies offering these courses charging fair prices? I am only looking for a better understanding and I’m not trying to accuse anybody of ripping us off.

Thanks

Silly Sausage · May 17, 2012

I think it's generally known as 'lining the owners pockets'.

The only place I would/have take(n) a C&G course is the local Further Education College.
You can do all those courses for less than half those prices.

Octopus · May 17, 2012

I think its called "overheads". Do the sums on having premises, tools and equipment, insurance and employees.

CTRJoe · May 17, 2012

Im currently doing a 3-4 year apprenticeship with JTL i go to college every few months for a 2 week block and work with my employer for the rest, which is costing me £500 a year becuase im over 20.
Just completed my first year starting 2nd in october.

Monks · May 17, 2012

As someone who has funded my training myself I totally agree about the fees for City & Guilds qualifications, but the AM2 fee is a bit more understandable, IMO. I got chatting to one of the tutors at the college after I finished the assessment and I pointed out to him that the IP-rated socket I had needed replacing. He said that equipment always needs replacing and it is very expensive to keep doing, which obviously makes sense. He said the sensitive equipment, such as the S-Plan and smoke detector, is always ruined by people not testing the insulation resistance properly, and that the consumer units are used so often that they easily start to wear. Then think about the materials and accessories you use on the AM2 rig: the SWA and SY glands always need replacing as they are not designed to be used dozens of times; the cable used for the install can only be scrapped; and the terminals on the sockets and light switches are ruined by people who think rounding the heads off is the best way to terminate a cable. It all adds up, and that is just the cost of a rig. Think about the wages of the assessors and tutors as well.

That said, got my AM2 certificate through the other day and, for the money I paid for the course, I'm really underwhelmed - I got better looking swimming certs when I was a kid! LOL. It can't cost much to provide something that looks a bit more professional, such as the C&G certs.

SirKit Breaker · May 17, 2012

Its the going rate so to speak. We charge pretty much the same as all the other providers in the area. There a lot of overheads, the IT suite and all that goes with it costs about £75000 to set up, and it needs updating quite often. Test Instruments need keeping up to date and maintaining.

If you do a 4 day 2394/5 course with me, you need to come back to do a further 1 day practical assessment in groups of 3, there is usually 6 or 7 on the course, then you need to do 2 written exams on an evening, so you do 4 days i do 6, some one does 2 evening, i then do another day doing the paperwork. It all adds up.

This is just one example.

Cheers............Howard