freelance self employed electrician

dicky.ty · Feb 9, 2011

I need advice pls I have been offered a job with a company doing meter installation and call outs, does anybody else do this? I have been given prices of £25 single phase £35 3 phase, call out for breakdown £30 in 60 mile radius. The company are putting me through the meter installation course but I have to work for them for 6 months after or will have to pay for the course myself. As I have always worked as an installation electrician I am not sure if this is for me or if it will actually pay the bills any advice would be great

cagedanimal2010 · Feb 9, 2011

£25 dont sound alot for a meter installer, you would have to do about 10 a day? and what if you got to drive 10 miles to each....

danny

Mr.Si · Feb 9, 2011

Not got experience to advise about the electrical side of things, but the policy they've set for repayment sounds like most company policies.

tonys · Feb 9, 2011

dicky.ty said:
I have been As I have always worked as an installation electrician I am not sure if this is for me or if it will actually pay the bills any advice would be great

Only you know the answer to these ? Where abouts are you, Ill have the work and make it pay.

dicky.ty · Feb 9, 2011

I live in Greater Manchester and I don't know how far I will be expected to travel a day they seem unsure about where I will be working

Engineer54 · Feb 9, 2011

cagedanimal2010 said:
£25 dont sound alot for a meter installer, you would have to do about 10 a day? and what if you got to drive 10 miles to each....

danny

That's about 5000 a month or 60,000 per annum. Is that bad for UK these days??

cagedanimal2010 · Feb 9, 2011

Engineer54 said:
That's about 5000 a month or 60,000 per annum. Is that bad for UK these days??

sorry i am coming from my own company point of view, with all the outlays it doesn't leave much to pay the bills as you may well know.

tonys · Feb 9, 2011

Engineer54 said:
That's about 5000 a month or 60,000 per annum. Is that bad for UK these days??

Mate if the truth be known, people earn a lot less than they dare to admit. I know people who are in bits and on their bums due to the down turn and bounding figures of £250 a day ? bull

tonys · Feb 9, 2011

dicky.ty said:
I live in Greater Manchester and I don't know how far I will be expected to travel a day they seem unsure about where I will be working

That's all part and parcel of being self employed, Ive had to put up with it for 22 years, no security and still raising a family and put a roof over our heads.

dicky.ty · Feb 9, 2011

the bloke that interviewed assured me that he has guys working for him are doing £250 a day but is that just a one off are they just telling me what i want to here, don't get me wrong if there is a chance i can earn 250 a day i'll rip his hand off just how likely is it.

tonys · Feb 9, 2011

dicky.ty said:
the bloke that interviewed assured me that he has guys working for him are doing £250 a day but is that just a one off are they just telling me what i want to here, don't get me wrong if there is a chance i can earn 250 a day i'll rip his hand off just how likely is it.

Look mate I believe nothing I'm told by anyone offering me work, because imo good jobs are rarely advertised or if they are its because certain jobs have to be by law ie public funded jobs. But are normally taken when you enquire, give it ago and your find out who's right, me of him ?

SirKit Breaker · Feb 9, 2011

tonys said:
Look mate I believe nothing I'm told by anyone offering me work, because imo good jobs are rarely advertised or if they are its because certain jobs have to be by law ie public funded jobs. But are normally taken when you enquire, give it ago and your find out who's right, me of him ?

you are bang on there tony, they advertise just cos the law says they have to, but its always the old school tie types who get the job.

SirKit Breaker · Feb 9, 2011

dicky.ty said:
I need advice pls I have been offered a job with a company doing meter installation and call outs, does anybody else do this? I have been given prices of £25 single phase £35 3 phase, call out for breakdown £30 in 60 mile radius. The company are putting me through the meter installation course but I have to work for them for 6 months after or will have to pay for the course myself. As I have always worked as an installation electrician I am not sure if this is for me or if it will actually pay the bills any advice would be great

I suppose your personal circumstances will dictate if it pays or not. I would do it and be happy with 6 a day. The callout seems a bit on the low side, potentially 120 mile round trip, at least 2 to 2 and half hours travelling plus fuel, plus time on job. But then again it could be your next door neighbour, no time no fuel and out of house 10 minutes.

The choice is yours, if it were me i would do it, but would try and negotiate the call out part, especially if you are on standby. If you are on a rota where the first to answer the phone gets the job, then no problem, just dont answer the phone.

Cheers.......howard

dicky.ty · Feb 9, 2011

they have sent me a contract to read most of it is standard some of it's quite confusing. i'm going to have a good think about it tonight there is a lot of working away, so will be away from the family all week. tony's right i've been promised the world of so many employers and it never turns out the way they said it would. if i take the job the course starts in march for a week and then it's another 2 weeks after that till i can start earning some money, if i accept i will post in a couple of months how it's turned out. thanks for all your replys

tonys · Feb 9, 2011

Mate

Ive had a few promises over the years, now I'm a little bit older and wiser than the people who offer me work, once they twig it they normally try and employ someone a little younger and more gullible than me lol

Does the job come with the course in Scotland ?

dicky.ty · Feb 9, 2011

the course is in taunton, sommerset. the training company is called western power i've had a look at there web site and it looks quite impressive

somersetsparks · Feb 9, 2011

Hi mate, do meter changing myself from time to time ( I work for the contacting side of Southern Electric), The course you will be doing is MOCOPA, Its very easy indeed but worth having and you will probably get your own set of sealing pliers (issued by the company you are working for). Should be easy to make money on that for meters, You can have one changed in 10mins if its a standard setup! Three phase could be bit more difficult if you have CT Coils.
Western power operates the network for the southwest (Was originally part of SWEB).
Their place is excellent, Remember to take a couple quid for the canteen - Its spot on!

Newsome3 · Feb 9, 2011

they looking for anymore lads?

tonys · Feb 9, 2011

Who you working for dicky, an agency ? or direct to western power ?

dicky.ty · Feb 9, 2011

only the training is with western power i could be working for a company based near london but it's direct to the company

dicky.ty · Feb 9, 2011

somersetsparks said:
Hi mate, do meter changing myself from time to time ( I work for the contacting side of Southern Electric), The course you will be doing is MOCOPA, Its very easy indeed but worth having and you will probably get your own set of sealing pliers (issued by the company you are working for). Should be easy to make money on that for meters, You can have one changed in 10mins if its a standard setup! Three phase could be bit more difficult if you have CT Coils.
Western power operates the network for the southwest (Was originally part of SWEB).
Their place is excellent, Remember to take a couple quid for the canteen - Its spot on!

the training center does look impressive, the company have said i will get set of sealing pliers with my national insurance number on the seals, i have got a list of the different types of meters at the i will be fitting with prices per meter,install and commission lv ct connected and communications, directly connected polyphase meter and communications, don't really know what any of these are yet but i'm sure it will make sense, after the course, more used to commercial/industrial installations but with there being so little work at the minute i think i'll have to give it a go, there seems to be loads of jobs advertised wanting the mocopa licence.

dicky.ty · Feb 9, 2011

tonys said:
Who you working for dicky, an agency ? or direct to western power ?

only the training is with western power i could be working for a company based near london but it's direct to the company it seems a bit strange i will still be self employed, i thought you could only work self employed for a company for 12 months don't know if it's been changed.

dicky.ty · Feb 9, 2011

Newsome3 said:
they looking for anymore lads?

they told me if i'm not interested there is 5 more people waiting on standby. should you believe that,

somersetsparks · Feb 9, 2011

You will fly through the course mate, mine only took a couple of hours, meter changers don't have to be electrician and on a lot of firms most aren't. Amazingly enough some number the tails when changing meters as they have no underestanding of the theory of how they actuallt work!
I would definately Give it a go if I was self employed, the only bugger sometimes is the locations of the meters and obviously shutting down factories and offices can be a bit of a hassle sometimes! Other Than that cushty little Number!

dicky.ty · Feb 9, 2011

somersetsparks said:
You will fly through the course mate, mine only took a couple of hours, meter changers don't have to be electrician and on a lot of firms most aren't. Amazingly enough some number the tails when changing meters as they have no underestanding of the theory of how they actuallt work!
I would definately Give it a go if I was self employed, the only bugger sometimes is the locations of the meters and obviously shutting down factories and offices can be a bit of a hassle sometimes! Other Than that cushty little Number!

they told me i would be on the course for 5 days, but i think i'll give it a go, thanks