Running from unfairness

[bartkusal]

Hi everyone,

I will try to cut this short if I can, and not start winging about all this unfairness in our trade.

Taking into account that electrical trade is going downhill I decided to explore some options abroad. I have my best mate in Sweden, he has a successful building contractor business there, and he suggested that he could sub me out all his electrical works if I decide to move.

So I really need some advice and tips from someone who is been there or know what is required to work there legally as an Ltd company. What regulations do they go by, is there is something like par P, and anything else what could effect me. I presume electrically all should be the same as in UK. Do I have to pass some exams or any licensees, anything really.

Thanks in advance for your help….

Regards: Al

 

[Engineer54]

I think your biggest problem by far, is going to be the language!! Your not going to get very far without being able to talk to anyone, ...but your mate!! lol!!

Other countries have got a decent system in place to ensure trade/professional competence, so for sure you will need to pass some sort of trade assessment exam, before you will be allowed to legally work in Sweden as an electrician!!


If only they had the same sort of checks and assessments in the UK!! ...lol!!

 

[bartkusal]

Thanks E54, you are absolutely right, forgot to think about the language, stupid me, thought that everybody in the world speaks English . Thought it is a good opportunity, now thats down the drain then, thanks again for the reminder.

 

[plugsandsparks]

Many Swedes do speak english, depends where you are and generally the age of the person, younger ones especially so, was amazed at shop checkout girls speaking wonderful English and we were in the middle of nowhere.
They do use funny looking plugs and sockets though, that might be your biggest issue... :0

 

[amlu]

lots of eastern european on the sites come without any English, it takes a while but you learn quicky if you already there and have no choice. No problem if you have a job booked on.... client can talk English to you or your mate can translate.

 

[monkeyelectric]

Hi everyone,

I will try to cut this short if I can, and not start winging about all this unfairness in our trade.

Taking into account that electrical trade is going downhill I decided to explore some options abroad. I have my best mate in Sweden, he has a successful building contractor business there, and he suggested that he could sub me out all his electrical works if I decide to move.

So I really need some advice and tips from someone who is been there or know what is required to work there legally as an Ltd company. What regulations do they go by, is there is something like par P, and anything else what could effect me. I presume electrically all should be the same as in UK. Do I have to pass some exams or any licensees, anything really.

Thanks in advance for your help….

Regards: Al

Gorgeous women, beautiful scenery and a surprising amount of people speak english better than most people i know! As for the electrical side of things i have no clue i was only there to see a mate of mine

 

[Ducksy]

Hi everyone,

I will try to cut this short if I can, and not start winging about all this unfairness in our trade.

Taking into account that electrical trade is going downhill I decided to explore some options abroad. I have my best mate in Sweden, he has a successful building contractor business there, and he suggested that he could sub me out all his electrical works if I decide to move.

So I really need some advice and tips from someone who is been there or know what is required to work there legally as an Ltd company. What regulations do they go by, is there is something like par P, and anything else what could effect me. I presume electrically all should be the same as in UK. Do I have to pass some exams or any licensees, anything really.

Thanks in advance for your help….

Regards: Al

I'd be out there like a shot.....does your mate speak swedish, and would he be able to help with the language barrier initially? It would be a pain at first but you would be speaking the basic's 6 months in... nothing like complete emersion to learn a language.

 

[Mainman]

Workers coming into the UK can match their qualifications using Naric - www.naric.org.uk. I don't know if they can match UK to Swedish quals. It may be worth checking them out

 

[Engineer54]

Workers coming into the UK can match their qualifications using Naric - www.naric.org.uk. I don't know if they can match UK to Swedish quals. It may be worth checking them out

Seeing as in the UK, the only classification is being ''competent'' (without any minimum definition being applied to the term) to work as an electrician, it's all pretty irrelevant!! In most European and other Western type countries you need to pass a minimum level trade exam, based on that countries electrical regulations/codes, before you can legally go off installing electrical installations of any kind!!

 

[partypest]

Sweden is pretty hot on electrical safety and you will need to pass their trade skills qualifications by working with an existing licensed contractor. The law is very black and white over there and EICR's are mandatory for homeowners. Your biggest issue will be language and cultural differences and it took me a while to get used to working with people who don't have an equivalent of "please" in their vocabulary. That's not to say they aren't polite, they are very polite, but you have to understand how their language works to get along, even if you can't speak it yourself. I'd move to Sweden in a heartbeat if it was all laid on, they have a wonderful culture/country.

 

[grantr37]

Hi everyone,

I will try to cut this short if I can, and not start winging about all this unfairness in our trade.

Taking into account that electrical trade is going downhill I decided to explore some options abroad. I have my best mate in Sweden, he has a successful building contractor business there, and he suggested that he could sub me out all his electrical works if I decide to move.

So I really need some advice and tips from someone who is been there or know what is required to work there legally as an Ltd company. What regulations do they go by, is there is something like par P, and anything else what could effect me. I presume electrically all should be the same as in UK. Do I have to pass some exams or any licensees, anything really.

Thanks in advance for your help….

Regards: Al

Hello, I have a contact in Sweden, he now works in Rail Electrics repairing trains, I can ask him what the rules are over there for sparks getting permits etc....

The money is good, but where he lives he has to drive 2 hours each way at silly AM to get to Stockholm for work, and it gets to -35 degrees C overnight in winter, cold enough that all the plants in the garden die off and need replaced every spring, which every household seems to do....

The car freezes up solid and has to be kept inside where it still freezes, and regular expensive vehicle damage, breakdowns in the middle of nowhere and write offs due to cold damage are common, and yes he drives Volvo's, still break in the cold...

if you can put up with very long driving commutes and extreme cold, as well as the different culture.......and also the council tax on houses over there is very very high with local service charges, and you need to pay to visit the doctor and a prescription is big money (think about paying £150 for 2 inhalers or a dose of antibiotics)

The person I know moved there as he married a swedish woman, he wanted her to move over to the UK but family politics in Sweden, as well as her not keeping too well meant that he decided to remain there...

 

[grantr37]

I forgot to add, a lot of the houses over there are rented and belong to large companies, Banks and housing schemes, and they basically throw you out when they decide that they want to change the windows or do the plumbing etc....the heating systems there are a bit like in Iceland(a lot of houses connected up to geothermal mains steam pipes), -in Sweden it is a large local boiler building burning wood chips or gas, and the heat is piped round the whole village/town....when they do an overhaul/maintenance they send you a letter to move out of the house and the whole village has to leave for weeks and put everything into storage....this happened to my contact over there, had to move into very expensive rented temporary accommodation in another house miles away...while his house floors got ripped up and the underfloor heating was renewed, as well as the village boiler shed.....whole place was empty not one person left in about 90 houses, and all had to put everything into storage....

 

[bartkusal]

jeeeees, thats a bit of puting really, I will think twice, thank you Grantr37 , but still, can you ask your friend about the permits please, thanks...