Train 4 Trade Skills

[kol_synth79]

Hi All,

Very recently me and my flatmate have been considering training up in a skilled trade field and so contacted a company Train 4 Trade Skills. They have assured us they can take people with very little basic knowledge and teach them a great deal about becoming an electrician. The course comprises of 40 modules and eight weeks in a workshop where experts in the field guide practical sessions (each week is 9-5 Mon-Fri full time hours).

The course is also broken down into two parts: Domestic Electrical Installer (modules 1-32, 5 weeks practical) to one part Full Scope Electrical Installer (modules 33-40, 3 weeks practical)

This is the set of qualifications listed as covered by the full course:

DOMESTIC

- Industry certification in essential electrics
- Emergency first aid certificate.
- Part P defined scope.
- C&G 2377 - in service portable appliance testing.
- C&G (level 2 - unit 1) 2330-201 - working effectively and safely in an electro-technical environment.
- C&G (level 2 - unit 2) 2330-202 - principles of elctro-technology
- C&G (level 2 - unit 3) 2330-203 - application of health and safety and elctrical principles (theory)
- C&G (level 2 - unit 4) 2330-204 - application of health and safety and elctrical principles (practical)
- C&G 2382-10 - 17th edition of the IEE wiring regulations.
- Full Scope Part P theory and practical qualification assessments.
- Logic certification - domestic periodic inspection certification.

FULL SCOPE

- C&G (level 3 - unit 1) 2330-301 - application of health and safety and electrical principles.
- C&G (level 3 - unit 2) 2330-302 - inspection testing and commissioning.
- C&G (level 3 - unit 3) 2330-303 - installation (buildings and structures) fault diagnosis and rectification.
- C&G 2391 - practical exam plus AM2 - level 2.
- C&G 2356 - NVQ level 3 (requires experience in real world)

I've been quite long winded here in order to lay out exactly what the course entails in order to get the best replies before we make an important decision. Having searched this forum for 'Train 4 Trade Skills' I have found suggestions that the course may be incomplete but I also havent seen as detailed a description of what it entails. The cost is not a problem as if we decide to do it we will be prepared to commit fully to its completion but there may be a better way to spend £5700!

My questions are:

1. Is this a comprehensive set of qualifications?
2. Would time served electricians recommend this as a sensible course of action to get into the trade?
3. If you are in a position to take on staff would you employ someone who had completed this to a high standard? If not what extra skills / experience would they need?

Thankyou very much for your time.

 

[LlandrilloSpark]

That would be as good a set of quals as you could get, but the 2391-10 Inspection & Testing is extremley hard, its about a 40% pass rate and many experienced sparks sit and fail this exam, the other thing i dont agree with is the 2330 level 2 being listed as a "domestic" qual, thats wrong the 2330 levels 2&3 cover the domestic,comercial and industrial sphere, there is actualy more content in the level 2, the guided learning hours for the 2330 l2 is 500 hours alone!, the level 3 is 250, also £5700...their having a laugh

 

[moo]

Avoid this company at all costs. They are crooks! They will feed u alot of bullsh*t and convince you its a good idea but it really is not. Go to a proper college. Trust me on this!

 

[Sean Keily]

Hi Moo, please could you ellaborate on that as I am about to sign up. Reasons?? Cheers

 

[LlandrilloSpark]

I agree with Moo, College/Night school a better option, I beleive the theory cannot be absorbed if you are fastracked or taught to quickly, Ideally you need a college that teaches the Level 2 and 3 2330 full time.

I was very lucky, My local tech runs the Level 2 and Level 3 full time, Ive just completed my Level 2 in 9 months (6 Distinctions from 6 exams), also in that time i have passed my full scope 2377 PAT and 2393 Building Regs for Electricians, In the next year i will be doing my Level 3 and my 2382 17th and my 2392 Inspection and Test.

It has cost me the grand total of £0...Nothing, this is because i'm classed as a full time student,at 37 years old also.
I was lucky in another way becasue my missus decent job will just about cover all our outlays, this allows me to study 3 days a week and pick up work as a time served joiner on the other 2 days or saturday

Hopefully if i'm sucessfull next year i will have the same quals as that rip of company are trying to charge you £5700 for, also i beleive i achieved the grades i did becasue i had time to learn it.

Good Luck mate

 

[super_stuey]

Thing to think about mate is how are you gonna earn that money back?

IF (and this is a massive IF!) you can somehow get a sparky to take you on in this economic climate you're wages conversation is gonna be something along the lines of:

"what experience have you got?"
"non at all"
"no problem, you'll be on minimum wage 4 a year then at least"

Don't mean to sound negative but its really tough out there at the mo. Ive just finished 2330 level 2 at college and im one of 4 out of nearly 40 that are employed in the electrical trade and it took me 9 months to get there!

Your only other option would be to set up on your own where the initial outlay (van, tools, insurances etc) will be huge and thats after already spending 5 grand on a course.

I know they sell it well mate, heck I nearly did it myself! But at this time where jobs are so rare I think ud be so much better off staying in a job and doin the course at a local college in the evenings.

All the best

 

[m4tty]

PM me mate. Ill tell ya all about these as im doing a course with them

 

[Comus]

Hi all,
just joined today as I was doing a search on Train 4 Trade Skills about being an electrician. Had the sales pitch the other night and it all sounded good but I'm not one for jumping straight in on a whim. So thought I'd do some research.

I was told it would cost me £3950 and it would be caculated at a minimum of £110 a month. I thought that this was alot of money, but what he didn't tell me was that he was just pitching the Domestic Installer modules, but I see here that there is a full scope to progress into.

I have looked into my local college and they do do the courses alot cheaper (hell of alot cheaper), but they do the C&G 2330 level 2 on one day a week for adults at 6hrs per day, over a 2yr period. Now thats good if you have the time to fit it in or you have a very understanding boss, if your in full time employment to cover costs of a morgage and a family life. The college also requires you to have GCSE grades between A & C in English, Maths and Science. Which I don't as when I was young I was foolish as they say and being 35yrs now, I now know the cold truth of the world today.

I think it is a rip off for the course and I would recommend people to fully explore there options fully before jumping in. I think these sort of places are for such people such as myself who do have to keep working and don't have the grades to work through college, and being 35yrs old looking to start there own business in something that should last a life time.

Apoligies for a lenghty post, but I now feel I'm at square one again and not sure what to do next. Do I stay in my current roll as an asbestos building surveyor which won't last a life time or do I do something about it which might cost me an arm and a leg but could possibly have light at the end of the tunnel.

If I was to do the Domestic course, is it possible to set up a business to do this line of work from walking away from the course or must you have experience in the field first?

Would there be much money in it or is the full scope a must have?

Kol_Synth79 I see that you posted this back in July last year and was wondering did you take the leap into Trade 4 Skills, and if so how is it going?

Thanks in advance, Neil

 

[lee sandland]

hi, just started a course with OLCI,But done a lot of research before i paid £2245 for a domestic electricians course,i do weekend work with a sparky and some work in a electical suppiers,so all i can say is if you want something you have work at it,
thanks lee

 

[steve76]

I'm with T4TS, signed up for the £3950 defined scope and am currently on module 16. I have also been to one weeks practical training (which was excellent I have to say!)

The only thing I would advise anyone here is to look into exactly what your going to achieve at the end of the course and whether it's actually worth the paper it's written on at the end.

I'm still unsure exactly what qualifications I'm going to even get - some say BPEC (who the hell are they?) some say NVQ level 2, some say City & Guilds but are the qualifications going to enable me to start up on my own or not?????? I JUST DO NOT KNOW!!!! All I want to do is set up on my own - simple!

But, I've been on the ELECSA and NICEISA (or whatever) websites and registering with them requires far more qualifications and hand-on experience than T4TS offer!!!

I'M GETTING THE FEELING I'VE SIGNED TO A BOGUS TRAINING PROVIDER

One positive thing is the practical weeks though - Featherstone is very good - but is this really a waste of my time?
Will someone who has actually completed the whole course (or just defined) please explain!!!

Cheers
Steve

 

[mikeyslater1990]

hi all my name is mike, ive been doin t4ts for about a year now, and im starting to feel ive rushed into something thats gonna get me sweet fa.
is it possible to sell the course?? or cancel?
would be good if some1 had more info as t4ts are useless.

cheers mike.

 

[gdr7671]

Don't Get Fooled,. By the time you have spent your money, attained some work and the tools and equipment. Got part P approval, it will take years to recover the costs.

 

[Bangazan]

Hi Mike,
I'm Andy and I have been studying the Electrical course for about 10 months and I know how you feel, I have just started researching T4TS and have found that there are a lot of people unhappy with a number of aspects of the courses that they offer. The main aspects are the salespeople miss selling the course, people paying completely different amounts for exactly the same course (£3000 - £5700), Lack of support, not being able to contact anyone during evenings ( when the course is supposed to be flexible around full time employment), having to wait between 3 and 10 months to get dates for practical weeks I was specifically told "you can call on the friday and start the practical on the Monday".
Have you completed the online Pre attendance test 1 Health and safety yet? It has no relevance to being electrically safe to attend the practical course which is the point of the test. I have read posts where people have got their money back and cancelled the course, I am currently researching how they did this. what position are you in with the course now?

 

[projan]

hi all my name is mike, ive been doin t4ts for about a year now, and im starting to feel ive rushed into something thats gonna get me sweet fa.
is it possible to sell the course?? or cancel?
would be good if some1 had more info as t4ts are useless.

cheers mike.

Hi Mike and all that apply.

i have taken this t4ts course and never felt better, due to go on week six, i have completed all modules and got all certs up to weeks 5, best experience ever and meeting lots of people, i have also had my assesment with Elecsa which i recommend and past with a A+ because they listen to you as well, i am now self employed in electrics with work upto about november through letting agents and word of month through building firms and friends, if i can achieve this anybody can, thanks to t4ts and elecsa. also now thinking of beyond this for MCS as i have a buzz from it. looking forward to my 2391 mod course but it is not needed for elecsa unless your doing periodics everyday (condition reporting) i only do them once a month. got to have some positive on these forums

regards
Lee

 

[projan]

Hi Mike,
I'm Andy and I have been studying the Electrical course for about 10 months and I know how you feel, I have just started researching T4TS and have found that there are a lot of people unhappy with a number of aspects of the courses that they offer. The main aspects are the salespeople miss selling the course, people paying completely different amounts for exactly the same course (£3000 - £5700), Lack of support, not being able to contact anyone during evenings ( when the course is supposed to be flexible around full time employment), having to wait between 3 and 10 months to get dates for practical weeks I was specifically told "you can call on the friday and start the practical on the Monday".
Have you completed the online Pre attendance test 1 Health and safety yet? It has no relevance to being electrically safe to attend the practical course which is the point of the test. I have read posts where people have got their money back and cancelled the course, I am currently researching how they did this. what position are you in with the course now?

Hi Mike and all that apply.

i have taken this t4ts course and never felt better, due to go on week six, i have completed all modules and got all certs up to weeks 5, best experience ever and meeting lots of people, i have also had my assesment with Elecsa which i recommend and past with a A+ because they listen to you as well, i am now self employed in electrics with work upto about november through letting agents and word of month through building firms and friends, if i can achieve this anybody can, thanks to t4ts and elecsa. also now thinking of beyond this for MCS as i have a buzz from it. looking forward to my 2391 mod course but it is not needed for elecsa unless your doing periodics everyday (condition reporting) i only do them once a month. got to have some positive on these forums

regards
Lee