Whether you’re a school leaver searching for your first job, trying out different industries to see which fits you best or someone with plenty of past job experience but looking to retrain into a new career, the life of a plumber is certainly a fruitful and dynamic one.
It’s a role that is always in demand and valued. If you enjoy helping people and doing hands-on work, this vocation is certainly one to start considering if you haven’t already.
Here’s what you need to know about kickstarting this journey, including the skills and qualifications you’ll need to have in your back pocket.
Responsibilities
A plumber is a tradesperson that either works for themselves, a company or a local council. A plumber installs and maintains water, plumbing and central heating systems for homes or commercial buildings such as offices. Plumbers can also be a part of blueprinting tasks and work on designing systems and fixtures for a property.
The responsibilities of a plumber will vary from project to project.
The general duties of a plumber include, but are not limited to:
- Travelling to and from client homes or workplaces to assess problems or projects
- Troubleshoot problems and provide recommendations for fixes
- Installation of hot/cold water systems
- Repairs and replacements of boilers and central water systems
- Work professionally alongside contractors, subcontractors and third-parties
- Cutting and installation of pipes and related fittings
- Interpret and follow plans and blueprints
- Service boilers and central water systems
- Install appliances such as washing machines, toilets, showers
- Use appropriate, specialist tools and equipment to monitor and diagnose problems
- Responding to emergency call outs
- Following legal standards and compliances, such as health & safety, building regulations and more
- Weather-proofing appliances and systems
Skills
As with any career, there’s a mixture of hard skills and soft skills required to become a plumber. But the combination of these two skill types is so important for a plumber. You deal with members of the public and are entrusted to work on their properties so a strong toolkit of both personal attributes/characteristics and learnt skills are paramount for generating the ultimate customer experience for our clients.
Some of the skills usually desired for plumbers to possess include:
- Good with customers
- Use basic maths
- Use initiative
- Detail-orientated
- Natural problem-solver
- Strong communicator
- Friendly and approachable
- Have good dexterity
- Work to deadlines
- Operate power tools and machinery
- Confidence in abilities
- Able to work under pressure
Working hours
This can vary from tradesperson to tradesperson depending on the hours you work and your employment type, whether part-time, full-time, contract, permanent or temp.
One thing that is guaranteed is that you don’t have to worry about sitting behind a desk for 8 hours a day. Plumbers operate on fieldwork so are usually on their feet for most of the day. Whilst the estimated hours of work are the usual 9-5, plumbers can also be required for emergency call-outs and last-minute emergency fixes. After all, a burst pipe doesn’t work on our time. Because of this, the estimated working hours for a plumber is around 37 – 40 hours per week but are subject to being longer as they may be needed for morning shifts, late-night shifts and even weekends/bank holidays. The hours are basically as and when you’re needed.
Salary
Your salary will be dependent on the hours you work and your skills/experience level. This isn’t uncommon and is usually the case for any vocation – the newer you are to a role and if you’re still learning the ropes, you’ll likely be sitting on the lower salary mark but with time, experience and expertise, so will too the money.
In saying this, as there is seemingly a constant demand for plumbers due to how valuable and significant the role is, the pay for plumbers isn’t too shabby. The salary starts at roughly £15,000 per year for starters and can meet £40,000 per year for experienced plumbers.
(Source: National Careers Service)
The current average salary for plumbers in the UK is £30,838. This is as of February 2023 and subject to change.
(Source: indeed)
How to become a plumber
Now you have a bit of background behind the career, earnings and requirements of a plumber, think it’s something you’re ready to go after? In that case, let’s walk through the different ways you can achieve your goal of becoming a plumber.
Although you need to work hard, it’s not a career that you need to dedicate years and years to get into. And if you didn’t come out of secondary education with an A* in every single subject, don’t worry. It’s desirable to have at least your Maths and English GCSE at a grade C (4/5). What’s sought out more than GCSE results is your further education after secondary.
You can apply for a plumbing college course or apprenticeship. Even work experience or working alongside a friend or family member as a ‘plumber’s assistant/mate’ can help further you along the path of becoming a plumber. If working on a construction site, you will need to make sure you have a CSCS card first.
Qualifications you’ll need to have as a plumber
Whether you obtain these qualifications via a college course, apprenticeship or other, you’ll ideally want to come out from your training/learning with a suitable qualification to add to your CV that shows your credibility and demonstrates employability to an employer.
The most common qualifications for a plumber in the UK are:
To further add to your credibility, you’ll also want to become registered as a Gas Safe engineer/plumber on the UK Gas Safe Register. In order to be added to the register, you will be required to hold a Level 3 Diploma in Gas Utilisation Installation and Maintenance or a Level 3 NVQ in Gas Installation and Maintenance.
What is the typical career progression ladder for a plumber?
Already thinking of the journey ahead and the career progression of a plumber? Of course, you must learn to walk before you can run but there’s no harm in scoping out the potential future promotions/pathways set out ahead of you.
The role of a plumber can be varied and whilst sometimes you can specialise in one area such as ventilation, pipework, gas etc, you can also become a jack of all trades.
If you’ve got your sights set on bigger sights, you may even become a manager or director of a plumbing business.
Alternatively, if you enjoy passing your knowledge on to others, you could redirect back to where you may have begun your training and become a tutor or training professional for a college or educational institute.
Think it’s the career for you?
You’ve learnt what you need and how to become a plumber, now the power is in your hands and ultimately it’s your decision if it’s a career you want to pursue. We can say from experience that we love our jobs here at GreenSmart Services and enjoy meeting new people and getting to do hands-on work every day. It can be longer hours than a typical role but the career is so enriching and rewarding.
If you’re looking to secure or start your career in plumbing or are interested in finding out more about this role, don’t hesitate to get in touch and we can offer our professional, industry expertise.
