by Catherine Lear

Created on: June 04, 2009   Last Updated: September 27, 2009

How I wish we did not have to use plumbers they can be so expensive cant they, they seem to charge the earth for any small little job that they are asked to do.

Sometimes we all have to use a plumber - it's a fact of our lives. Some things in plumbing we can do ourselves, but there are many plumbing jobs we cannot do ourselves. It's not that we can't do them, sometimes we are just not qualified to fix or to install many of the jobs that a plumber does. It is alright unclogging a sink or a toilet or even unclogging the main pipe that takes our waste away, but do we really want to fix our boilers that break down or install a full heating system from the heating boiler to the radiators, and are we qualified to do these jobs?

I know from my dad who is a heating and air conditioning engineer that a plumber in the UK has to pass many exams and when they have passed them they have to keep those qualifications up to date as does he in his chosen job, and being a heating and air con engineer in the UK is not far from being a Plumber, there is just a slight difference.

Just the other week my dad had to sit a gas course for four days and then had to pass an exam on what he had learned. Sitting in front of him were five plumbers that had to learn what my dad was learning, what he was learning had cost the company that he works for 1500 for this four day course and exam, if he did not pass at the end of the week he would have had to sit it once more costing at least 800 thankfully he did but there were three plumbers that did not pass, these plumbers worked for themselves they had no choice but to come back the following week and try and pass once more, because the law in the Britain says that you can not work with natural gas unless you pass the exam, most heating boilers in Britain work on gas, so they would be out of work until they passed the gas exam

Most plumbers in the UK fit heating systems for homes as well as plumbing in baths and showers and toilets, they also fit gutters around the outside of your homes as well as clearing any blockages in your sewer pipes.

If a plumber works for a company and they want him to fit gutters on a commercial building he just can't fit them climbing a ladder, because of health and safety laws in the UK the company has to provide some kind of lifting machine . Most of these machines are called scissor lifts. These machines are quite expensive to buy so the company will hire them, again because of safety laws no one can use them unless they have the relevant licence, again they will have to learn and sit a exam; this time it's a bit cheaper its only 500 and only half a day not working, the licence is called P.A.L. Powered Access Licence this then lets him drive and use that particular machine.

If they work for themselves they will not use one of these machines at your house they will climb a ladder. The problem is they just don't work on homes they sometimes hire themselves out to larger companies and they expect them to have all the licences that they need as well as all the other qualifications, if they don't have these qualifications' then they don't work its as simple as that.

So next time you employ a plumber to do any plumbing job in your home and he presents to you a large bill please don't faint, I am sure he does not want to give you the kiss of life, just remember that it has cost him quite a lot of money to get the qualifications' and he has to get back the cost of them, well you don't work for nothing, do you, or do you?.

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