Any Electricians or Electricians wives?

[corkgirlindublin]

We are living in Dublin and my husband is an experienced electrician and maintenance technician. We have been considering a move to the UK and i'm just looking for a bit of advise. We will live anywhere in England except London, will be renting and I hope to get part time work.

Just on the electrician front, what are the best jobs sites to look at? We are leaning towards living in the north. Does an electrician salary support your family?

Thanks a mill in advance!

[GnomeDePlume]

Sorry, not going to be the answer you want. DH was a Part P electrician but had to give it up as the work just wasnt there.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

In the south east they are like gold dust. I have a friend who is an electrician he could work 7 days a week if he wanted to.

[corkgirlindublin]

Thanks gnome, no bad answers, just honest one so thanks. I'm not sure what a part p electrician is. I'll have to do some research. You are or aren't an electrician in Ireland, its a 4 year apprenticeship

[corkgirlindublin]

Thanks loancat. i'll do some research that end of the country

[GnomeDePlume]

Part P is Part P of the Building Regulations ie DH was qualified to do his own Building Regs certification. I think that being an electrician in GB is quite fragmented. My DH couldnt work on building sites because he didnt have the appropriate building site certification (even though he was qualified).

DH was and is a good electrician. The problem was that he wasnt prepared to rip people off in any way. He talked himself out of more jobs than he talked himself into. People in our Midlands area had some great advice for free. If DH was lucky he got offered 10 pounds for the call out.

Our experience was that many, many people wanted to know an electrician. Most people know about getting three quotes. Three quotes means that two people wont get the job (but will have had the cost of driving out, walking through the work etc). And of course not all jobs quoted for actually turn into real paying jobs for anyone.

Most tradespeople that we know are living hand to mouth. We could afford for DH to give being an electrician a really good go because my salary covered everything. DH made a small profit each year that he traded but quite frankly I wouldnt have wanted to rely on feeding the cat on what he earned.

[achtunglady]

It depends entirely on his area of work.
In my company we always struggle to get good quality electricians, but is it quite a specialist area.