how much do plumbers really earn? (retraining)

[newstart1234]

My DH want to retrain. He's middle-ish academic in an engineering field at a good uni. Everything is going well I suppose (plenty of funding) but the work is dissatisfying. Everything is a fight to make it happen. Lots of extra unpaid work. Very very long hours. His current job involved building a lot of processing equipment so his practical skills are there to build on. (He has almost no interest in teaching unfortunately. He teaches now but only what he absolutely has to)
He's thinking of throwing in the towel and doing plumbing - he's a practical guy and thinks this job would be more satisfying on a day to day level. How much do they earn, and the general conditions - if there is anyone who has direct experience - google isn't helpful because it doesn't give context. Eg, hours, geographical area, work reliability, particular challenges (physical or intellectual). Thanks. We are NE england.

My partner always says if he could go back in time he'd train as a sparky instead, he's says it's a lot less to pay for tools, less physically demanding and he says they earn more money

Plumbers I know (from working in the apprenticeship sector) have in early middle age trained to teach the trade rather than practise it because of the physical wear and tear, particularly on back and knees.

@hazandduck might your DH consider that? I have seen how supportive and inspirational a good, skilled, steady plumber turned lecturer can be to so many young men starting off in their trade.

My plumber is also a registered “heating engineer”. He earns about £120k working for himself

A British Gas heating engineer (guys who drive around in the blue vans) earns about £45/year depending upon training and overtime.

Of course, if you strike out on your own, and build up a business, you could potentially earn a lot more. But there is risk involved.

He’ll earn more if he does gas engineering along side plumbing…my ds has just about finished his 3 year apprenticeship as a gas engineer/plumber

@borntobequiet thank you that is actually a really good point, I did see an ad for trade lecturers training a while back. DH is patient and calm I’m actually going to send him some links now because I think he’d enjoy doing that! Must be rewarding to pass on all your knowledge after doing a job for years. (And not just financially 😆)

Thanks OP, I get how your DH is feeling. Early middle age you’re sort of at a crossroads aren’t you, kids getting older, many years of work and potential behind you but still a long way to go…Hopefully he finds a path that’s right for you all!

Would he consider training as something like a geothermal well engineer where there's a skills shortage instead (assuming he's in engineering? ) As an ex academic myself, he's going to enjoy the challenge of learning to be a plumber then he's going to get massively bored and be sick with a torpedoed career. Each plumbing job will have its quirks, but on average it's not going to be intellectually stimulating for someone used to research.

My plumber DP also complains about his knees, but no matter how many times I tell him to use his knee pads.. he doesn’t 🤦🏼‍♀️

I’d say plumbers who work for firms likely get around £200 - £250 per day, and that’s for an experienced plumber. My OH is a plumber & GS engineer, he works for a firm and takes on private jobs, mainly pipework, and earns a handsome sum for the day. Also, loads of gas safes and boiler installs. Job security needs to be taken into consideration, as a PP mentioned, there can be dry spells, but if he becomes part of a network and can get recommendations, there’s plenty out there all year round. Has he got friends in the trade?

Oh, and can be some ££ in fault finding too.

Heat pumps i thibk is the way to go
servicing, fitting and especially fault finding for people who have moved into houses with a badly fitted one or who have had one fitted badly
I’m from a science background and did the full heat geek course covering the theory of all types of central heating and hot water. It’s not cheap but can be done in your own time and might be a good starting point.

We’re paying £250 a day for our plumber currently.

I know a plumber who says he can charge £80 for a job and he works all year round. He also says he gets work through word of mouth but jobs come to him, he doesn't really need to advertise. Busier obviously in winter months but says he's very busy otherwise. South London area and works for himself but was a family business before. But he's thinking of leaving the job as he has a knee injury which makes it hard for him to do the work, so think about things like that.

That's the same re the plumber I know, one of his knees is damaged, no idea if he uses knee pads, he also does martial arts so unsure if this is wear and tear on the knees.

If he's in a qualified field, has he considered going into M&E building services for a construction firm?

Self employed £250 per day.

Minus tax, van and tools costs, insurance, fuel, holiday and sick days.

Don't forget he'd be losing the very cushy pension from HE (28% employer contribution if on TPS scheme and lower rate but still amazing pension if on USS scheme).

I know someone who’s an electrician and he says it’s really boring. He says if he is working on a site of new developments he is literally doing the same thing every day for months.

Really not worth it for the physical damage to your knees. DP needs to retrain into something else at 45 as his knees can't take much more. Knee pads are worn constantly, but do naff all- your knees just aren't designed to be under constant pressure at that angle for such long periods of time. Bad back/ neck too, but knees are by far the worst.

DH is a plumber / gas engineer, he's on 40-50k a Yr. Mixture of private work and working for kical builders. Although he's starting to think of other options as he's nearly 50 snd it's physically demanding.

Hi, I’m a rural plumber just south of Bristol and I can honestly say that it’s not been as good as it is now. I’m £80 first hour and £60 there after. Or if day rate I charge £325 and maybe some little cash jobs on the side. There is a 200000 shortage of plumbers and is getting worse each year as more kids are going to uni instead. Problem is, ai will take all those jobs but it won’t do trades work.

age isn’t an issue being realistic. I’ve taken a guy on as an apprentice he was 38 and worked at tesco delivery and can honestly say he’s the best guy I’ve ever had. Give him another 6 months and he will be ready to go out on his own.

A lot depends on his personality. Is he self-motivated? Does he have an entreprenneurial attitude? Is he organised and good with admin, planning, etc?

I've got lots of "tradesmen" clients such as plumbers, electricians, etc., and the variation in their earnings/profits is very wide indeed, even for sole traders with no staff/subbies.

The ones running it as a "proper" business typically earn twice as much as the ones who are running around chasing their tails because they're wasting so much time doing lots of quotes, forgetting to order stuff meaning time to go to find parts etc from the builders suppliers, forgetting to raise invoices/chase payment, etc., bad work planning meaning long journeys instead of scheduling jobs close to each other on the same days, etc.

I'd definitely recommend an "add on" to basic plumbing, such as GasSafe registration or specialising in heat pumps, etc - far broader range of better paid work and you're not competing with the "odd job men" type of plumbers doing the more basic pipework etc.

Eg I've got an electrician who's specialising in Solar panels and he's now making twice as much profit as he did a couple of years ago doing mostly basic electrical work. Another is an electrician/alarm installer who's moved into home "Smart" electronics, i.e. smart alarms, smart lcd lighting installations, smart appliances, etc., and he's likewise making twice the profit as he made doing normal electrical work.

You need a "niche" or specialism to make the big money if you plan on staying a sole trader, otherwise, you probably need to take on staff/subbies to get bigger jobs.

As someone said upthread, age doesn't have to be a major problem. At first during training and setting up the business, he'll have to do virtually everything, but in a few years, as he gets a bit older, he can pick and choose the jobs he'll want to do if self employed, so he can choose to only take on work that doesn't involve too much physical strain, which is where a niche or specialism comes into play. Let the "odd job men" do the jobs involving lots of crawling under floorboards or in tight loft hatches etc., or squatting under kitchen sinks, and concentrate on the jobs that you can do mostly in "normal" bodily positions, such as like for like swapping of boilers etc.

Might be worth spending the first couple of years as an employed plumber , to rack up experience with less risk. We're in S Yorks and my BIL earns around £40-£43k as an employed engineer. He has his van paid for, full employee rights and entitlements and gets the 5 year renewal training paid for. The office book his appointments. He just opens his ipad for his diary all filled in. Just gets the job done and doesn't have the hassle a lot of self employed plumbers do. Goes to work, fixes boilers, gets paid.

Being self employed has great benefits but also a lot of risk. Where do you get your work from ? Where do you advertise? What do you do if you hit a slow couple of months in the summer ? What do you do if you have a non paying customer who owes you £1k? How do you manage your quoting and surveying time? How are you doing your bookkeeping ? Have you got everything right for your tax return ? What about VAT returns ? Cash flow for paying suppliers? How do you take customers calls if you're knee deep in pipework? Is your asbestos awareness up to date ? As so on . Not everyone is cut out to be self employed, and there's no shame in that either.

Ours charges £60/hour

https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/finding-a-tradesperson/article/how-much-do-plumbers-cost-awJxi6S98hqB

Not what they earn but what they charge

My DS started off as a plumber, he earned just under £3,000 per month take home. He’s now a qualified heating engineer, He earns £300/day with the company he works for (in London) he also does a lot of private work, which varies. In