If you’ve ever spent your morning commute daydreaming about starting afresh with your career, this feature is for you. Each Monday, we speak to someone from a different profession to discover what it’s really like. This week we chat to plumber and gas engineer Leah Carney.
Apprentice plumbers typically earn… between £18-19k, but this goes up closer to £28-29k once they’re newly qualified. At the top-end, those running a limited company can earn more than £70k. Specialist certificates have an impact on what you can charge too, like whether or not you’re Gas Safe.
I don’t believe many plumbers would appreciate haggling… as the price is going to so many unseen costs, planning and sourcing. Fixing a problem before it becomes bad is a good way to reduce parts and labour. Also, if it is a small job or quite common, buying some products themselves can save on time charged.
I sometimes do work for free... for charity, disabled or elderly clients who are financially in need or who have paid someone to do work that was done poorly but then had no means to pay a new person to fix that work.
I am often asked what made me choose plumbing as a female… Although I don’t mind this question, it continues to highlight that people’s perceptions are yet to be changed by seeing a female in a physical, sometimes unglamorous, role. I’ve had to overcome misconceptions about what I’m capable of. It’s a sad fact that I have experienced sexism and racism at times. But I’ve never looked at it like I’m the odd one out. When I’m on a job, I know that I can do anything the next guy can because I trust my knowledge and experience.
New builds do suffer from a lot of issues… not just with plumbing. The plumbing is installed with a rush, things are forgotten by plumbers and installed without care or thought of longevity due to high demand on creating homes quickly, and sometimes cutting cost of materials and skilled labour. I encounter these issues mainly in larger new build flats – it can be baths, showers or toilets leaking.
I am very eco-conscious and do like the technology of heat pumps but… they are not suited to a huge amount of homes in the country due to lack of space, money or the upgrades homes need. Boilers are compact and I think that if they engineer a similar concept from heat pumps or electric boilers into our standard boilers this could pave the way.
My top tip for making sure your boiler is in top condition is… having a strip down clean of your boiler every five years alongside a chemical clean.
Find tips and personal finance news in the Money blog
The most common causes of a blocked pipe are… large food items, cooking grease or hair. These are always the things I find. Always use a food trap or hair trap in the sink and bath, wipe your cooking grease with paper and then dispose of these in the bin. Also, good old bicarbonate and white vinegar down a drain every so often can help dislodge build up.
One skill everyone should know is… how to check for leaks and everyone should have a pair of grips, a screwdriver and a drill.
The most popular appliance people want fitted is… a new shower. A lot of customers struggle with water pressure and deteriorating shower valves again due to limescale.
The worst job I have completed was… a bad leak into a customer’s living room. They had a bathroom above and after investigating all obvious areas I considered the toilet, which had tall boxing behind the pipework. After removing a piece of the boxing in I discovered that the toilet connector was dislodged – all of the tissue and everything passing through the toilet was just sitting on top of the ceiling and seeping through into the living room. This was the worst as this had to be fixed and we were dealing with foul stuff, as you can imagine!
A lot of people work from home now so… they may not see anyone else during the day… so this could be a time for them to connect. I enjoy talking with customers, I find meeting different people interesting.
Plumber burn-out and loneliness is a big issue… the skills gap is also a huge challenge and one I am personally passionate about tackling. I especially want to see more young women entering the trade. BIKBBI (now BIFIS) shared research earlier this year, revealing that only 3% of installers have entered the sector in the past year. I think that could be because, when you’re at school, you’re pushed into university if you’re seen as academic and pushed into trades if you’re not. As someone who’s done both, I don’t think that’s fair or accurate.
More from this series:
Secrets of a cabbie
I make thousands photographing celebs
I’m a child psychiatrist
I work five days a week, easily over 60/70 hours, running a business… Probably more if I include weekend invoicing, quoting and running the business. I am fortunate to be able to take as much holiday as I wish, but this is within reason, limiting a holiday to two weeks maximum at a time.
The most common issue I get called out for is… leaking faucets, taps, showers, baths etc. Some products are made cheaply and the hard water and limescale build-up will clog the working mechanism, meaning a constant drip or leak is created over time. This would average a cost fix including a new part and labour of around £150-300.
