It’s barbecue season again – and currently, the hot weather is holding up long enough to be reason enough for getting in the charcoal briquettes. Of course, it can also mean a chance for the DIY handyman to have a go at building his own brick barbecue, which is great for using when family and friends are round for an impromptu outdoors get together.

But it’s also an opportunity to see just how good your practical skills are. For many right now, this could be a good project to get your teeth into if you’re thinking about an alternative means of work or career switching to train to become a bricklayer, or looking to enter the building industry, generally.

It helps if you do have some extensive DIY experience or have been handling building materials, a short bricklaying course would be ideal to get further involved with plenty of other course opportunities to do plastering, and tiling, at City and Guilds NVQ level.

Many men and women take a short trade skills course because they want to undertake their own home project, say tiling a bathroom, to save money and to see if they ‘can do it’. Most students are surprised just how quickly they pick the basics up, gain confidence in practical abilities they either didn’t know they had or were convinced they could not do!

They also discover that one skill so easily leads into another, especially as most jobs require you to do some additional plastering, plumbing or electrical work. The good news is you can take a bathroom installation course, which shows you all the different skills and knowledge you need to complete the task.

For those who are already considering a serious course of training in the construction trades, then you will already be aware that City & Guilds NVQ training is the first step to getting on the career ladder. Ableskills offers a wide range of accredited and approved courses to suit different requirements, especially if you can only train at certain times or periods in the week.

Remember – building your own barbecue, like all skills required in construction trade projects, requires planning before you start! The first move is to simply get in touch to speak to one of the training team! You will be able to find out what’s the best course of action to take and arrange to visit the training centre – they are always keen to help and you’ll be glad you made that first telephone call!

It doesn’t take much to cause damage to brick walls. A few days of heatwave can be enough to bring about the unravelling of brickwork, especially if a property is close to a large tree with long deep roots spreading out beneath the foundations, especially if the property is situated on a steep incline.

The tree’s roots draw up all available moisture leading to the soil drying out, contraction and slippage and those tell tale cracks appearing on the walls. For builders, this could only mean the one course of action, ‘Underpinning’, will deal sufficiently with the problem. One or more walls may need to be knitted back together with infill brickwork or perhaps rebuilt and resurfaced.

To learn to be a bricklayer requires training by starting on a City & Guilds Bricklaying NVQ level 2 course in order to competently undertake many domestic and commercial building tasks.

More commonly though, jobs requiring plastering work to be done mostly involve built extensions or as a result of ‘knocking through’ from one room to another or dividing a living space into two by studwall and plasterboard. Sometimes a wall may need a ’skim’, i.e. a thin layer of plaster after the removal of old wallpaper reveals a deteriorated, unstable surface that is either uneven, crumbling, flaking or worse !

Or perhaps removing old ‘textured’ wall / ceiling rendering and replacing with a smooth plaster surface prior to painting. The above jobs are typical for a professional plasterer working in domestic dwellings and are always in demand as homeowners seek to increase the value of their property by making alterations and increasing habitable space.

The ability to produce absolutely flat, glass smooth surfaces is a challenging discipline requiring expert tuition on how to master the art of the trowel, correct application, good controlled arm movement and a watchful eye! To train to be a plasterer these days requires undertaking an approved and accredited Plastering NVQ level course.

If you show flair for the craft, and can ‘lay up’ at the required standard of workmanship and at a good pace, then opportunities abound on commercial and industrial build or renovation projects.

For all those just interested to find out about learning a few techniques to accomplish small scale DIY jobs around the house, a short bricklaying DIY course or plastering DIY course is well worth the time and is money well spent! You can even do this on weekend courses if you are unable to find time during the week and in today’s economic climate, every additional, practical skill learnt could lead to possible job openings and career changing opportunities.

Latest news from the National Housebuilding Council, that building project starts in the three months to April 2010 increased by 74 per cent compared to the same period a year ago, is further indication that the UK’s recovery from recession continues on an upward trend.

As economic conditions vary across certain sectors, employment prospects for those thinking of making a timely career switch into the trade construction industry look more favourable than most other job fields. Traditionally, becoming a bricklayer is a relatively, straightforward route, comparable to training to be a plumber or learning to be an electrician.

Bricklayers can undertake a variety of tasks from building and repairing walls, chimney stacks and tunnel linings to decorative stonework such as archways and refurbishing brickwork and masonry on restoration projects. Bricklayer can find themselves working onsite at a domestic house extension to a large regional commercial development!

A typical bricklayer tasks range from :
• measuring work area and setting out the first rows (courses) and damp course.
• mixing mortar by hand or with a mechanical mixer.
• working from the corners inwards to build up the courses.
• laying the bricks on top of each other and applying the mortar with a trowel.
• shaping and trimming bricks using hammers, chisels and power tools.
• checking courses are straight with water or laser spirit-levels and plumb lines.

To be a bricklayer, you need to know that you have:

• good practical skills
• ability to read technical drawings and plans
• ability to methodically and accurately
• awareness of safety issues, especially when working at heights
• ability to work as part of a team within the gang and with other tradespeople
• a good level of fitness.

Bricklayers work for building contractors and local authorities, but many are self-employed and work on a sub-contract basis for companies as ‘labour only’, with the building contractor supplying the materials. With experience, you can progress to supervisory jobs, for example site supervisor and clerk of works, or related areas, such as estimating and construction management. You also have the option to work as a bricklaying instructor at a training centre or college.

To become a bricklayer, employers today tend to want people with skills training qualifications and practical on-site experience.

A recognised and approved route to become a bricklayer is to take a City & Guilds NVQ Bricklaying level 2, an 8 week entry course. A faster option is the Bricklaying NVQ 6127, an intensive course over six weeks. Another favoured option to build up your portfolio of knowledge and experience to bring to an employer is the City & Guilds Accredited 10 day course. Even experienced bricklayers have an opportunity to gain an NVQ qualification, when required.

A bricklaying labourer can earn up to 15k year and with future opportunities to earn up to 23K or more once qualified, training to gain those valuable golden practical skills needed on any construction project, will be critical to steering a more secure working future in the building industry, when facing the challenging times ahead.

Currently, pressure is mounting on the Government to curtail future public spending in order to reduce the enormous UK debt as a result of the recession. This has led to the announcement that Further Education colleges across England are preparing to axe courses such as plumbing, electrical bricklaying and joinery after budgets were slashed because of a £200m funding crisis.

Although the Government insists that cash for further education has significantly increased over the last 13 years, with £3.5bn being invested in 2010/11, ministers are calling for £340m-worth of savings next year as part of cut backs across the public sector.

It is claimed that as many as 7,000 teachers face losing their jobs in further education colleges, and the cost cutting will affect many skills-based courses for over-19s in areas that include the key construction trade skills of electrical installation and plumbing. With fewer course places available, hundreds of students will be rejected plus the many experienced trade workers who need to retrain and reskill throughout their working lives.

As a result, the important role currently played by independent construction skills training centres, like AbleSkills, to provide the industry with highly competent and qualified trade skill personnel will be significantly increased and may be the only real training opportunity for the many who seek to gain training qualifications to work as a plumber or learn electrical installation.

As the government continues to unveil both domestic and commercial building developments around the UK that highlight their commitment to reducing the country’s carbon footprint and which works towards sustainable energy efficient heating and lighting systems, forward thinking training providers are already offering the required green energy courses, in Solar PV or Ground Source Heating.

As the inevitable public spending cuts continue to be made for the foreseeable future, only a self financing and truly independent private provider like AbleSkills will be able to stand firm and continue to confidently provide the essential career development training necessary to meet the growing demand for a qualified, industry-ready workforce.

In the last few months alone, there have already been casualties in the skills training provider sector as a result of funding and Able Skills has been supportive of those individual course students left stranded mid-course.

It now must be borne in mind that as a result of the severe College cut backs, the demand now for places at an independent training centre will only increase for the key NVQ training courses such as the Electrical 2330 and Plumbing 6129.

They are both the recognised and essential City & Guilds entry level career training required to step onto the industry ladder for all newcomers without previous knowledge or experience by introducing  the core subject principles and practical abilities needed to qualify as a competent plumber or electrician.

As the recession lingers on and more job cuts are announced in areas such as in financial services because they can be done at one-tenth the cost on the other side of the world, the construction trade continues to hold firm. UK housebuilder, Persimmon has just this week announced an improvement in trading, with sales up by 7% so far this year.

The work of a plumber, electrician or gas fitter has a clearly defined purpose which always requires their physical presence to actually carry out the installation, repair or maintenance. Practical skills cannot be electronically farmed out overseas even though the onward march of technology has enabled an ever widening array of services to become possible to accomplish over the internet!
Trade skills personnel are hands-on and in control of the entire process from start to finish!

For many in certain types of employment, instead of controlling an entire process, they are trained to do ever tinier slivers of work, which then become part of a much larger process. To be able to make your small contribution, you are required by employers to become a member of a team and if you lose your place in the process or the team, your existence is meaningless unless part of the whole.

In stark contrast, training to be an electrician, for example, means you learn to be self sufficient, and entirely reliant on your own training, experience and skill to analyse and solve a problem. An electrician or a plumber are always in demand, in person!

Even in the current economic climate, a recently conducted survey by Manpower Recruitment of employers around the world found that there was still a lack of skilled manual trades such as electricians, plumbers bricklayers, carpenters, tilers…etc.

In addition, job satisfaction and personal fulfilment always rank high with the construction trade industries. It is work with a discernible product or result that can be actually measured and see working in the real world!

When it comes to Trade Skills training centres, it really is a case of the good, the bad and the ugly! Student testimonials can help to make your mind up about which one’s wear the white hats!

It can be a bit confusing when it comes to trying to work out which trade skills training centre is really going to provide the correct courses and ultimately, approved qualifications to best serve your career prospects. Unfortunately, we hear too often from students whose choice of past trainers was not all that it should have been, often the focus of attention for trade industry regulatory bodies.

Even worse, some centres fold unexpectedly and the students will have to restart their training elsewhere.

AbleSkills has been established as one of London’s and the South East’s foremost skills training centre of excellence, offering a comprehensive range of City & Guild approved and accredited courses, the most popular of which, are the entry level Plumbing 6129  Technical certificate and Electrical NVQ 2330.

Unlike some institutions or non-accredited trainers, AbleSkills is a specifically dedicated centre with a fully developed course development structure, which can take an entry level student through all required subject knowledge in order to gain the approved and verified standard at each stage of the process to becoming a fully qualified plumber, electrician or another skilled trade, such as a  Gas fitter, tiler, bricklayer or plasterer.

AbleSkills also offers advanced courses for experienced electricians and plumbers to update their knowledge in order to compete successfully by offering a range of qualified technical services, both as a company employee and if you decide to be self-employed.

For most students, AbleSkills is their trainer of first choice because their key concerns of flexible course timings and duration, fully equipped and dedicated workshop classrooms and approved, verified and industry experienced course tutors tick all their boxes!

Don’t just take my word for it, read below a brief selection of testimonials from delighted AbleSkills students :

• “ This is my second course that I have undertaken at Able Skills ….Both courses have been excellent value for money. I would recommend Able Skills as a training centre to everyone; the teachers have great knowledge and are so helpful and informative. They deliver the course in such an easy way to understand and at a pace that you can enjoy and take it all in. I’m looking forward to booking my next course here”

• “The tuition, resourced and support that came from all staff within the facility was second to none.
There is constant updating of information across all trades and the administration support is outstanding. There is an onus on individuals to expand their knowledge by private study. I would endorse Able Skills without reservation”.

• “ Able Skills were first rate, looking after all of my needs from Accommodation through to Instruction.
I received excellent tuition from the Instructors who were superb tradesmen and very approachable from day 1.

• After finishing the course I feel more than confident to gain employment within the industry and Able Skills will continue to support me through NVQ if I choose that route. I want to thank Able Skills for an outstanding course and service and wish them all the best. The instructors are great, helpful and patient. They tell you what to do and let you get on with it, but are there for any queries or problems, giving you the benefit of their experience. I would recommend this course and able skills to anyone”.

• “All staff are helpful, and even willing to share their knowledge, during breaks. In my opinion, able skills, merits itself by being very good value for money. A professional centre, that I will definitely be using again, and recommending to my friends”.

• “I can thoroughly recommend all of the courses; the instructors are all very knowledgeable in their trades, extremely helpful and put themselves out to make the week both enjoyable and also a valuable learning experience for every one who attends”.

Finding a quality approved and accredited trade skills trainer can be a bit of minefield as there are now so many organisations offering a confusing number of courses. Which course is best for you and are you going to get the correct training and qualifications to really allow you to make real progress in your career path?

The key is always to do your homework! By spending time carrying out prior research you will be armed with the right knowledge in order to make a sensible decision. Visit their website first and really look carefully at all the pages and ask yourself the really important questions as you look through, e.g. how long have they been in existence, are they really approved for the right type of courses, how many  experienced, trained and qualified teachers and verifiers on the staff?

It should go without saying that you should not be dazzled by cut price, bargain basement course selling, which claims to offer instant industry working status. Remember – experience and expertise takes time to build, and is not achieved in a matter of days or weeks.

Most importantly, and dependent on the individual course level, where exactly will you be training – at their premises or elsewhere?
If you are serious about entering a trade profession, then the likelihood is that you should already have found out that to begin a career as an electrician, you are required to undertake a series of courses that will take you through a structure of required knowledge learning and skillsets, beginning with the City & Guilds 2330 level 2.

Likewise, plumbing training requires a body of knowledge and practical training to be fully understood and practiced as you progress through several levels, but once again, you will need to start with City & Guilds Plumbing 6129 level 2.

Be aware that short centre certificate courses are mostly primers, and aimed for DIY or one set skill learning, giving you insight into the requirements to carry out the basic task the course claims to provide. It does not instantly transform you into a fully fledged tradesperson in that field!

An established and recognised training centre will also offer short, advanced courses for the experienced trade, such as electricians, plumbers, gas fitters, tilers, plasterers, bricklayers and builders to learn specific skills and update their knowledge, which can be added to their range of customer services.

First enquiry will give you a first clue! Listen to the their telephone style. Friendly, yes, but do they sound knowledgeable and can explain in detail about the course you have in mind? Are they approved by City & Guilds and the major trade body examiners and verifiers, most importantly in electrical and plumbing? Do they offer you the opportunity to visit their centre so they can spend time showing you around?

Find out just comprehensive their courses are, availability and if subscribed? What course teaching aids are available and are you offered flexibility with regards when you can train, how long it will take and are there staggered schedules for some types of courses?

There are sure to be other questions you will need to ask with regards your own specific requirements and once again, focus on how keen the response and desire to genuinely help. The next important step will be the visit to the training centre itself!

If you’ve made your mind up and are ready to train for a brand new career as an electrician or plumber, the likelihood is that you have already worked out your available time schedules. Now all you have to do is find a training centre that offers you the right course over a period of time that suits your needs!

There may not be a training centre nearest to you that is able to offer different training length options for your chosen course. More importantly, they may not be approved to run recognised professional entry level industry courses – like Electrical NVQ 2330 level 2 and level 3 and Plumbing NVQ 6129, also levels 2 and 3. It is now essential that these courses must be fully accredited by the statutory bodies like City & Guilds, Building Engineering Services, EAL,IPHE, CAA, NICEIC and ISO and Gas Safe registered. AbleSkills is firmly established and one of the foremost recognised and approved training centres for City & Guild accredited course in South East England.

Whatever your circumstances, from long experience as a training provider, AbleSkills will most likely have already an ideal training schedule for the course you wish to take that will fit your specific needs. Even if are currently working full-time and can only spare the weekends to train or are about to go part time and wish to train on the days you will not be working. It may even be that you have a set period of time off due to you and you would like to train then.

Whether you are looking for a key electrical or plumbing courses, there are many flexible training options from weekend courses, to full time courses over a different number of weeks depending on whether you wish to train over periods from say, 2 days, 5 days, 10 days to 2 weeks or 20 weeks, and even options to take a break and split your training periods ! Similarly, our other construction trade course  like tiling and bricklaying are also flexible.

For all those who are still considering the best training route, AbleSkills also offers a number of certificated introductory courses that cover set skills for DIY, home improvement as well as introductory electrical/gas and plumbing training. Most of these course last just two days or over the weekend, so are a great way to test your practical abilities.

For many students, once achieving an NVQ level 2, they will almost certainly want to progress to level 3 and onto associated skills, e.g. plumbing on to gas training, Able Skills will help you to assess and advise on your best options, timewise. Similarly, for those already in one of the trade skill industries and who wish to upgrade their knowledge on the latest requirements or undertake a learn a further skill then the same flexible options are still available to you.

This especially applies to the developing green energy courses AbleSkills offer. With an eye on future green technologies and employment, training on a solar course (PV) or air/ground source heating should be seriously considered as they increasingly form an important part of key trade skills knowledge.

It’s vitally important that you get good advice first. Always call and to ask to come down and take a look at what is being offered, which will best serve your requirements. AbleSkills will give you the time of day and speak with you! Not only that, they will invite you to come down and have a look around their extensive training centre. With expert advice and your questions answered, you’re bound to find the right course get you started in your new career!

It’s not all bad news in the UK economy! In between news of the country’s slow and painful climb out of recession, there have been announcements by Government and private planners of exciting new construction industry projects. The good news is they are almost guaranteed to provide solid future employment for electricians, plumbers and other trade skills personnel such as plasterers and bricklayers.

Here are some recent examples of newbuild projects that will bound to be recruiting for trained and qualified electricians and plumbers:

Barratts Developers report an improvement in the house building market by a 43 per cent yearly growth in forward sales of its houses in the six months leading to December 2009. The company also revealed that, with margins growing, it expects to deliver 12,000 units during the next financial year.

In the largest spend on local housing for at least twenty years, the Government has announced a £ 500m public investment to build more than 4,000 new energy efficient council homes for 8,000 people in a programme for 73 councils covering every region of England. Importantly, for the first time, all councils receiving Government funds will be required to offer apprenticeship and local job recruitment schemes, creating 7,500 jobs and around 100 new apprenticeship places.

Thirty-five of the 73 councils receiving funding will extend their council house building work which is already underway, while 38 councils receive this government backing for the first time.

Education building schemes are also in the frame in 2010! Partnerships for Schools have also recently announced 12 Building Schools for the Future (BSF) projects are shortly to begin across the UK. In the early months of 2010, refurbishment or rebuilding work will get underway on schools in Darlington, Brent, Norfolk, Wakefield, Devon, Kingston & Croydon, Sefton, Havering, Lancashire, Plymouth, Tameside and Warrington.

According to Partnerships For Schools, “…delivering new schools facilities … is set to help safeguard tens of thousands of jobs on the ground in the construction and related industries.”

Further long-term prospects for those training to qualify as an electrician or plumber were also given an extra boost when it was also recently announced by Partnerships for Schools that £12 million is to be invested by the government to install new smart energy meters in institutions across Britain.

Focusing on the capital, the London Gateway project , currently standing at £1.5 billion, has begun construction, driving up an enormous potential for job creation in the South East. Latest estimates forecast a total requirement for 36,000 skilled personnel with 12,000 short-term opportunities to workers in construction and logistics.

City Guilds NVQs are about to be transformed with the introduction of the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) in September 2010. The good news for all those thinking of enrolling on a City & Guilds course is that the new system will not fundamentally alter the level of knowledge and training requirements, as they are intended to greatly improve learning capability by making the course units easier to understand, more flexible and allow for interchangeable – or ‘combination’- skillsets.

The relevant qualification relating to trade skill training is QCF 2357, which will directly replace the current NVQs for Technical Certificate in Electrotechnical Technology (2330) and Electrotechnical Services (2356) qualification. In addition, a new QCF plumbing qualification will replace the Technical Certificate in Plumbing Studies Level 2 (6129).

Under the new system, a ‘credit value’ which measures the estimated number of hours it takes the average learner to complete all the learning outcomes and ‘difficulty’ level assigned to every unit. The values will be used in a set rule of ‘combination’. This means some units will appear in more than one qualification and the credit can be transferred between qualifications, as long as it forms part of the ‘rules of combination’. This will allow for more flexible career pathways, with reduced repetition, as learners can build on previously ‘banked’ credit as they move through sizes and levels.

The new qualifications will not affect the ability of AbleSkills to take you through a structured course development, in order to train you through the required levels to be fully ready and industry compliant within your chosen occupation.

You will still be able to commence at entry level and train through to obtain the necessary qualifications – and this also applies if you are in a mid career change. As in the current NVQ system, both the Plumbing and Electrical QCF 2357 , which would be available at levels 2 and 3, will require the undertaking of a series of knowledge units, progressing onto practical units and a final competency assessment would need to be successfully achieved before a qualification certificate is issued.

At AbleSkills, training courses will still enable any student to progress from ‘domestic-through-to-commercial’ in the key trade skills of electrical, plumbing, gas installation, tiling or associated building trades, such as bricklaying or plastering.