Obtaining plumbing license

[scrapin]

Hi
New here! I have experience in the field mainly with PVC, ABS, sweating copper. Have done new sinks, drains, new copper. etc. Kind of basic stuff. Anyway, I own a landscaping business and I have alot of flexible time because suprisingly I have a good set of employees. I want to learn more in the field and shoot for my license, but not sure where to get started.
Also if there any plumbers here that need an extra hand please send me a PM! Any advice would be appreciated. I'm in massachusetts
Thanks

[Cass]

I am curious why if you have a successful landscape business with a good set of employees you don't want to spend your time and effort growing the business that you know.

I would think this would be a wiser thing to do.

The best way to obtain your license is to work for a plumber while going to school nights. Most states require a specific # of years in the trade and so many Hrs. of schooling in order to take the Masters test. Then continuing Ed. to keep the license.

What State are you in?

[scrapin]

I do have a good thing going. But there are months when I have alot of down time, winter mainly. I am always looking to diversify and have alot of different options under my belt. I am in Massachusetts.

[Cass]

I am in OH now but am from Littleton, MA originally, 40 + years. What part of the State are you in?

[scrapin]

I am just outside of Rt.495 Hopkinton area. Landscape Business is in the Rt.128 area. My cousins live in Ohio,,,,, Mansfield? I see that you are no longer a PATS fan???? Hmmmm, we are going to be redicolous this year!!!

[GrumpyPlumber]

I am just outside of Rt.495 Hopkinton area. Landscape Business is in the Rt.128 area. My cousins live in Ohio,,,,, Mansfield? I see that you are no longer a PATS fan???? Hmmmm, we are going to be redicolous this year!!!

Yes...he's a fairweather fan.
By the way..I'm a plumber in MA..Cass is good people..great plumber.
Even though he roots fer the wrong team.
As far as becoming a plumber here...all you need to do is a few hundred hours of school, work for a master for a few years, pass the test and there ya have it.
I see other trades make as much or close to it with much less hassle to get their certification/licensing.
I know most L-scapers here do plowing in the winter...have you looked into it?

[scrapin]

Thanks Grumpy!
Yes I do plowing in the winter but obviously it is not a dependable source!!
Do u know where I could start taking classes, and who I could hook up with to start this process?
Thanks

[master plumber mark]

in this state I am required to pay
for my apprentice to learn to be a plumber....

most cant read and write , so they got a problem
wanting to attend classes....

and they have atitude about having to go
one tuesday night a week.
damn what the heck do you expect of me anyway???


so usually I get burnt every so often to the tune
of about 400 per semester once they flunk out.
first time at bat....they never make it any further.


you know--- Tuesday night is Ladies night at some
bar somewhere in this town and they cant miss that...
just to get a journeymans lisc...that is too much to have to give up.
----------------------------------------------------------------------


your best bet is to call around and ask close -by
plumbers if they need a slave this winter.......


1. tell them you will pay for your own education....
2 tell them you will work at the botom rung
of the pay scale...... that might be incentive
enough for them to take you on

3. tell them you will plow their drivewaays for free
and that will probably land you the job....lol



I would not know what to say or do if someone came
to my shop wanting to pay for his own education,
and work for me part time through the winter
and plow my shop driveway......

I might break down crying

[scrapin]

Wow!! Pay for the their education so why would you even take anyone on? What a redicolous law! Well if I was in Indiana I would help you out, even plow your driveway at your house!! Thanks for the input

[GrumpyPlumber]

Say hello to Mark, another good plumber..been around the biz a while...a little jaded when it comes to the hired help though...

[master plumber mark]

GRUMPY
Its really hard to believe that I have done
this 3 times since 87 for really good fellows
I had working for me andhave basically gotten stung
three times....

I think that the reason they make us pay is because
most young apprentices simply dont have the money
or even decent transportation to work....


Now ,,,, of course you can deduct that
400 bucks from their pay all the time that they are in
school and put it towards the next sementer
and it sort of works out ok, but its a bookkeeping headache.

but then when they fail or drop out a few weeks into
the semester thats when you got a problem..cause you have had
to pay in full for that class.....

and its sort of like spitting in my face

I had one quit so I could not glean another $300 bucks out of
him for the class he deicded not to go to.

so GRUMPY do you fire a good apprentice when you are busy
or just look the other way


you cant blame them for not knowing how to
read and write....

but they know what a shovel is
and how to haul a boiler down a flight of stairs.......

[GrumpyPlumber]

Mark...no debate here.
One of the reasons I decided on self employment was to get the heck away from the apprentices where I worked.
I got sick of being the bad guy and interupting social hour, or chats on the cellphones with the "sweety of the week", because I knew the boss was gonna be asking me why the job hadn't gone faster when I have help.
I love my work, but most often an 18-19 yr old kid's just there for the check on friday...and show up hungover through the week.
NOT all of them though....
Think of it like a filter...you want something good, you have to filter out all the bad....having hired 3 apprentices in the course of 20 years and making an overall conclusion seems limiting.
It also occurs to me that you can't be getting any younger...a 7 section CI isn't getting any lighter.

[master plumber mark]

Grumpy.....

you have seen it before.too ..and I am not saying
that I have not had a number of great apprentices
either along the way

the best one I ever had came from a job shoveling
pig crap out at the state fair for 7 bucks an hour...

he started out at 8.50 and thought he had died and
gone to heaven

he was my slave for about 5 years...

but finally when he got his journeymans lisc
then the demands began.....


At the end he Aaveraged only about 35 hours a week,
and could not work more due
to marital issues.....babies ect
we had a lot to do , but he could not
work overtime or Satrudays..........but he wanted a raise.......


told me he was giveing me a break working for me
at 20 per hour, he could be getting 27 at the union...

I told him no to let me hold him back.
he finally walked out my door a few weeks
later calling me a sob ect ect.....
because 20 bucks an hour and medical benefits were
not good enough.


so he went on to what he thought were greener
pastures makeing 24 bucks an hour.....

the guy that took him away from me with
all the big promises went under about 4 months later...


For some reason ....even to this day I still chuckle
about the way things went down........lol


anyway, that is the eternal cycle and you
just have to get used to it.


Another fellow I had with me who was all feet and ears
like a puppy dog when he came on , now has his own business....
and I respect him for doing it.....
I run into him every so often and have lunch....



but on average I figure about 90% were dumbasses.......

---------------------------------------------------------------------

I installed a 50 gallon Rhemm gas today,
and a 40 gallon brad white....


I got an 80 electric to do tomorrow....


they seem to be getting heavier,

but not that heavy yet.
.

[Dunbar Plumbing]

Unfortunately in KY the apprenticeship went belly-up due to funds. If it comes back I'm going to try to get a teacher's position if I can.

It's only one night a week, doing it for knowledge base and help new guys in the profession.

They have code courses now in KY that are very useful for those taking the journeyman's or master's test. 6 weeks, 2 days a week, 3 hours a day.


They cover the book from beginning to end and is very resourceful. I took that code course 2 months ago and appreciated all I gained from it.

Amazing how when I looked at the code book today.....how easily some of that falls out of your brain so quickly. I speak of the technical mumbo jumbo, not the baseline codes.

[Sharky]

I've been thinking about going for it too. I am a school teacher and have down time in the summer. I am either going to figure out this plumbing thing or go get a doctorate.

On one hand, it would be nice to have a doctorate. On the other hand, I really like working with my hands and I actually enjoy plumbing and always have. It is right up there with teaching in my book. Basically I just do things like fix the toilets and sinks at work (because the custodian can't seem to figure any of it out), but it is really enjoyable to me to see something go from broken to fixed and have the satisfaction of making something function again.

[master plumber mark]

To tell you the truth sharkey you would
be better off to do both.....

but focus much more on the doctorate....

a littel known secret about being around apprentice
plumbers for long periods of time.........

I honestly think that you become dumber as time
wears on ,
they sort of begin to melt your mind
because you have to breathe the same air while driveing
around in plumbing trucks and you have to
listen to their sad luck stories....
Its like having to listen to counrty music all day long......

after a while it begins to grind down on the side of your brain like a belt sander....

I sitll want to finish up my degree in psyc. someday too....
but I think that years of toxic exposure to them
has already done too much damage....

[got_nailed]

I went to a voteck school. They had plumbing classes that I went to for 4 years 2 house a day. When I got out of school I could get my journeyman. I started working for a local and then got my journeyman. I didn’t tell him I took the test and passed it. After working with him for a year I had him give me a letter saying I had a year in the field so I could get my masters.

At that point I gave him my journeyman’s card and I got a good raise. He was pissed that he didn’t know for over a year. I was able to get my Class C because of the year of as a journeyman.

I did go to trade school for gas fitting, sewage disposal systems, and water well/pump.

This gives me tradesman license for plumbing, gas fitting, sewage disposal systems, and water well/pump. I’m also a class b contractor and I’m able to take my class A when ever I need it. If I do start doing plumbing full time I will need to get my class A.

[hj]

If all it takes to become a contractor is to be a journeyman for a year, the standards must be very low around there. If you had come to me and told me you were able to be a master and start your own business, I would have told you, "Good luck. I hope you do better than half the companies in the phone book who are out of business."

[GrumpyPlumber]

WHY in the world would you work for a year on apprentice salary when you had your license??

Sharky...in all honesty, you're time would be best invested in a degree.
For the time/money invested in a plumbing license you'd have to break your back to earn it back (poet...don't know it).
A degree is more power/leverage...more potential earnings as long as you select the RIGHT area of study.
(I'd say engineering...higher degree's pay dividends on those)

[Sharky]

To tell you the truth sharkey you would
be better off to do both.....

but focus much more on the doctorate....

a littel known secret about being around apprentice
plumbers for long periods of time.........

I honestly think that you become dumber as time
wears on ,
they sort of begin to melt your mind
because you have to breathe the same air while driveing
around in plumbing trucks and you have to
listen to their stories.......

after a while it begins to grind down on the side of your brain like a belt sander....

I sitll want to finish up my degree in psyc. someday too....
but I think that years of toxic exposure to them
has already done too much damage....

Now THAT was a good read. Thanks for the chuckles and information.

[master plumber mark]

go for the degree..get your doctorate

DONT WASTE TIME jerking around with your hands...

you would be better off just watching

This Old House every day on tv...

and get a basic education on plumbing from that ....


rather than have to rub elbows
with a bunch of go-no-where morons

[dx]

Check with your state's licensing board for requirements.

In several states I am familiar with (midwest) it goes something like this:

1. You work for a licensed plumbing contractor for a couple of years and have to document it. It's usually stated as "4000 hrs of employment" or similar.

2. You then can take the test for Journeyman

3. You work for a licensed plumbing contractor for a couple more years and have to document it.

4. You then can take the test for Master

5. Then you can apply and get a license as a Plumbing Contractor (additional requirements vary)

You need the Plumbing Contractor license in order to do any work for the public on your own.

Classroom work (if any) required varies. Some states give partial credit (instead of some of the employment hours) for an engineering degree.

dx

[got_nailed]

Hj
I was tacking plumbing classes in high school for 4 years 2 hours a day.

Grumpy
I didn’t know if the guy would want me. And I just wanted a job where I could learn off someone first hand. IMO you can take as much school as you want but to do it is a different story. If I would have been hired as a journeyman I would have been cut lose after a week. I thought I needed time in the trenches where I could work side by side with someone.

[GrumpyPlumber]

Got Nailed...by what you posted I'm gonna guess you can get a license without putting in time as an apprentice?

[Dunbar Plumbing]

Vocational schools never offered plumbing as part of occupational learning in my area. It would of been nice to see it as it pays more than masonry, carpentry, automotive body shop and welding.

Plumbing is a broad field that can produce a great deal of revenue but the profession destroys the body over time. That body pain eases up though when you gather up the checks for deposit and know that the work is done and completed behind you, not thinking about the work in front of you.

In this profession though, the license doesn't make the plumber, the plumber makes the profession what it is, the license provides the legality.

There are plumbers out there that compliment the trade with good intentions and efforts, then there are others that create the scolding pattern of bad reps.

There is a plumber in my area that has a drug problem and has been pratically forced to not do plumbing anymore because no one trusts him. He gets the money up front and you can't get him back to start or finish the jobs. He's got a bad reputation for this and I've found numerous victims that were cautious with me as a result. <<<< I understand their point and attitude completely.

A license to some is a license to rob....and that's not fair.