How You Can Become A Plumber

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To be a plumber may seem easy to many people. All they have to do is unblock pipes and hook up sinks and toilets right? Wrong! Being a plumber is a lot more technical than that and requires numerous years of training. Most people will only use licensed plumbers in any case.

One of the first requirements to learning to be a plumber is actually a matric or matric equivalence. This ensures that you have the required mathematical knowledge since mathematics is currently compulsory for a matric certificate. There are numerous colleges and technical trade schools that can provide you with a bit of a head start. These would offer classes like technical drawing which help you to understand blueprints. Having a matric also ensures that you will be able to read and understand documents like contracts at a suitable level.

The next thing is to get accepted as an official apprentice to an already licensed plumber. Your apprenticeship must last at least three years. Along with this apprenticeship, you need to do approximately three hundred hours of theory work in order to be aware of and understand the work that you will likely be tested on once you take the licensing exam.


You also have to be at least eighteen years old for you to sit the exam. The exam occurs over two days. Over the course of those two days you will be examined on five different areas of expertise. You need to pass all of them to get your license.

There's two options for obtaining your plumbers license. The one is through Construction Education Training Authority (CETA) the other is through passing a Department of Labour trade test for plumbing. Both of these are costly, particularly if you are not earning an income. Some companies that adopt apprentices will pay for the apprenticeship courses and license exam, then claim it back from taxes as skills training. This is usually your best option for getting your license, but not everyone can get this type of good break.

Other things to take into consideration include your potential for doing mechanical work. Unless you enjoy working with your hands, then being a plumber isn't for you. You also need ot know enough math and planning skills in order to estimate and quote on jobs. Should you underestimate, you will be out of pocket, should you overestimate, the client may well go elsewhere for their plumbing necessities. It's also advisable to be relatively strong as some plumbing supplies are fairly heavy, you do not need to be a body builder to be able to manage, but your average computer nerd is not going to be able to lift and carry the parts you will need.


Becoming a plumber can be just as convoluted as the pipes they work on, so consider your career path carefully before beginning any qualification. If there are more aspects that you won't be able to handle than aspects you'll manage, then you should definitely reconsider. Not everyone can become a plumber and you've got to be really good to get an income in this very competitive market.

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