APPRENTICESHIPS
THE FIRST STEP ON
THE CAREER LEADER
Are apprentices worth
taking a risk on?
In the third of HPM’s new column on apprenticeships,
James Lawrence, from Plumberparts, talks to Bethan
Grylls about his experience of employing one.
WHY DID YOU WANT AN
APPRENTICE?
“I wanted to give something back. I was
an apprentice at one time. Someone took
the risk of taking me on – namely my dad.
There were a lot of young lads I saw that
didn’t have much direction. So, I wanted
to do this little thing and help one of
them out.”
HOW DID THEY FIND YOU?
“The apprentice begged me. In all
honesty, it took a lot of persuasion for
me to consider taking them on, because
you work for yourself, on your own for so
long.”
HOW EASY WAS ACCESSING THE
INFORMATION ABOUT TAKING ON
AN APPRENTICE?
“I’m lucky because the college he attended
– Cambridge Regional College – was
where I went when I was an apprentice,
and I knew all the teachers. It was really
easy to find out information. It had some
really good schemes actually that took
away the risk of taking on an employee at
that age.”
DO YOU THINK THE TRAINING
ROUTES OFFERED ARE GOOD
ENOUGH?
“Is enough being done by schools and
colleges? Personally, I don’t think the
problem is with schools and colleges. This
is going to sound awful…it’s parenting.
But many youngsters can’t be bothered to
work either. They haven’t got a good day’s
work in them. They’ve got an attention
span of half an hour, they’re always on
their phones. One-man-bands aren’t
willing to take an apprentice, purely
because they’re a massive risk as a result of
the way they behave.”
WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THE
RUMOURS THAT SOME COLLEGES
COURSES ARE JUST MONEYMAKING
SCHEMES?
“A lot of teachers are ex trade, or they’re
taking time out of their week to teach.
Let’s face it, everybody’s got to make
money, but as long as the courses are
correct and the syllabus is in line with
what they’re learning at work so it all ties
up together, then let them make money.
Otherwise if they don’t, it’s going to be
even worse. We’ll lose that facility that
we get one, two days a week, where us
employers get of peace and quiet when
they’re at college.”
HOW DID HAVING THE APPRENTICE
IMPACT YOU?
“It was good. I earned a lot of money out
of him. He was employed by the college
and was paid at the end of the month by
it. So, at the end of each month I’d tell
the college how many hours he’d done,
it would add a little bit to it – so say he’d
done 20 hours, it charged me £6 an hour,
it paid him £5 an hour, and that extra
pound would go to covering his holiday
and sick pay. So, there was no risk to
me whatsoever. At the same time, I was
charging his time out to my customers at
£12 to £15 an hour. I was making money
out of him without any risk.”
HOW DID YOU PLAN YOUR
APPRENTICE’S DAY?
“Every day is different, you can’t prepare
in advance because it’s such a diverse
“Tell apprentices to work
like they’re working on
their own house”
job. At the end of a day’s work, I would
send my apprentice a diagram which
was numbered. He would then have to
tell me what numbers collated to which
components in the heating system. It
wasn’t hardcore stuff, but it gave him
something to think about.”
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF
HAVING AN APPRENTICE?
“You can do jobs quicker and over
time, much quicker. You can earn more
money out of them. But it’s not just about
teaching someone or the money. If it’s
a really good success, it can lead to a
lifelong friendship as well.”
WHAT WOULD YOU LOOK FOR IN AN
APPRENTICE?
“Have they gone to sixth form or not.
Taking them on at 16 is too risky; they
don’t know what they want to do at that
age. Going through sixth form might
help mature them. I wouldn’t take an
apprentice on under the age of 19. Maybe
start them off early at weekends, so when
they do come out of school, they can
do four hours with you on a Saturday
morning, earn a bit of money, and build
it up like that. You don’t have to jump
headlong in.”
HOW WAS YOUR EXPERIENCE
OVERALL?
“It was a really good. He didn’t do the
whole time with me admittedly, because
my website, the YouTube channel and
everything with online got so busy and I
couldn’t offer them the apprenticeship I
wanted to. So, I sorted them out another
job. I didn’t want to give him a halfhearted
apprenticeship. I found a local
company for him, but now he is fully out
on his own.
WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO
SOMEONE WHO IS THINKING ABOUT
TAKING ON AN APPRENTICE?
“Don’t commit to them straight away. Give
them a good month working with you. You
don’t have to sign any contracts. And pay
them. Tell them if they’re serious about it,
they can go and buy their own tools with
the money they get from you. If they come
back with their own little tool bag, you
know they’re really into it. My apprentice
did that. The tools he bought were awful,
but it showed he cared. Tell apprentices
to work like they’re working on their own
house. Don’t ever cut corners in front of
you apprentice. Always do things properly.”
James Lawrence took on an apprenticeship as he wanted
someone to experience the same opportunities his father
offered him
32 Heating & Plumbing Monthly | MAY 2018 | www.hpmmag.com
/www.hpmmag.com
