The plumber makes sure that water comes in clean, that heat is distributed, and that wastewater leaves safely again. It is a trade in high demand, with good pay and a low barrier to getting started — and at the same time a trade with responsibility, because you work with drinking water, gas and heat, where safety has to be right. Here is why you should consider the trade.
A plumber installs and maintains water, heating, drainage and gas — from a new bathroom in a detached house to large heating and ventilation systems in industry and institutions. You work with pipes, fittings, pumps, vessels and valves, and you measure up, calculate flow and pressure, and build a solution that stays watertight for many years. It's a trade where you use both your hands and your head.
§Why this trade in particular?
Because water and heat are always needed. There is building, renovating and energy optimisation going on everywhere, and heat pumps, district heating and energy renovation place heavy demands on skilled plumbers. Demand is steady and high, and you can get started through a vocational education with pay during the apprenticeship — instead of paying to study.
- 01High demand — the trade is short of hands, so apprenticeships and jobs are easy to find.
- 02Pay during training — you earn from day one of the work placement.
- 03No two days are alike — one week a bathroom, the next a heating system or a fault-finding job.
- 04You see the result — a system that works, a bathroom that is finished, heat that reaches every corner.
- 05Career path — from apprentice to journeyman, and on to authorised plumbing installer, foreman or your own company.
§What must you be able to do — and learn?
You need to be able to read a drawing, join pipes tightly (soldering, press-fitting, threading), size them for flow and pressure, and understand hydraulics and heat theory. Parts of plumbing work — especially drinking water and gas — are subject to authorisation requirements, and the full path goes via the vocational programme to qualified VVS-energi technician and on to authorised installer.
- 01Pipe joining — soldering copper, press fittings, threaded joints and drains.
- 02Hydraulics — flow, velocity, pressure and pumps in water-based systems.
- 03Heat theory — heat output, heating and expansion in closed systems.
- 04Drinking-water hygiene — backflow prevention and legionella.
- 05Rule set — DS standards and the Building Regulations for water, heating and drainage.
§How you get started
The usual route is the vocational education programme (basic course + main course) with an apprenticeship at a plumbing firm. Many firms are actively looking for apprentices. Want a feel for the trade first? Create a free account and explore the articles, calculators and product range here — then you'll know what you're getting into.
“The best thing about the trade is that what I make, people use every single day — water from the tap, heat in the radiator. It just has to work, and I'm the one who makes sure it does.”