ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Plumbers >>> Electricians?

What is really crazy is PA. plumbers need liscenses but their is no license for electricians in our state.

Here in Illinois there is a state license for plumbers but not for electricians. Many villages, cities, towns, etc have their own electrical licensing test and most of them will give reciprocity.

I have heard the Illinois General assembly has shot down the idea of a state issued license, for reasons I can't understand.

I would like to see this happen someday. It may get rid of the unqualified guys running around with a screwdriver and a wiggy calling themselves 'electricians'.

I only wish EC's were as together as plumbers. EC's pricing varies widely from $30/hr to $75/hr. Plumbers are all consistantly $65-$75+. That's IF you can even get a plumber to respond. I've had many people ask if I could recommend a plumber becasue they have been trying to get one for weeks!

What really ticks me is when people assume that electrical work is easy. "Oh yeah, that's easy. It's the same thing everyday. Tie a wire here and there, you're done." Uhm, no? Think what you want to think, but it's a demanding job and does get hard sometimes.

Looking through some advertising for plumbers and electricians I see some differences. Plumbers mostly say "We charge by the job, not the hour". Electricians mostly say "Lowest prices guaranteed" . If you can't see the point you are part of the problem.

Here in Australia you must complete a 4 yr apprenticeship (officially gov recognised)and then be licensed to do electrical work. Plumbers also need to do this. For domestic work private contractors seem to charge more than electricians but wage workers earn less. Seems we at least have licensing to keep out the cowboys and with fewer people being trained our wages keep rising as it gets harder to get tradespeople.

Around here, the plumbers and electricians make about the same amount of money. It's not quite fair IMO since a plumber doesn't run as much risk of being killed or killing someone else when he makes a mistake.
On the other hand, plumbers deal with drinkable water and sanitation and where an electrician risks hurting one or two people with a mistake, plumbers risk making large quantities of people sick.
Both have always been considered "Pipe trades" so mabybe the pay should be close to equal but, when Foestauf talked about the $1500.00-$2000.00 a month, I almost fell over. In michigan, the average electrician and plumber both make more than double that working 40 hours a week.

On the lighter side,
The only things I really know about plumbing is that flows downhill, the boss is a jerk and payday is friday!

[This message has been edited by electure (edited 11-21-2005).]

if I'm not mistaken, I think NJ recently instituted an education requirement in order to get a plumbing license in this state. I can't speak of anyplace but NJ, but it seems that the pluming contractors association does a much better job of supporting it's members than the electrical contractors association does.

just my $0.02

You forgot "cold water goes on the right".
Now you are a plumber. ;-)