I agree with Neilydun, but i think quality of work is secondary now.Unfortunately cost is the primary concern.If your cheap you will be first on the list in front of someone who is conscientious & neat.We fit common areas where other fitters put 1 or no screws in nosings and it is accepted or ignored,until there is an accident then it's the fitters fault.All the time contract prices get less & we have to do more for our money.My NVQ was more about H &S than my ability.Common sense is not expected anymore it has been replace by parts of the CSCS rightly or wrongly. I'll be pleased when the football's back next week so i can moan about something else.
just found a old thread that was discussing the Q&A Card from fita http://theflooringforum.com/showthread.php?6118-fita-training-and-Q-A-card-Is-it-a-scam
Your NVQ should be about can you meet the standards and yes a lot of H+S. Me personally i dont like the way the NVQ works. But i dont write it and nothing i can do about it. As above, the NVQ does not mean your a good fitter. You can be a poor quality installer but as long as you can meet teh standards you pass. That is what the Government want. They want people to show they can meet teh standards and have the knowledge to install SAFELY. This is the same for every trade. Suppose you could compare to Maths when you was at school. A floorlayer would benefit alot more from maths being involved more around area and planning etc, not algebra what ever it was called that most of the worlds population dont need to know about. However in a exam you would of done at school a lot of the questions would of been around algebra. Where i think the NVQ is wrong is the levels (level 1,2,3) . I think teh levels should be awarded at how good you are at your job. So a level 1 nvq is someone with basic skills. A level 3 being someone with high quality skills. But it dont work like that.
I can tell you now there is an so called Professional in our village and he displays NICF on his van, I would not let him fit my dogs kennel, but still customers think he is good as he says I am a member of the NICF, what can you do when so called installers do this. ripping off customers.
Ask him to cap & cove your dog kennel . That will test him !!!!! I know of s@it fitters that seem to have loads of work !! Makes me sick !!
