Rebecca is a 40-year-old media consultant, plumber and single mother who was forced to reconsider her career options when the pandemic hit.
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I’ve always been fascinated by the trades, but I didn’t learn much about them until two years ago. Until then, my closest contact with DIY was tightening up a screw on a door. I would have referred to myself as woefully impractical, probably because I was never encouraged to do any kind of practical DIY.
Before upskilling as a plumber, I worked as the Head of Development for a TV company. Then the pandemic hit and I was made redundant. Soon after, I had my daughter.
After my period of statutory maternity leave, I wanted to take stock of my life and evaluate what to do next. I’m an advocate of portfolio careers, and whilst I know I wanted to maintain the momentum I had in the media landscape I knew during the pandemic the opportunities would be considerably fewer. I registered with the Job Centre and was made aware of a scheme called Connecting Communities, which gave me a small grant of £500 to go and study any course that caught my interest.
The woman took me at my word and nodded. I thought, why not? So, I registered for a one-week-long introductory course in plumbing.
Soon after, I undertook a six-week course at Able Skills to gain a Technical Level 2 Diploma in plumbing. Luckily, City & Guilds funded it.
It wasn’t easy… I was a single parent, so each day was manic. I got my daughter up in the morning, handed her over to a family member, headed into the centre in Dartford, worked hard in the workshop doing practical and theoretical work, picked up my daughter, put her to bed, and then spent my night studying for one of the nine exams on the course. And, to be completely honest, I’d never heard of or seen some of the tools before.
Some people think that shorter courses don’t give value for money or don’t test people enough, but I can say that my course was very testing and taxing. My daughter wasn’t a brilliant sleeper at the time, so I was only getting three to five hours of broken sleep each night.
I expanded my skills even further by taking a course in Water Regulations and another in Unvented Cylinders, both of which were funded by City & Guilds.
There were 12 of us, and I was the only woman. It’s sad to say, but I expected a boy’s club mentality or sexist remarks. I was proven wrong. Perhaps it was because the teacher had a no-nonsense attitude, or because it was an intensive course where most people were over the age of 30 and serious about getting a qualification. I also surprised my peers by being able to help them with the more academic, writing-based work, so maybe that worked in my favour.
My being a woman was never commented on. It was good for me in some aspects. I got my own toilet, whereas all 11 of them had to share one.
My gender probably became more apparent when I asked for help with heavy lifting. If we ever had to move a metal bathtub or a porcelain toilet, I’d ask someone to help me. But this was more for concern that I would break something than worries about my strength.
Of course, there were a few challenges. My time of the month proved to be a personal barrier, and I think that sort of thing should be spoken about more. That, and the dilemma of finding overalls and protective gloves in the right size. Very little protective clothing is tailored toward women.
Being a single parent, I have to be quite flexible and take on shorter jobs to prioritise working around my daughter. I tend to focus on smaller maintenance work, which is great because that’s where I feel most confident.
The best part of any job is solving a problem for a client, especially one that’s been stressing them out. They don’t know if a pipe will burst and flood the room, or worse. Basically, they don’t know what we know. I love reassuring them and taking the burden off their shoulders.
Because I’m used to smaller maintenance work, I usually resolve issues on the same visit. I get frustrated when I have to stretch a job across two or three days. I don’t begrudge going back, but I think the expectation is that maintenance work will be completed in one day.
That being said, if I have to come back another day, I make sure to give my client advice on how to isolate the issue.
In the summer months, my alarm clock goes off earlier and earlier. It’s okay though, because she’s very sweet. My daughter is three, and she tends to wake me up with a “Good morning, Mummy”, but sometimes she wakes me up with a fart and a giggle!
It sounds cliché, but everything I do is for her.
A typical day in my life starts with feeding my daughter. After that, we watch children’s TV shows like ‘Peter Rabbit’. I refuse to watch anything like ‘In the Night Garden’ because it drives me up the wall.
Then comes my favourite part of the day. On the way to nursery, my daughter and I hold hands and walk through a nearby park, talk about anything and everything, and pick dandelions.
By nine or ten, I’m cracking on with my work for the day.
Because of the seasonality of my work, I blend plumbing with media consulting. Right now, I’m planning on combining them to become a spokesperson for women in the trades.
I don’t have too much spare time, so I tend to prioritise rest. I switch my brain off in front of the big screen or the TV, and I don’t always watch the best quality content… I enjoy ‘Police Interceptors’ and ‘The Real Housewives’.
Like everyone else, I’ve been tightly wrapped up in ‘Baby Reindeer’, and carefully considering the ethics of it.
Apart from that, I’ve become quite good at shooting a long bow, and I also enjoy poetry, short stories, and creative writing. I’m currently writing a play about single motherhood.
Looking back, my situation was quite fortuitous. I was introduced to someone who gave me the opportunity to receive funding through a community scheme. It opened my eyes to the value of learning a trade.
I enjoy the science and physics behind plumbing, and it feeds into all the other trades quite well. If you have a nagging interest in trades like I did, there’s no harm in taking an introductory course, even for just one day.
It can be hard for older learners, or people who don’t have alternative income streams. Before I completed my qualification, my neighbours were already inquiring about work. I entered the plumbing trade and set my hourly rate around a similar level to what I charge for my media consulting, which is backed by 18 years of experience.
Ultimately, trades will always be in demand. There’s no harm in trying, especially if you’ve always been interested in the trades.
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