Id agree with that I used to be in a buying group so trade was even cheaper , but it still doesnt beat shopping around.
I now import, and build my own CCTV, and some access, Intruder I buy from SW, Fire Ebay, and I have given some thought about importing Telephone entry. (Ebay was a joke BTW)
The industry is changing, but I would say its actually going in a direction that it once was. Years ago it used to be only the bigger houses with plenty of contents worth stealing, soon followed by smaller and smaller properties. Now many of the smaller domestics are diying or using one of those app systems that dont really work(Sooner or later though someone will invent a reliable one that will work). I do not see this as a problem we dont get many small domestics anyway, we prefer the bigger jobs that are reliant on an approved security system for insurance purposes.
All ours are multi skilled, but we try to put round pegs in round holes. We have installation engineers that are able to do the odd service, and service engineers that are able to help out installing.
Again this is dependant on area company skill set ote ect, but there is a discussion in the trade are of this forum with reports of £50k+ I reckon our best engineer would be max £45k inc OTE and I recon thats a high estimate. Average would be in the region of £30k ish plus ote. Call-out for some companies is an earner for engineers, but we dont get that many calls out of hours nowadays.
Compared to 16 he is mature, especially as he previous career wasnt related to this history. Anyone over 25 is considered mature trainee, but is cheaper on vehicle insurance for older
It really depends on what the pay is in Essex for a good engineer. Expect anything between 16k and 21k as a trainee wage, you can pick it up quite quickly I have a mature engineer (28yrs old) started on £20k been with me a year/18 months and he is on £26k plus OTE (about £30k overall). His money started going up quite quickly once he started installing on his own.
It really depends on how fast you can pick it up, couple of years I would expect to see a reasonable engineer. Some I know have been doing it from years and are still useless.
Send your CV out to local companies, if your happy to take a pay cut while training this is the best way to get into this industry.
There are many things to learn in this industry that you will not learn from a text book or classroom. Panel wiring for instance originally it was two circuit per device then there was EOL and every manufacturers use their own combination of EOL then there is ID biscuit, and other manufacturers have their own ID type systems. There are hundreds of different panels out there and to be a worthy engineer you need to know what your doing with all of them, its no good turning up at Mr& Mrs Smiths and saying sorry this panel wasnt covered in the Tavcom course we need to change the panel. Most co's will take on mature trainees with a clean drivers license, you are more likely to turn up everyday and more willing to graft in most cases.
Both maintenance's seem steep but I am no where near you so, they may not be that steep, If its fully comp then its a reasonable charge in comparison to what I would charge ( I do not really do fully comp).
You sound like you are quite capable, if you can change the batteries yourself, but you dont need to install a new one just default the codes and reprogram the one you have