when i finish this course i will get an ICA (intermediate construction award) but many people at the same college who are doing an NVQ say that an ICA isnt worth hardly anything and i would not be able to get on a site with this... so i was wondering if anyone has got this award and knows anything about it and what you can achieve from it...

so how much experience do you look for?

[quote author=warreng  link=1132685821/0#2 date=1132758467]so how much experience do you look for? [/quote]

All depends on what work it is.  We once built a pharmaceutical H/Q where all brickwork had to be perfect.  Maximum tolerance was ± 1mm per 1500mm on gauge and ALL perps had to be EXACTLY plumb. All joints were raked out to 10mm (not 9mm or 11mm but 10mm!)  There were squints, cants, dentils, buttresses etc (very fancy building but too OTT for my tastes)

Not a job for unskilled brickies.

Lots of guys can learn by running in jack walls etc.  This teaches speed if not accuracy.

At the end of the day I look for perfection in a guy I want to do setting out and important facework.  He has to be neat and quick.  For this he can earn in excess of £1000 a week.  Lesser brickwork requires less skills so a 'reasonable' brickie would manage £600 - £700 a week.

Some guys I've worked with have been at it for years and are still hopeless.  Slow, rough, unreliable and unable to set-out.

You never stop learning imho.

It took me about 4 years full time to get 'good' (that was over 25 years ago!) so it's not an easy thing to master but you never lose that skill.

ok so how can you get on a site in the first place if you havent got an NVQ? i cant just go and work on a site and then take a picture of a wall and say thats the evidence...

also how much evidence do you need? how much actual experience are they looking for?

if not that...what if you just did a whole modern apprenticeship course with a company? this will allow you to train on a site as well as go to college and you will achive an NVQ....

Quote:



crikey jerry you wouldn't wqant some of the brickies that i have seen on sites round here then


done a new school bout 6 years ago they got fed up knocking walls down to rebuild them cos they were out of square. in the large open area the walls were so far out of square they had the ground fixed hard to the wall at the bottom but had 2*2 + packers at the top about 10 ft high if i remember correctly.metal conduit came down the surface of the block and off set into the raggle at the bottom for the low level sockets

[quote author=warreng  link=1132685821/0#6 date=1133021717]ok so how can you get on a site in the first place if you havent got an NVQ? i cant just go and work on a site and then take a picture of a wall and say thats the evidence... [/quote]

If you're a mature person then its a bit of chicken and the egg situation. NVQs are all geared up for 16yr apprienctices. If you're lucky you might find a company that will take you on and allow you to gain evidence for an NVQ and not be so bothered about the lack of an NVQ. I'd try smaller companies. At the very least you'll need a Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) card from the CITB for the larger companies. This tells the company that you know you're health and safety stuff. You should get this card via your college, I'm getting mine in Dec sometime.
http://www.citb.co.uk/cardschemes/whatisacardscheme/

[quote author=warreng  link=1132685821/0#6 date=1133021717]also how much evidence do you need? how much actual experience are they looking for? [/quote]

Not much evidence really, just proof that you have done the practical work and also some other little bits and pieces which are geared up for the 16yr olds.