Bathroom and kitchen fitters install showers, bathtubs, sinks, toilets, and storage cabinets. You may be replacing old equipment, installing new flooring, plastering or tiling walls, painting and decorating, plumbing, or even doing electrical work.
You’d also measure and build kitchen cabinets and install worktops to precise specifications, all while working around hidden pipes and appliances.
Responsibilities
Throughout your apprenticeship, you may help:
- use a range of hand and power tools
- measure out work areas
- rip out and dispose of old units and suites
- mark the location of pipes and cables
- measure and cut worktops, recesses and joints
- fit units and appliances
- tile walls and lay flooring
- clear away debris at the end of the job
- follow building regulations to meet health and safety.
Salary
- Apprentice bathroom and kitchen fitters can earn £17,000 – £20,000
- Trained bathroom and kitchen fitters with some experience can earn £20,000 – £35,000
- Senior and master bathroom and kitchen fitters can earn £35,000 – £50,000
- Self-employed bathroom and kitchen fitters set their own pay rates.
Working hours
As an apprentice, you will be fully employed by your company and expected to work 43 to 45 hours a week including evening and weekends. Your time will be split between on-the-job experience and a college or training provider.
Working environment
You could work at a client’s home or at a client’s business.
Your working environment may be dusty and physically demanding.
Qualifications
Qualifications you can achieve as an apprentice bathroom and kitchen fitter include:
- Level 2 Carpentry and Joinery – Entry requirements for this level include some GCSEs, usually including English and maths, or equivalent, for an intermediate apprenticeship. This qualification takes 24 months to complete.
- Level 3 Plumbing and Domestic Heating Technician – Entry requirements for this level include 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths, for an advanced apprenticeship. This qualification takes 48 months to complete.
Skills
On a bathroom and kitchen fitter apprenticeship, you’ll learn:
- to be thorough and pay attention to detail
- knowledge of maths
- knowledge of building and construction
- the ability to work well with others
- the ability to work well with your hands
- physical skills like lifting, bending and carrying
- to be flexible and open to change
- knowledge of manufacturing production and processes
- to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device.
Career path and progression
You can get work with construction companies, design firms, kitchen and bathroom manufacturers, and retail establishments. You could even start your own business.
With more training, such as computer-aided design, you might go into planning and installation design (CAD).
You might move to the role of business development manager, area sales coordinator, or project manager in control of a team of designers and installers in a larger company.