At HavMain we take pride in taking on the best apprentices and giving them the skills and experiences to prepare them for their future career. Academic performance and enthusiasm are crucial when applying, and we will only consider a candidate with at least 5 GCSE’s at grade C or above and we expect to see some A grades. A large proportion of our local competitors served their apprenticeships at our company. Whilst working as an apprentice we ensure full supervision by a professionally qualified technician. Below one of our current apprentices, Callum Coffin gives a brief account of his first year.
Callum Coffin HavMain Apprentice
“I’ve been here nearly a year now working for HavMain and have gained some good experience working with the people here. They’re all highly experienced at the job and brilliant to learn from. I never thought when I first started for the company that I would be working on three inch iron pipes and big commercial boilers, but I’ve really enjoyed it!
My aim is to become a qualified commercial gas and oil service engineer because I’m very interested in working on large commercial boilers and water heaters. Currently at college I’m working towards getting a NVQ level 2 plumbing certificate, but when I’ve finished this I want to go move on to working on my gas qualifications. Working for HavMain you get to travel not only around the Torbay area but down to Cornwall and North Devon working on the many contracts that HavMain have.
Being a first year apprentice meant that I came out of school when I was 16 years old and straight in to looking for an apprenticeship and being a plumbing and heating engineer really caught my eye. I first went about getting my job at HavMain by gaining a place at South Devon College. They then helped me get in contact with Stephen Havill the Managing Director of HavMain, who was impressed with my GCSE grades, and arranged an interview.
It’s been good this past year working for the company as I have gained the skills to pass practical exams in college. I have worked on a few big jobs now and my favourite was a job at a major high street retailer in Bridport Dorset. We had to renew a 3 inch gas line which was about 65 meters of threaded steel pipework and I got good experience putting clips on walls and working with an electric threading machine.
I had also been on a job in which we had to strip down a commercial boiler at a senior citizens care home and soak the modules of the boiler in an acid mix to remove the lime scale and rust build up. I really enjoyed doing this as it was different to a normal service on these types of boilers.
Overall I have really enjoyed my first year working for HavMain and I look forward to the many years of learning and experience that I am going to gain working for this company. My aim is to become fully qualified to be able to go out and complete jobs on my own. “
Great to have Callum on board and he has fitted in well with the team. A valued member of team HavMain who has completed some varied tasks in the past year.