Summary of our Chimney Sweep Training For Beginners:
Initial Training:
5 Day Chimney Sweep Training For Beginners – £1599 + VAT
Josh Firkins’ Chimney Sweep Training For Beginners covers theory and practical elements of chimney sweeping in unrivalled depth. From building regs and legislation to being able to identify the features of soot from different fuel and burn types, to being able to inspect a chimney stack, to being able to power sweep or manually sweep a chimney.
Optional extras:
On site practical days with a qualified chimney sweep (before or after course) – £125 + VAT per day
A day working on site in peoples houses on real chimneys and appliances with one of our professional, qualified chimney sweeps.
Ongoing chimney and business related CPD – from £120 + VAT per course (1 day)
A range of courses covering aspects of chimney sweeping ranging from knowing the characteristics and materials of various flue types, to being able to build and market your business.
Our Chimney Sweep Training For Beginners – Explained:
The Trainer
Josh Firkins’ specialism is training inexperienced aspiring chimney sweeps to fulfil their ambition. Those from a white collar background will have just as much opportunity for success as those from a trade background.
Chimneys are in Josh’s blood. Or maybe it’s soot in his blood? Either way, his background is quite possibly unmatched in the sector.
A 6th generation chimney sweep, his father is also still a chimney sweep, his Grandfather was a chimney sweep, as well as great uncles brothers. Their Father and uncles were chimney sweeps, and their Fathers and uncles were chimney sweeps. Across the generations, chimney sweeps born with the name Firkins have swept millions of chimneys across London, Middlesex, Essex and Hertfordshire. Literally millions.
Firkins chimney sweeps had offices in Crouch End, Tottenham, East Dulwich, New Cross and Palmers Green among other places. Searches of late 19th century and early 20th century directories focusing on the specific keywords ‘chimney’ and ‘Firkins’ are eye opening.
Those generations of experience are thoroughly exploited in order to pass on and share as much of that knowledge as possible to those wishing to master the trade of chimney sweeping, solid fuel appliance servicing and installations of chimneys and appliances.
And those years of experience have been exploited previously by Josh. Exploited by training his employees, exploited by training other chimney sweeps, exploited by training aspiring sweeps to be the best they can be.
The Training
The training begins with the APICS beginner training course (£1599 + VAT). This is a 5 day, intensive course. A mix of theory, practical and ongoing assessment. Theory elements include:
- Relevant building regulations and legislation
- Fuel types
- Appliance types
- Sweeping methods
- Soot identification
- Fault finding
- Equipment choice
- Dust suppression
- Principles of flues
- Combustion
- Ventilation
- Flue types
- Flue materials
- Chimney structures
- Advice on purchasing necessary equipment – what you need to buy
The practical elements include:
- Sweeping flues manually
- Power chimney sweeping
- Using CCTV chimney inspection equipment
- Smoke testing
- Fault finding
- Using draught gauges
- Disassembling and reassembling stoves
- Servicing stoves
- Commissioning appliances
Once this has course has been completed, you will be in a position to register with your association, order your certificates of chimney sweeping to issue to your customers and begin sweeping chimneys.
What next?
The next step is a mixture of our on site practical days (select locations throughout the UK) which are £125 + VAT per day. This payment is passed on in full to the qualified, professional chimney sweep who will be taking you out on their jobs.
Alongside this, you will be going on your own jobs, earning money in peoples houses sweeping chimneys and servicing appliances.
In case you come across anything you are not aware of when on site, you will have access to our WhatsApp group. In this group will be people that have attended our previous courses, your trainer, and various other vastly experienced chimney professionals. If you have an issue or something you aren’t sure about, someone there will surely be able to give some useful advice.
Following on from this foundation, you will have the option to continue learning and developing your craft with our suite of CPD courses focused around both chimneys and business. So you can be sure that your development is on point, both in the respect of giving your customers the best service possible, and knowing you’re as profitable as you possibly can be.