Plumber CV: Example and Writing Guide

A plumbing manager reading CVs at 7pm after a day on site wants four things: current tickets, the kind of work he is hiring for, transport, and some sign that you turn up. If those answers are not on the first screen, your CV goes in the maybe pile.

So a plumber CV is not laid out like an office CV, where qualifications sit at the bottom because nobody checks whether a degree expired. A lapsed Gas Safe registration or an out-of-date backflow certificate means you legally cannot do the work. The certifications block goes near the top, under a three-line profile.

What gets screened in the first 20 seconds

• Current tickets. Not "gas qualified" but the registration number, the categories and the renewal year.
• Segment match. A plumber who spent six years on new-build second fix is a different hire from one running reactive callouts for a housing association. Only one fits the vacancy.
• Licence and transport. Full driving licence, own van, own tools.
• Attendance signals. Tenure, response targets, callback rate. Nobody writes "reliable" and gets believed. Write "98 percent of 4-hour emergency targets met over 14 months" and you get a call.

The structure to use, in order

1. Header: name, trade title, coverage radius, phone, email. The radius beats a full address: "Bristol and 30 miles" is what a scheduler needs.
2. Profile, three lines: segment, years, headline ticket.
3. Certifications and licences: numbers, categories, dates.
4. Work experience: reverse chronological, segment named in each role line.
5. Key skills: systems and techniques, not personality.
6. Tools and vehicle: one short block.
7. References: see the next section if you trade for yourself.

Certifications sit third for a practical reason. On a commercial job the contractor files your ticket in the compliance folder before you set foot on site. No number, no paperwork.

Certifications by region

List the ones that apply where you work, in full, with dates.

United Kingdom. NVQ Level 2 and Level 3 in Plumbing and Domestic Heating. City and Guilds 6035 or 6189. Gas Safe Register number with categories: CCN1, CENWAT, CKR1, HTR1, CPA1, MET1. Water regulations: WRAS approved contractor or WIAPS. G3 unvented hot water. CSCS card with type and expiry.

United States. Plumbing licence by state and level (apprentice, journeyman, master) with the number and issuing board. Backflow prevention tester certification. Medical gas installer certification (ASSE 6010 / 6020 / 6040). OSHA 10 or OSHA 30. Note state reciprocity, which widens your radius.

France. CAP Monteur en installations sanitaires. Bac Pro Technicien en installation des systemes energetiques. Mention Professionnelle Gaz. Habilitation electrique with the level (B0, BS, BR). PGN and PGP for gas work.

Spain. FP Grado Medio en Instalaciones de Produccion de Calor, or Fontaneria y Climatizacion. Carnet de instalador de gas, categoria A, B or C - state which. Carnet de instalador termico de edificios (RITE).

Write the number. "Gas Safe registered" reads as a claim. "Gas Safe 1234567, CCN1 CENWAT CKR1 HTR1, renewed March 2026" reads as a fact.

Writing the experience bullets

Name the segment in the role line. Domestic, commercial, industrial, new build, social housing, reactive maintenance, service contracts - different pace, paperwork and customer contact.

• Covered a reactive round of roughly 22 jobs a week across 1,400 social housing properties, at an 87 percent first-time fix rate.
• Installed and commissioned 60 to 70 combi boilers per year in occupied homes, including system flush and magnetic filter.
• Completed first and second fix on a 48-unit new build, working from architect drawings and sequencing with the electrical contractor.
• Fitted unvented cylinders under G3, 2 to 3 per week, no G3 defects flagged at handover.
• Ran the maintenance contract for 9 commercial sites including two care homes, to a 4-hour emergency target.
• Supervised 2 apprentices through their Level 2 portfolio, signing off on-site evidence.

Two rules. Start with a work verb - "installed", "diagnosed", "commissioned", never "responsible for". And keep the number in the same sentence as the work, so a skim-reader lands on it.

What to quantify

The figures this trade recognises: callouts per week, first-time fix rate, installs per year, contract value, properties on the round, apprentices supervised, response targets met, callback rate. In a CV they read as "18 to 25 reactive jobs a week", "maintenance contract worth 180k a year", "4-hour emergency SLA, 96 percent met", "under 3 percent callbacks in 12 months".

Approximate honestly. "Roughly 20 a week" is fine and no interviewer has ever objected. A precise-looking number you cannot defend is what goes badly.

Self-employed and sole traders

Six years of your own trading is not a gap, but it looks like one if you leave a blank space with "self-employed" across it. Treat it as a role with a company name: Sole trader, [Your Trading Name], Leeds, March 2019 to present, then describe it as you would an employed job.

State the client mix: "Domestic and light commercial. Around 70 percent homeowner work, 30 percent letting agents and two small commercial contracts." Add what an employee would not do: quoting, materials, public liability cover, notifying installations. Then give the same volume numbers as anyone else.

References worry sole traders because there is no line manager. Use a letting agent, a builder you subcontracted for, or your accountant for the trading history. Two named trade references with a phone number beat a former employer who barely remembers you.

Key skills worth listing

Copper soldering and brazing, press-fit (Geberit Mapress, Viega), plastic push-fit (Hep2O, JG Speedfit), unvented cylinders, underfloor heating, wet rooms and bathroom installs, drainage and soil stacks, leak detection, fault diagnosis, power flushing, first and second fix. Manufacturer tickets - Worcester Bosch, Vaillant, Ideal - are worth naming.

Soft skills without the waffle

Everyone writes "excellent communication skills". Replace it with what you actually do:

• "Work in occupied homes, including vulnerable residents. Dust sheets down, tools cleared, area left clean."
• "Give a price and a timescale before starting, and call before that figure changes."
• "Comfortable with landlords and homeowners - landlords want compliance paperwork and a fast turnaround, homeowners want the options explained."

Every one of those is checkable.

What to leave off

• A photo, if you apply in the UK or US. Not standard, and some systems handle images badly.
• Jobs from 15 years ago with no link to the trade. One line for that era is enough.
• "Hardworking team player" with nothing under it.
• Expired certifications shown as current. A manager who spots a lapsed number stops reading. Write "CCN1 - renewal booked April 2026" instead.

Example CV, mid-level plumber

JAMES OKONKWO

Plumber and Gas Engineer - Manchester and 30 miles

07700 900123, j.okonkwo@email.com, full UK licence, own van

Social housing and domestic plumber, in the trade since 2016, split between reactive maintenance and boiler installation. Around 20 callouts a week at an 89 percent first-time fix rate.

Certifications and licences

• Gas Safe Register 1234567 - CCN1, CENWAT, CKR1, HTR1 - renewed February 2026
• NVQ Level 3 Diploma in Plumbing and Domestic Heating, 2018
• G3 Unvented Hot Water Systems, 2023, valid to 2028
• CSCS Blue Skilled Worker card, expires June 2027
• Water Regulations (WRAS), 2022
• Full UK licence, no points

Experience

Maintenance Plumber - Northgate Housing (social housing, reactive)

Manchester, June 2021 to present

• Reactive round of 1,200 tenanted properties, 20 to 24 jobs a week.
• 89 percent first-time fix, helped by a stocked van of common parts.
• 4-hour emergency target met 96 percent of the time over 12 months.
• Around 300 gas safety checks and CP12 certificates a year, plus one apprentice mentored to Level 2.

Installation Plumber - Bright Heating Ltd (domestic installs)

Stockport, September 2018 to May 2021

• 55 to 65 combi and system boilers commissioned per year.
• Unvented cylinders under G3, roughly 2 a week.
• Bathroom and wet room installs, callbacks under 3 percent.

Apprentice Plumber - Bright Heating Ltd, Stockport, 2016 to 2018

Key skills

Copper soldering, press-fit (Mapress, Viega), push-fit (Hep2O, JG Speedfit), unvented cylinders, boiler installation and fault diagnosis, power flushing, leak detection, first and second fix, drainage. Worcester Bosch and Vaillant installer training.

Tools and vehicle

Own transit van, full hand and power tool kit, flue gas analyser calibrated annually, pressure test kit, thermal camera.

References

Two trade references on request.

One note on ATS

Large contractors, housing associations and facilities management firms run applications through an applicant tracking system, and it reads text, not layout. Send a text PDF rather than a scan, use plain headings, and skip two-column templates, which get read across the columns and come out scrambled.

Get the tickets visible, name the segment, put a number next to the work. That is most of what separates a CV that gets a call.