Off The Job: A Tradesman Podcast — Season 1, Episode 4
What happens when gas engineers Billy and Kaz fall for each other, keep separate businesses, and still spend the evening talking about boilers? In this episode, hosts Keiran Yates and Pete Withers meet them for an hour of career detours, awkward customer assumptions, a van break-in and a surprisingly serious argument about doughnuts.
If this is your first Off The Job podcast episode, welcome. It is a UK trades podcast produced by Trade Apps: useful stories from people on the tools, with absolutely no guarantee that the conversation will stay on the rails. Watch the full Billy and Kaz episode on YouTube.
Who are gas engineers Billy and Kaz?
Kaz spent 22 years with British Gas and had worked in gas engineering for roughly 25 years when this conversation was recorded. She now runs her own business, focusing mainly on boiler servicing, fault finding and repairs, along with smaller plumbing jobs. Billy came to the trade through 11 years in the Royal Engineers; he trained in gas before leaving the Army and went on to domestic and commercial work. They are a couple, but each runs a separate business. That last point is a deliberate choice, as the episode makes abundantly clear.
How did Kaz become a gas engineer?
It was hardly a neat school-to-apprenticeship pipeline. Kaz considered electrical work, tried a plumbing course, worked in a factory and then applied for a British Gas apprenticeship after a tip from her mum’s colleague. The selection process was tough; she earned her place on merit, and she is understandably tired of people assuming otherwise.
Years later, changes to working hours made the job harder to fit around life as a single mum. So Kaz left and set up on her own. She built work through an agency, a Facebook page and customer recommendations. She did not need to pretend she wanted to fit bathrooms every week: servicing, repairs and the smaller jobs other engineers pass over became a viable niche.
What is it like being a woman in gas engineering?
Kaz’s answer is more interesting than the usual tidy headline. She recalls customers being surprised to find a woman at the door and one who questioned whether a man should return when a filter would not budge. Kaz found the right tool and got it open. She also says most of her experience has been positive, including supportive colleagues and customers. Some women and older customers actively felt more comfortable with her visiting their homes.
She does not describe every day as a battle. She does explain the extra pressure to prove herself and the value of confidence, technique and being able to ring another engineer when a job gets awkward. That is a better answer to the question than pretending the only choices are “everything is fine” or “everything is terrible”.
How did Billy go from the Army to gas work?
Billy wanted to be a carpenter or a psychologist. His dad steered him towards the Royal Engineers, where he gained a trade; he qualified in gas towards the end of his service. The transition to civilian work was not instant. He took a placement with a heating company while the Army was still paying him, got his foot in the door and eventually built a varied workload across domestic gas, commercial heating and other fuel types.
He also admits that having a commercial ticket does not magically make someone experienced at every commercial job. Working alongside people who know the kit matters. It is a useful point from a man who also describes himself as the “callback king” — which is at least refreshingly honest.
Why do Billy and Kaz keep their businesses separate?
They sometimes help on each other’s jobs and pass work across, but they are not planning to merge. Kaz prefers servicing and repairs; Billy takes on a broader mix, including commercial work. Going their own ways during the day gives them space, while sharing a trade means each understands the other’s difficult jobs and winter workload.
There is a trade-off. Two rough days can collide over dinner like a pair of badly parked vans. Then the conversation takes a turn into how they met on Instagram over a camper van. Billy proposed sharing one, with himself getting weekends; Kaz immediately objected to him becoming a “weekend dad” to the van. Romance is alive and well in the heating industry.
What happened when Billy’s van was broken into?
Billy found the back of his van open outside home and his tools gone, including the ordinary, irreplaceable bits of a service kit that never look impressive on an insurance form. The discussion gets into receipts, photos, the disruption to jobs and the unsettled feeling of being targeted where you live. It also shows the good side of the trade: people in his online network offered help and equipment while he worked through the aftermath.
The episode was recorded in 2024, so Billy is describing his experience at that time, not making a claim about today’s national theft rates. What still lands is the human point: for someone working alone, a van full of tools is a livelihood, not a nice collection of gadgets.
Why does the trade community matter when you work alone?
Kaz remembers being able to ring a team at British Gas for technical support. Self-employment takes away that built-in network. In its place, she and Billy have friends from the trade, engineer group chats, social media and events such as Installer. The same platforms that gave them a camper-van meet-cute also give solo engineers someone to call when a fault is beating them.
It is one of the strongest threads in the episode. Working independently need not mean figuring everything out alone. If you are thinking about entering the trade later in life, Carl Wilson Dennis’s route into plumbing and gas at 35 is another Season 1 conversation worth hearing.
Listen to Off The Job S1E4
Come for Kaz’s honest account of being a woman in gas engineering and Billy’s route out of the Army. Stay for separate-business survival tactics, the tool-theft story, camper-van custody arrangements and the injustice of a nine-pack of doughnuts. Watch Season 1, Episode 4 on YouTube, or find Off The Job on your podcast app. This episode contains strong language and adult humour.
Frequently asked questions
Do Billy and Kaz run one gas engineering company?
No. They are both gas engineers and a couple, but run separate businesses. They occasionally work together or pass a job to each other.
What work does Kaz do?
Kaz mainly takes on boiler servicing and repair, fault finding and smaller plumbing work. In the episode, she says recommendations helped her build the business after leaving British Gas.
What does the episode cover besides gas engineering?
Tool theft, leaving the Army, women in the trades, running a business as a couple, working alone, social media friendships and an unreasonable amount of doughnut chat.
For gas engineers: Off The Job is produced by Trade Apps. If the part of working for yourself you could do without is the paperwork, take a look at our Gas Certificate App for digital gas records, jobs, quotes and invoices. The van is already full enough.
