You do not necessarily need to have a Federal Vocational Baccalaureate or other baccalaureate to take the "Technician Sanitary Engineering" or "Dipl. Techniker/in CHE Gebäudetechnik" continuing education, further training course at a College of Higher Education. If you do not have one, you will have to pass an entrance examination to determine your suitability. However, you must have worked in a building technology company for at least one year after your apprenticeship. You must have one of the following apprenticeship qualifications: Federal VET Diploma in plumbing; Federal VET Diploma in plumbing; Federal VET Diploma in building services engineering; Federal VET Diploma in electrical installation; Federal VET Diploma in heating installation; Federal VET Diploma in electrical planning; Federal VET Diploma in refrigeration systems installation or Federal VET Diploma in ventilation systems installation.

The HFA Sanitary Service Technician course is aimed at experienced professionals and specialists who have already worked as sanitary fitters. However, it is not essential that you have completed an apprenticeship as a sanitary fitter Federal VET Diploma. Training as a building services planner specializing in plumbing is also possible, as is basic training related to the plumbing industry, for example as an electrician or heating fitter, or an Federal VET Certificate apprenticeship as a plumbing fitter. In this case, however, you must have at least two additional years as a plumber. If you do not have an apprenticeship qualification, you can attend this course to become a plumbing technician if you have at least four years of professional experience as a plumbing fitter.

There are several different continuing education, further training courses available for working as a plumbing technician. For example, there is the course to become a head fitter for sanitary installations, which ends with a Federal Professional Examination, continuing education, further training to become a sanitary planner with a federal diploma or a master plumber with a federal diploma. In addition, a course to become a service fitter / service technician for sanitary facilities may also be the right choice for you, as well as courses and study programs in building automation, building technology or building services.

If you are a plumbing technician or service technician and would like to complete continuing education, further training with Advanced Federal Professional Examination (AFPE), you can choose between the AFPE for plumbing technician and the AFPE for plumbing planner. The biggest difference between the two continuing education, further training courses is the proportion of planning and management. Master plumbers are primarily responsible for administrative tasks such as order processing, quotation preparation, acquisition, customer contact and employee management, while sanitary planners are primarily responsible for project planning, planning, execution and supervision of orders, but also for company or department management. Plumbers also carry out commercial work, but far less so than master plumbers.