k, i am kinda overwhelmed with this. a guy i work with brews beer and he gave me some pretty simple instructions for brewing it but it seems he doesn't know enough about this.
Again, without knowing WHAT you're brewing, we're stabbing in the dark here...
Still, conventional wisdom (for most of us) is to leave the wort on the yeast for 2-4 weeks. Higher OG brews get more time than lower OG brews.. With your OG in the lower end of the scale, I would test at 2 weeks in.. IF he said 5 days to bottle, he's on something. Or he's not making really good brew. OR he's using tight temperature control of his wort, and using a yeast that is super active, and clean, at that temperature. Since you're brewing HOT (for pretty much all ale yeasts, haven't looked at lager yeasts, and a good amount of Belgian yeasts) you'll need more time to let things clean up before thinking about bottling...
Do NOT just use gravity number to tell you when to bottle something. Taste it before you think it's ready. Otherwise, you'll spend all the effort to bottle something that will need a good month (or longer) before it's actually getting good.
I'm brewing with ale yeasts right now, some of them with different characteristics depending on what temperature you ferment at. Usually, I'm in the 3-4 week time frame before they finish fermenting and doing their clean-up... I don't have a fermentation chamber, so I'm at the mercy of the weather to keep things in the desired temperature range. Next place I live will have a fermentation chamber in it. Or where I ferment next will (might be doing that off-site shortly due to LL being a yackass) have one, or something to keep things in the desired range.
If you post up a recipe, of what you brewed, we'll be able to give you better info/feedback... Not knowing what your OG was supposed to be (we'd run it through software to see) compared with what you got is one hurdle. Not knowing what yeast you used is another one.
I also agree with trizzant... Get the guy to at least read the threads here about current methods/processes for home brewing... While there are some brews that could be ready to bottle in a week, or so, there's almost nothing you can make that won't be even better with more time on the yeast. Talking about a few weeks here, not months... Actually, unless you're fermenting in a conical fermenter, you can usually leave the wort/brew on the yeast cake for a few months without ill effects/issues. I typically don't go over a month on the yeast, if I want to harvest it. But, if you're not going to wash the yeast, then let it ride until it tastes ready to bottle...
Tasting the brew is one of the best ways to know when it's really ready.