Apprentice of the Month

Second-year apprentice Daniel Murphy showed sound project planning skills to rectify an issue he discovered while working on a renovation in Wanaka – the outcome was a satisfied engineer and a build that was able to progress to its next stage

While building two living areas onto a 420m2 house overlooking Lake Wanaka, Daniel and a colleague realised that the cover between the underfloor heating pipes (which were yet to be installed) and the floor level height looked tight.

They took a few measurements and determined they were right, which meant the work would not pass inspection.

After further discussions with the builder and the project engineer, they decided to drop the heights of all the steel reinforcing loops that tied the layers of the building cage together at a tighter spacing using 120mm R6 steel loops.

The extra 30mm gained allowed adequate room for the piping to be laid by the underfloor heating specialists, and the engineer was happy to sign off the altered construction for the concrete pour. Daniel said the experience taught him the value of reviewing completed work and being aware of critical measurements.

“In this instance, taking five minutes to double check our work – especially when we knew that subbies would be involved in the next stages – saved us from making what could have been an expensive error,” says Daniel.

“Sure, it took us some time to drop the steel reinforcing loops, but that was much more efficient than having the subbie realise the same issue after already laying out the pipes!

“Being 100% involved in what you are doing at each point in your day is key, but you should always keep an eye on the next stages of the construction, so you know which sub-contractors are due on site next and can make sure everything is ready for them, which speeds up workflow.”

Entries were judged based on the nature of the challenge, the initiative and grit shown by the apprentice to overcome it, the impact of the solution and the key learning. Our winner demonstrated all these attributes by being forward-thinking and proactive.