Apprentice of the Month – April

With a deadline looming and his boss off with Covid-19, April’s Apprentice of the Month went the extra mile – and then some – to make sure the business delivered

Troy Fowler, a first-year apprentice from Hawera, is getting heaps of one-on-one training as one-half of a two-man crew.

While working directly with his boss offers plenty of educational perks, it posed a massive challenge when he had to isolate due to Covid-19. With just the two of them working to finish a job, Troy was left to tackle the remainder of the build alone.

“Luckily all the Restricted Building Work was completed and I was in constant contact with my boss, making sure everything I was working on was up to scratch, but it was a push,” says Troy.

The Apprentice of the Month judges reckon “a push” is an understatement, given Troy took on extra responsibility and sacrificed his personal life – working 11-hour days and travelling over an hour each way to finish the job in time for the electricians to come in.

“It was pretty full on, but I just put my mind to finishing the task at hand. What else could I do? I wasn’t going to miss the deadline.”

Troy says his boss was pretty grateful and receiving a Swanndri voucher for being selected as the April Apprentice of the Month was the icing on the cake – though he isn’t sure what he’s going to buy yet!