Apprentice of the Month – July

Third-year apprentice goes above and beyond to finish laying a concrete foundation for a house, finishing the job at 11pm!

Winter can be a tough time to be on the tools and so it was when the day Conrad was due to start concreting arrived!

The Wairarapa apprentice jumped at the chance to work on a different building site but may have regretted his decision by the end of the day.

“I needed to get my concreting done as part of my apprenticeship and the opportunity came up to help out on another building site alongside my employer’s brother, so I put myself forward!”

Conrad says before he knew it, he was roped in from start to finish.

“The job started at 10am but, due to delivery delays and bad weather, it didn’t end until 11pm. We spent a lot of time waiting for concrete to be delivered as it was a bit of a ‘hurry up and wait’ situation.”

Unfavorable temperatures and the threat of heavy rain contributed to the decision to add a two-part accelerator to the last batch of concrete.

“We started power floating the concrete at 10pm, but it wasn’t setting properly and the weather turned from bad to worse. We finished our last round on the power float at 11pm when the elements defeated us. All we could do was cover the floor and come back the next day to finish the job.” 

The job may have been a bit hectic, but the result was a quality, rock-solid foundation for a new home.

Being faced with uncontrollable factors is never ideal, but Conrad says the best thing you can do is “adapt as thing unfold” – especially in stormy weather!

“Even with things outside our control we managed to get the job done, but more broadly I’ve learned that it’s important to take opportunities when they present themselves. You can’t always wait for others to create those opportunities for you as their priorities and focus will not necessarily be aligned with yours.”