CEMENTING THE DEAL

Builders’ Business is a column by builders for builders. Its objective is to provide a forum, particularly for small business operators, in which to share knowledge, experience, tips and ideas

Q: Are there any challenges in retaining apprentices?

Firm: Takahe Construction

Principal: Tim Forman

Location: Canterbury

Staff: 20-25

It’s important to incentivise staying around, whether it’s through remuneration or rewarding projects. Our jobs usually take one to two years, and we’re frequently ‘House of the Year’ candidates, so our apprentices get a taste of doing something different every day, and get to shoulder a big responsibility being a part of building something special.

We find our apprentices like to stay on after completing their training. Our project manager started here as an apprentice; we like to provide options to enable a full career in our business.

We usually go for older apprentices in their mid-twenties, who are a little more confident about wanting to pursue a path in construction and who hold more life skills. It’s not an easy job, so I’ve found often the younger people struggle to stay motivated and see it through.

Our partnership with the local boys’ school sees students with skills in woodwork or engineering come and get experience with us once a week for a year. It means they get a taste, while we get to gauge who is really good and 100% interested.

We currently have three apprentices, who are all going great and contributing well to our operations.

 

Firm: Brendan Hammond Building Contractors Ltd

Principal: Brendan Hammond

Location: Christchurch

Staff: 9

Finding an apprentice who is ready to put their heart into the industry is a challenge in itself. I have had three or four young apprentices call it quits a couple of months in after deciding they weren’t interested, as they didn’t quite know what they what they wanted to do or if they even wanted to work.

I have one apprentice on board now who has been training for about eight months. I would like to have more, but it’s hard to commit the time and effort when you can’t always guarantee they will stay for the entire duration.

While It’s great that BCITO provide for the apprentices as they progress, the lack of certainty regarding an apprentices’ willingness to stay around and see their training through is another problem.

That being said, when you find a dedicated apprentice, it pays off when they finish training and you’ve got a good worker with the right habits to keep your business going strong. We’ve had five apprentices that worked out well, and we were able to watch them achieve their goals, qualify and now three of them are running jobs.

 

Firm: Plimmer Building Contractors

Principal: Mike Plimmer

Location: Wanaka

Staff: 16

We have two apprentices learning with us currently. I generally like to have one or two on our team. I see it as an investment in the industry to help build their corporate knowledge and train them to be good builders going forward, regardless of where they end up.

We’ve had seven come through our business, and they’ve all been solid workers who have ended up staying with us a couple years after completing their apprenticeship. We pride ourselves on teaching them well and creating good habits for them going forward. It’s rewarding watching them get better and carve out a good career.

We like encouraging them to stay around and experience some work beyond their training — taking on more responsibility and tackling bigger jobs. However, at the same time, we like to give them the liberty to move on and start their own building venture, or pursue travel if they’re so inclined. We constantly keep in touch with everyone who’s come through and learnt from us.