FEBRUARY APPRENTICE OF MONTH

Diligent plan prep helps apprentice spot and remedy small, but important, specification variance

Second-year apprentice Regan Morris didn’t miss a beat when he returned from six months off due to injury – he was immediately tasked with ensuring a newly set-out site was ready for the blocklayers.

Plans in hand, he needed to check and change profiles and string lines, straighten/tie steel cages/starters and ensure all footings were up to specifications.

“This is a crucial stage of the build process and it needs to be as close to millimetre perfect as possible,” says Regan.

With this in mind, he read the details for the footings, steel and slab dimensions closely and found that some small changes to the specified steel tolerance and string lines needed to be made. He consulted with the LBP who was overseeing his work, the LBP agreed and the changes were made accordingly.

As a result, the site was ready to go when the blocklayers arrived and they were able to complete the job smoothly.

The judges were impressed at Regan’s diligence in reviewing the plans, and his knowledge, which helped him spot the variance.