Hammering Out Some Ground Rules

Third-year building apprentice Nikki Kettle, 19, had a tough road before finding an apprenticeship that would give her the training she wanted. But now she's working at Estate Builders in Hamilton and learning skills that could take her anywhere. She'll even be building herself her own home soon. During her apprenticeship she's discovered how to take charge of her learning and to think for herself. In her experience, the easy way out was a road to nowhere. 

 

The Palmerston North teenager says she always knew she wanted to do something like building. "I'm really into my sport so I knew I wanted to do something that wasn't sitting down all day inside. I like having to use my brain," Nikki says. 

 

Nikki grew up with a father and brothers who were all motor mechanics, and a mother who raced cars with her father. "So I've always been around a male environment," she says. 

 

However, it took three apprenticeships and three moves before she found a workplace that would support her learning. Her first year was spent on big commercial high rise buildings and apartment blocks in Wellington, which she says was "boring and cold". As the only woman in a crew of 200, Nikki felt outnumbered. 

 

"But I never really felt like quitting. I don't know if that was because everyone said I would quit and I didn't want to prove them right, or just that I had done a year and didn't want to throw a year of my life away." 

 

Moving back to Palmerston North, she started a new apprenticeship with a crew of seven, still doing commercial work such as storage sheds. The smaller crew was an improvement, but the work was still repetitive. "I spent two solid weeks last year sealing panels, putting sealant in between panels. You just learn nothing, sealing panels, but that's what had to be done." Nikki felt the men didn't appreciate having a woman in their workplace, though she was on good enough terms with some of them to have the occasional beer after work. "I was put to work by myself a lot because they couldn't be bothered with me. And I don't know if that was because I was a woman or because of my own personality, but I was cast aside a lot."

 

But Nikki was not yet ready to give in. "I do think I have the attributes or whatever it takes to do it. I think I bring something else to the building trade. Like, organisation. I seem to be able to get to places on time."

 

She moved to Hamilton and looked for work. Twelve builders she rang who were looking for apprentices wouldn't even talk or meet with her. But her luck was about to change. After going back home again feeling "down as, because I had just been denied by all these people", the Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation (BCITO) suddenly stepped into the rescue. 

 

One of the BCITO Modern Apprenticeship Coordinators was looking out for her. He called Nikki to say that Mike Pryor, of Estate Builders, needed someone to start the next day. "So it just happened and fell into place." And finally Nikki feels she's in the right place to learn her trade, working in a small team of three where her boss is on hand to monitor her progress. Small teams and smaller jobs are the way to go, she says. "I think doing commercial, you can go through your apprenticeship and finish it and not know anything."

 

The houses Nikki works on now require more detailed finishing, she says. "It's got to be a lot tidier because it's going to be seen." Since Nikki hasn't done a lot of housing before, she has some catching up to do. "Here I'm not exactly thrown in the deep end, but given a task to do and allowed to get on with it. They don't care if I don't know how, because I'll just ask. I haven't been made to feel stupid if I don't know a lot of what they do." 

 

It's been a challenge for Nikki to get the training she needs. Her previous work on commercial sites did not require her to learn how to read plans, because the site foremen took care of that. "It's easy to be lazy and not do it, and let someone else do it for you." 

 

Nikki says she can keep up with the guys physically, as long as she's on top of her game. But she says there's a danger that, because a woman can ask for help more easily than a man, it's tempting to be lazy there too. "It's easier for me to go 'Oh someone, can you please do this for me, pretty please,' and they'll go 'Oh yeah, OK then,' and so I could slip through. But then you don't learn anything and you don't get anywhere."

 

The optional units of the Modern Apprenticeship can be skipped on commercial sites. Nikki says this means somebody can finish their apprenticeship and be a competent builder, but only on a specific type of building. "I could build a 14-storey building, but I couldn't do a soffit in it, a nice tongue-and-groove soffit." (A soffit is the underside of an overhanging structure such as a balcony or eave.) 

 

Nikki loves what she is doing now. It involves a lot more thought. "You've got to put the effort in to make it look nice." Now she does more planning, working out the process and how things will look. 

 

She likes the social aspect of the job, with all the interesting characters she gets to meet every day. And she loves the shared sense of achievement that goes with building. "Not all jobs you can see what you've achieved that day. Here we're about to pour the floor and...it's been such a struggle to get here. We've worked knee-deep in mud, been soaked through and shivering, and we've been out on hot days when you just want to find some shade. You've done it all, and at the end of the day you get to see what you've done."

 

Nikki says her friends think her job is really cool. "My friend's a builder, beat that!" Her family wasn't surprised by her career choice either. It was a good decision for her because she is not carrying a student loan. "I couldn't really just rack up debt and then spend the next ten years paying it back. I wanted to be able to do something that didn't cost me a million bucks, and actually come out with a good solid qualification that can take me anywhere. I can do it anywhere in the world."