Summary
Felicity, the youngest qualified female builder in Australia, shares her passion for building and her experiences in the industry, including collaborating with big brands and her involvement with Carpentry Australia. She also discusses her journey in becoming a builder and offers advice for other females in the trades.
Highlights
00:00 -00:56 Felicity is the youngest qualified female builder in Australia and is passionate about construction.
01:20 -02:25 Felicity talks about her experience collaborating with bigger brands to promote construction and her partnership with Carpentry Australia.
03:10 -04:27 Felicity shares her journey in becoming a builder, including facing challenges and dealing with bullying in high school.
05:05 -06:20 Felicity discusses her experience in the industry, including her tool kit and favorite tool supplier.
07:05 -08:20 Felicity talks about her involvement in the business side of building and her interest in project management.
09:00 -10:10 Felicity emphasizes the importance of communication with clients and breaking down quotes to ensure clarity and trust.
11:00 -11:40 Felicity discusses her role in promoting mental health and supporting other women in the trades.
INSIGHTS:
– The construction industry needs more tradespeople, especially females, to keep up with the growing demand.
– Felicity’s passion for construction and dedication to her craft have helped her become the youngest qualified female builder in Australia.
– Collaborating with big brands and organizations like Carpentry Australia has provided Felicity with opportunities to promote construction and support other tradespeople.
– Felicity’s journey in becoming a builder involved facing challenges and overcoming bullying in high school, which ultimately led her to pursue a career in carpentry.
– Felicity’s experience in the industry has given her insights into the business side of building, including quoting and project management.
– Building trust and maintaining clear communication with clients is crucial in the construction industry, and Felicity emphasizes the importance of breaking down quotes to ensure transparency.
– Felicity is committed to promoting mental health and supporting other women in the trades through her social media presence and involvement with Carpentry Australia.
TRANSCRIPT
00:02 hey guys David here so we’re catching up this afternoon with Felicity the Sydney Builder chick she’s traveled an hour in to come and have a catch up with us unfortunately our co-working space shut us out at 5:00 pretty disappointed on that one so we’re here at the Bondi Junction Library um just having a little catch up with her we believe she is the youngest qualified female builder in Australia which is really really impressive um she’s got a good network with all the other females in the trade
00:26 as well which is super cool um super passionate about building I’ve never heard someone talk about loving construction so much um real energetic girl easy to talk to so take a little listen around her story um she’s done quite a few collabs with other like bigger brands in Australia around promoting construction um yeah and she loves building and she’s had quite a little bit of exposure towards sales pricing and quoting and Measuring Up jobs for one of her past bosses so take a look and um if you’re another female
00:56 in the trades and you want to jump on our podcast share your story comment your name below and uh we’ll give in the church thanks very [Music] much we thought you’d be perfect awesome thank you I’m still very new to the building side of things good yeah so still getting new to it but like I’ve completed my prip and I’ve done that for been a carpenter for five years now so and it’s great when look back at it it’s just now trying to build up the reputation and more experience cuz you
01:37 can never be on a qualified for anything so just getting the more skill and so I’m like all right yeah I’m ready to go on my own and then start getting in the building so I don’t know if you know but carpentry Australia I’ve teamed up with them so they can get my name out there a little bit more with other companies it’s just getting the experience of different Builders so I’m like an ambassador for them we’ve partnered up so I’m part of their team now so I do the behind the scenes and the social
01:59 stuff with them getry AUST question yeah they’ve said all right let’s team up with you cuz you can try and hit that Target and then you can engage with everyone so what made you want to get into it like how did you as a female perspec like how did you what enticed you to do building school no way yeah literally School everyone every time I tell someone of school they’re like are you serious like yeah chose Timber as an elective when I was in year n and ab loved it I’m like okay wow like I’m good at using my hands got all a
02:34 pluses I’m like why not then I chose construction and I’m like this is my goto I love this did you go to a girls only School no no the girls only schools don’t have that yet oh really so it’s still very new but no I went to a coed school which gave me the opportunity to do construction y so so you did you went through there and then obviously it was boys and girls in the in the Woodwork classes was there like big ego battles around male and female in the oh 100% the boys always like the boys always was
03:00 like we got this like come on and I’m like I wouldn’t put ego before you but yeah it was good and we were the first it was me and another girl in the class and we were the first girls to do construction the whole time so yeah just setting that The Benchmark so then it’s like all right girls come on if we can do it anyone can do yeah yeah it’s great so did you did you finish and go through sin form or do you call it sin form sin form no uh year 12 year 13 oh yeah yeah so year 12 is the last year but I didn’t
03:26 go all the way through year 12 because got bullied in high school everyone thought that was a little bit different because I want to do carpentry as you know a job was it a female to female bullying thing yeah yeah 100% like why can’t you be yeah school high school is the wor especially going to a private school too it’s very like I was like I want to high I want to do this and this and the girls like I want a Merk and go shopping and bu a Barbie doll yeah so there was a bit of a difference and I was like I don’t think me staying in
03:55 school is going to beneficial be beneficial for me so I decided to leave and look for apprentiship straight away good on you and was there like so you’d obviously when you were looking for apprentiship you would say Hey listen I’ve been doing carpentry in school this is what I’m into yeah what was the initial reaction from like employees and how many people did you ask you know I just chucked out the book probably last year of how many people that I called I called over 200 people in Sydney and Queensland wide myop owned
04:22 apartments in Queensland so I thought if I can find a job up there even though my parents said no we want you to stay in Sydney I like okay no wors I even 100% even looked for jobs in the Army if I couldn’t find anything I said that’s my backup option but my parents said no we want you to stay here so so I just want to tailor in two things there so obviously you um yeah you teamed up with carpentry Australia now yes and when you were looking for jobs there was no female role so how many years ago was
04:48 this three four years uh four five years ago 5 years ago it was a lot harder than what it is today a lot of people are open to hiring females back then I had no support cuz there wasn’t a lot of females like me there wasn’t really someone to Branch out to like hey can I get some advice of you what’s good what’s not so it was really hard to find that that platform of communication where other women can contact and like this is what you can do so that was hard but it was really difficult finding the
05:15 job but you just got to stay consistent with it and once your foot’s in the door your foot’s in the door it’s the experience that you need um shout out to your first boss for giving you a crack yeah like that’s awesome yeah well only 3 months only saving for 3 months and the boys were absolutely awful on yeah how many companies did you have to go through to finish it so this one so I’ve got um the first one that I was with for 3 months and then I was with um big shout out to JP and JK constructions
05:43 they they’ve closed now unfortunately but tag them anyway yeah um they’re in I think that up the coast but they’ve changed the name of the company I was with them for 8 months and then they made me redundant then I was with another company stayed with them for 3 months yeah then was with the other company that I was with and then he closed his business cuz he wanted to become a paramedic so the company that I’m with now Edge cliff and all about they’re amazing so been with them for a year just a year nearly a year now so
06:14 five that’s good eh um so you got qualified and finished with them uh no I got qualified and finished with the last company that I was with and then he pushed me to do my Builders cuz you get paid more and you get recognized more I was like okay then when I called Master Builders they like okay you can be the youngest qualified Builder if you complete it within these days sweet so done it so yeah I am the youngest qualified builder in Australia congratulations well done female Builder I was actually going to say cuz when
06:42 when when we reached out to you you had your age in there I was like hm and that’s why I rung you today cuz I was like I need a bit of background like what’s going on here yeah yeah sweet um okay so the company you’re with now how different is the culture versus the last couple companies that you’re with culture-wise oh so different so different most people um I’m probably when I was speaking to the boys they said you are the easiest person to get on with they’ve had other girls before
07:06 and they said it was hard the way boys talk they don’t sometimes pick up on what they’re saying they just they just they just say what whatever’s on their mind they speak the truth we don’t think speak yeah but last time they’ll very like oh they didn’t really click with the girls there but I’ve just come in and I’m I’m the very exact same like I’ll speak what’s on my mind the truth hurts but lion hurts sort of thing so what did you just say there the truth hurts but lion hurts more
07:30 so I’m always just like I just I’ll just speak what’s on my mind say the truth and they’re like you’re so easy to get on with it’s great where other people are bit of Slow Burn around the bush yeah this is going to take a while yeah and I’m like no we’re all like I don’t definitely not a boy but like we’re all we’re all mates here we work with each other we see our we see each other more than our family and we do day and day out Monday to Friday 9 hours a day4 hours a week exactly it’s like just be
07:52 honest with one another like practically your second family did you Did you sort of did you struggle with like the paperwork side were you more of a practical kind of girl how did you go with like the theory stuff um Theory I mastered it believe it or not because doing car um doing my Timber and construction when you have your theory side getting into the books I didn’t struggle in learning something that I really wanted to learn in so that was fine and even on site I’m doing something that I really want to learn so
08:18 I yeah it all came to me as second nature but doing anything else like English or this it’s like yeah no can’t do CU it’s yeah it’s not not my forte so um how did you manage doing your work throughout your apprenti did you pick one night a week were you doing like weekends or how were you managing that well the time that I was starting my apprenticeship I was just signed up through construction training institution CTI which is a program that you can potentially fast track your apprenticeship because you’re not going
08:45 into take once a week or block unit that’s too slow I reckon you think so you do have an opportunity to speed your theory up because Co hit though we were only allowed to go into the workshops once a month so our practical got held up quite a lot but our theory was up to us so we could do whatever Theory we want we want it in our own time because of Co so I’ve mastered through my theory I wrapped up my first and second and third year within 2 years that’s good I D so quick and they’re like okay we can
09:13 book you in for this week and this week for a full week just for you to do your practical cuz Co stuffed everyone up in the industry yeah so I don’t know too much about the Australian system but how many like inspector sign offs do you have to get qualified as a builder in Australia as a builder you there unit standards yeah yeah there’s you’ve got so many units I think at the moment they changed it but when I done it there was I think 15 different units but because they have to update it every I think 2 to 3 years because of people
09:44 possibly sending their stuff be like I’ll copy this and that’s how Happ keeping it like they have to constantly change the question so it makes it you know no one’s the system yeah for sure so normally the Master Builders that I done it through every building association’s different but I done it through through Master Builders and I managed to do that within 2 years so all my theory was online and which came to me a second nature because I’ve done my carpentry prip this won’t be no different except it’s got a bit of a
10:10 tweet tweet and there’s more units and what carpentry holds cool cool and then yeah done my practical in with them and I got to do my practical on site since a company I work with are Builders I just had to take photos of what I was doing yeah just records of it and they’ll like yep sweet we sign you off that’s so good yes which was heaps easier for me um what’s like some stuff you enjoying the building game and stuff you don’t really enjoy fun Parts worst Parts honestly every day is a good part
10:35 really you’re being creative with your hands and you’re putting you’re testing your knowledge you’re just like all right this is what we’re going to do today like I think it was before when I first started with them we were digging out and we’re doing D awards for a basement they have to have a pump underneath the ground um for the basement to filtrate the water I was like what is this like just learning like that it’s oh excuse French all the time learning stuff like that it’s
10:56 just like okay it’s just you’re being creative and it’s that’s using your hands is what you you know for sure this is what you do did you e finding a lot of stuff you’ll do now like as a qualified Builder that you had like did never popped up in the theory stuff but you’re just using practical knowledge to kind of like figure it out as you go yes yes something’s like going into more depth about your fix out that’s really fine detail work a lot of stuff isn’t mentioned with the finer detailing work
11:22 they into finishings but different types of exactly with your quirks and this that where when you’re actually there and you got client that’s like this needs to be perfect it’s like okay you really got to take a step back and really think and be like no one told me it would be this hard and lot harder than what the book tells us to do absolutely yeah I always struggled with um Theory stuff to be fair I was always more I reckon I’m slightly ADHD but I love just doing stuff and if I it up I’ll redo it straight away so yeah
11:50 100% um how do you find working with your current crew of boys and is it quite competitive on site oh we love having a competition like oh we’ll race you who gets this St quicker your boss must love that oh he loves it because it’s like oh look if you are going in there getting it quick but your Works efficient and good well then I’m not going to have a problem with it from an estimating perspective that’s like the Dream Team cuz he’s not worried about labor hours yeah no we’re pretty good
12:10 and productive it’s just the main mindset that our boss tells us to do is get it good but get it done quickly so if you can build up the skill of getting something really neatly done and it’s fine detail but then get it done quickly yeah it’s a winwin yeah you’re a winwin that’s right there from the business side of building they always say like uh putting a project to a client is like a triangle so you’ve pretty much got like quality speed and cost but you can only pick two out of three but it kind of
12:36 sounds like your boss wants all three which is Mission Impossible yeah sometimes but you just got to have a lot of trust in your workers and we’re pretty open and honest with him like if we’re like oh we didn’t get all this done in one day or whatever he’ll be like all right go back smash it out and he understands it cuz he was on the tools for God knows how long before he started his business so he can reflect in a way that you’re not always going to get it done but just as long as it’s
12:58 good to the eye yeah and it’s everything looks great with them I’m not complaining and if there’s no call backs you exactly um what kind of work are you currently doing at the moment like bigger stuff smaller stuff um well we do everything so they maintenance Renovations even when you do when you’re a subcontractor to a big Building Company you have to go and get the job done but when clients move in they might pick on things so it’s little maintenance here or yeah that’s where it stuffs you but at the moment I’ve been
13:25 doing fix outs so I’ve been doing that for a while and I’m like oh please give me something change it up change it up so I think this week and next week I’ll be doing clading and EES so a good change up cuz I missed the clading and EES so nice what’s your current tool quit looking like and who’s your favorite tool supplier o tough one if you shout them out you might get some freebies well carpentry Australia with Milwaukee and Milwaukee’s been amazing I think I’m at the moment I’ve always had
13:51 makes since day one to now I am probably going to make the change because what carpentry Australia and Milwaukee can offer me is a lot better than my can walk me can help no offensive but you got to keep up man keep up get so but being with Carpenter show they’ve opened up a lot of doors and opportunities for me so me promoting them with Milwaukee then it’s like oh you can have this or have this so it’s like okay well if I’m going to get this well then I have to promote these guys which means I have to
14:19 use them to get content so yeah absolutely um you’re pretty big on your Instagram stuff what was the inspiration behind that was that just play around with it or yeah just had a little fiddle I was like you know what I’m So Young why don’t I just create a little Instagram for the young girls out there and if I could get some work out of it but it’s boomed over the years and a lot of people have branched out to me like hey can we collab with this can we collab with that like I’ve signed a
14:41 contract with stabill so I’m part of their true Pro ladies program this year what what’s that involved in that like I’m interested in other people yeah so that’s just obviously you have to sign them make sure that you meet requirements and you’re following the steps by steps month in month out but they have a day in the life video trading so you do it what your day is like in as your as a carpenter as a trade um and then you’ve got January February March all the way to December you just have to upload I think two
15:07 videos or three videos and then two photos or whatever and then they just go through and just pick Max shet the you fre meet your requirements you know reach them and then yeah they post it so it’s practically you’re rather than them finding content you’re bringing content to them and they post it um there’s been no like uh ties or hasn’t crossed over with carpentry Australia they’re with them as well so s Milwaukee King G all those branches are with carp Australia and if me going out to Branch with other
15:37 big Brands and collabs or whatnot they’re actually open to it because I’m bringing more to the table for them and they’re open with new different things like I’ve just recently linked up with trady spec and that’s a company they’re in Melbourne as well but they’re in Sydney and if you can’t afford to buy a car outright you can rent it through them um and it in covers Insurance everything you tool boxes that you want included not that get that all for you so it’s a lot cheaper than what you have
16:04 to pay Finance on a cup so they do that and I just said this would be great with carpentry Australia because what you’re offering can help apprentices pay off cars that includes this rather than having to pay off a debt yeah absolutely yeah I spoke to them about that and they’re like oh we’re interested in that so me going out there to find other companies um other people that want to collab with is only doing better for carpent Australia to get their name with or team up with more companies and
16:28 branches yeah that’s so cool I feel like in inz we don’t have enough stuff like that we’ve got a lot of stuff like mates and construction to help with like mental health side of things but it sounds like in Aussie there’s so many more I don’t know companies like with like work wear and tools and I mean carpentry Australia what’s like their main motive just to get more people promoting keeping the hammer swinging longer that’s their mission statement so they want to keep tradies in but they
16:52 want to keep them on the tools on site longer and doing that you got to have your mental health needs to be up to date you need to be making sure everyone’s okay not only everyone else but yourself um just keeping them like up to date with these are the tools that are going to help you blah blah blah just all these things so that’s why they’ve numbed it down like keeping the hammer swinging longer so sool yeah it’s catching you something like yeah that’s good um how many is in your current crew
17:18 that you’re working with now um I think there’s 10 of us that’s quite a big team yeah how does the like internal company structure work if you have an idea like obviously there’s your boss there’s a project manager on yes so because they’re two companies put together um so they’re the big um company that just have group housing compan yeah so the project um um the project management company for like the how do you you’re right BR we’ll cut it out um I’m trying to think what it’s
17:46 called um so Edgecliff homes are the they’re the project management yeah so they’re the actual company so they’re the project like the project homes company um but now they’re going into more Custom Design stuff and all carpentry yeah all about carpentry is the one that have the carpenters so rather than um Ed as an no I’m actually employed for all about carpentry but because they’re together now um they’ it’s like a collaboration rather than them subcontracting tradies in they work
18:15 with Carpenter Australia so they’ve got the trades when they need them which is smart so I see yeah we do that um so we’ve got Nathan all about carpentry owner is owner of his company but also project manager for Edge CLE yeah so we’ve got the two owners of Edgecliff and then we’ve got two supervisors including Nathan and then that’s and they’ve probably got a couple office ladies and then we’ve got Nathan the owner of all about and then all the boys underneath them so and then myself
18:43 yeah so you’re the only female at the company yes I am how good was the Christmas D last year oh it was good it was you we went to we went we had to wake up a bit early but that’s okay we’re like come on we want to sleep in here not this is what you want to do so we’re like all right we went go carting we done that early in the morning then we went back to we have display houses so we just went there had a barbecue had a breakfast had some beers and then we went straight to the pub so we spent the
19:07 whole afternoon yes so yeah the pub started well we started drinking probably about when did we get back from go-karting we like 9:00 in the morning had a couple yeah had a couple of binos who was the last man/woman standing oh everyone went home I think I was the last one there the man yeah when we the boys I like yes the boys so um yeah we had the boss myself and a couple of other boys that stayed back later too it’s like it’s your Christmas party you want to stay there around as long as possible it’s like you know so
19:39 yeah a bit seedy the next day and had a family dinner as well so family lunch so I was like oh that’s a to get up for yeah it was a little bit but no it was good it was it was good Christmas um do you have any other girlfriends that went into the trades with you at the same time or have you picked up like a lot of kind of girl mates in the trade since doing your Instagram and stuff like that yeah so I’ve actually made the friends along the way cuz yeah I’ve left school we have no contact of everyone in school
20:04 I’ve went my own way and I’ve had to really pick everything up for myself and then being where I am today and having the Instagram being a connect with people cuz social media is such a big platform for everyone these days aming I know it’s great so having that has made me Branch out with everyone so I’ve really made a lot of friends throughout the way um being on social media which is amazing it’s if you’re ever stuck it’s the next thing to go to it’s like go to social media you’re going to get
20:29 so much support and help there and you’re going to create a community that you can talk to everyone with yeah so it is great have you had possible like job opport like uh work jobs come like cashes and stuff po come through yeah we’ve had a lot come through do you do them or do you say to your boss hey man put me on a commission structure well I’d say to him if we’ve got space cuz of how busy we are um if we got time and he be like y we can do this and whatnot and I was like okayy sweet but my
20:53 boyfriend’s actually a carpenter as well so and his brother’s a carpenter as well so dad so I could imagine what you guys talk about at Christmas oh and his poor mom’s just sitting there like oh no no she she’d be a second year she’d be a second year for sure with how much knowledge she picks up off all of us so yeah so we just sit there and if I need a him his brother has a company as well so we all just be like all right what are we going to do here or if they’re busy we do our own thing and he’s he’s a
21:19 really good Carpenter as well so it’s like he smashes it get it done and I’m the really attention to detail so you got those two together it’s like it’s like house on fire it’s like yeah I was going to say yeah um so do you have like do you have any knowledge in like the business aspect of that stuff pricing stuff like what’s your kind of yes so before I after I left High School I couldn’t get an apprenticeship straight away unfortunately cuz it was that really weird time of year where people
21:41 weren’t looking to hire so I actually went to tap and I done my business administration nice so yeah I’ve got that little bit of the business side up my sleeve and then also being with the company that I was with last time gave me the experience and the freedom to go measure up jobs uh do all that the supervising making sure the material are on site for us to start so then we can start as a team just giving me that free range to be able to be like all right this is your job you start it finished I’ll be here in the background to help
22:08 you or for advice if you need it but having that and giving that experience to your apprentices really gives them the courage that okay you’re not getting chucked out in the deep end cuz there’s really no support from you finishing your no there’s not enough support out there you’re just chucked in the deep end if you want to go on your own so having that helped me that’s so good I feel like that’s one thing that um ta and in New Zealand we call it like Polytech but they do no courses like no
22:32 studies or anything on like the business side the sales size the quoting side like the Tex side I feel like it’s really undermined but uh like so you would have been exposed to a bit of that obviously with your last role yeah yes yes were you doing up any were you doing any like quoting off your measure UPS or were you kind of just outlaying the information for your boss oh no no he would get me he so he set me up with a little program I think it was it was also on zero we had heaps of other programs but he’d start me off little
22:59 steps and be like right so go out there and measure it up he once I got really good at that and you know cuz all it takes is if you to forget one thing and then it’s like oh you didn’t allow for this framing Timber with the yeah yeah and that’s out of your own money too so that’s why so that’s why just getting me to get everything from A to Z in the measure up then he’d be like all right you’ve completed that and he’d go out and have a look himself to make sure that I did include everything and then
23:22 he’d start showing me behind the scenes of the quoting and everything so I’ve had experience in doing that and then me doing a job on my own without his guidance good it’s giv me the confidence I’m like okay all right do this do that and just double checking it take your time with it because you rather quote you be like all right to the client I’ll hand the quote in at the end of this week you rather have that week of breaking down everything going over everything then you’d be like oh quick
23:46 rush it and then it’s like you’ve missed all this that can be the worst mistake that you possibly can do 100% I think that will I know that’s why our business is so busy cuz we deal with so many builders that are like flat Tech and they try and do pricing and mix in the day with project management and site visits and they forget all this stuff it becomes so overwhelming and I was like oh man like yeah estimating and pricing is something that you your phone needs to be on airplane mode and you’ve got
24:07 nothing else going on and then you don’t forget stuff yeah 100% 100% And you know it’s hard as well because the econom is growing and prices are changing every single day like they’re going up down so it’s hard because back then we had a chart from Bunnings cuz Bunnings was our Mass supplier um over here so we just go through Bunnings and we’d have a chart of all the things how much they cost and what we needed so I just go back to the chart and be like all right we need this we need this and put all the prices
24:34 together and add the commission on everything um but now that the prices are changing it’s harder you got to keep up to dat you got to keep up to date with it and constantly having a sales rep here is really important because you can get the best prices for your sales rep so you just get the fixed price off the website then when you go to your sales rep you’re probably getting an extra 20% off and then there’s your profit money right there without having to raise your margin so things like that to that I keep in mind I’m like okay
25:00 right and then then at the end of it I’m like all right well we smashed that out always allow myself an extra 3 days we smash that out within a couple of days I’m on site when it’s my job like come on boys let’s do this let’s do this so yeah so doing that it’s like yeah but being consistent with it at the end of it I’m like wow we’ve done really good and then just having a race with yourself of I managed to get it done this quick how quick can I get it done next time I don’t know even if you get I
25:26 I don’t I never get bored with my job but some people oh doing the thing same thing over and over again I’m like race yourself challenge yourself like there’s nothing wrong with doing that keeping your mind occupied doing this is not against a race against the clock it’s a race against yourself to see how good you are but how quick you are yeah I Hardy to say that to people that’s great advice I’m like give it a go trust me you never get bored so yeah that’s that’s a good thing to um do do like
25:52 with your um I don’t know how big the job you’re on now but like do you do any like liaising or talking with subes when they’re coming on do you have any do you any coordination type stuff or yeah yeah because our boss really sits behind the scene with this and he just tells us the days we’re working there but cuz he doesn’t come on site to this job it’s um 40 homes in one street so yeah we’re more than halfway now I’m like yes it’s only taking a year to get this far I’m
26:16 like please I just want to get off this job and get done with it yeah go somewhere else find a new local cafe yeah so um we’re doing that at the moment but yeah the boss kind of sits behind the scene and he goes all right this is how many days that I’ve allowed you guys to do it just go in get what you need to get done and keep in contact with the supervisors and the project managers what they want done next so then you’re keeping things flowing so we just take things into our own hand and be like all right this fix out’s ready
26:40 we’ll do that or this fit off’s ready or we got to go do this or allow this St to do maintenance so we kind of have free range with the other subcontractors that are on site including the project managers to see what we want to do next and what they need done so do you enjoy the supervision side or like from the site like that perspective or do you find yourself more like Hands-On person both I love both because you’re getting the experience in both so you’ve got the hands-on experience where you’re getting
27:05 the job done but then also having that experience in the whole management side of things of delegating the work making sure things are done on time to requirements it’s a huge game oh it’s huge but it’s a test it’s like you’re being given this job don’t close this opportunity like just get yeah get it done exactly so I personally would say I love having both experiences because you’re only getting better at the end of the day if you can juggle two things at once then yeah I feel like it’s uh and
27:32 it depends what company you work for but I feel like some people if they don’t push themselves to do more like for example if you’re a commercial cter you might just do build wall framing for like 6 months or you might just hang dos for like 3 weeks straight but I think it’s really good to work and probably deeper for the industry as well is to work for smaller companies that do everything like maintenance from to renovations to also have be exposed to like a little bit of client side as well cuz I mean on the bus inside of building
27:59 dealing with clients is so big do you ever do you ever talk to clients and see them when they’re on site yes when I was with the not so much with this company because it’s a more group home more project home so we just still with the um contractors and the project managers but the company that I was with last year Yes actually going in and being like okay all right um what do you want done show me what you need done is there any other things like having the one-on-one with the client of what they want done right it’s great it’s great
28:26 and especially when they say you rock up they like oh a CH hello yes come in I’m in I’m like thank you so much like in just little things to like taking your shoes off of the door they’re like yeah wow she yeah writing the notes down like Absol everything is there anything else that you want done um is there anything that I need to specify in my notes so we’re clear and we’re both on the same page or even bringing a whiteboard and be like all right just drawing it out so they understand cuz in your head you’re
28:51 like yep you got your head will wrapped around it but in their perspective they’re like what are you talking about they have no idea so having and even on a quote like you say oh notched bulkhead or do this or do that they’re going to be like or straighten bearers they’re going to be like yeah what what’s what’s that so really breaking it down and specifying everything in the quote like break breaking it down to a toddler understands because this stuff’s so big they they have no idea especially if
29:17 it’s a single mom or a guy that has no idea what the building is that’s how a lot of people get stuffed over is because people don’t break it down and they’re like here you go and they’re like wow where where why is this so expensive like it’s not broken down here going back to the drawing ball where they understand everything then you’re clear then they’re happy and that’s how you really win someone over you’d be really specific with them to understand it absolutely when you were taught that
29:39 pricing were you doing that on EXL or was that all through zero I’ve done that all through zero um yeah done that but then I made I had I’m trying to think what other program we used we had another program once I worked out all the cost in then I trans that onto his build exact build like a project management softw yeah so it’s all the teas and sees and then the payment um methods and what we go next through and then it has literally a chart of the items that we need what we need it for and how much it costs and how much it
30:09 takes time up so breaking it down so they’re like wow okay I know where my money is going to you get a quote and sometimes I even get overwhelmed with quotes about doing this or doing that it’s like where where’s this coming from so really breaking it down is key cuz the clients understand and they trust you more I’ve always found yeah more like if you break down project say a client gets two quotes one’s 150 line items on XL and one’s four line items they’re going to be like oh man I’d
30:35 rather go with the one that’s got more information it’s more clear yeah um so you obviously seem quite quite sevy on the administration side the sales side can you see yourself doing your own thing one day I I hope so I hope with your boyfriend partner yeah we we’ve always thought about that idea but I think at the moment because of how big my brand has gotten it’s more than just a little business on the side helping out people who need jobs done it’s become such a big brand that I might
31:02 actually start heading into I do want to be a project manager one day I’d love to do that but also doing what I’m doing now being on the tools but then when I goes home sitting down and doing the marketing side of things collabing with companies getting my name out there so I think one day we might do that I’m never going to say never cuz you don’t know what tomorrow holds but I’m a big believer that I will be a supervisor but still do the marketing and building up my brand on the side so what is your
31:26 like kind of overall goal with the you know your Instagram profile what’s what what do you ultimately want to promote through that the best way I describe is when I leave this earth that I want to be known I want to leave a footprint of me helping someone out or doing something good to someone so they’re like this person helped me out I just want to be remembered for the good that I put in back into the community so if that means that with carpentry Australia we do help in hand days so through St vapore we nominate someone who needs
31:55 something done to their house dramatically that they can’t AF so yeah it’s big nomination it’s big help in hand day so everyone volunteers their time doing stuff like that putting back into the community where people need help the most is where I see myself so just doing that because you just you feel good in yourself that you’ve helped someone that really needs it the most so yeah do you get many uh like other girls say about to leave school asking you about your process and stuff yeah yes that’s when I hand out my number and I’m
32:21 like all right give me a call I’m always in for a chat um I’ve dealt with a lot of those actually and I’ve also done a couple of online Zoom talks with um big companies like the future is bright um program uh through tapes where I’ve just done Zoom calls of these girls uh reaching out for support but they don’t know where to get the support from so just talking on Zoom with them what they want to do what it’s about what you’re getting yourself in for um and just giving them advice and obviously every
32:49 pathway is different regardless of what you do it’s about how you make it but just trying to help them out in a way where they’re going to take that on and push for it that’s so good um what are you like doing outside of outside of building when you’re not on the tools uh I’m always doing something on the tools we just finished renovating dad’s bathroom my parents bathroom oh yeah I sit home and you know I haven’t actually binge watched something on Netflix in a while I might do that and then neck a dad
33:15 walks in and he goes oh you want to renovate the bathroom and I’m like all right oh okay no wor we’re always doing something on the tools both of us um and my family as well so cuz my brother’s an electrician no tra no background how did you guys all end my parents like we’re so lucky if anything happens we’ve got two trades we’ve got an electrician and a carpenter so yeah it’s they’ve got no background experience in the building industry so having that is good yeah they’re like oh
33:44 we love it so we’re always doing something or if we’re not working or doing something on the tools we’re always camping me and my family are really close he so nice for that man yeah just pack up in the Caravan and Away you go for the weekend there you go um touch would you haven’t had any injuries what’s the worst close M you’ve had on site I’ve had injuries um I’ve only had two no I would say major ones but I had two ones when I was the first year it was probably my second week on
34:10 um oh no that’s not and I wasn’t allowed to use the framing gun but he goes oh yeah give it a go the boss wasn’t there and as I’ve used up it’s gone straight into my hand and it’s pushed my skin up there lucky I didn’t hit any NSE or tenants did you pull it out straight away no I had to leave it in there you got to wait it’s I think it’s the Heat or the glue on the nail yeah it’s actually yeah that the cardboard that keeps it together sometimes especially if you have your T sh or whatever
34:34 regardless whether it’s new the Heat and that glue of the paper can actually get infected in your hand so just left it took it out I was off for two weeks and back on it and then when I was in camra working with the other company um we’re doing roof sheets and we didn’t correspond correctly like 3 2 1 and yeah he’s chucked it and I’ve still had it and it’s gone sliced straight from the glove to my finger so kind of a nerve there but yeah yeah yeah so but other than that touch would we haven’t had anything else
35:03 and that was years ago um how big is your company on and you guys be on like tool boxes and before you’re starting new task yeah explain that yes um we regularly our boss will get us together just with carpentry um All About carpentry bring us together and we’ll have a breakfast at the display just talk how’s everyone going and just check up he even calls us regularly to say how are you going on site how’s everything going because when 100% checking on everyone’s being a mental health or just
35:28 saying how you doing today what’s work being like just checking up on that really makes a difference to someone’s life um but also because he’s not on site and we’re working with a different company cuz he subbies us guys off um it’s practically the company other companies responsibility to do the toolbox talk so but we try to do that once a week if not every second week or they’ll come around and be like all right what are we doing today how are you feeling um by the way we’ve got
35:53 these people rocking up on site so please make sure that you’ve got your hi on this this this um so just making sure that we’re up to date with all the safety requirements our tools are tagged and then yeah and then we have our boss that checks up on us how we’re going good man good culture right oh it’s amazing it’s it’s really nice to be around people like that because you’re going to work and tough SL like the Trad can be tough man I feel like not enough I think there’s definitely a decline and
36:18 not enough people getting into it and as from a uh pricing perspective you know what we see all the time is Builders putting out quotes there’s not as much competition on work which me I don’t know in my I just see people com into it they’re getting and Scar but their rates are going up I think like trading pretty much now man they are like the next lawyers and doctors like I think they’re more and more in demand yeah yeah so that Builders there’s a high demand for them of the moment it’s like our
36:44 population’s growing but yeah not enough trading yeah not enough trading to keep up with it so yeah nice so yeah that’s that’s yeah no that’s all good I think that’s all about we’ve got there um if anyone wants to get in touch with you about apprenti stuff how do they get in touch with with you your igle through my Instagram so I’ve got email based in my as well um so s bu Che if you’ve got any questions shoot them out to me I’m always happy to answer I’m always checking my socials when I go home from
37:08 work and always having updated videos throughout the day of what I’m doing even though it’s not interesting still letting the audience know hey I’m doing a fig up today so stay tuned nice that’s good cool well thanks for coming in nice to meet you as well much appreciate it yes thank you
