No screw-ups for winning apprentice

Tim Parkinson downed his tourism tools for a high vis during a global pandemic and has now nailed a regional builder’s apprentice award.

The Ruby Bay resident won the Cook Strait 2023 Registered Master Builders CARTERS Apprentice of the Year which tests future sector leaders’ project management, business, presentation, and practical skills.

The Cook Strait category for the competition houses building apprentices in Nelson, Marlborough, West Coast, Wellington and Wairarapa.

Tim says he was “shellshocked” with the final product, but it was a “great feeling” and strengthened his belief that he could craft a new career in his mid-40s.

“I want to progress to be the best builder I can be and hopefully move into a foreman role and, ultimately, I would move into construction and programme management.

“I’m that geek who watches building videos on YouTube rather than junk on the TV, so I want to absorb information and I want to progress, and I think having a desire to be good at it and an interest in it is going to take me a long way.”

Tim, who plans to complete his apprenticeship by the end of this year, says he had worked in the tourism industry for many years and continued to do so after moving to Ruby Bay in 2017 from the industry mecca, Queenstown.

He says construction had remained an interest, and in 2020 he was able to lay the foundation for the new career with Renovate Me.

“The Covid pandemic kind of forced my hand to make decisions as to what I wanted to do, so I grabbed that as a perfect opportunity to go and do a building apprenticeship and do something that I thought about for many years but had been polarised by the tourism scene in Queenstown,” he says.

“I thought ‘why not’ - I’m in my mid-40s and coming out of my apprenticeship. I want to be the best possible builder and make up some of the years of not starting at 16.

“While I’m a confident person and a confident apprentice builder, it’s really out of my comfort zone to stand up and be judged… but I have done well and that’s great for me being an adult apprentice and for my future in building.”

The competition required apprentices to submit a building project and participate in a two-hour practical challenge of building a step stool before the top 10 were interviewed about their project and their construction acuity.

Tim said his submitted project was a medium-sized renovation in Moana, Nelson.

“It was really the first opportunity that I had of running a site. I did a lot of the day-to-day admin that comes with a foreman role, so it was a really good opportunity for me to balance not just the building skill set but the business skill set as well,” he says.

The judges said Tim’s submission showcased his solid understanding of his project, with detailed explanations of tasks and materials used, and his techniques and tool utilisation in the practical challenge were impressive.

Tim will compete at the national Apprentice of the Year competition in November.