I mainly look after our key accounts which are our big commercial clients. We do work on substations which you wouldn’t think a plumber would be on! That’s good fun and it’s really opened my eyes up to a lot of different areas of the trade that people can specialise in. That’s another great thing about plumbing; there are so many niche areas you can specialise in – like industrial gas fitting or home automation.

You go through your apprenticeship then sit some exams to get your trades licence, then you wait two years do some more exams and then you’ve got your certifying level which means you can sign off your own work, work for yourself and sign off important documents for jobs.

I’ve also done a Certificate in Small Business which has really helped with my career, especially with managing clients and sites.

Patience is definitely a big one, especially when you’re training apprentices! My people skills have definitely improved. When I first started, I was as shy as can be, didn’t want to talk to anyone – but now I’m quite happy talking to everyone, I might event get up on stage or go in front in of camera.

I’ve learnt a lot of technical stuff. Plumbing’s even helped me with working on my own cars and stuff like that because it gives insight into how things work. My problem solving skills have definitely improved.

Someone that’s naturally good with their hands is definitely a bonus. Someone that wants to learn, loves learning new things. Someone who can nut out problem and work their way through the steps instead of just following a manual. A lot of our job involves having to figure it out for yourself and see what the problem is, there’s not always a book for everything.

Definitely the variety! I’m one of those people that gets bored easily and I can’t say I’ve had that with plumbing at all. Yeah, you get some days a little bit repetitive but it’s still different every day.

I’ve definitely had some difficult customers! Sometimes you get jobs that really challenge you and you start to get overwhelmed. But if you’ve got the support around you, you can work your way through it and you can learn from it.

I wish I knew to ask more questions – definitely didn’t ask as many questions as I should of back then! Just any job you see someone doing: “how does that work? What are you doing there?”

Just simple questions to get as much information as possible. I’ll admit that back then I used to say “oh yeah I’ve got that, I’ll figure that out” instead of saying “oh hang out, how do I do that?” – would’ve saved me a lot of mistakes!

Jump on it!  If you’re a bit hesitant, you could do pre-trade first to see if it’s for you, but don’t be scared of crap jobs at the start! (Yes, I mean literally.) They are inevitable, but they become less as you progress.

Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. That’s why Young Plumbers is such a good thing!

It’s a competition for young people in our trade to test out their skills against all their mates. It’s a really good way to meet other young people in your trade. I’ve actually met quite a few good mates through it, and suppliers, because you actually build a relationship with them instead of just talking over the phone. You compete for prizes, and you get tools and stuff. In the finals you can win thousands of dollars-worth of tools.