Kerre McIvor: It's handy to be a tradie

Skilled Kiwi tradesmen are laughing all the way to the bank. Photo / Getty Images

I wish I had the skills of one of my young mates. He is a country boy, who travelled the world and has now settled in Auckland.

He loves the city life and would never go back to the small rural town he grew up in - but that's okay, because the best parts of the country have come with him.

In small communities, people pitch in to get jobs done and he has brought that ethos with him. He can build, repair and invent just about anything.

In the country, you don't call Hire a Hubby to paint a fence or build a deck. You do it yourself.

You wouldn't get someone else to do a job for you because they probably wouldn't do it as well as you and you'd have to pay them.

So when my young mate and his lovely wife needed a new kitchen and bathroom, they did most of the grunt work themselves. In between their day jobs and looking after their young son, they rolled up their sleeves and got to it, saving tens of thousands of dollars.

And their wee boy was among it all, noise-blocking headphones on, loving the power tools and the tearing down of walls, desperate to be a part of it. The start of another generation of home handymen.

If only I had the option of studying practical subjects at school. Instead, I studied Latin and French.

They're not much use to me now when drains are blocked and decks need building and curtains need to be replaced.

For years, kids drafted into the trade subjects at school were considered the dummies - but, crikey, they are laughing all the way to the bank now.

Have you tried to get a tradesman to come and give you a quote? Just about every reputable tradie I know doesn't need to advertise.

In May, Manpower Group's 10th Annual Talent Shortage survey revealed skilled trades topped the 10 hardest jobs to fill in New Zealand, ahead of engineers, IT personnel and doctors.

Hays Recruiting reported in the same month demand was outstripping supply for skilled tradies because not enough Kiwis are gaining a trade. Companies are forced to look overseas.

The Helen Clark government's "knowledge economy" mantra is in part to blame. The brighter a population, the better its performance, apparently.

So people trundled off to university and, for many, those years of study resulted in a large debt, unrealistic job expectations and disappointment.

Many would have been better off in an apprenticeship.

A number of tradies I've spoken to over the years resented being channelled into tech subjects when their passion was for the academic classes.

Either their families couldn't afford higher study or teachers dismissed their ambitions. Whatever the reason, they made a good living but they wanted more options for their kids.

In some cases, it's simply that young people don't want to work hard. Being a tradesman, even a skilled one, is hard yakka.

Combine that with the fact the construction industry has changed exponentially over the years with a lot of work being done in a piecemeal, contract fashion, rather than one complete project, and you can see why we now suffer from a desperate lack of skilled tradespeople.

If I had an ounce of common sense or technical ability, I would love to retrain in a trade. Preferably as a builder or an electrician.

I would love to have the mind and the technical capability to create something out of a van-load of raw materials. It must be enormously satisfying to be able to see something tangible that you've created that will endure.

But in the meantime, I'll just have to take a number and go to the back of the line and wait for the tradesman to call me back - and for a new generation of apprentices to be enticed into the trades and trained.

I'm not sure which will happen first.

Kerre McIvor is on Newstalk ZB, Monday-Thursday, 8pm-midnight