Record number of apprentices on job

AT WORK: Building apprentice Sam Holmes says any trades job is good to get into now.

Forty Wairarapa residents embarked on building or construction apprenticeships last year, contributing to a record high of more than 5000 new apprentices nationwide.

Masterton had 28 new apprentices, Carterton had nine and South Wairarapa had three, according to the Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation.

Apprentices train in fields such as bricklaying, carpentry, masonry, plastering, painting and decorating.

Holmes Construction building apprentice Sam Holmes, son of the company's managing director Andy Holmes, said he'd encourage anyone interested in an apprenticeship to start now as the building boom meant it was easier to get jobs.

"Building has been picking up every year for the past five years," he said. "I'm the only apprentice at our company and we're one of the bigger companies around but if you look hard enough you should be able to find an apprenticeship."

The 20-year-old Masterton resident began his apprenticeship in 2013 after a short stint of labouring. He is building his own house and said he hoped building would be a gateway to owning and renovating commercial properties.

"Any trade is good to get into and can open the door to opportunities," Mr Holmes said.

According to Statistics New Zealand, more building consents were issued nationally in the year to October 2014 than in the previous five years.

In the residential sector, there were 9307 consents issued in the year to October 2014 - almost 2000 more consents than any other year in the previous five years.

Non-residential consents were a similar story, with 14,597 consents issued in the year to October last year, compared to less than 10,000 issued each year from 2009 to 2011, 10,334 issued in 2012 and 12,120 issued in 2013.

Building and Construction ITO chief executive Ruma Karaitiana said strong economic activity and demand for construction work had driven apprentice numbers up.

"The construction industry has been running hot for the last 18 months or so," he said.

"The growth was initially fuelled by Christchurch but in 2014 we saw a lift across the whole country."

The growth was particularly evident in Auckland and other parts of the upper North Island, he said.

"The story of Auckland is a story of high demand, a shortage of houses and a general inability to catch up.

"It's been great for us as the majority of our trainees are trained in residential sector so when the sector really kicks off, like it has in Auckland, there's a lot of opportunities for our apprentices."

A Government "reboot" programme - which offered employers and apprentices subsidies of up to $2000 to help with the cost of training - had also helped boost numbers, he said. The programme finished on December 31.

"We had a lot of people sign up who said they were thinking of signing up some time in 2015 but instead decided to take advantage of the reboot."

But demand for apprentices still outweighed the number of people taking them up, he said.

"We get about 100 new people a week so that's not bad.

"Christchurch will come to a natural peak soon but, with demand factors in Auckland forecast to be high beyond 2020, we're still going to be short of what we need going forward."

"If you're thinking about doing a trade, now's perhaps the best time in the history of the industry to get yourself trained and established." NZME.