Host Case Studies

HIA Apprentices - The Industry's Future

With a continuing shortage of skills across the country, the need for more apprentices is a crucial focus for our industry. HIA's commitment to addressing the shortage includes HIA Apprentices – a scheme designed to help young people into apprenticeships and make it easier for hosts to take them on.  

Russell Holtham, General Manager Operations at HIA Apprentices, says one of the great things about HIA Apprentices is that the scheme provides a valuable service to members by taking away mountains of paperwork, and removing the risks associated with directly engaging an apprentice for four years. 

“HIA Apprentices eliminates the red tape and associated worry that goes with employing an apprentice,” Russell says. “For example, Host Trainers do not have to worry about whether the apprentice is being paid the right amount, if their training is up-to-date, or whether the trainer has collected all the subsidies they are entitled to. All that and much more, is taken care of by HIA Apprentices. 

“And if work falls away, the Host Trainer can return the apprentice to HIA for placement elsewhere. This ensures the apprentice's employment is preserved, and there is no guilt about letting the apprentice down. It's an excellent system.”  

Trade Members Building the Industry's Future

Steven Donati of Donati Contracting in Sydney and Daniel Roydon of Dan's Perfect Painting Services in Melbourne, are just two Host Trainers delighted with the service that HIA Apprentices provides.  

Steve Donati has been a member for about three years and says he joined HIA specifically for the apprenticeship scheme. “Builders that I'd worked for recommended it – they said it meant less paperwork,” he says. “I needed workers … my business was growing and that's the right way to go.”  

He has no regrets. “It's well worth not having the paperwork … I've got an apprentice that I run myself, and he probably costs me an hour or more a week in paperwork, whereas [the HIA apprentice] costs me about a minute. 

“If you don't like paperwork and you need apprentices, HIA is for you.”  

Daniel Roydon couldn't be happier with the scheme. He's been a member for only about nine months, and learned about HIA Apprentices after joining HIA. As a painter, he says: “I decided to become a member because I don't think many painters tend to take on such roles … and it's gone from strength to strength.” 

Daniel had been looking for an apprentice for a while before he joined, and was pleasantly surprised to discover HIA offering to find one to fit his needs.

He's found the whole process “excellent” and highly professional, with any queries dealt with straight away. HIA has been “very conscientious and provides an excellent service”, he says, and he highly recommends the scheme to other hosts.  

“Give them a call as soon as possible. You won't be disappointed.”

 While HIA Apprentices has historically been focused on carpenter apprenticeships, HIA has consciously been expanding the range of trades, and will take on anyone related to the housing industry, including in the wet trades. The scheme is also taking on more female apprentices and, regardless of gender, tries to match the needs of the Host Trainer with the right apprentice. 

Young People Building the Industry's Future

Steve, Daniel, and Nicholas Clark of ClarkBuilding in Melbourne differ from most Host Trainers in that they all have taken on female apprentices – and they're all pleased they did.  

Twenty-two-year-old Lydia Pollich works as a tiler in the Sydney area with Steve and has won the NSW Fourth Year Achievement and Best Wall and Floor Tiling categories at the state awards. She started working with her tiler father on weekends and “after working for dad for a couple of years”, found out about HIA Apprentices through a TV commercial. She made the call and got an interview. Steve says her work is clean and professional. “She's attentive to important details guys don't normally bother with, and 95 per cent of the builders I use ask for her, despite the extra cost, because they know the job will be done right and clean.  

Lydia loves her choice, with the upside being an ever-changing worksite and “different people that you meet”.

 Daniel's first-year painter apprentice, 18-year-old Shareena Sloan, loves the fact that she's not in an office job.  “I’ve always wanted to be a tradey,” she says. After doing some work experience that her dad lined up for her, she knew she wanted to be a painter. She then did a pre-apprentice course at RMIT in Melbourne “to make sure”. It was there she was discovered by HIA when she was recommended by her teacher. Shareena plans to do classes in interior decorating while doing her apprenticeship, appreciates the support she gets from Daniel, and is learning “heaps of stuff”.

Daniel, in turn, is impressed with her keen and conscientious attitude. “Shareena came recommended as a good painter … and she's doing really well. She's got a love for the job, and that's a definite plus for her.”

Melbourne ’s Liz Thornton is a third-year carpenter who wants eventually to be a builder in her own right. She's doing her Certificate 4 in Building and won the National Association of Women in Construction's National Apprentice of the Year award soon after joining HIA.

“I was always interested in building,” she says. After working as a hospital orderly for some years – because it was too hard for a woman to get into building at the time – then working around the world for a while, she came back and did her pre-apprenticeship. She has been with Nick Clark now for almost three years. “I love the job and the satisfaction that I get when it's finished … and I've been really lucky with Nick; he's great to work for.” With Nick being a builder, she says, “we do everything from the ground up – extensions, renovations …we're doing a new house at the moment”. 

Nick “didn't have any second thoughts” when HIA offered Liz as an apprentice. “As long as anyone – a man or a woman – can step up to the mark, you give them a go,” he says. “Being a woman is no disadvantage … We're framing a two-storey house and pushing up quite heavy frames and she's coping really well with it.

“Liz is excellent. She understands what need to be done and just does it!”

Lydia , Shareena and Liz are part of a growing trend of apprentices moving through HIA's apprenticeship scheme who say they are happy it has been their introduction to “a great industry”.

Chris Attard, recently named NSW Apprentice of the Year, says he has been with HIA since his second year. “I finish shortly and I have just got my contractor’s licence, so that is what I'll be doing next year,” he says. “I've got a ute, a trailer and all the tools.

“It can be hard work, especially when you are out in all the elements – but if you work hard your future is secure. People are always going to need to live in houses.”  

As Russell Holtham says: “It's a rewarding career. HIA Apprentices just needs to find the host trainers who will give the young people an opportunity.”