CAREERS IN BUILDING & CONSTRUCTION: BUILDER

This week we caught up with Andy Pleasance, a Builders Academy Australia student who did our double Diploma course in Building and Construction and is now prepping for his licensing and registration applications to the Building Practitioners Board. Check out the gallery for Andy’s take on making time for study, getting practical experience and helping his mates through the VBA process.

Are you in a trade and ready to take the next step in your building & construction career? Builders Academy Australia are running Certificate IV & Diploma level qualifications in Building & Construction that are a stepping stone towards getting your builders license and registration. See our course pages for more information, or call us on 1300 LEGEND to speak to one of our consultants today.

CPC50220 Diploma of Building and Construction (Building)

CPC40120 Certificate IV in Building and Construction (Building)

Name: Andy Pleasance
Age: 62
Studied: CPC50220 Diploma of Building and Construction (Building) and CPC50320 Diploma in Building and Construction (Management)

“I have a background in farming equipment innovation; I built harvesters. Then I went into boat building. I was always good with my hands and did a lot of sailing from one place to another. I got a job building Greg Norman’s boat—a 120-foot massive aluminium thing—and went from there to Dick Smith’s boat, which got totally refurbished. Then we converted an old fishing boat into a beautiful cruiser. I spent nearly ten years doing that, and I learnt a lot. It was interesting work and I got to live by the beach, and do a bit of surfing and yachting. It was a good life.”

“I got my diploma so I could go for a site manager position. I’m pretty good with figures and project managing, and that’s where I’m heading: sitting in a site office controlling the whole project. You’ve got to have the capacity to hire all the crews and make sure everything’s scheduled.”

“The diploma was great. It’s very rewarding – it’s bloody hard, but it’s rewarding. You’ve got that nice piece of paper you can take to a job interview and say, ‘Hey, look, here are the two diplomas I’ve got. I’m no dummy.'”

“Having the diploma gives me a big advantage going for a licence. They’ll know, especially at my age, that I’ll be right with owning, hiring and firing, and handling finances.”

“The thing is, you need recent experience and a portfolio of your work over the years. For anyone considering going for their builders licence, I would advise looking into the requirements and getting the right kind of practical experience under your belt.”

“Our class from the Certificate IV in Frankston has stayed really close. I kept hiring them and then they’d hire me. One of our group, Alan, is now a diploma teacher with Builders Academy. We all got together and decided to get our licences.”

“We’re a pretty active group, and every Friday night we have a meeting at my house with a different industry guest speaker. We try to help each other out with the finer details. One guy has just put all his paperwork in for his builders licence, and in the next four or five weeks we should all be putting ours in.”

“We went to the Home Show recently and met a lot of industry professionals. That was the best thing I’ve ever done, because you’ve got the builders, the regulatory bodies, the government, the banks, all the innovations, all the products under one roof.”

“That’s what I think the Diploma students should reach for. I recommend forming a group like we have, because you get to know quite a few people in the industry.”