MEET NICK: DIPLOMA STUDENT WITH BUILDERS ACADEMY
“My name is Nick Trapouzanlis, I’m 21, and I’m a carpenter. I got fully qualified last week – I completed my four-year apprenticeship.”
We caught up with Nick Trapouzanlis, a carpenter who is enrolled in the CPC50220 Diploma of Building and Construction (Building) with Builders Academy. To read about his varied work, how we got started, his plans for the future, and the advice he has for people starting out in the industry, scroll through the gallery below. Cheers Nick!
“I’ve always loved building, the creation of concrete forms, the whole idea of building. I did my pre-apprenticeship for four or five months full-time and found an apprenticeship pretty much straight away. There is a lot of demand, and my teacher helped me out as well. He gave me a few phone numbers for different carpenters and one contacted me back – I still work with him today. It’s good.”
“I work for a builder not a carpenter so my knowledge of the building industry is a little more broad. I’ve been around everything. I start with concreting and work on everything up to framework and more, so I get knowledge on all the trades.”
“My boss will send me a list the night before and the next day I’ll work through the list and make sure everything is completed by the due date. I don’t work on one building site – in a week I’ll go to two or three different ones. A normal day is mainly carpentry but I’ll do a lot of other stuff, too, whatever the job needs. Like today I’m finishing off some frames so they can get plastered but tomorrow I might be doing cladding. It’s all carpentry but sometimes I’ll need to do some other things in the building process.”
“Right now we’re working on bulkheads and stacks, to form around pipes. Soon we will be working on the staircase so we need to create the form around that to get it plastered. After that it’s all good to go – just waiting on plaster. ”
“The Diploma is going well. I’ve been doing it for about three or four months now. I got straight into it at the same time as my apprenticeship was wrapping up – I’m keen to get everything sorted. I’m happy with the whole process. I’m getting it done.”
“My favourite part of my job is being involved in all parts of the building process. I love doing the framing but being a part of the whole creation process is good. At the end of the day you want to sit back and say ‘I did that.’”
“Alex Kubsch is my trainer. I started with him in May. He’s pretty good. I find him to be one of the best trainers out there. He’s really helpful and happy to explain any issues you might have. I feel lucky to have a trainer like him.”
“My advice to people starting-out is to work hard and stick around. It’s all about being patient and about time. I know a lot of kids drop out of their apprenticeships early but my advice is to stick around, good times will come sooner rather than later.”
“My dad’s a painter and my family in general, including my cousins and uncles, are in the industry – plumbers, sparkies, and everything. I think we will all work together. It’s something we are planning to do, once I get my builders license. I’ll probably head it up. ”
“My ultimate goal is to get my builders license and start my own business while I’m still young. I enjoy working for others but my plan isn’t to work for others for the rest of my life: I want to start my own thing as a builder. I want to become a builder and develop for other people. Slowly, slowly. I’ll finish my Diploma first and have a short break and then I’ll go for my license.”
Legend! Thanks, Nick.