Carpenter Enjoys Getting The Job Done

The Age

Saturday March 22, 2008

Josh Jennings

DURING a woodwork class at Mansfield Secondary College, carpenter Bill Hunt decided on a career in the building and construction industry.

"I thought woodwork was pretty cool," the 21-year-old says. "It wasn't a hard subject, but it was more rewarding than maths because you had something to take out of it - you'd made something. I made the decision to do carpentry at school and then left halfway through year 11 to do the apprenticeship."

Five years on, it's a decision that Mr Hunt's still happy with. One of the big kicks that he gets from carpentry is seeing his jobs in their final stages.

"You're finishing the job and making sure that everything looks good and then, when you're done, you look at it and think to yourself , 'Yeah, I did that'," he says. "If you work hard to do a good job, rather than just slap it together, it makes you pretty satisfied."

While Mr Hunt derives satisfaction from a job well done, figures indicate that not everybody in the industry shares his enthusiasm for quality workmanship. Customer horror stories about shonky builders abound, and Queensland Building Services Authority findings show owners lodged 5021 complaints last financial year in Queensland alone.

Mr Hunt recalls a house collapsing due to shoddy building work and says that because of the fast-paced demands of the building industry, cutting corners becomes a temptation for many builders and carpenters.

"You see some of the guys that go for speed. They just slap things together as quick as they can and try to get out of there, and they can do a pretty rough job. When my boss draws up his contract, he always allows a bit of extra time, because things do blow out.

"If it's raining, you can't work, and that adds a couple of days; sometimes when it comes down to crunch time we've had to work big days to get jobs finished on time. When you go over, you get penalised; you get money off your contract."

Mr Hunt says that his motivation is to deliver more than he promises on every job.

"You have to make sure you get it right from the start," he says. "If you don't at least aim for perfection you're never going to get close. You have to take your time and then get quicker as you go along."

Judging by the industry feedback that Mr Hunt has received, there's nothing wrong with the speed that he's travelling at. He won the Goulburn Ovens TAFE Building and Construction Award for Wangaratta in 2006 and the feat impressed his boss so much that he decided to give him a pay rise. Then his salary increased again last July when he became fully qualified.

He says that he intends to stay in building for the long haul.

The prospect of starting his own business is one motivation and the friendships that he has made on site is another.

Seeing all the houses that he has worked on in the community also reinforces the value of the role that he is performing.

These days he's putting his skills to use in other capacities too. Having bought a block of land more than a year ago, he has started building a home of his own.

"I'll be doing it myself after work and on the weekends. I still have to pay for all the materials and everything like that, but this saves labour costs. It's tough, but hopefully it will pay off one day."

If Mr Hunt doesn't cut any corners, it will.

-- JOSH JENNINGS