A Wellington plumbing company, run by a woman, has won Master Plumber of the Year Award 2018.
Colleen Upton with her colleagues after winning NZ Master Plumber of the Year Photo: Supplied
Hutt Gas and Plumbing employs three of just 22 women plumbing apprentices or tradespeople in the country.
It’s director, Colleen Upton, is leading the charge for a more diverse workforce in the industry.
“We’ve got huge shortages in plumbing, gasfitting and drainlaying and we need to be a bit more open-minded about the 50 percent of the population that aren’t generally taken on as apprentices - not only in our trade but in a lot of trades,” Upton says.
“If you’re a smart kid, you’re not always going to be a lawyer or a doctor, why not look at a trade? You don’t end up with a student loan, you can be earning seventy to eighty thousand just a year or two out of apprenticeship, you can have your own business.
"People who work in our industry are so clever … sometimes they haven’t had the most success at school but that doesn’t mean they can’t be excellent plumbers, gasfitters and drainlayers."
Upton talks up the diversity of the industry – the travel it can involve and the range of projects – and says it’s not all about what first springs to mind.
“When we talk about plumbing, the first thing that comes into most people’s mind is poo, lets be honest. In actual fact, in my team of 30, the maintenance plumbers are really the only ones that would deal with poo …and that’s now and then.”
She’d like to see less reluctance by male colleagues to take on women employees and apprentices. “One of the things they'll say is ‘my missus wouldn’t put up with that’. And I laugh and say ‘has your missus had a good look at you – what does she think is going to happen!’”
Upton says while firms do sometimes “poach” staff who’ve just completed apprenticeships, it shouldn’t discourage companies from training up young people.
“We’ve got 12 apprentices in our team of 30 and that’s how we’ve grown our company from six people – by bringing apprentices on.
“Sure you’re going to lose some of them – they’re going to go out into business on their own, they’re going to maybe go to work for someone else eventually, but it shouldn’t put you off.”
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