FCTA – Building Careers

The team in Pt Augusta has been busy developing their hand skills, with a focus on practical projects. Most of the team are from the Pt Augusta, Quorn and Whyalla region, where these types of courses are not normally available. This course was fully funded by the CITB as a way of getting more people into the industry. While the building industry is experiencing a short term slow down, the longer term trend shows a severe shortage of skilled tradespeople being available in the building industry. Reflecting this is research from the ABBTF, indicating the average age of a bricklayer is 46.

Brett Starting A New Project

Jason's Letterbox

Nic's Pier to Letterbox

Ashley's Internal External Wall Project

Jason's Internal-External Project

Mark Washing Down His Project

Mark's External Wall Project

Nic's Pier

Congratulations to Mark Thomas and Maurice Altamura, who both won awards at the HIA–Stratco Apprentice & Trade Contractor Awards held on Friday 16 March at Stratco St Marys.

This year they had a record number of attendees with feedback from those who attended being very positive. Maurice was awarded the 3rd Year Bricklaying Apprentice award, with Mark winning the New School Based Apprentice of The Year Award. FCTA’s student liaison officer and trainer Warren Baff was at the event, and presented Mark with his award.

Warren Baff presenting Mark Thomas with his award

We ran our first course this week, with our test student, David. Feedback was really positive, and the results David achieved, outstanding. Now we’ve been able to work through the course and the best way to deliver quality training, we will be running these courses on a demand basis, each month. If you are interested, email info@fcta.com.au, or call us on 8367 5615.

David applying the acrylic top coat

The Pt Augusta Youth Centre provided FCTA with the facility being used for this course. Finding a suitable location for training had been one of the issues preventing similar courses being run in Pt Augusta. Over the coming weeks the pre-apprenticeship team will begin work on a few projects within the Youth Centre, to showcase what they have learned. In week 2 the team have been learning some of the fundamental skills of bricklaying, that they will use throughout the course, and will give them an advantage over other people looking for working in the construction industry.

The first week of the CITB Pt Augusta Pre-Apprenticeship course, and the participants have already started learning how to lay bricks. FCTA takes training out of the classroom, and focuses on the development of practical hand skills. This helps our students gain an understanding of what its like to work in the construction industry. While building up the self esteem of students with learning or literacy difficulties.

We receive lots of enquiries from people wanting to learn how to render. In response we have developed 2 new short courses, one in acrylic rendering, and one in traditional rendering. These courses run during the week, but weekend times can be negotiated if there are more than 5 students. Please refer to the following Information Sheets for more information about the 2 different courses, and to find out about the different types of rendering.

Timings:

Weekday courses run from 8am – 3:30pm.
First Monday of each Month – eg, w/c May 7th 2012, w/c June 4th 2012

Cost:
$750 per 5 day course (paypal credit card payments available)

To secure a place, please email info@fcta.com.au.

The Advertiser has a report on Trade Licence Delays claiming that applicants are waiting up to 4 months to have their applications approved.

APPRENTICES are waiting four months for their licences to be approved, costing them $300 a week in wages and lost opportunities to work unsupervised.

The Opposition believes as many as 400 plumbing, gas-fitting and building apprentices could be affected by a backlog in processing licences. However the Government could not confirm the figure.

Morgan Crabb, 23, applied to make the transition from fourth-year apprentice to qualified plumber in October and still has not received his licence.

“It was meant to be a four-week wait and it’s been four months,” he said.

Mr Crabb said he had missed out on almost $5000 in extra wages while he waited.

“It’s pretty slack and it’s been very frustrating.”

Another plumbing apprentice told The Advertiser he applied for a contractor’s licence on December 1 last year and was only told his licence was approved on February 15 – after he called his local MP to complain.

It is also understood that some established tradespeople have experienced delays of more than three months in getting their licences renewed.

Opposition consumer affairs spokesman Mark Goldsworthy called on the Government to divert public servants to the Office of Consumer and Business Affairs to clear the backlog.

“We’re supposed to be encouraging people to take up trades … but this (delay) is an impediment to the state and these young people,” he said.

Plumbing Industry Association executive officer Andrew Clarke said it was “frustrating” that the process was “held up in bureaucracy”.

“It also creates a problem for employers who might not be able to employ more apprentices in the meantime,” he said.

Business Services Minister John Rau said that he was “very concerned by anecdotal evidence of poor service” and vowed to “make improvements in cutting red tape and reducing wait times”.

He said the department faced “high volumes” of new and renewed licence applications and cautioned the “consequences of licensing an unqualified person could be disastrous”.

Some improvements were already under way, including fast-tracking less complex applications and allowing online processing.

Mr Rau also said legislation could be amended to “remove unnecessary procedures without compromising public safety”.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/delay-keeps-tradies-out-of-work/story-e6frea6u-1226282009056

The Australian Brick & Blocklaying Training Foundation (ABBTF) have just announced an additional incentive:

The new ‘Brickstart Bonus’ involves a $1,000 incentive for employers who take on a new apprentice between 2 January 2012 and 30 April 2012 and is payable to employers after the completion of the apprentice’s first year. Bricklayers already receive other generous subsidies to encourage them to train apprentices: these are the current ABBTF subsidy of $3,000 in South Australia, the Federal Government’s $4,000 and incentives from State based construction industry training funds.

ABBTF Media Release Information Sheet and Further Information Flyer

FCTA- Building Careers have run numerous Pre-apprenticeship courses over the years, and have found these courses to be a great way for people to gain work in the construction industry.

The course runs for 10 weeks, and is full time from 8am – 3:30pm Monday – Friday.

Successful students will be awarded a Certificate II in Construction Pathways

Practical projects, in Bricklaying and Solid Plastering, will be the focus of the course to develop hand skills.

The course has been sponsored by the CITB, so there is no charge for students. If you are interested, please click on our CITB Flyer 19032012 Pt Augusta for more information. All applicants are required to meet with one of our team for a chat to discuss why they would like to do the course. Interviews will be held on March 8th from 10am – 2pm, at Employment Plus 12Chapel St, Pt Augusta. To book a time, please call us on 08 8367 5615, or email admin@fcta.com.au.

FCTA are in the process of arranging to run, one of the very popular, pre-apprenticeship courses in Pt Augusta. If you are interested, please contact us via email at info@fcta.com.au. The course will commence in March at a date to be confirmed.