1. Working Outdoors

With bricklaying, your office can be anywhere: by the beach, on top of a city building or in an idyllic country setting, and every job provides a change of location. Its never boring.

2. The All-Important Qualification

A qualification in bricklaying (Certificate III ) reflects the training and the skills you have gained as a fully qualified and competent tradesman.

You can learn at your own pace and the combination of on the job and off the job training is a great mix to build your knowledge, skills and experience in bricklaying. Gaining your qualifications is an achievement to be proud of and a great start to your career.

Bricklaying is a real craft and requires a high standard of workmanship, skill and precision. It offers an excellent career path, with the opportunity for many young trade professionals to become future leaders in the construction industry.

3. I Built That

Bricklayers can say, I built this city, because they did and can see the results of their work. Bricks and blocks, more than any other products such as wiring and gas and water pipes, are on show to be admired. Bricklayers take great pride in the finished result and can truly say, I built that.

4. The Pay Just Gets Better

Bricklayers do very well these days and skill shortages are creating more demand and more rewards for the trade. An apprentice gets paid to learn (unlike a university student) and the more skilled you get, the more the pay gets better.

5. Be Your Own Boss

Bricklaying provides a great opportunity to be your own boss. There are many ambitious young bricklayers who look for responsibility, leadership opportunities and the freedom to run their own business. Running your own subcontractor business gives you the opportunity to take charge and can be very rewarding, not only financially, but with the satisfaction of building and running your own team.

6. Freedom to Travel

Bricklaying provides great opportunities to travel the country and the world. Just pack your trowel and your skills and set off on a journey of discovery. Bricklayers are needed all over the world, so there is always a job waiting for you and an exciting experience that comes with travel.

7. Be Part of a Team

Teams that achieve success are teams that work together, for each other. This is the culture of bricklaying gangs. Its teamwork that gets the job done. Teamwork creates efficiency, meets on the job challenges and shares the load with your mates. If you work well in a team environment, then bricklaying is for you.

8. My Fitness Program

Cancel your gym membership. Bricklayers are among the fittest young people going around. Many are good at sport, have excellent hand-eye coordination and love the outdoor physical work. Its a great feeling to have done a days work, knock off in the arvo and get to do your own thing. Its the lifestyle and fitness that comes with bricklaying. Of course, in years to come, you will be running your own gang or will become a builder with more time to supervise and lead other young hands-on tradesmen..

9. I'm Aiming to be a Builder

There are only two structural construction trades, bricklaying and carpentry. Both are pathways, if you want, to becoming a builder. Gaining a qualification in bricklaying provides a great understanding and knowledge of building. Many bricklayers continue on to get their builders licence and are very successful. And it started with a bricklaying qualification.

10. Skill Shortage Creates Opportunity

There is a shortage of skilled bricklayers in Australia. Less than 50 percent of the trade have a qualification. The shortage will get worse as the ageing bricklayers retire or leave the trade. 47 percent of bricklayers are over the age of 50. Therefore a young qualified bricklayer has the world at his feet with plenty of work, great rewards and a great lifestyle. The future shortage will give you greater freedom of choice.

Building and Construction - Bricklaying - Skills to Build On

There is a new generation of young bricklayers emerging. This group are fit, bright, ambitious and focused on a successful and rewarding career. They know the options and freedom that bricklaying provides. You too can be part of this new generation.

Australian Brick and Blocklaying Training Foundation Ltd (ABBTF) promotes the trade of bricklaying to young people to address the critical skill shortage of qualified bricklayers currently facing the Australian construction industry.

In Australia, 47 percent of bricklayers are over the age of 40, 24 percent are over the age of 50 and around 8,000 are expected to leave the trade in the next 10 years. Only 50 percent of these places will be filled by the current number of apprentices in training.

ABBTF was formed to manage strategies Australiawide to increase bricklayer numbers. The scheme applies across Victoria, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania.

To achieve apprenticeship growth, ABBTF has forged strong relationships with training providers of bricklaying by promoting bricklaying at open days, career expos and by addressing careers teachers throughout Australia. This is followed up by visits to secondary schools and talking to students in their final decision making years at school.

Students in years 9 and 10 can participate in a Step Out introduction to bricklaying funded by ABBTF. This gives students an opportunity to try bricklaying while still at school, offering them an easy progression into a pre-apprenticeship or pre-vocational course. ABBTF supports students completing pre-entry training that ensures they are work ready to undertake an apprenticeship. What this means for the employer is that students come with skills, making them work ready and a valuable asset to their business.

Financial incentives are offered to employers to indenture an apprentice and the success of addressing the skill shortage relies on employers giving these young people the same opportunity they had. These employers play a vital role in mentoring the next generation of bricklayers to ensure that valuable skills and craftsmanship are passed on.

A qualification in bricklaying is a valued trade in the construction industry that can also lead to becoming a builder and many other career path opportunities in the future. Some of these opportunities include self-employed contractor running your own bricklaying business, site supervisors, construction manager, surveying and estimating.

ABBTF also aims to improve and maintain quality in bricklaying and comprises members of major brick and block manufacturers, builders, the Housing Industry Association and the Master Builders Association.

To address these skill shortage issues, ABBTF has implemented an apprenticeship scheme that is jointly funded by an industry contribution on bricks and blocks, which is matched by the brick and block manufacturers. This contribution adds approximately $20 to the cost of a brick veneer home.

Contact ABBTF for further information on how to get into a bricklaying apprenticeship, and get paid while learning a trade 1300 66 44 96, www.becomeabricklayer.com.au

ABBTF