Doing it tough

Grayson Allen of Peak Plumbing & Gas in Havelock North was generous with his time in talking to me about the full impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle.

He described that first sleepless night when the gale force winds and horizontal rain arrived; the devastation wreaked over the following days; the urgent work to get temporary power back to septic tanks and rural water supplies; the intensive silt clear up needed to access people’s homes; the pricing of jobs for insurance assessments; and the long journey ahead to put properties to right. Some of his clients and his fellow Master Plumbers members in the region have lost everything and had their lives turned upside down overnight.

The proposed programmes are set to be finalised this April, after which a transition plan will be developed for all providers with the aim of minimising disruption for learners. The expected transition date is January 2024.

Read about this and other projects underway at Waihanga Ara Rau on page 22.

The 2023 New Zealand Plumbing Conference takes place in Ōtautahi Christchurch a few days from now. It will be great to catch up with our readers, contributors and advertisers at the event and we look forward to bringing full coverage in the next edition.

See you there!

NZ Plumber is the official magazine of Master Plumbers, Gasfitters & Drainlayers NZ Inc. Contact details for the Master Plumbers board, staff, branches and associations are available at www.masterplumbers.org.nz

©NZ Plumber 2013. Registered as a Newspaper, GPO, Wellington, ISSN 0111-4379. NZ Plumber is subject to copyright in its entirety. The contents may not be reproduced in any form, either in whole or in part, without written permission of the publisher. All rights reserved in material accepted for publication, unless initially specified otherwise. All letters and other material forwarded to the magazine will be assumed intended for publication unless clearly labelled ‘Not for Publication’. Views expressed in articles in NZ Plumber magazine are not necessarily those of Master Plumbers, Gasfitters & Drainlayers NZ Inc, or of the Editor. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information included in this publication, the publisher and the Editor take no responsibility for errors or omissions or for any consequences of reliance on this information. Publication of advertising material implies no endorsement of either a product or service.

Turn to page 14 to read Grayson’s account and, for readers who have been personally affected, we are thinking of you. After the initial adrenaline, anxiety and depression can kick in, and Master Plumbers Wellbeing Guy Kereama

Carmody offers his support on page 69.

Changes are ahead for apprentice qualifications, with the Waihanga Ara Rau WDC having presented its proposals for a new PGD training delivery programme to industry representatives via webinar and face-to-face meetings.

Beverly Sellers Editor, NZ Plumber, bsellers@masterplumbers.org.nz

Cover Story

Life wasn’t easy growing up for brothers Scot Pearce and Royce Parker but with the input and influence of others, some hard work and perseverance, they’ve developed a successful West Auckland plumbing business together. Twelve years since it started, Water to Waste has grown to be an in-demand plumbing and drainage operation for commercial clients, private customers, schools and film production companies. With a business focus on social responsibility and environmental efficiency, Scot and Royce like to give back where and when they can. Turn to page 34 to read their story.

Firstly, I want to pass on my best wishes to everyone in areas impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle. There has been extreme devastation and this has affected some Master Plumbers’ members, who have lost their properties and business premises.

It’s hard to comprehend from afar the extent of the damage, but the estimated $30 billion needed for recovery is second only to the Canterbury earthquakes. With many people left without drinking water or sanitation for a considerable amount of time after the cyclone, we are again reminded of just how essential our key services are.

Master Plumbers quickly decided our best support for the recovery would be to set up a fundraising campaign through a Givealittle page and we’re proud to have grown the funds to in excess of $55,000. I’d particularly like to thank the branches and associations who have contributed across the Master Plumbers’ motu, as well as Marley New Zealand for their generous $10,000 donation.

In the coming weeks, the team in Wellington are heading up into the affected regions to discuss how best we can fund specific projects relating to our industry.

On page 20, we highlight the lack of comprehensive infrastructure spend across Aotearoa New Zealand. Seeing images of a water main feeding Gisborne attached to an 80-year-old concrete bridge that has been washed away by the cyclone only serves to reinforce that New Zealand is trying to do infrastructure on a shoestring rather than having a proper bipartisan plan.

There will be consumers without water in Gisborne for a long period and it will be interesting to see how the government addresses these infrastructure shortcomings.

You’ll see on page 22 that Waihanga Ara Rau are consulting on some significant changes to the plumbing, gasfitting and drainlaying training delivery regime. Master Plumbers is in discussions with the Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board about the potential of introducing endorsements on licences.

We believe endorsements will be essential for hydrogen and biogases but there are some other specialisations, such as industrial gas and on site wastewater management, where we think endorsements could also play a crucial role in ensuring our trades are well qualified and experienced— and this should include on-job experience in these specialised areas.

This involves an appropriately trained person visiting a local business and completing an on-job assessment to ensure the tradesperson is competent in the specialist pathway being assessed.

Due to the general nature of the current qualifications, and the continual development of new and innovative products and technologies, we are unfortunately seeing some apprentices turn up to block course without any on-job experience in certain aspects of the trade, and it is very difficult for them to obtain the required learning at a block course.

It is interesting to compare our PGD training regime, which includes 18 weeks of block courses, with the Australian regime—where specialist endorsements have existed for over 23 years—which has a minimum of 24 weeks and up to 28 weeks of block courses.

There appears to be a level of confusion in the industry around the proposed new PGD qualifications, as there are multiple pathways to be able to prove competencies. One area that is proving successful is the workplace assessment project.

We need to ensure our training regime and qualifications are robust, and that apprentices are assessed and trained well—and it is my view that we need to incorporate workplace assessments into the qualifications.

On a positive note, we are gearing up for the big conference event on 3-5 May. We have some great guest speakers and we look forward to some in-depth discussions.

Greg Wallace, CEO Master Plumbers, Gasfitters & Drainlayers NZ

I orea te tuatara ka patu ki waho A problem is solved by continuing to find solutions