Career starters 72 TOP-QUALITY TRAINING
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nzplumber
Training up apprentices to become high-calibre tradespeople brings Jack Rogers huge enjoyment and pride—and he says he was over the moon to have been awarded for his efforts. AUTHOR: MATTHEW LOWE
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ack Rogers has notched up more than 50 years in the industry. The Managing Director of Rogers and Rogers in Kaitaia, he still remains active in the business at 70 and says one of his proudest achievements is helping train nearly 20 apprentices over the years. “I enjoy bringing young people through and putting them into a trade,” he says. “It comes from me having gratitude for someone doing that for me.” Another reason for his focus on training staff is the challenge of trying to recruit plumbers to this Northland town. “It’s hard to get a plumber to move here and, if you do, you have to kind of retrain them because plumbing in the Far North is different to city plumbing,” he explains. “They’re not used to septic tanks and water pumps—it’s a whole new ballgame for them, and so in many ways it’s better to train your own staff up and get them thinking how you want them to. I have trained many a plumber and roofer, and my first apprentice, who started when he was 16, is still with me… and he’s now 56.”
It had to be a trade Jack served his own apprenticeship with Whitefield, Kimber and Wilson in Kaitaia. He had been unsure of what career to pursue but says his father wouldn’t let him leave school until he had a job—and it had to be a trade. “My dad was a builder and one day he said, ‘I think I’ve found a job for you; how would you like to be a plumber?’ I said, ‘That sounds like me,’ and then added, ‘What does a plumber do?’ That was in 1966. I started my apprenticeship in August that year and I have been plumbing ever since.” Jack remained with Whitefield, Kimber and Wilson until teaming up with his father, Mick, to form Rogers and Rogers in 1975. Mick and his colleagues would build houses, with Jack completing the plumbing, roofs and drainlaying. Jack’s youngest brother Victor was also part of the building team but died of an aneurism at an early age. In the early 1980s, the building work started to dwindle and Jack put more
