Howick hosts country’s only wrap school

Long-time east Auckland local Phillip Garratt, who brings decades of experience to the business, owns the NZ Wrap School in Moore Street and he’s also its main trainer.

His goal is to teach people how to apply self-adhesive vinyl to vehicles of all shapes and sizes so they can then get a foot in the door of a business requiring those skills.

“The age groups we cater for are about 16 years old up to 45 or 50,” Phillip explains. “We have people coming here from all around the country to learn.

“They get a really good understanding of the industry. It’s for people who want to either learn how to wrap their own car or are looking to get into the industry.

“A lot of people are doing it for a career change or up-skilling within the signage industry.”

The school offers a three-stage programme run over three days from Wednesday-Friday, so each stage is a single day.

It’s a practical programme for people who enjoy working with their hands rather than listening to a tutor talk for hours on end.

Each day starts with Phillip running through a short presentation before the students get stuck in.

“We cover a lot of content,” he says.

“Generally by the end of the first day people have a good basis in vinyl application and they’re confidently wrapping components.

“We give people the basics and the fundamentals and cover everything they need to know.”

Phillip’s had a successful career in the industry since about 1996 so he knows what he’s talking about.

His first job back then was wrapping buses and doing advertising panels for the Yellow Bus Company.

He’s happy for anyone with questions about the school to give him a call or email him and says people who complete each course stage receive a certificate.

“We’re the only dedicated wrap school in New Zealand.

“I created it because it didn’t already exist and I wanted to reduce the amount of failures in the industry.

“People were doing the wrong things or not finishing correctly, or had done the incorrect prep.

“I wanted to create an environment where people are hands-on, touching the film, learning the correct squeegee techniques, and I really wanted to get rid of bad habits before they begin.

“Even experienced people are required to do stage one of the programme to make sure they’ve got everything right and they get a lot from it.”

People who take the course will be in a good position to find employment in the signage industry or in an individual wrap shop, Phillip says.

“They’ll be able to apply potentially full wraps such as on cars or trucks with livery and other kinds of corporate signage, so the skills learned here can be transferred to the signage industry.

“There’s definitely a demand for such skills and it’s becoming more and more popular.”

The programme costs $495 per stage and each stage is a day long. Don’t hesitate – call or email Phillip today.