Emma - Chippy

Gday!

My names Emma and I’m a 3rd year apprentice chippy.
I’m currently working with ebop Building, based in Helensburgh NSW. We also work with Greenstone Homes pretty frequently, who are based in Thirroul NSW. I’m 27 years old and feel like a little bit of a late comer to the industry, starting my apprenticeship in 2019.

Previously I’d worked hospitality in a café and for a long time I thought this was the only option for me.
I completed wood work and automotive in high school (and loved it!) but had never even considered this could be a potential career path for me - it just wasn’t something that was talked about (or encouraged really).

Growing up in the small country town of Cobargo, which you can find on the far south coast of NSW, I ended up chasing a dream in the form of rugby league. My first year playing I joined a team that was over an hour away from my home and from that point I was hooked.
I was lucky enough to be invited to travel and play in Canada with another team from this competition
On this trip I met some amazing people and had the experience of a life time. The following year I made the decision to put my all into footy and signed up for a great club which was about 4 hours away from my home town.
I played with the mighty Helensburgh tigers for two years. Having family and new found friends in the town definitely helped with the adjustment and travel. My weekly Friday routine was to work 8 hours at my full time job (local café) not too far from my home town. Then jump straight in the car to drive 4 hours up the coast to smash out footy training.
We’d then play our game on Saturdays followed by me making the trip back home to be ready to work for my usual Sunday shift at the café.

I started to realise that this routine was not sustainable at all (and my micro sleeps on my long car trips were telling me that same thing).
I made the decision to move closer to the game I love, after just shy of 10 years in the hospitality industry, I was ready to flip my life completely upside down and have a total career change. One afternoon visiting my cousin Terri and her husband Leon, We got to talking about potential career paths for me. I was still processing my huge life change and wasn’t 100% sure at the time what I was looking for exactly, I just knew I was ready to take on a new challenge and really push myself. Leon being a builder with his own company (ebop) threw out the idea of me coming on board with him as his very first apprentice. I went to work with him for a week as a trial run before making my final decision and from that point, I’ve never looked back. Although leaving my hometown and venturing out into the big wide world was pretty intimidating I knew I was making the right move.
Besides missing home and my friends, the hardest thing was leaving behind my ultimate bestie - my much loved doggy Charlie girl.
Thankfully my amazing sister, Sarah who I was living with at the time, was more than happy to keep her (don’t worry I made plenty of visits back down the coast and am now in a position where she can come and stay with me for weeks at a time).

With a job lined up and a place to live, it seemed liked all the stars had aligned when the opportunity to play footy at a higher lever presented itself - everything was coming up Millhouse. So off I went to start this new and exciting chapter in my life where footy and carpentry were my main focuses. There’s so many things I love about carpentry. But the things that resonate with me the most are the large variety of skills that you develop and the fact that there is always something new to learn (it also helps that no job is the same so it never gets boring). I look back to when I first started and can’t help but feel so proud of how far I’ve come and how much more capable I am, physically and mentally! I feel like I will never stop learning in this industry and that’s something that I’ll always appreciate.

In saying this my most favourite thing about carpentry is the way memories of my Pop come into lots of the jobs I’m doing. When I was young I spent most of my weekends at my Nan and Pops house. Pop always had jobs lined up for us every weekend and we were always out in the garage for hours on end with Nan calling time for smoko and lunch (which was always the best sandwiches and freshly baked muffins, cakes or scones). Ill be cutting some timber at work and the smell of the sawdust will overwhelm me with happy memories of my Poppy. We always used to feed the kookaburras and its ridiculous the amount of those birds I see flying around all the time! (I know its him watching over me, he always fly’s by when I need it most). Definitely have him to thank for my love and passion for this trade!

I’m also pretty lucky to have such a supportive crew of men to work with on site. I’ve heard of stories from other Tradie ladies where they have been given a hard time on site and it’s absolutely horrible. It makes me feel very fortunate to have not had to deal with any disrespect or negative comments. The boys are always so helpful and ready to lend a hand in teaching me something new. They take the time to explain why we are doing things a certain way and what we are trying to achieve. My bosses are also amazing and super supportive of me. I will be forever grateful for the opportunity that I’ve been given and the amount of endless support I’ve received.

In saying that, it hasn’t been all smooth sailing! Apparently those weird math equations and formulas they teach you in school do actually have a purpose, and this is something I really struggled with. I could never wrap my head around the math’s in school, so I knew from the get go this would be an ongoing challenge, but I was determined to give it my all and take things at my own pace. It was hard at the start (really hard) but with practice and consistency - I got better and eventually began to understand what I was doing.

My first summer holidays as a chippy I’d decided to spend back down home with family and friends. Unfortunately the summer didn’t look exactly the way I planned due to the devastating bushfires which burnt half of my beautiful little home town to a crisp.
I was staying with my sister in Narooma (about half an hour away from my parents house). Our parents had made the incredibly brave and tough decision to stay and defend our home. The roads were closed and all communication with them was lost - it was gut wrenching. I remember getting a call from one of my best mates the fire captain for Narooma, she was calling to make sure mum and dad had gotten out safe and sound. After telling her they stayed, she told me she was going back to check on them. It was such a surreal situation and the feeling is something that I think I’ll carry with me forever. Finally a few days later some of the roads opened and I jumped straight in my Ute and headed to see them not knowing what to expect. I was extremely relieved to find that Mum, dad and the house were still standing. We were so lucky, unlike some of our neighbours who has lost everything.

The showground just up the road from our house was set up as a place for locals. You could come and stay or come just to pick up supplies. There was a small amount of feed there which I helped transport out to stranded animals.
There was plenty of human supplies coming in which was great but the need for animal feed was growing fast and our supply was running thin. I decided to take to my socials, putting out a post on Facebook which was shared over 300 times. I had countless messages flooding my inbox, so many people were willing to donate and do whatever they could to help out our little community.
With loads of help from close friends and strangers, all of which I am eternally grateful, we started seeing donations flowing and deliveries of feed for the animals. I will never not be overwhelmed with the support from not only my mates but also complete strangers during those hard times.

While all this was happening I had put off going back to work and continued to do what I could to help out the community. My boss was amazing and extremely supportive of whatever I needed to do for my community. I remember coming back to work finally after weeks of being home doing whatever I could. It was great being back at work but I was still feeling so exhausted and not myself at all.
This lasted for few weeks and played a big part in the progression of my apprenticeship. With time I was back to myself and powering through again, learning my way through the next jobs and completing my first ever new build. It was a duplex in Cronulla which I got to see come to life from the ground up - and what a feeling! From the earth works to the slab, frames and fix outs, I was and still am obsessed! Standing out and looking at a completed job is a feeling like no other, I can’t even put it into words.

In May 2021 to top off an already hard year from a personal perspective, I broke my foot playing footy.
I was absolutely devastated, three fractures and did the Lisfranc ligament in the arch of my foot, this was by far the worst injury I’ve ever had. It took about a week before I grasped the extent of my injury and for someone who is very independent I suddenly needed a personal babysitter/Uber driver just to be able to leave the house. It sucked, and it really got to me. With Covid kicking it up a gear and me not being able to be on the tools, mum and dad came and got me and took me back down home for my recovery and rehab.
All up I was looking at 4 months off work, 6 weeks on crutches with no weight bearing followed by another 6 weeks ontop of that in a moon boot. After that I was able to really get into the rehab of slowly starting to walk again. The silver lining was that I was able to spend my rehab months back home, with the people I needed most at the time.
It allowed me to really reset and get back to being myself again. I decided to look at it as a “everything happens for a reason” kind of incident.

When I finally came back to my normal life (work, friends, extended fam, even a little bit of footy) all my mates were there waiting for me “She’s back, Emma’s back” and I was! The happy healthy slightly bung footed Emma was back and ready to enjoy life and get back to the job I love! I returned to work a little lost. I had missed out on finishing the last job as well as and starting the new jobs. But it didn’t take long before I was back on the horse and annoying all the crew making TikTok’s of us creating people’s dream homes. I was back and I was ready to rip in to any job thrown my way, including my first crack at the concrete saw as well as getting a taste of operating the small excavator - never a dull moment in the life of a chippy!

So that’s it! This is my story so far! So spread the word! Tradie ladies are in! And the industry needs them more than ever! I hope my story reaches aspiring young girls and even late blooming women like myself to give a trade a crack! If you’re keen to follow me through the rest of my apprenticeship, life as a chippy and have a laugh at some horrible dancing and singing on the job I’d love for you to follow me @emmathetradielady on Instagram and TikTok. Also how nifty are the shots of me on-site! some Caught by the amazing Louise wellington @lulu_wells

Yeah the girls!