FOUR years ago, Porepunkah resident Phillip Robichaud was managing a bicycle store in Bright and had no passion for woodworking, but the now fourth-year carpentry apprentice was recently awarded the Master Builders North East Apprentice of the Year Award in structural trades.
The local father and husband has been in the Alpine Shire since 2015, originally moving from Canada in 2011 to follow the Australian woman he fell in love with.
Phillip is now employed by JH Building and Design and was nominated for the 2024 Master Builders Victoria Regional Apprentice of the Year award by the Murray Mallee Training Company, both of whom he shared his gratitude alongside Jaymon and George.
“The people I work with are what makes me enjoy it so much,” he said.
“Recognition is always a nice thing to get but it’s mostly great to see your progress, which is what I’ve been working towards.
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“Before this job, my wife and I bought a terrible house in Porepunkah and decided to fix it up, but I had zero interest in woodworking and little to no skills so after countless failures and carpenter friends telling me I’ve done it wrong, I started to enjoy the process of learning.
“Eventually I reached out to a friend who had a building company and told him I was thinking about a career change, so would he give me a shot and after a few weeks I’d really been enjoying it.
“I wanted the career change because I was truly burnt out on retail, after 10 years in the ski and bike world.
“Managing the bike shop was a good time; I had good staff and was building cool bikes and talking to cool people and going to great races and all in all it was pretty awesome.
“I realised after some time I wasn’t as excited as I once was and was probably taking the shine off it for others.
“The position I was in you need to be the stoked guy but my personal mantra is, regardless of what you’re doing, if you’re not growing personally or professionally you shouldn’t be doing it.”
Phillip’s advice for anyone thinking of changing their career to a trade was to take care of your body.
“Lift with your knees, do some stretching and listen to everyone around you,” he said.
“Even if they’re a different trade there are so many layers to the building industry.
“Take everyone's advice and style on board and pack it all together before you whittle down your own style out of it.
“Everyone's brain works in a different way and communication, like in all things, is the most important thing.”
As for himself, the next step would be to complete a Cert IIII and become a builder, but he may be sticking to carpentry for a while.
“I’m not sure if I’m ready for that,” he said.
“I like who I work with here and if he’s happy to keep doing what he’s doing for the next few years I’ll keep hanging out with him.
“He’s got a really great work-life balance which is a big thing for me.
“We live rurally because we enjoy the lifestyle it brings, the people that come to the region, more time outside and more time with people.”
