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Shane the Roof Tiler Every building has one, every office block, every house, every shed. They all have a roof. At NMIT's Epping campus roof tiling apprentices are taught in arguable the best roof tiling facilities in Victoria if not Australia.
Skills Shortage The great news is that roof tiling is an area of skill shortage and interested students should be able to find an apprenticeship near to home. At the moment there isn't a pre-app in the area so the first step into the trade is via an apprenticeship. Begin by looking in the paper, go and knock on the door of a roof tiler. Qualified tilers have no trouble finding work. Because it is so short staffed you could use the skill to travel around Australia. Employers would be happy to take you on even for a short time. A qualified trade person will take home in the vicinity of $500-$600 per week. Many apprentices once they qualify move straight into running their own business and they could easily take home $1000-$1500 each week. The set up costs of your own business are at the most $15000 and this is buying brand new top of the range equipment. Roof tiling is not for those who are scared of heights. Most of the time you are working 2-6mts off the ground. You can work up to 10-12mts, which means the view can be pretty good. It would suit students who like doing physical outdoor work and don't mind working in the heat. At least you stop when it rains. Shane Scotson, roof tiling teacher and co-ordinator of the program used to go tenpin bowling when it rained, apparently he got pretty good at it. Roof tiling is also a social activity, you usually work in small gangs, and therefore you need to be able to get along with allsorts of people. A understanding of basic maths is needed. The course at NMIT is the only one in the north-west suburbs of Melbourne that is taught completely under cover and is mostly hands on. Students learn basic wood working such as putting down battens, installing and cutting tiles and cement work. Shane has designed the course so that students do all the practical tasks that are possible within the trade. Every type of roof, every shape and design as well as doing some decorative work. They also do some work on slating, which represents the high end of the industry and can lead to some interesting jobs such as restoring historic building. Students come in block release, which gives them time to work on larger projects over several days. Shane went into roofing because his father had been a roof tiler. He was interested in it and saw long term potential in it, he didn't think machines would replace them and 20 years after he started it hasn't changed much. At 19 after qualifying he ran his own business. Shane has enjoyed been a roof tiler and has got immense job satisfaction from it. He has had a good career and now sees teacher as just another step. He enjoys teaching the apprentices and passing on his knowledge; although the paper work does drive him mad at times. Even though Shane in now teaching he is still learning as new products come onto the market. It is necessary he keep's up with the latest trends and innovations in the industry. Shane's commitment to the students is such that he personally goes and visits them all on the building sites meets their employers and does the sign up.
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