[settersred]

Hi all,
Hope someone out there can advise. Our situation as follows:
House in UK almost sold. 3 kids. Me & OH. 1 Dog
OH has been a carpenter, in partnership with his father for 17 years. He has no Qualifications, as there was no need over here. He is also capable of most building, plumbing, electrical etc..
We are hoping to move to Nth/Mid Canterbury area and enter under a visitors visa for 6 mths. My questions are.
What are the chances of OH finding work????
Are there any companies who would make a job offer without the qualification??
How long would it take to re-train and become qualified over there??
Any other helpfull hint would be appreciated.

This site is amazing, so glad I found you all!!! :clap

Oh and how do I get a picture under my name? Not too hot with computers.

[marcia]

Hi welcome to the forum!

We went on a reccy trip in Jan and my OH has no Quals just loads of experience. When we came back I felt confident that if we had to do what you have suggested there would be no problems finding work. There is loads of work for joiners - after all the houses are all timber framed!

Good luck whatever you decide, and keep posting we are a nosy lot and like to know everyones business!!

[settersred]

Hi Marcia
Thanks for that. Just wish we could afford a reccy trip first, never even been abroad, unfortunayely this is it, all or nothing and if it doesn't work out we can't come back very well. Everything else we are fairly positive on so long as we can find work quickly.
We'll either be laughing :laugh or crying :wah either way chances only come by once and we intend to grab it!

[mossum]

hi guys

we are off to Christchurch very soon - we are going the family route & my DH does not have a job - however .... loads of people my brother knows are very very keen - Paul is a cabinet maker by trade ( no Quals family business ) but can turn his hand to anything . I'm sure all will be ok for you .

vic x

[Moorf]

I often hear how there is a huge lack of tradesmen (joiners, plumbers, electricians) etc here in Canterbury, especially out in the rural areas where we are and up around Fairlie/Geraldine/Tekapo where there are huge numbers of houses being built.

Our plumber said he's booked up for the next 9 months, the electrician (when he finally turned up) said he needs more guys on the job asap and we're having our kitchen ripped out and re-fitted soon and whilst getting quotes there were hardly any that wanted to travel out to us to do the job - far too much lovely work in Chch for them to want to travel more than 20km outside of town.

I think that if you look hard enough and talk to locals and local firms you'll find work not too hard to find. :nice1 Put an ad in the local commuity paper, or stick up a notice at the local diary/supermarket and take what comes.

You might also want to try contacting the bigger contracting firms - for instance, Fix It All are quite big in Canterbury and they do all sorts of projects and I know, from also having them in to quote, that they have more work than they can cope with. http://www.fix-it.co.nz/

[Avalon]

The other thing is that the law is changing to make it (even) harder to self build. I dont know enough about it to say whether it affects your position or not - but the bottom line seems to be that you cant "DIY", so that seems to mean more work for the building trades. (And even harder to find a tradesman when you need one!)

Anyway - welcome to the fourm, and I hope it all goes well for you.

:yes

[Diny]

We're not in the south island, we're in the Manawatu (same area as Kev & Marcia are coming to).

However, what I can say is this, we're wanting an extension built on our house (another bedroom with ensuite and extended lounge on the front, and a utility and shower room on the back). We're having one heck of a job even getting builders to come and give us quotes. They're all fully booked for months in advance, and most of them want the complete house build jobs. They consider our requirements too small to bother about !!!!!!!!

I doubt this is a situation which is found only here in the Manawatu, I'd put any money on the fact that there's a nationwide shortage of chippies, builders, sparkies etc.

Another thing worth suggesting here. I've been advised (by a few unconnected people) to wait until my 'native kiwi' husband gets home (he works overseas) before talking to the builders ........ it's been suggested that if they should hear a female 'foreign' accent they'll bump the price up. I have no idea how true this is, but I have no intention of finding out either.

Good luck - grasp the opportunity - make it work. Welcome to the forum and keep us posted on your progress.

Diny