Arell Hobbs from Burgess and Hobbs, a family owned and operated welding and engineering company located in Western Australia, shares their business’s experience in signing up apprentices, with help from the team at BUSY At Work.
Since launching in 2020, Burgess and Hobbs has forged a successful business. Wyatt Hobbs, who had been working for a shed company in Jurien Bay, dreamed of starting his own venture. At the same time, Wyatt’s old apprentice Rory Burgess was ready for a new challenge. With years of experience in the mining sector and now qualified as a Boilermaker and Heavy Diesel Mechanic, Rory joined Wyatt to bring their vision to life. In partnership, they founded Burgess and Hobbs, turning their shared ambition into reality.
Burgess and Hobbs started with an empty workshop and a bunch of dreams, and now, just five years later have become a fully-fledged success, specialising in fabricating, supplying and erecting custom made sheds, patios and extensions, throughout Perth and Western Australia.
Having previously had experience with (and as!) apprentices, they knew that bringing in apprentices would be a great way to grow their business, support people looking to learn a trade, and help them bring in some fresh ideas as well. So, they reached out to BUSY At Work, an Australian Apprenticeship Support provider.
Arell stated, “BUSY At Work helped sign up both of our apprentices. They came to our workshop and gave both us and our apprentices all the information we needed. They were able to answer all our questions.”
To date, Burgess and Hobbs have taken on two apprentices. Sam, a mature-aged apprentice who had a successful career as an Occupational Therapist, but wanted to transition to a more practical and hands-on career, with the ultimate goal of being able to build his own home, and Jed, a younger man who came to Burgess and Hobbs through a schoolwork placement and whose enthusiasm and knowledge impressed the team so much that they offered him a permanent placement.
“Both apprentices have worked on many projects both from the workshop and onsite throughout WA. Sam has recently helped configure a quicker and easier way for us to quote jobs and has measured, quoted and fabricated jobs entirely independently. Jed has been responsible for several alterations and additions in the workshop that have made the entire environment more efficient and user-friendly”, Arell said of the apprentices.
Sam – their mature-aged apprentice – is now in his third year in completing his qualification to become nationally recognised in his trade, and Jed is in his second year. The current priority for the team is to support them as they finish their studies and provide them with as much experience as possible.
As Arell says of their skills succession planning, “Our business has steadily grown, and we anticipate it will continue to expand in the coming years. Our apprentices are a very big part of that, and we hope they will continue to grow along with the company. Watching our apprentices grow and learn and become more confident is one of the most rewarding parts of the journey.”
When asked if they would recommend BUSY At Work to other businesses looking to take on apprentices Arell’s response was a resounding, “Yes! We would highly recommend BUSY at Work. It was such a seamless process and knowing help is always there is very comforting. They put in place every aspect of taking on an apprentice, including the incentives”.
If you would like more information about how to bring an apprentice into your business, contact the BUSY At Work team today.
Learn more about Apprenticeship Services Support through BUSY At Work.
From L-R: Rory, Jed, Sam, and Wyatt on a job site at Lake King where they completed a re-roofing on a shed.
