New Zealand - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

[MrJacques]

That's awesome!

 

And good choice of vocation. Sparkies here can make a killing! Especially because NZ is pretty strict on DIY stuff around the house, so people end up paying upwards of $60/hr to get a sparky out to do things that Saffers would usually do themselves.

 

One of the hospital electricians is a Saffer. We work with him quite a bit. If you have any questions around what courses, certs etc may be useful and help get you into NZ and which ones aren't. Just drop me a PM.

 

Come on now, we are perfectly capable of doing our own electrical repairs

 

 

On a serious note, how strict are they? It does make sense from a health and safety perspective and also for giving the sparkies jobs, but for someone who is used to / like diy it must be a bit frustrating to not be allowed to do your own repairs.

[BaGearA]

6-7 years will fly by, especially in the beginning while your mind and body is working hard learning a new trade.

 

Best wishes.

 

In SA you can also make a killing if you are a good electrician who is always on site when needed and can work neatly and accurately.

 

The one thing that I see local electrical contractors often falling flat on is not being on top of their game when it comes to administration. Especially when it comes to variations while a project is on site and timelines are tight. Document the changes and if you know it will have an effect on your programe, note this, even if just in an email. At the end of the project you need not claim the delays, but if you need them later you at least have this documentation to back you up.

 

As frustrating as this is, make sure you get it right. It will save you time and money, and when / if there are any discussions later in the game you have a track record of deviations, etc.

I'm working for midstream electrical supplies and their strictness no admin is surprising, job cards and risk assessments are the first thing that happens before tool are even unloaded

[hayleyearth]

So the main thing probably why I am in NZ is that I can do outdoors activities without suspecting someone will attack me or my loved ones...Sooo in saying that we are cycling part of the Hauraki trail coming Friday and Saturday with out 1.5 year old little girl. (Thames to Waihi)

 

Distance wise it is not far for us pedaling, but we are not sure how Layla will cope with all the way in the seat and trailer on the gravel roads and paths so we are keeping it short for the 1st go. If all goes well (which we think it will) we will be planning the 2nd trip soon soon.

 

(Layla has been a good passenger on the bikes from a very young age, @ 9 weeks old we cycled 32km with her around a French Island.... what were we thinking!)

[patches]

Come on now, we are perfectly capable of doing our own electrical repairs

 

 

On a serious note, how strict are they? It does make sense from a health and safety perspective and also for giving the sparkies jobs, but for someone who is used to / like diy it must be a bit frustrating to not be allowed to do your own repairs.

 

You got it! The main reason behind the strictness is H&S. Second to that is an attempt to rectify the sins of the 80's and 90's where anyone and everyone built houses with very little experience and care, relying on the old "she'll be right" kiwi motto. The result was leaky buildings with all sorts of abominable kludges.

 

So now they are strict. Worksafe NZ has regulations on what a homeowner can and cannot do (although they are vague sometimes).

 

Am I permitted to change a lightbulb without an electrician... yes.

But add a power point... no

change a pendant for some downlights... no

 

And plumbing is much the same. DIY limitations apply.

 

Plus we're subject to "resource consent". So if one wants to do something like add a shower to a bathroom, they have to apply to the local council for resource consent to ensure that the additional demand doesn't put strain on the system.

 

It makes re-modelling or adding bathrooms a tiresome and costly affair.

Edited February 4, 2020 by patches

[davetapson]

So the main thing probably why I am in NZ is that I can do outdoors activities without suspecting someone will attack me or my loved ones...

 

My 9 yo daughter got lost walking home last week.  We were sitting waiting to drop my son off for cricket practice and she was bored and asked if she could walk home, and please would I pick her up if I passed her.  I said yes - it's not far and we've done it often enough.

 

Got home.  No kid.

 

Damn, rushed back to school, called my wife, paced the entire neighbourhood.  After half an hour, called the police.  Complete panic - thinking the worst.

 

Anyway, my wife called our friends to get them out looking and one found her walking back from the direction our old house was - just about the same time a police patrol rocked by.  He reckoned he broke into a cold sweat at the thought of bundling my daughter into his car with a patrol car watching!

 

It's so instinctive for us to believe the worst immediately, whereas the truth here is that very much most likely it's just that your kid has got lost and it's a matter of finding them.  She was walking back to school, and we would have found her there.

 

The police were calm and accommodating - they routed my call straight to 111 (911), no problems when I reported her found. Professional and sympathetic.

 

Also lost my son a while ago when up at the Te Paki dunes (making a habit of this!) - we decided to move from the bottom of one dune to another about 200m away.  My son wanted to walk over the top so we said ok.  He walked just one crest too far, and then down, then turned away instead of towards where we were.   When we figured he was lost, it was just a matter of finding his footprints and following them.  It wasn't pleasant, but at least we knew it was just a matter of finding a lost kid who had left a clear track, not that someone was likely to have abducted him...

 

It's quite hard to get out of the 'really, really **** things can and do happen to you as a matter of course' mentality...

[l4y3rcake]

*snip*

We were sitting waiting to drop my son off for cricket practice and she was bored and asked if she could walk home, 

*snip*

On that note...I heard that there aren't organised sport in primary schools. Is this true?

[Ramrod]

On that note...I heard that there aren't organised sport in primary schools. Is this true?

Depends on the school. When we arrived my son was used to doing sport almost every day. The school he was in had a team and once that team was filled those were the kids. Everyone else was referred to "club sport". Now that we are looking at returning I am looking at specifically that and found that some schools do have extra murals and some don't.

[mazambaan]

My 9 yo daughter got lost walking home last week.  We were sitting waiting to drop my son off for cricket practice and she was bored and asked if she could walk home, and please would I pick her up if I passed her.  I said yes - it's not far and we've done it often enough.

 

Got home.  No kid.

 

It's quite hard to get out of the 'really, really **** things can and do happen to you as a matter of course' mentality...

 

Thank goodness it all ended well. I know that terrible bleaching fear (you can feel yourself go white and stiff) as I "lost" my son for about 20 minutes once on a pier as a lighty and he went "missing" as an adult after being assaulted and suffering from concussion. Very, very stressful.

[Wayne Potgieter]

Now that we are looking at returning .

wait...what?

[Wet Ears]

Just my luck, was heading to NZ off the back of a work trip to Singapore at the end of the month, now work is looking at cancelling all trips to that part of the world due to our friend corona! Issue was that work was footing the bill for business class and I just had to pay the difference to get to NZ which was roughly same price as what I am now going to have to pay for an economy ticket in my personal capacity!!

 

Was really looking forward to that long haul in comfort - fark! 

[davetapson]

On that note...I heard that there aren't organised sport in primary schools. Is this true?

It's kind of half half. Cricket practice is at school, but matches are played as part of the East Coast Bays cricket club.

 

There is a soccer League at school, but it is run by a club.

 

The senior schools seem to have pretty good sports facilities.

[l4y3rcake]

Got 2 potential buyers viewing our house today. Can't wait to get that weight lifted. That will hopefully make the stressful process a bit more bearable.

[Ramrod]

wait...what?

Yup, Work is too unstable here although I do love it here. I had 3 option Canada (Vancouver) Uk as I can get an ancestral visa or NZ.

 

While I would love to get into Canada I need the ever elusive job offer.

 

UK is easy from a visa point of view but I just can't get the numbers for cost of living vs salary to work in my head. I actually don't know how they do it.

 

NZ is the easy option. Been there before and know people who know people. Applied for a great position and hoping I get it. Then I will pack up here tomorrow and move over there. But I would need to do things very differently. Also have an open offer form the company I worked for previously but I think their culture has changed too much since I was there and an offer in Hamilton but the wife doesn't want to go to Hamilton. For her it Auckland or nothing!

[Slowbee]

6-7 years will fly by, especially in the beginning while your mind and body is working hard learning a new trade.

 

Best wishes.

 

In SA you can also make a killing if you are a good electrician who is always on site when needed and can work neatly and accurately.

 

The one thing that I see local electrical contractors often falling flat on is not being on top of their game when it comes to administration. Especially when it comes to variations while a project is on site and timelines are tight. Document the changes and if you know it will have an effect on your programe, note this, even if just in an email. At the end of the project you need not claim the delays, but if you need them later you at least have this documentation to back you up.

 

As frustrating as this is, make sure you get it right. It will save you time and money, and when / if there are any discussions later in the game you have a track record of deviations, etc.

or even worse, you the electrician, drop off your "highly qualified team" and then promptly go play games on your cell phone in the bakkie only to go home when the work is done having never seen the inside of the house

[Hairy]

or even worse, you the electrician, drop off your "highly qualified team" and then promptly go play games on your cell phone in the bakkie only to go home when the work is done having never seen the inside of the house

Ja nee .... we do not have sparkies like that on our projects

[BaGearA]

or even worse, you the electrician, drop off your "highly qualified team" and then promptly go play games on your cell phone in the bakkie only to go home when the work is done having never seen the inside of the house

it's so common in rsa its scary