More than 800 builders and industry stakeholders attended this year’s New Zealand Certified Builders (NZCB) Annual Conference and Expo in Wellington, which finished on Saturday. New Zealand’s top carpentry apprentice was named at the event, a celebration .
Now in the third year of her apprenticeship, she said the challenge gave them eight hours to build a picnic table. Contestants had to follow specific design plans and meet minimum safety standards before the tables were assessed by a panel of expert judges. Richardson said it took her the full eight hours to complete the challenge, while most of the others only took five to six hours, so she was questioning herself during the competition. However, at the end, the judges said the other contestants’ accuracy wasn’t as good, showing that the extra time had paid off. Richardson said they were given the plans a week before the challenge so she did a lot of preparation.