Apprenticeships

Want to learn a trade, earn a good income, and build a career with a company that has been building in the South Island since 1972?

ABL is keen to nurture apprentices who bring a good attitude, a willingness to work, an eagerness to learn, and a real interest in being part of a team.

If you are interested in applying for an ABL building apprenticeship contact your local office.

The programme

Our building apprenticeship runs for three to four years and is designed to give you the full range of skills the trade demands, learned on live commercial projects alongside experienced tradespeople rather than in a classroom. Apprentices work on the same jobs as the rest of the business, from healthcare and education facilities to hotels, heritage restorations and civic buildings.

Towards completion of your apprenticeship, ABL helps stand-out apprentices acquire their own tools, and can financially support continued study at a regional Polytech.

Progression into higher positions

An apprenticeship at ABL is a starting point, not a stopgap. Many of our lead hands and senior tradespeople came through the programme themselves, and a good number of the people running our sites today started out the same way.

That progression begins with how carefully we select during our screening process. We look for the qualities we know make an excellent tradesperson, and a one to two month trial period gives both the apprentice and the site team an honest chance to work out whether it is the right fit.

Our motto is team performance, and it runs from the top of the business through to the newest apprentice on site. No one person delivers a project – ABL's strength is how we work as a team.

Safety is a critical part of the company culture

The health, safety and welfare of our people is ABL's first priority, and that comes from the top of the company down. It matters to us that everyone on our sites goes home without incident at the end of every day.

Every ABL employee holds a Site Safe Commercial Passport as a minimum, our supervisory staff hold Site Safe Gold Cards, and our approach follows the principles of good risk management: eliminate, reduce, then minimise whatever residual risk remains. The result is a safe learning environment for our apprentices.

For an apprentice, what that means day to day is simple. The industry has moved a long way from the old macho image, and we expect you to speak up. If you are unsure about working at height, or something does not look right, say so. Everyone on an ABL site is entitled to their say, from a first year apprentice through to a site manager.

Applying for an apprenticeship

If you are interested in joining the ABL team through an apprenticeship, get in touch with your local ABL office.