Gold watches abound at World Plumbing Conference

CF Reese Plumbing boss Aaron Rink. Picture / Greg Bowker

The young man in the blue shirt and jeans, watching a demonstration of a new software system for scheduling jobs and billing clients, could be an off-duty lawyer. His glasses are narrow. His heavy gold and silver Swiss Military watch was an impulse purchase while he was in Geneva."Pretty sexy isn't it?" smiles Aaron Rink. "In this job you get to travel a lot. It's not just unblocking drains."

Rink, 33, is not out of place here at the World Plumbing Conference at the Sky City Convention Centre. He may be a bit younger than most, and probably more ambitious, but for people at the supply end of the current plumbing shortage, success stories are common. Last year Rink was awarded CEO of the Year at the Waikato Business Awards and this year he was New Zealand Plumber of the Year - the prize was a big greenstone statue of a plumber. He employs 49 staff and, as he says, "we have the opportunity to live a pretty good life".

His wife Sarah, who stands beside him, is expecting their sixth child in May. "And it's the same wife too."

What many people don't understand, says Rink, is that today's plumbers have the same kind of lifestyle as many professionals. "We travel a lot," he says. This week he and Sarah are guests of the Crane group, suppliers of pipework to "front of the wall" fittings. "We're staying at the Hilton." He has also been to Fiji and Germany ... "Our staff are treated very well too. All plumbers are - they're in such demand."

Benefits include the kind of things you'd expect from a corporate: medical plans for employees and their families; brand new vans to drive round in; excitement. "I've just sent two [employees] to Sri Lanka," says Rink. In three and a half weeks they will build 40 houses.

Not bad for a man who left school at 17, learned on the job and has no student loan. "When I found a career I liked I got stuck in," says Rink, whose next move will be to go to university and "get the letters behind my name. I'll be able to afford it now too."

Looking around at the 500 delegates from 15 countries at the conference, it is all gold watches, muscled forearms and thick-soled shoes.

This morning Professor John Swaffield of Edinburgh University is explaining how the spread of the Sars virus was caused by substandard plumbing. After lunch they will study the role of plumbing from a World Health Organisation perspective. As I hear over and over, water is the drop of life, to have it reliable and sustainable is crucial.

On the 4th floor where the burly ones tuck into the fried fish, Greek salad and rolls, the 25 exhibits are enough to put ordinary people off their lunch. It's all pipes and sockets, wrenches, pumps - much of it focused on what they call "green plumbing" designed to save energy, improve solar efficiency, protect the environment.

Trevor Helm, from Papakura, obligingly drapes himself around a Buteline Bob model, gold Gucci watch peeping out from his shirt, and explains how senior managers are like those in corporates. "While wages stop at around $60,000 to $70,000 a year, the extra portion of their incomes, like shares, is growing. By the time the benefits kick in they're well up around $100K. It keeps them tied into the company."

The four apprentices at TJ Helm Plumbing start at $9 an hour, spend six weeks a year at polytech, then move through the system. Once they've finished their 8000-hour apprenticeship they're on $15 to $16 an hour, once registered, $18. "Then they can sit their craftsman's licence and reach those top figures."

And what about the consumer and the huge prices we're paying for plumbers? It's all about supply and demand - and apprenticeship funding, says Helm, who is also president of the New Zealand Society of Master Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers.

"The problem we face is getting through to teachers that plumbing and gasfitting isn't just for dummies. We need some reasonably educated kids coming into the market ... We're also battling an influx of apprentices into the system due to [government] funding inconsistencies."

But as Rink says later, it's also about money: "I've just been to a fantastic business seminar about how you can make your business grow - and make it more lucrative!"