Skye Forster, 18, has been 'plumbing' the depths of career with what looks like a great future for him.
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As the right-hand man of Mayor Scott Ferguson's plumbing business, Skye supervises sub-contractors and labourers and minds the fort when Mr Ferguson's away on mayoral duties.
"I don't see myself as a supervisor, more just as Scott and I, but it is a 2IC when the builder can't contact Scotty, he'll contact me. If there are excavators, I'll show them where to dig, for example,"Mr Forster said.
"If you try to get someone to follow your instruction, you don't just demand it from them, it's more please, do this for me."
ON a typical day, he'll install hot water units, set toilet pans, fix a lot of drainage lines - that might get ripped out by excavators accidentally - and do a bit of commercial maintenance.
The trickiest part of the job is knowing the correct sizes, measures, codes and standards as Mr Forster said he's "learning them off Scott".
"Part of the work we do involves a lot of subcontracting to commercial swimming pools so six months of the year we go to a different town and do up their swimming pools.
"Pools are pretty interesting. We install new plant rooms and pipework and see it all running. You get a bit of self satisfaction."
He's well into his apprenticeship and has been able to skip a fair chunk of TAFE as he'd done the units as part of his TVET in his final two years of school at Blayney High.
He'd staked out a plumbing career after having done work experience with plumbers - mostly Mr Ferguson's business.
"I enjoy being in the thick of it, knee deep in sewer trenches and sewers is always a bit of fun. I still live with my mum and she doesn't mind having to wash my work clothes, though I do keep the dirty clothes in separate baskets."
Advice for others interested to follow in his footsteps?
"Definitely do TVET for the sake of one day a week in year 11 and 12. You may or may not like to continue, but you have some kind of certification at the end of that time, rather than hanging at school on a Wednesday and not doing a lot."
In give years" time he plans to be licensed and run his own business hopefully in Blayney.
