Lachlan Smith: Enduring Tradition
Like many of the carpenters in the Virtue Projects team, Lachlan ‘Lockie’ Smith is from a quiet place down the coast.
Originally from Nowra, Lockie is 2 years out of his apprenticeship and still settling into the faster pace that characterises Sydney:
“It’s kinda hard coming from the bush, everything is so packed here and a bit more intense. But I am getting used to it”
“I head back home nearly every second weekend though… I am pretty close to my sister, so I like to go back and see her whenever I can”
Lockie completed his apprenticeship on the South Coast, working with a couple of builders in this time. The first period of his apprenticeship was with Neil Riles Constructions, working on some high-end developments, whereas the latter part of his learning was with Peter Rein from Kiama.
“There were a lot of people involved when I worked with Neil, so it was a bit harder to learn onsite, but then, when I was working with Peter it was only a few of us on site and I had the chance lot learn so much more… You are always learning on the job, so when I moved up here to Sydney and began working with the fellas at Virtue continued to learn even more”
But it was with his dad (working in demolition), and from his family (who are all tradies) that the influence to get into a trade started for Lockie:
“I definitely got into building and construction because of my dad. He always said that I have to learn to do things myself, so during school and just after finishing year 12 I worked for him for 6 months and then I got my apprenticeship”
In the last profile we shared through our blog, Virtue Projects’ co-founder Dave Klees spoke about the value of having carpenters from the regional areas coming to work on projects in the city:
“we get a lot of our chippies from the South and North Coast; they have had a broad apprenticeship and they can jump onto any site and work well”
Lockie admits that he loves seeing a project through from beginning to end, which is something that probably came from his earlier work with his father in demolition:
“I love starting a job from scratch”
It is this holistic and well-rounded understanding of the job that makes him a great carpenter already.
To get away from work Lockie keeps himself busy in the bush.
“I love endurance motor bike riding”
If you aren’t familiar with it, endurance riding is like a cross-country marathon on two very fast and bumpy wheels, with races usually lasting for at least 8 hours.
Here’s a pic of Lockie defying gravity on his enduro bike recently:
“I do plan to do an enduro race one day… there’s a big one in Alice Springs called The Finke Desert Race… I think that would be fun”
Yeah sure Lockie, just try not to break anything. We really like having you onsite…
Lockie is a valued member of the Virtue Projects team and a real pleasure to have on your development, big or small.
We’ll leave you with a little taste of this enduro madness that Lockie loves so much:
