Apprentice – Painter

Henry Budd

Apprentice painter Anthony Semaan was working as a console operator in a service station when he realised life was passing him by.

At 23 he decided he needed to find a new, long-term career. “I realised I’d be 30 in the blink of an eye without a trade,” says Semaan. “In this day and age you can’t live without a trade and job.”

When regular customer Hanz Adolf Loewe heard Semaan was leaving the service station he offered him a job in his business, Hanz Adolf Loewe Painting and Decorating.

“He used to come in every afternoon and we would always have a chat,” he says. “I was intrigued by what he did.'”

When Semaan began working with Loewe he was only allowed to do rudimentary jobs, such as laying drop-sheets or cleaning brushes.

“It was just basic roles for the first few months so he could see I had the initiative to take on work, he says.

It wasn’t long before Semaan decided to undertake a painting and decorating apprenticeship.

“I had been working for about a year when I decided I really enjoyed doing the job so I decided to get a trade certificate.”

Semaan works closely with his boss and focuses on painting new residential developments in the eastern suburbs.

“The largest one I’ve worked on is a block of eight units in Coogee,” he says.

“It does take a while to finish but you just get stuck in and nail it.”

Semaan says it wasn’t until he started the apprenticeship that he realised how big the painting industry was.

“Everywhere you look, literally, there is paint,” he says. “Look around where you’re sitting and tell me if you can’t see paint. Whether it’s the shipping industry, the paint they use to mark the roads or the paint you use to paint your house, it’s a huge industry.”

Semaan is now completing a Certificate III in painting and decorating at TAFE.

“You learn a lot of things at TAFE, brush skills, preparation work, rolling, the different coatings in general, the solvents we use — it’s endless,” he says.

There is also plenty of maths involved: “They teach how to calculate the area of a building so you can work out how much paint you need,” he says.

“You have to be able to work it out just by looking at the construction plan.”

Many people consider painting is just a process of throwing paint against the wall, but that’s not the case, Semaan says.

“For every surface there is different primer,” he says. “If you don’t apply the right primer, or don’t prepare the surface properly your coatings are going to fail.

“It might look good for a while, but it doesn’t mean it will look good for the years to come.'”

Starting a trade after working for several years has advantages, he says.

“Maybe because I’m a bit older I no longer make the rash comments in class because I do want to learn and get ahead,” he says.

—– LOVE YOUR WORK —–
( Q ) How did you get your job?
( A ) Hanz (my current boss) found I was leaving the service station and offered me a job.

( Q ) Upside?
( A ) I love to see a smile on a customer’s face at the end of the day.

( Q ) Downside?
( A ) My neck hurts at the end of the day, my back is sore and fingers hurt, but that’s work. The rewards definitely outweigh the downsides.