Ellie Moyer rolled into the painting industry three years ago with no previous brush with the craft, but with a stroke of luck has been named as the country’s top painting and decorating apprentice.
The 22-year-old, who recently completed her painting apprenticeship through Total Decorating Nelson, says she was “pretty speechless” after winning the NZ Painting and Decorating Apprentice of the Year at the Master Painters New Zealand annual conference in September.
“I wasn’t really expecting it, but I was very happy with it, it felt like all of my hard work had paid off,” she says.
“[Three years ago] I was working at a hop garden, and it wasn’t really a career… so I just jumped straight into painting, not really knowing if I was going to like it or not, but I ended up loving it.
“It’s definitely opened up a few doors already… I would like to get into the business side of things maybe one day.”
Ellie says she won the award for her interior paint work at two separate residential building sites in Richmond and Redwood Valley.
“You had to be in the third year of your apprenticeship, and also someone had to come round and judge your work, so it had to be up to scratch,” she says.
Ellie says she believed that treating every coat of paint as if it were the top coat made her projects glossy.
She says her apprenticeship had been fulfilling with the opportunity to learn new hands-on skills with supportive teammates and looked forward to adding more coats to her vibrant new career.
