Sisters have painting in hand and trade papers under their belts

Sisters Maggie and Andee didn’t plan to join the family painting business, but now they’re fully qualified tradies and they love it.

Maggie Nooy wanted to join the police force when she left school. But life had other plans. And when her sister Andee finished school and needed time to work out her plans, they embarked on an apprenticeship together.

‘When I looked into the police force, they said I needed to get a few years more life experience before I could join,’ Maggie said.

‘I had always worked with Dad in his painting business during school holidays. So, I thought I should work with him for a little while. And 9 years later, I’m still working with Dad!’

Andee Nooy joined the family business – called Saints Paints – while she figured out what she wanted to do as a career. 4 years later, she too is ‘still working with Dad.’

Both the sisters love it. They have completed their apprenticeships in painting and decorating and they both received their trade papers earlier this year.

‘When I joined Maggie and Dad in the business, we realised she’d already been there 4 years and would have been fully qualified if she had done an apprenticeship,’ said Andee.

‘So, we thought, why don’t we actually just do that?’

Their father Garry Nooy fully supported the idea.

‘First of all, I’m just really proud. They’re both such good workers,’ said Garry.

‘It makes me feel more comfortable that they’ve got a trade for life. If they leave our firm to travel or move interstate, they’ll always have it. Even if they try something else, they have their trade to fall back on.’

Maggie added: ‘Dad was great. We weren't sure what to expect from an apprenticeship and what it would be like. So, we were quite nervous about it!’

‘But Dad was like, you will be fine, it's going to be good.’

He was right. The 2 sisters enjoyed their training through Murray Mallee Training Co. Their trainer would travel to the sites the family was working on, to give the sisters practical training. They would support that with self-guided study at home.

Maggie appreciated learning from someone who knew the trade well. And they both liked having a female teacher, who they got on well with.

‘Our trainer had years of experience, and she was still working as a painter. It helped me to back myself more, knowing that I was taught by someone who had all that knowledge,’ she said.

‘She got to see us while we were working and had that good understanding of what we were doing,’ said Andee.

‘I really liked knowing that we were learning the right way to do things. Gaining more knowledge helped to make me more confident.’

Their family business gained from the apprenticeship training too.

‘We would learn things and take them back to work – things like new types of paints or new processes. We would say, “we could do it this way or let's try that”,’ said Maggie.

‘It was interesting to see the difference between the newer stuff we were learning and the old-school things that Dad had learned on the job.’

Garry agreed: ‘Their apprenticeships were interesting for me as well. The girls would tell me what they were learning, and it gave me so many new ideas. Because things in this industry are changing all the time.’

The family’s painting business mostly repaints older homes and both Andee and Maggie enjoy their work.

‘It is really satisfying to see the difference you make. You feel proud of the work you do by the end of it,’ said Andee.

‘I love a good before and after!’ adds Maggie. ‘I feel like the older the house or the more wrecked a client thinks it is, the more we see the potential in it and can transform it.’

Both women understand the apprehensions people might have about working in a male-dominated industry. But they say their qualifications have given them the confidence to prove themselves on site.

‘Having the apprenticeship behind you and that knowledge from training gives you confidence to go “you know what, I can do this”,’ said Maggie.

‘We get people that will be like “aw, you're on school holidays, helping Dad” and we can take a joke about it. But then they see what an excellent job we do – we always show them what we've got!’

Andee says working with the family means she has always had a positive experience as a woman on site, but she also thinks the industry is changing for the better.

‘The men I sometimes work with now, especially the younger generation, are used to working with women and the culture is changing,’ she said.

‘I feel like there are more women starting to do it, and it's nice. On a job the other day we met a woman electrician, and I loved that – it was like, “yay, there’s another one!”’

Looking ahead, Maggie and Andee both see potential for their jobs to evolve. Andee thinks interior design might be a pathway for her because ‘over the years we’ve got a practical idea of what goes with what and what doesn't work.’

Maggie thinks she might want to get into house renovation. Both know their plans might have to include more training, and they would be happy to do that.

So, what advice would they give to people considering a career in the trades?

‘Give it a go! If I hadn’t done this, I wouldn’t have known how much I love it!’ said Andee.

Maggie added: ‘Research it and work out if you have got an interest in it, but then just go for it. Because you might always wonder, what if I had done that?’

Find out more about apprenticeships on the Apprenticeships Victoria website.