Join this exciting feature episode and follow Brad’s the plumber as he journeys into the FIFO industry for the very first time. He tells us what he’s expecting and also demonstrates how little he really knows.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
– No, I’m not, it hasn’t been confirmed yet, so I dunno what’s going on.
– G’day I’m Jason, and welcome to this very special episode of Fit 4 FIFO. As you may have noticed, we are a day early to our usual Thursday release. Therefore part two of Mike’s interview will be released this coming weekend. Well today we’re gonna introduce you to a young plumber from Brisbane who will be flying out today, Wednesday the 11th of July, to his very first FIFO job, and he’s agreed to give us regular updates each day, which we’ll be uploading to our Facebook and Instagram stories. So very good for you to join him for the highs and lows of his first swing over the next two weeks. Make sure you’re following us on Facebook and Instagram. We’ve also provided Brad with a FIFO plan template in order to support him through his FIFO journey. So hang around to the end to find out how you can get a free copy. Now, let’s go meet Brad. Brad, welcome to Fit 4 FIFO, mate.
– Cheers, mate.
– Tell us a little bit about yourself, mate.
– Well for starters, I’m 25. I’m from Brisbane, and I currently live with my brother and the old boy. I’ve got my older sister who lives round the corner with two young kids and a partner, and then I’ve got another sister who lives just to north of us in North Lakes.
– And what’s your current job?
– Currently I’m working as a commercial plumber and have been for the past 10 years or so.
– [Jason] Just here in Brissie?
– Mainly around Brisbane. I have done a little bit of work away, furthest being Blackwater, general to Airlie Beach, Maryborough and Nanango, Gatton, and so forth, but predominantly in and around Brisbane.
– All right, so you’re just about to start your first FIFO gig? Tell us about that.
– Yeah, correct. Well I’m looking at flying out on Wednesday to remote South Australia. So it’s pretty exciting, I’m looking forward to it, ’cause it’s obviously something I’ve never done before. Still plumbing, but from again what I’ve gathered it seems a bit more in the site facility maintenance.
– Do yo know how far roughly you are from any nearby towns or cities, is that…?
– It’s very remote. I think it’s at least a five, six-hour flight with two flights.
– Is your first job, is it operations facility or is it a construction project?
– I’m not a hundred percent sure, I think it’s operations facility.
– Um…
– What exactly is operations facility?
– Operations is like, just like an ongoing, like operating, as opposed to construction, like if it’s construction it’s building the place. operations is like when it’s ongoing, which is… It is definitely operations.
– You wanna ask that again and I’ll give you a bit more?
– That’s fine. So what do you do in your spare time, mate?
– In spare time I play footy with the boys, try and get to the beach as much as I can, more so in the summer. Spend time with my nephews and all that, and generally just catch up with mates whenever I can.
– Have you looked into if there’s any of this sort of stuff where you’re going?
– I haven’t yet, to be honest, ’cause I don’t know what facilities I’m gonna have to myself. That’s something I’ve gotta find out, if I have access to vehicles or people have vehicles up there that they can get away, but it looks like I’m doing a two and one roster, where I work seven days a week, so I’m not sure what time off I’ll have to get out and explore, but that’s something we’ll find out as it happens.
– Do you want to just tell us, I suppose what you’ve been told you are doing, and like all the details you know about the job?
– So from what I’ve gathered, it’s more so a maintenance side of it, proactive and reactive plumbing. So just the facility that we’re going to is 40-odd years old, so stuff’s starting to go, and looking to maintain it and get ahead of it and bring it back up to scratch. I don’t know a lot of the details on exactly what I’m doing, but I guess we’ll find that out after the first couple of swings. I think I’m gonna get partnered with someone, sorta learn the ropes and see what it’s like.
– And what about the camp, have you been told anything about where you’ll be staying and accommodation?
– It’s remote north South Australia, and I’ve looked it up on Google, it looks like quite a large camp, they’ve got general facilities like a gym and all that sort of stuff. I’m not sure what the sleeping accommodation’s like, but–
– And what about food, have you heard anything about food?
– I haven’t heard anything about the food, but I do, the guy who got me onto the job was the chef supervisor and he’s that it’s always generally pretty good, so I’m pretty excited to see what it’s like, and I hope that it’s decent, but it seems to be quite a variety of food there, and that, so–
– And you’re a vegan aren’t you?
– No definitely not, so… As long as there’s a steak night once a week, I’ll be sweet.
– And what are the things you’re most looking forward to?
– Something different, to be honest. I’ve been doing the same sort of thing around Brisbane for 10 years or so, and I feel like this is the first time in my life that it’s actually suited doing the FIFO sort of structure. So I dunno, I’m really excited to get out, do something different. The idea of catching planes to work and stuff is again different and exciting, so… And chance to learn a bit more about the trade and see what it’s like out there, I guess.
– What about the things you’re least looking forward to?
– Definitely the things you’re gonna miss out on, you know, got young nephews you know. You don’t quite know how hard it’s gonna hit until I guess you miss one of their birthdays or the stuff that you take for granted in around home that you do week in, week out. So that’s the sorta stuff that’s gonna hurt a bit. Got a lotta mates that are over in London at the moment living, so when they come back home it’ll be a bit harder. You know, they’re doing stuff on weekends that you’re missing out on. Like there’s already a camping trip that’s been booked and I think I’m away for it, but that’s all part and parcel of it I guess.
– Any nerves? I mean…
– I wouldn’t say nerves, I’d say more excited. I’m very comfortable with my trade that I know what I’m doing, but probably nervous about summer and how hard that’s gonna hit, to be honest.
– [Jason] It gets pretty warm.
– Yeah, well that’s it, like you know, it gets up in high 30s in Brisbane, but when you’re out in these remote places it gets up in excess of 40, 50, and humid as hell.
– And have you thought about how long you intend on doing FIFO for?
– I’ve always said from the start when this came up, two years, but again, until I know what it’s like, it could be longer. If I’m suited to it and I enjoy it, then I’ve got no reason not to stay in it, but again in the same boat, I could actually hate it and tap out after a month or two. I dunno, I wanna give it a good crack and see what it’s actually like and give it a chance, and yeah, really get into it, but I’d like to do at least two years.
– Do you have any financial goals, or like an amount that you want to save for or…
– Yeah, so I’m really looking at getting a foot into the property market, so I really wanna try and get the first home out of it. I’d like to save 30 grand a year, ballpark figure
– [Jason] Couple of years.
– Yeah, for the next couple of years at least, you know. Try and get some money behind myself and do it, but I don’t know, just gotta see what the lifestyle’s like out there, and I guess once you start taking in all your accommodation and food is paid for for two out of three weeks, I’m not sure how much I will be able to save, but it should be a fair bit, hopefully.
– Yeah nice. Is like, you salary clear with you?
– Yeah, so they’ve gone over the pay packet and all that sort of stuff, and it’s substantially more than what you get in Brisbane, and they’ve set it out in a way that they annualize your salary so that each week you get paid even when you’re on your week off, so that was something I was worried about is earning big money while I was away, and then on that week off getting almost like a retainer and being short on the ute payments or stuff like that. So they seem to even it out for you and then any overtime or callout fees get added into that week specifically, so there is an avenue to earn a bit more money there, which is good.
– What roster are you doing?
– So currently it’s set up as a two and one with travel dates on the Wednesday, so one day I travel on their time, one day I travel on mine, which is quite good, ’cause I had a few mates who worked out in Perth who had to travel on their days off, in their week off, so it ended up being two or three on with five days off. So that was always something I was concerned about, but this seems quite reasonable. The roster itself is based on 140 hours over there time on, the two weeks, so seven days, 10 hours a day, which is quite reasonable I think.
– And so two and one is generally considered more of a lifestyle-friendly. Do you plan on doing any plumbing or any work when you come back on your week off?
– At the moment I do, I said to myself I’ll do two days a week. But that’s also in the back of my mind waiting to see how hard this hits me with that two weeks away, seven days a week.
– And have you watched any of Fit 4 FIFO episodes?
– I have actually. Probably the one that really stuck out too was the accommodation one, the tour through a dorm, because I worked remotely for a company I worked for when I was an apprentice, and the conditions we went were very average, to say the least, it was like a demountable with 12 single beds in the one room, and–
– [Jason] In the one room?
– Yeah, so you know, you had scaffolders, painters, concreters all in there, blokes snoring, really loud like, and that was something that I was actually quite fearful of before I watched that, you know, what the sort of set up is, what the expectations were of accommodation, and then sort of seeing that you get a king single and a TV, your own bathroom and that sort of stuff, just an area that you can go to, keep neat, and it’s sorta your space, was quite reassuring as well. It’s quite nice, and the other one I saw was the food place and food hall. That again was quite reassuring, like there’s quite a variety of food generally, and you’re allowed, because there’s some nights where someone might throw pasta in front of you, and the last thing you wanna eat’s pasta. So it’s good just to be able to go in there and sort of pick what you want.
– So you’re the first guest we’ve had that is actually, hasn’t been in FIFO before. So I’m just wondering if you’d be happy to maybe share your experience in the future of your expectations versus the reality of it?
– Yep, definitely.
– Maybe we do a few Instagram stories, and then maybe like a followup episode
– Yeah definitely.
– Maybe after your first couple of swings.
– Yeah, see how I’m enjoying it.
– Yeah.
– How it’s all going.
– Sounds good, so people can follow along. Yeah, so one of our viewers, Jesse Hunter, has actually sent in a question for Brad. How has he prepared himself mentally?
– I don’t know if I’ve done a whole of preparation mentally. I’ve just got a real attitude towards taking it as it comes, and sorta trying to take it for what it is, ’cause I’ve honestly got no idea what it’s gonna be like out there. So I guess the biggest thing is, it’s only two weeks, and if I absolutely hate it, which I don’t think I will, I think I’ll be quite suited to it, but, it’s only two weeks, and it’s something different in the end, so I’m really excited just to jump in and give it a real good go and just see what it’s like and see what it’s about.
– And your second question is, does he have a financial plan?
– Yeah, definitely. Again, just trying to get into the property market through it. I think being a bit older now is good as well, ’cause I think if I’d done FIFO when I was 20 or so I would have been shooting off to Bali or just pissing it up against the wall buying jetskis and all that sort of crap, but I’ve got an idea of what I wanna achieve and strongly trying to get in behind that and make that happen as quick as I can, really.
– So, there’s something else I wanted to share with you. Something I’ve noticed in FIFO is I suppose people, especially when they’re new going into it, they don’t have any sort of plan, or anything to guide them, and then they, I suppose they make their decisions in the future based on their situation if FIFO, like they get themselves into a little bit of debt, which is easy to do, ’cause you can borrow a shitload more–
– Than what you’re earning.
– You seem to enjoy your own money a lot more. So yeah, so I’ve created this little plan for you. Basically, I’ve just put this together from, I suppose my experience, and things that I’ve noticed that guys suffer with problems and stuff. Well I hope you enjoyed that, and you’re as excited as I am too see Brad’s daily updates. If you’d like a free copy of the FIFO plan template, click the link below, add your email, and as soon as I work out how to use MailChimp, I’ll be sending you a free copy. If you’ve got any comments or questions for Brad or myself, please leave them in the comments box below. Be sure to follow Brad’s daily updates on Facebook and Instagram, and keep an eye out for part two of Mike the Mechy’s interview this coming weekend. See you then.