Most people would have kept the prizes. The gesture is generous. The reason it lands so hard says something bigger about the cost of starting out in a trade right now. 

Oscar Cherry had every reason to keep the prizes.

The 19 year old apprentice carpenter from Ballarat had just won two categories at this year’s Master Builders Victoria Awards. Regional Apprentice of the Year in the Junior Apprentice category. MBV Apprentice of the Year in Junior Trades. With the wins came two tool packs worth roughly $2,000 together and an $800 clothing voucher. Close to $3,000 in gear, earned fairly, his to keep.

He gave all of it away.

Cherry split the winnings into packs for other apprentices and topped them up with hand tools of his own, so each recipient got a bit more than the bare essentials. Victorian training providers nominated who received them. The first pack went to Shannon Griffiths, a carpentry apprentice at Pyrenees Building Group in Ballarat. A second pack went to Breanna McLure, a third year landscape construction apprentice at Box Hill Institute. The $800 workwear voucher went to Rivali Brown, a painting and decorating apprentice at Holmesglen.

“I understand how tough it can be for many young apprentices. I’ve been fortunate to receive incredible support from my family, friends, and trainers, and I wanted to give back by sharing that support with others who may not have the same opportunities,” Cherry said.

It is a good story on its own. A young tradie doing something decent for people he does not have to help. But the reason it resonates beyond a feel good headline is what sits underneath it.

Why a few free tools matter this much

Tools are not a nice to have in a trade. They are the cost of turning up. And for a first year apprentice, the maths is brutal.

Master Builders Victoria points out that apprentice wages now typically sit somewhere between $640 and $1,100 a week, well short of the roughly $1,300 average full time income for entry level workers. On top of that base, everything an apprentice has to fund is climbing at once. Rent. Fuel. Food. And the tools of the trade itself.

Everything is going up at the same time, and the person feeling it hardest is the one on the lowest wage.

That is the squeeze. An apprentice is expected to invest in their own equipment during the exact years they are paid the least. For some, the industry group warns, that equation simply does not add up, and the ambition to train in a trade gets abandoned before it starts.

So a $500 tool pack is not a token. For an apprentice deciding whether they can afford to stay the course, it can be the difference between a good week and a short one.

The shortage nobody can afford to ignore

Construction has spent years talking about a skills shortage. The part that gets less airtime is how the money side of an apprenticeship quietly works against the goal of fixing it. If the sector wants to attract and keep the next generation of workers, it has to reckon with the fact that the early years are financially punishing at precisely the moment enthusiasm is highest and bank balances are lowest.

Master Builders Victoria is using the moment to push for structural change, not just goodwill. The group is calling for people to be able to enter construction careers earlier, through expanded school based apprenticeships, stronger vocational programs and clearer trade pathways for secondary students. It is also advocating for a HELP style loan system for mature age apprentices, so older workers can move into a trade with financial backing behind them rather than a pay cut they cannot absorb.

Those are policy fights, and they will take time. Cherry’s response was faster and smaller. He saw a gap he had the means to close, and he closed it.

What this means for builders

There is a lesson here for anyone running a crew, and it is not really about generosity. It is about retention. Apprentices who feel supported in the hard early years are the ones who stay, finish, and become the qualified tradespeople a business relies on. Kitting out an apprentice properly, or simply being clear eyed about what the job actually costs them, is part of how a building business is actually run day to day. The builders who lose apprentices halfway through usually lose them to money pressure, not to a lack of interest in the work.

Cherry did not frame any of this as a statement. He framed it as paying forward the support he was lucky enough to get. But the effect is the same. Four apprentices are better equipped this week than they were last week, and a few of them may finish a trade they might otherwise have walked away from.

That is worth more than the tools.

The Good Builder Take

A 19 year old giving away his prize tools makes a warm headline. The uncomfortable part is why it matters so much. Apprentices are asked to buy their own gear on the lowest wage they will ever earn, while rent, fuel and food all climb at once. That is a retention problem dressed up as a cost of living story. Fixing it is a job for policy, but builders do not have to wait. Being straight with apprentices about what the job costs, and helping close the gap where you can, is one of the cheapest ways to keep the workers the industry says it cannot find.

Frequenty asked questions

Last updated: July 2026

General information only. This article summarises publicly available information and industry commentary and does not constitute professional, financial or legal guidance. Wage figures and support programs change; confirm current rates and eligibility with the relevant award, Fair Work, or your training provider before relying on them.

Author: TGB Editorial