Pete Love from The Good Builder joined Duayne Pearce on the Level Up Podcast, raising a heap of issues the industry’s already talking about, but not nearly enough is being done to fix. This is one of them.

Who is ready to talk about high school? For most of us, it’s a blur half-filled with nostalgic memories and just trying to make it through, not take life lessons from it. But if you’re running a building business now, putting on some new apprentices or thinking about going out on your own, there’s a fair chance you’ve looked back and thought: why the hell didn’t they teach us the stuff we actually needed?

It’s not just you.

Duayne Pearce, builder and host of The Level Up Podcast, grew up around tradies. He always knew he’d wear a tool belt one day, but what he didn’t realise until years later was how much more came with that choice, quoting, emailing, budgeting, systems, compliance, team management, and everything in between.

As for school? Didn’t cover any of it.

“I grew up around tradies,” Duayne said on the recent episode of his podcast.

“I thought it was just throwing a nail bag on and going to site. I didn’t understand that to be a tradie you’ve got to run a business.”

It’s a point that hit home for Pete too. He’s the first to admit that he’s not a builder but has spent years working in the industry and sees the same pattern repeatedly.

Young people want to be builders, tradies and have their own businesses, and that’s great, but they’re not being taught how to make that career sustainable.

“It blows my mind that the only decent business education in a lot of these topics for builders now is through people like yourself and all these organisations that are popping up,” Pete said.

“Because it’s not there in the system.”

Most builders in our community are small business owners.

They don’t just need to know how to build. They need to:

• Write clear emails (although AI is getting pretty good help with this)
• Understand cash flow and profit margins
• Handle tax, BAS, super, and insurance
• Use quoting software or at least a decent spreadsheet
• Run a team and deal with the stress that comes with it.

The systemic problem is that none of that gets a mention when you’re 15 or 16. Instead, there’s a big push to go to uni or “fall back” on a trade.

“I want to get in front of Year 10 students,” Duayne said.

“I’d say if you want to be a tradie, awesome. But you still need to be good at maths, English, and computers. Don’t be like me. I reckon if I’d had someone explain it properly, I would’ve paid more attention.”

That’s the kicker. This isn’t about which career path is the better choice. It’s about giving young people the whole picture so they’re not flying blind when they step onto site or try to send an invoice.

We know the skills gap is real. In 2023, the National Skills Commission reported that construction managers and trades were among the most in-demand jobs in the country. At the same time, we’re seeing builders and apprentices burn out not just from the physical work, but from the pressure of running a business they were never taught how to manage.

We also know there’s interest. Builders like Duayne are already visiting schools and trade colleges to talk about the real skills behind the job and they’re getting through to students.

Still, it shouldn’t fall only to individuals.

“School has an agenda,” Duayne said.

“Business should be a subject that’s compulsory.”

“You should learn about taxes, GST, investing, profit margins, the things you actually deal with every day in a trade business.”

If you’re running a building business, maybe this rings a bell.

If you’ve spent hours googling tax questions, you wish someone had just explained it properly when you were younger, or you’ve even thought about speaking at your old school or getting involved with a local trade college.

That’s where change starts.

It doesn’t always have to be a policy issue or a white paper.

Just good builders getting out there, sharing their stories and telling the truth.

Just like Duyane.

Like to know more?

If you’re interested in brushing up some of those business skill sets in the article, why not check out LIVE LIFE BUILD?

It’s co-founded by Duayne Pearce + architect, Amelia Lee. Through the program, Live Life Build helps and teaches custom residential builders how to improve their projects, businesses and lives. They also have a blog, online courses and group mastermind.

You can watch the full podcast episode below.

Author: Jonathan Tibbits

Starting his career as a lawyer, Jonathan transitioned into project management, compliance, and certification for companies throughout the industry supply chain in Australia and New Zealand. With international experience in green building, sustainability and stakeholder communication, he is passionate about innovation and building transparency and trust.