By Tanya Olckers
Shane Armitage from Klaus Fritsch Plumbers in KwaZulu-Natal always wanted to work in a trade, although it took him a little time to get there.
Shane Armitage. Image supplied by Shane Armitage
Shane Armitage had always wanted to go into some form of trade, with plumbing being his absolute first choice. However, this did not happen for him right out of school. Instead, he only got into his dream job when his first child was on the way.
While most people get into the trade straight out of school, Armitage qualified in his mid-thirties. When an opportunity for a plumbing apprenticeship became available, he jumped at the chance and never looked back.
“I felt very proud of what I was able to accomplish to better myself and my future as a family man,” he says. “Everyone needs a plumber at one time or another, whether for repairing their plumbing or renovating or installing new plumbing.”
Armitage enjoys helping others and being able to do so on a daily basis is a great motivator for him. “Plumbing is a great trade to have behind you,” he says. “Plumbers are in great demand all over the world, so you can’t go wrong with a plumbing trade.”
You need to be a hard worker who is willing to get their hands dirty, as well as a people’s person, as you deal with all kinds of different people on a daily basis. “I use my expertise to help people in this regard,” he says. “Plumbing is not something that everyone can do without the correct knowledge and experience.”
Armitage put in a great deal of time, effort and work on top of being a brand-new dad into learning his trade. “I felt very proud to become a qualified plumber after becoming a father,” he says.
The most unusual thing that has happened on the job for Armitage was discovering a duiker skull in a soak pit at a house in Westville North. Duikers are shy creatures by nature and would most certainly avoid a noisy urban residential environment. And it is this, that made Armitage’s discovery so strange.
The inevitable question would be how the head got there. The answer, however, will remain a mystery both to us and to Shane Armitage himself.
