Estimator Review

My role consists of providing tenders and quotations for asphalt schemes such as new housing developments, motorways, business parks and cycleways. In order to submit a bid, I am required to accumulate all necessary labour, plant and material as well as a mark-up for profit and overheads. I work closely with clients and our operations team to ensure that my project runs smoothly, and everything is accounted for.

After spending 5 years both learning on the job and through my college and university studies I believe that I have developed a wide variety of personal and professional skills. Through studies I have successfully completed a host of subjects, some of which were completely new to me and others I had little experience of prior to undertaking. I have also developed in my role over the previous years, allowing me to take on larger projects with higher responsibility and engagement.

The internal Higher Apprenticeship programme was both challenging and fun, being new to the industry I did not necessarily know what to expect - but having the masses of support and development opportunities along the way allowed me to make the most of each step, whilst also focusing on my studies.

Within the initial 18 months of my programme I was situated within each of the 3 teams in our department where I gained a vital understanding of their particular roles and responsibilities relating to a project. Following this, I had a meeting with the General Manager to discuss which of the teams best suited my ability and which I would prefer to be a part of. As a result, I continued within the Estimating team where I have been based over the past 3 years.

The support throughout my Apprenticeship has been brilliant - whether that be guidance within my role or to help manage time during my studies. Along the way I have completed a number of training courses and experienced various workshops to further assist my learning. For example, to help understand another business unit I was situated within a quarry for a period of time, where I learned of their day to day roles.

During my ONC and HNC at college I thought that the tutors provided a lot of support over the course of the 4 year programme where detailed and interactive sessions were held which provided very necessary guidance. At University, the course was fairly isolated as no great details were provided in terms of assignment guidance or lecturing.

I use a lot of the knowledge that I gained from my studies every day, from health and safety aspects to contractual legislation. The initial 2 years of the programme, I learned a lot about the wider industry and how all aspects of a construction project pull together. The University course which was based on pavement studies has further grown my technical and contractual knowledge of this business unit.

Tarmac run a Future Leaders event each year where all of the Higher Apprentices and Graduates connect and run through a series of challenges and team building exercises. The events are a great opportunity to expand an understanding of the different roles within the business. Various other networking events are carried out both internally and externally, also different football tournaments are conducted.

Yes

Tarmac is a great place to work with so many different opportunities to both develop and experience. Having being with the business now for almost 5 years I can look back on my Apprenticeship programme and be proud of the things that I have achieved, which I do not believe would be possible in a different working environment.

I would advise anybody that would consider applying for a role to fully commit to the opportunity, as the apprenticeship programme is hard work but also very rewarding. Each team are all of brilliant help to ensure that any new starter will receive the upmost support towards their new opportunity.