How to Be a Good Tradesman

Whether you're a newly qualified tradesman or if you've been in the trades for years, there's no harm in brushing up on your skills. After all, you want to ensure that you do your job to the best of your ability for your customers!

So, what qualities and skills are needed to be a 'good' tradesman? In this blog, we've put together 5 key qualities that we believe make a tradesman stand out from the crowd:

1. Highly punctual and reliable
2. Strong communication skills
3. Comfortable working in a team
4. Up to date with industry knowledge and regulations
5. Resilient

1. Highly punctual and reliable

As a tradesman, you will naturally have a few time-sensitive jobs booked in throughout the day. You may even spend an hour or two each day travelling to and from jobs.

According to this survey, the top answer to 'what makes a good tradesman?' is someone who arrives on time!

Whilst it's professional to have accurate time-keeping, it also shows respect to your customers and peers for their time and effort. Being on time is a small gesture that means a lot to many people, and it's one of the easiest, yet most effective,  things you can do to be a good tradesman.

2. Strong communication skills

When you work in the skilled trades, there is a lot of communication involved on a day-to-day basis. Whether you're relaying project details to a team of other tradesmen, or you're talking your customer through what work you need to carry out on their property, you have to be very good at communication to ensure that everyone understands the brief clearly. 

In some cases, this may mean explaining complex structures and tasks in simple terms for everyday customers. In other cases, you may be required to relay extremely important instructions to a peer to prevent any harmful safety risks. 

As you can imagine, it's integral that you have high-quality communication and leadership skills. Also, if you excel in communication, you may be more likely to progress into a managerial or leadership role within your team or trade!

3. Comfortable working in a team

Sociability when you're a tradesman is extremely important - especially if you work in a team. It can be stressful to work in a high-pressure environment with a dozen other tradesmen, which is why it's important to always work together as a team to avoid any conflict or miscommunication.

Ensure that you always look out for your peers, physically, emotionally and mentally. Being a tradesman can be an incredibly stressful job, so if you can help your peers out in any way, be sure to do so and your actions will go a long way.

4. Up to date with industry knowledge and regulations

It's always a great idea to follow industry trends and stay on top of up-and-coming research to impress your peers and customers. Let them know that you know what you're talking about, and go the extra mile to show them!

There's no harm in being proud of your passion. Whether you're a plumber, an electrician, a plasterer or a gas engineer - show a genuine interest the trade you do and enrol onto voluntary training courses or any other sort of trade training. Even if it's just checking the news for 10 minutes every morning!

5. Resilient

Not everything is going to go to plan all of the time. An extremely honourable quality of a successful tradesman is having the ability to recognise when something you're doing isn't working. It's important to not let this affect your confidence, but we understand that this can be hard. 

Resilience shows that you can troubleshoot difficult and complex issues with professionalism. This is an extremely admirable quality and it helps to build trust and respect between a tradesman and their customers or peers.

Become a Tradesman With Access Training

We hope you've enjoyed learning about these qualities which will help you be a good tradesman. If you're thinking about working in the skilled trades, get in touch to see how we can help you start your new career journey today. In the meantime, why not browse our fast-track trade courses?

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