Building a Bright Future: Connor's Journey from Graduate to Roofing Expert
Connor Hackett joined our Elliotts Premier Roofing team as a Trainee Estimator back in March 2019 with almost no experience in the roofing industry...
But at Elliotts, we offer something called Unlimited Learning, where we encourage our teams to learn anything and everything they can to achieve their development goals.
Since joining, Connor completed his HNC Construction Management qualification in July 2021 and has now gone on to complete his BSc (Hons) Construction Management degree, becoming a huge asset to our Elliotts Premier Roofing team!
Connor's course lasted 5 years: 2 years completing his HMC before 3 years completing his degree with Solent University, where he achieved a 2:1 overall, so now he's finally finished, we asked him some questions about the course, and this is what he had to say!
The main topics relevant to my role were commercial management, contracts management, pre-construction management, and project evaluation and development! All had aspects I come across frequently in my role as an estimator.
I always thought about going to university while at college but decided against it at the time as I wasn’t too sure on what to exactly study.
I decided my best option was to look for degree apprenticeships or roles with opportunities to learn instead, so after joining the Elliotts Premier Roofing team, I was asked if there was any training or courses I wanted to do and came across Solent’s HNC and degree courses. I thought it was a match made in heaven.
The main goal was to get an introductory knowledge of the house/building overall, build up from foundation level to roof in a more in-depth knowledge than I already had for the HNC.
My personal goal was to achieve a 2:1 on the course, which I knew would be challenging whilst working a full-time job alongside all the study needed to achieve this target.
The biggest challenge was managing the work/uni life balance with all the modules alongside all the project work for Elliotts Premier Roofing.
I had a lot of nights finishing work and going straight home to carry on studying until the early hours over the last couple of years.
Thankfully, everyone in EPR and Craig, my line manager, has been supportive and helped me manage my overall workload, especially this last year, to help me stay on top of my modules and dissertation without getting too stressed with work commitments.
I’d have to say my final year was my biggest success overall, as I achieved my highest marks throughout the last 5 years!
Especially achieving a first on my dissertation for my final year topic on the “Analysis of the concept of retrofitting existing buildings” which many people in Elliotts helped make possible with their participation in my questionnaire.
I’m going to take a little break for a while to enjoy myself first and my newfound freedom, but I have already started eyeing up some potential courses to help aid the team going forward in the likes of commercial management and construction law potentially! So, we will have to see what the future holds!
I’ve already had some use of my learning from my course to help aid the Elliotts Premier Roofing team regarding valuation reports and commercial tasks over the year.
Also, over the course of the 5 years I made friends with people who operate all over the construction industry, so through these connections we have managed to bring in new work for the business too! I’d say the course is influencing my career with the company well already!
I would say make sure to stay on top of the university work, as it can easily slip away from you with everything going on in your full-time job and personal life! Pre-planning some goals and target dates to achieve things by was always handy!
It’s absolutely flown by the last 5 years since joining; I can’t quite believe it really! I have learnt a tremendous amount from everyone I’ve crossed paths with in the business since the first day I started.
Going from someone with no idea what a roof tile was to pricing multimillion-pound sites has been a real culture shock that I have enjoyed, I can’t wait to see what the future holds going forward!
It would have to be the team around me I work with daily, each of them is as crazy as the next but in the best way possible, so there’s never really a dull moment.
In general, and even during the most stressful or busy times, they always manage to keep the atmosphere light and fun for everyone who enters our office.
If you're interested in hearing more about Team Elliotts and want to join our team, then you can check out our latest job vacancies here!
