Once again, this year’s Free Trade Day changed the lives of Australians, but founder Ryan Wilson says he’s eyeballing big steps forward in 2023.
The initiative was founded in 2017 and involves trade businesses taking a few hours out of a day to help those work done on their homes, free of charge.
Free Trade Day 2022 saw 60 jobs complete across NSW’s Central Coast, totalling in $48,000 worth of work, donations and materials contributed.
“I saw about four or five tradies with tears in their eyes knowing that they’ve done something that’s been life-changing for someone else,” Ryan says.
“It was a good sense of accomplishment from a lot of the tradies, it’s a really special day for them.”
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The day is coordinated by the Lions Club Australia, which connects tradies and suppliers with jobs in dire need of attention.
“We don’t take on anything that’s going to be bigger than a day,” Ryan says.
“The biggest job we did was for an elderly lady who put her foot through her deck.
“It had rotten, and was about two months from falling down.
“Sure enough, we linked two building companies up with a metal fabrication mob, and all three of them smashed it out for the lady.”
Ryan’s electrician business – Terrigal Electrical Services – helped get the hot water working at the home of a 96-year-old veteran.
Ryan said many of the people who have their homes worked on are nominated by other people wanting to help someone who’s perhaps hesitant to ask for it.
“He called up six days later to let me know how life-changing that was for him,” he says.
“What we’re finding with these people in need of help; they may be too embarrassed to ask for it, too proud or probably don’t know they’re in a s*** situation, like this guy was.
“There are so many tradies out there willing to give that help.
“Getting a tradie to help someone who needs it can be a fairly simple set up.”
Ryan said the day wasn’t possible without a number of sponsors and suppliers willing to lend their resources to Free Trade Day.
This includes John R Turk Erina, Mitre 10 Kincumber, Eagles Plumbing Plus West Gosford, Voltex Electrical and Smith Swain Chartered Accounting.
“Without the sponsors, we’re in a bit of a situation where we don’t want tradies giving up a day labour and fork out for material goods as well,” Ryan says.
Big projects ahead
After starting out as a solo venture for Ryan and wife Yvette, he says the success from 2022 will hopefully lead to the day going nationwide for next year.
“It looks like it’s going to be about ten times as big next year,” he says.
“It got so big in 2019 … we realised at that point it got too big for us to manage it.
“I was potentially beginning to fall out of love with it, hence turning to the Lions Club.
“That’s just a match made in heaven in terms of being able to manage the day well and effectively.
“We can scale it to make it accessible to communities around Australia.”
If you’re in the tradie business and want to get involved in next year’s Free Trade Day, visit freetradeday.com.au/ to volunteer.