Jarrod Brown

Build-it •

Finally, a women’s work boot that actually fits

Lady tradies, you all know the struggle. For years, you’ve had to squeeze into boots made for blokes—too wide, too stiff, and let’s be real, not built for for the female foot. 

By smoko, your feet are aching, and by knock-off, you’re wondering if they were designed by someone who’s never set foot on a job site. 

But that’s about to change. Say hello to the latest range of women’s work boots from Uvex—made for women who work hard. Tough enough to handle the job, durable enough to last, and,...
Build-it •

Brew or nah? Is offering a cuppa to tradies on the job a no-go?

If you’ve ever had a plumber, sparkie, or chippie over to fix something at your place, you might have wondered—should you offer them a drink? A friendly cuppa, maybe even a cheeky bikkie? 

Well, one UK expat in Brisbane was left scratching their head after their generosity was met with blank stares and polite refusals.

Taking to Reddit, they asked if it was common practice in Australia to offer tradies a drink while they’re on the job. 

Back in the UK, apparently it’s standard to chuck...
Build-it •

How to win back your work life by streamlining safety on site

Sick of your safety processes being stuck in the Stone Age?

Well, you’re not alone. According to construction consultancy firm HazardCo, thousands of small tradie businesses across the country have been caught slacking by inspectors in recent years thanks to outdated, paper-based safety systems slowing up jobs on the work site.

Thankfully, there seems to be a fix. Build-it sat down with the company’s senior health and safety advisor Glenn Smith to talk about the benefits small businesses...
Build-it •

‘Skip life’: How this man beat the housing crisis by living in a skip bin

In an ingenious solution to sky-high rents plaguing the UK, 30-year-old Harrison Marshall has been saving an impressive £1,500 ($A3,000) each month by calling a converted skip bin his home. 


The artist turned heads and made headlines two years ago when he transformed the industrial waste container into a fully functional living space, now famously known as the “Skip House.”


The bright yellow skip was donated to Harrison in early 2023, marking the start of a project that would challenge tra...
EducationDaily •

Australia’s tradie crisis deepens. Are university targets to blame?

There doesn’t seem to be any end in sight for Australia’s trade skills crisis as the federal government ramps up efforts to push more school leavers into university programs. 


The Albanese government’s ambitious plans for higher education, outlined in the Australian Universities Accord Final Report earlier this year, aim to significantly increase tertiary education rates across Australia. 


By 2050, the government expects 80 per cent of the workforce to hold a tertiary qualification, up fro...
Build-it •

Tunnelling tradies exposed to 200 times the safe amount of silica in metro construction

The Australian Workers Union (AWU) has raised serious concerns about hazardous silica dust exposure during the construction of Sydney’s Metro train service. 


The union alleges that workers cutting tunnels for the massive infrastructure project are facing unsafe levels of cancer-causing dust, labelling the situation a “silica tsunami.”


The AWU claims to have obtained confidential documents through freedom of information requests, which reportedly show alarming levels of silica dust at Metro...
Build-it •

“It is not a thing of the past”: Cancer survivor warns asbestos danger lives on in Aussie homes

Four years ago, 67-year-old Simon Christley started noticing what he described as strange symptoms.


The Wollongong man said he couldn’t lay on one side of the bed without losing his breath, and while on the bike at the gym, he noticed his heart rate spiking to 220 bpm.


“At first, I thought there was something wrong with the bike,” he said


But after enduring a battery of tests from doctors, Christley was sadly diagnosed with mesothelioma – a respiratory disease caused by asbestos exposur...
Build-it •

Snap-on’s pink tool partnership raises over $200k for breast cancer

Snap-on’s latest pink partnership has raised over $200k for the fight against breast cancer – and netted tradies a few pretty pairs of tools for the workshop. 


As part of the national breast cancer awareness campaign in October, Snap-on Tools joined hands with the McGrath Foundation on a mission to raise a quarter of a million dollars for the country’s continued fight against one of the nation’s most commonly diagnosed diseases, breast cancer. 


But this campaign came with a surprising trad...
EducationDaily •

“It’s so important that these children see this”: Autistic race car driver helps neurodiverse students break down barriers 

Autistic motorsport driver Ben Taylor stepped out from behind the wheel last week to open sixteen neurodivergent students up to a world of opportunity outside of the classroom. 


Last Tuesday, students from Riverview Inclusion Program joined Ben in the pits of Sydney Motorsport Park to learn a bit more about the world of racing and what it was like for a neurodivergent person to break down social barriers both on and off the track. 


Since being clinically diagnosed with ASD two years ago, t...
Build-it •

Become your own builder (and save $$$) by buying a kit home

Don’t feel like forking out thousands for a home build that might never see the light of day? Some Aussies are taking matters into their own hands by doing away with builders and picking up the tools to get the job done. 


It’s no secret that the recent wave of construction company collapses has shaken the nation’s faith in home builders to deliver on their housing dreams after recent sector insolvency leaving hundreds of buyers thousands of dollars in debt with half-finished homes. 


And as...
EducationDaily •

Aussie law students vs ChatGPT. Can AI outperform human lawyers?

Despite bold claims that generative models could ace law exams, new research has revealed the technology still struggles to compete in the classroom. 


When ChatGPT was first unveiled to the world back in late 2023, educators and students alike were rattled by big claims from parent company OpenAI that the generative tech could ace notoriously tough law exams at the press of a simple prompt. 


And these boasts weren’t pulled out of thin air. Supposedly the generative AI went head-to-head aga...
EducationDaily •

Astronaut program helps uni student shoot for the stars

One lucky uni student is following her dreams into orbit as she edges closer to becoming one of Australia’s elite scientist astronauts. 


Celene Meraz Benavente, a third-year physiotherapy student at Federation University Australia, has already got her bags packed ahead of her trip to Ottawa, Canada next month where she will live out a week in the life of an astronaut in training. 


But unlike her friends on home soil, this space-bound scientist won’t be sitting her tests in the classroom. I...
Build-it •

Wave goodbye to weeding with this set and forget solar-powered ‘backyard Roomba’

Throw that weed whacker out the window, put your feet up and take back your weekends while this robot backyard gardener gets to work. 

For those of us who don’t have a green thumb (and for some of us that do), weeding just plain old f#*king sucks. 

Spending hours crawling around my backyard pulling up the same old weeds that will just be back again in a few weeks? No thanks, I’d rather enjoy whatever little sun this is on offer in Melbourne or, more likely, piss off to the local pub. 


B...
Build-it •

Slash $12k off your power bill by turning your car into a “battery on wheels” in 2025

Homeowners could soon see their energy bills slashed by thousands of dollars a year if they use electric cars to power the lights.


The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) announced last month that it would invest $3.2 million in a trial that would transform electric vehicles (EVs) into “batteries on wheels” that plug into the grid. 


This vehicle-to-grid technology, also known as V2G, will essentially allow electric cars to act as a substitute for costly solar energy batteries, feed...
Build-it •

Would you buy a home on TikTok?

Real estate agents are turning to an unlikely digital ally to entice young Aussies into entering the property market. 

Home to notoriously cringy lip-sync videos, viral dance routines, and some admittedly hilarious skit comedy, TikTok has taken the social media world by storm, with over 1 billion users tuning in every month. 


However, wedged in between the random street interviews and snippets of Joe Rogans’ podcast, users can now find virtual home tours in some of Australia’s most sought-...