Laser Group responds to mainstream media’s misguided belief that tradies are ‘swimming in cash’.

Once again, the media have jumped on the hourly rate of a tradie with the Herald Sun reporting on the weekend that plumbers were charging a “whopping $78 an hour.  Sparkies were next , having upped their price to about $73.”

In 2016 a similar article made the rounds reporting plumbers in Western Australia were, on average the highest paid tradies in Australia earning on average $87.67 with electricians from Perth coming in a close second at $87.33.  According to the articles, the lowest paid tradie was the plumber based in Queensland earning on average $68.58 an hour.

Giving readers the impression that tradies are swimming in cash, what the articles don’t consider are the situations in which the tradies are working and the costs and hours involved.

With the mining boom in Western Australia, many tradesmen and women left their home states to make the most of a high paying industry.  EBA’s put together for the mining companies included overtime rates, and inclusions such as danger and living away from home allowances.  Included in their wages, this undoubtedly increases their hourly rate.

At the other end of the industry you have sole traders.  Generally a one person business, this business has all the costs of any small business without the ability to spread costs across staff and jobs.  These businesses spend the day on the tools coming home to spend the night or the weekends completing paperwork required for any business or job, minimizing their own hourly rate significantly.

What the writers also don’t consider are the various insurances required, training costs, tools, vehicle costs and other overheads.   Remembering that a shopkeeper will increase their retail price of product sold by 100% to cover costs, why do we expect a tradie not to cover their costs?

It’s easy to gloss over the hard work, the time spent training and the level of difficulty in working on some sites.  Also the toll that the physical labor can take on the bodies of the tradies and the time away from families as they work in their business rather than on their business, or take on a fly in fly out role.

Many tradies, particularly sole traders, actually undersell their labor, keeping their price low to get the job.  Whilst society thinks nothing of spending close to $100ph when they go to a masseuse, hairdresser or physio, many baulk at it when considering hiring a tradie.

Why?  Maybe it’s because in the era of DIY, they don’t want to pay what they consider premium prices for something they believe they could do themselves.  The difference is though, if they try to do it themselves, they could burn down their house, or worse, kill themselves or someone they love.