Plumbers here charge from $160/hr (sole trader) to $430/hr (company) then charge call out fee, or per km in their vehicle etc.
They don’t study as long as doctors but charge much more.
How will people with toilet problems be able to afford that?
In Australia, people have no hope if they are not millionaires or not a tradie.
Why Are Plumbers in Australia So Expensive?
Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 17/05/2018 - 09:41
Last edited 21/05/2018 - 20:19 by 1 other user
Last edited 21/05/2018 - 20:19 by 1 other user
Comments
You shouldn't complain. Our local pub probably wouldn't survive if it wasn't for tradie Friday. I once walked in without a hi-vis and I'll swear everyone turned and stared at me.
probably because you had cheap kmart steel caps and not steel blues
Always look up for a handyman sometimes they can just do it or look on youtube..that way you save a lot and learn a skill or you stuff the whole thing up but then can laugh for years to come when ur wife kicks you out of the home.
I should have become a tradie. Pays much better than what an engineer does.
Have 2 trades with a fairly reasonable amount of time behind both of them and now a student engineer. Comments like these make me sad.
LOL
Supply and demand, simple as that. Loads of construction, snobbery in families about trades as a profession (pretty sure they are not covered in the myriad of tutoring services used by parents) and an insistence that the only way to earn a crust is to get a degree, often the same degree everyone else is getting making it less valuable.
Plumbers wouldn't be able to overcharge of there was more competition in the industry.
Smaller tasks can often be done yourself by watching youtube instruction videos, but the tool needed for larger jobs usually mean a professional needs to be involved.
How will people with toilet problems be able to afford that?
I do not want to discuss my toilet problems here thank you
Don't know why people sit in air condition room whole day always complain the hard worker charge too much, try yourself when sub zero to clear out blocked toilet, or fifty degree hot summer climb to the roof to reset the air condition.
At the end of the day, it is based of simple economics. Australia has a growth of about 200,000 people each year, with the majority moving to the cities. However, as a result of this there aren't many more plumbers coming into the trade due to the harsh and uneconomical foundations that must be laid from the start. Hence as there is a shortage of plumbers, they can essentially charge what they want as it is a relatively inelastic good (meaning as the price rises to any amount, the demand will stay the same. This is only for perfectly inelastic). With what you said in regards to doctors charging less, I agree with that. But being a doctor is a sign of high intelligence, due to the amount of study and preparation that must be put in place during high school and tertiary education. Taking it back to my analogy with the shortage of plumbers, there is an influx of doctors that are in the market, hence the price that is charged can't be too high, otherwise people will find others/substitutes instead of paying the price. What I had said is somewhat theoretical, but is true for many other professions that there are, including financial workers as well as lawyers.
shitty job = great pay
a bit like proctologists
Not really. You don't get paid a lot for working at McDonalds.
Shitty and skilled job, though, that's the big bucks.
(and yes, I get the joke)
I've never spoken to a plumber who was happy about being a plumber. It can be hard work, hours working in cramped spaces etc.
If you need a plumber though, ask your friends and family if they know someone. The cheapest ones aren't the ones advertising on the radio. As a tradie myself I always get my work done by people I know from work which saves lots of money.
Same job quotes 18k from one plumber, 33k from another. Where's the extra 15 thousand dollars come from?
Ripoff merchants - the latter were.
It's a supply issue. There's less people choosing trade jobs and more people pursuing a tertiary education.
Minimum wages keep youth away from getting jobs. The minimum wages itself is just a tip of huge iceberg of unions and industry created barriers.
To maintain the plumber paid higher,extra obstacles set up to protect those are in the industry, to deter those want to join from joining. If one wants to be a plumber,she/he got to compete to be a slave alike apprentice for 4 years. Similar story,another example is nurse, Thier union is so strong that every nurse on the job got all these benefits and good pay. However as labour cost rise, hosptials couldnt afford the budget.they simply employ less nurses. Whoever on the job works so hard and long, yet they don't want get extra people in.Most jobs don't need that much intelligence to be capable. I know someone gonna mention that Thier good or terrible plumber experiences. For any job doesn't need mathematics,it means 80 percent population can handle it. 4 years of learning how to connect cables and pipes just way too much.
Btw, thanks ahead for pointing out my gramma and spelling mistakes.
if kids start their apprenticeship young, while still living at home, being underpaid for 4 years shouldnt be an issue. it will all be fun money since they dont have to pay large amounts of rent etc. once this 4 year period is over, boom, in comes jerry mcguire show me the money!
Same with doctors / medical specialists / lawyers. Any industry.
It's called supply and demand.
Economics 101.
What's you're point.
If you were a tradey why would you flood the market with people that can do your job and lower your wage?
I don't get this argument.
Also it's not like each individual tradey can do anything about the supply and demand of the country.
There's nothing stopping anyone from doing an apprenticeship if they have someone able to train them.
Protip: there's not enough people to train apprentices because many ignorant people like you didn't want to do a trade or couldn't complete one, and now the amount of tradesmen can't keep up with demand to teach apprentices.
Also how many times do you hear people whinging about having to also pay the Tradey's apprentice when they get the invoice " wahhh he didn't even do anything except pass the tradey tools ", happens every other day on here AND more so on whirlpool.
Why can't I be a doctor, I know how to put band aids on and give people Panadol.
Stupid argument. Stupid, biased, ignorant arguments from people too lazy or stupid to complete a trade themselves but happy to whinge about them :)
PS this was initially a reply to a comment but I decided to post it as a general comment as it is relevant to half the dim witted responses in this thread.
There's nothing stopping anyone from doing an apperenticeship if they have someone able to train them. Seems to be in the self interest and control of tradies to protect their income.
That's where the problem is.
Everyone can put a pipe together but if it has to do with the mains, you have to use a licensed plumber. If you get caught, you may forfeit building insurance and other financial penalties.
Anyone can put a bandaid on and take panadol. You don't need a licensed doctor. If you misdiagnosed the problem or stuff up the job, tax payer funded Medicare will take over.
If that was true there would be no apprentices. There's thousands of not tens of thousands.
Thinking tradeys don't want to train anyone to protect their jobs is an uneducated guess at best, and ignores many other and more likely reasons.
Have your heard or tried to find an apprenticeship ?
Did you read the rest of my post?
Apprenticeship is full of exploitation.
You are paid nothing forced to do odd jobs for a v long time.This is the real underbelly of Australia.
my sister got billed a call out fee for a job the plumber couldn't do.
he comes in, looks around and says sorry this job is too complicated then billed her. wtf
Did she pay it?
That would be akin to a potential employee invoicing the prospective employer for a job interview they failed.
I rarely use tradespeople who charge a call-out fee.
I'm happy to pay for a plumber. It's specialst work, it's dirty and it's not without risk. I watched some DIY videos on Youtube when I had some plumbing problems and decided best leave it to the experts. I do think we're living in a time where expertise is simply not as respected as it was -it's very much 'my opinion is as good as your expertise' these days. For that reason I'm more than happy to pay people for their training and expertise to solve problems I can't. I do think women's hairdressers charge a bit much though!
Still have to say they’re getting underpaid.
This is a very good discussion. More people come to aware of this idiotic situation of Australia now. We can't afford lawyer, not plumber, not electrician. These necessary services impose enormous burden to everyday Joe's. This situation can easily be changed by lifting the bar to let more people into the trade, instead of let cartels run their games. Alternatively let in overseas workers - be minded in China installing airconditioners are mostly free, even though their work are on more dangerous high risings, and they do not have more problems on the quality of job comparing to Australia.
Let them in, and our NBN project will be expedited and costs 10 times lower. The tradies will face real competition and I bet they will take $30/hour instead of $160.
If you want to live like China, move to China.
I for one am happy to pay a few bucks to a tradesman, because even though he would be cheaper somewhere else, my work isn't that complex either and could be done by someone overseas for much less. Saving $130 an hour (which who pays that? My guys are ~$80ph), on something I only might pay for once every 5 years, is not going to make a big impact on my life when my wage goes down by $20 an hour.
Also if they are installing air conditioners like that, I doubt they'd be doing it right. Whats the point of buying a high efficient device, and then installing it wrong to save a few bucks? It will cost you $100s more in the long run from lost efficiency.
I should also add, my last plumber was an Australian of chinese descent, immigrated here 20 years ago, and he was the best plumber I've ever worked with.
Real nice genuine guy, very hard worker.
The previous guy we used was a dinky-die true blue Aussie, of english decent, and he was a selfish lazy cud chewing scumbucket.
This is a very good discussion. More people come to aware of this idiotic situation of Australia now. We can't afford lawyer, not plumber, not electrician. These necessary services impose enormous burden to everyday Joe's. This situation can easily be changed by lifting the bar to let more people into the trade, instead of let cartels run their games. Alternatively let in overseas workers - be minded in China installing airconditioners are mostly free, even though their work are on more dangerous high risings, and they do not have more problems on the quality of job comparing to Australia.
Let them in, and our NBN # will be expedited and costs 10 times lower. The tradies will face real competition and I bet they will take $30/hour instead of $160.
Because they are PLUMBERS NOT SOFTWARE ENGINEERS!!!!
I hate those tradies because they think you are retarded. I paid someone 130 to fix the oven timer and he just turned it to manual mode.
Not hard to fix most stuff..learn to DIY. You only need one for hard or big jobs.
I have a secret desire to see these low skills be outsourced.
Calling tradies will mean still having good food for a week :(
DIY gods will be disempowered. Joe loves how he fixes everything from lawn mowers and cars to taps and lighting. (That's how he met joey)
Now back to my life of privilege.
the other thing that people dont really understand is that being a trade is not easy. early mornings (4am). working in any weather (hot, cold etc). lots of young people cant be bothered doing this, which is why there is now a shortage in trades, especially GOOD trades, who can now command a higher premium due to increased demand. similar concept to previous apple iphones: more people wanting to buy one than apple had stock of, which means apple can charge more for it.
Keep the cards of good tradies you've used and share them with your friends and family. Cold calling from the paper is hit or miss.
Plumbing's just Lego, innit? Water Lego..
Plumbers have priced themselves out of my market.
I replaced my broken toilet cisten myself using Bunnings, YouTube videos and intentionally going very slowly.
I learnt a lot.
(I can also replace taps using plumbers tape and everything).
This is not an advertisement.
$160 per hour for a skilled plumber with special tools is cheap guys.
Specialised IT consultants can charge $1000 per hour…
Lol at this getting downvoted.
So true though.
welcome, life isnt fair. yes i know. bye.
To be honest if the plumber was paid any lower he wouldn't be the plumber.
I called in a plumber on Boxing Day on a Sunday (builder footing the bill). Shit from the 4 surrounding units was backing up through the overflow into my backyard. 1st plumber couldn't fix it, 2nd plumber from a larger company got the job done, spent 3 hours, using a snake, shit flying everywhere. He was pissed that on a Sunday on a public holiday he was cleaning up shit from 4 units. The bill was $900. I wouldn't have done it for $9000.
You are using a special case to justify a whole industry. I don't have problems to pay the plumber even higher than $900 in that situation. However you need to admit that most plumbing jobs are not like that. Fixing a tap, installing a hot water unit etc, these are simple works and we use plumbers because by law average Joes are not allowed to do these.
I know a septic system technician, his company charges $60/hr. Bear in mind these people are really dealing with dirty (shitty) work everyday. Their work environment are always worse than most plumbers. These are honest people who earn my sincere respect.
It's necessary for the government to regulate industries, but that should not become an excuse to set up protection against other people to enter the industries.
Can you provide some detail about this " protection "
There's a simple (but expensive) way to fix this, and all other similar protected industries
Have schools teach everything you need to get startedHow stupid is it, that you go to school, and they teach you how to do something, but you still need real world experience before you can actually start working. If schools taught people how to be plumbers, electricians, or doctors right off the bat, and the legal/tax regulations around operating a business, there would be a lot more people available and the competition would cause prices to plummet.
Having practical experience is part of the learning process.
All learning should involve practical experience imo
Most peoples brains don't deal well with abstractions
If boxing Day was on a Sunday it wasn't a public holiday.
you wouldn't do a job for 3000 dollars an hour for 3 hours?
$900? That plumber is a keeper!!
Because in OZ, you need a license to wipe your bum… you can't DIY these tradie jobs so have to cough up the costs what they wish to charge… free country… :)
Most of them are just greedy pricks.
Because they have to deal with your shit…. boomtish
Most tradies are overpiad bogans.
Look it up on Youtube, go to bunnings and DIY.
Then treat yourself with the money from the savings.
For certificate required BS go on airtasker or hipages and get 30 quotes. Taking pleasure in wasting the time of the ones that quoted too high.
And when you blow yourself up and your neighbours because you thought learning to do gas work on youtube was a smart Idea, and when your house floods because you tried to do the work of an overpriced bogan and your insurance companies assessor asks for evidence the recent work was carried out by a licensed tradesman and you cant produce it, so you now have no insurance. Good luck with your DIY bogan plumbing
PROTIP: The ones that quoted "too high" probably didn't spend much time at all on it.
Lol you sound like a moron.
Have I told you all about my back neighbour who is a plumber and has a missus with huge fake tits, lives in East Sydney owns a big house and high yield cars? He is a sole trader with a couple apprentices and he is absolutely rolling in it. He brags a lot. Tells me how dump degree qualified professionals are and they cant even fix a leaky tap, he makes $300 a pop to change washers, washers are only $1 and a 10min job. He said he could charge $100 and and still make a profit and work more which is pointless.
Now, changing a washer is something you can do. YouTube and set.
Yes it's high motivation to DIY.
Most plumbing is fairly straight forward with the modern materials. PVC lines - just cut, glue slide back on - 2 part glue and joiners from bunnings.
Often digging involved may be tough. Investigating.
When a plumber comes around make sure you see what he's discovered about your layout so you'll know in future.
It's a matter of the jobs you can't easily do I'd say - like patching copper lines with the blow torch.
Also if you need cameras/jet machines in drains. Stay with them if you can to monitor their progress.I'll field this one. As a teacher absolutely no where in the curriculum are trade related employment options promoted, or even considered. Its all "must go to uni", So basically these employment avenues are becoming niche jobs, so why wouldn't you charge what you like?
Some kids arent the greatest poets, but they have fantastic dexterity and lateral thinking skills. But they would fail in the current system.
Good on em for doing something different and reaping the rewards.
You are paying for the filth and stench factor
3 years undergrad, 1 year honours, 4 years phd, 30k HECS debt, earning 100k, still 2-3x less than your everyday plumber, feelsbadman
To study what? An area of high demand or an area you personally wanted to pursue? You could spend twice that time and three times that money and be at a level, in a field where you still can't get work - but that's your choice bud… you could have done a trade… or maybe not as the idea of dealing with other peoples shit or crawling around in rat piss and shit doesn't fit the 'model' that you were brought up to… yeh it's not for everyone that's for sure, tbh.. not many can handle real, hard, physically and mentally demanding work (you should see the apprentice drop out rates!)! It's why there are tradies, and pen pushers… get a pen pusher attempting to do a trade task.. like attempt an apprenticeship.. it's generally rather hilarious, generally they fail and claim the work is just too hard for them!
totally agree, shoulda been a plumber! (guess its not too late)
Sooner you get started the better! Plumbers I know pick and choose the work they want to do but are on half the hourly rate of the OP's quoted amount (as a pre income tax figure), god knows how they can charge 160p/h outside of an 'emergency' situation…. Either way, it's hard work.. if you leave it too late your body physically won't be able to cope with the apprentice duties you'll be thrown… you need to get qualified and licenced and get someone younger and more fit to train up under you, look after them and hope they'll stick around, which is unlikely if you took them on as a junior.. You'll be training apprentices until you look after your workers well enough for them not to leave (which may well mean not making much off them at all at the end of the day, nbut they can train/work the juniors!), or leave and come back when they realise working for themselves, chasing a&&holes who don't pay up as they think they could have got the parts cheaper from bunnings themselves, with no super, workers comp or sick/annual leave - that is all too much hassle and not actually financially viable for them to charge what people tell them is a fair rate … meh…
Can you explain how the PhD you studied makes yourself or your employer money in today's market?
Can someone explain how a joke post like this is allowed to have people leave comments and the legitimate post "Why Are Lawyers in a Australia So Expensive?" has comments closed?
Did the lawyers have the other discussion shut down?
lawyers could potentially sue this site to oblivion, plumbers not so much
That's what I was hoping wasn't true.
The legal industry either bullied or bribed OzB into silencing an embarrassing discussion.
It’s pretty fishy that the legal industry question would be selectively closed off
Because of plumbers crack
google+bunning's is FREE
i am actually thinking about changing my career, from bakers to Plumber. I am turning 30 though not sure if it is too late.
Because there are people who are willing to give lot of money. No one would refuse taking a lot of money including plumbers and yourself I believe. FYI, you can DIY plumber or lawyer job.