Latest news with #tradies
News.com.au
5 hours ago
- Business
- News.com.au
‘Catfishing': Dodgy tradies' insane rip off tactics exposed
Frustrating issues normally seen in the dating world have rocked Australia's home repairs and renovations industry, with homeowners warned about a concerning rise in 'catfish tradies'. These smooth talking operators have been reported to be luring unsuspecting clients with too-good-to-be-true quotes, only to spring them with extra charges once works begin. Catfish tradies also include companies who misrepresent their previous jobs with fake imagery or qualifications and then deliver shonky projects that fall well short of what clients were promised. It comes as hipages research showed Australians' confidence in tradies has eroded over time, with 66 per cent of those surveyed in a recent poll saying they struggled to find one they could trust. This lack of trust, coupled with a widespread ignorance about proper qualifications and pricing, is creating perfect waters for these Catfish Tradies to thrive, according to hipages. Homeowners caught in the web of catfishing tradies were losing thousands of dollars on projects that were substandard or didn't deliver on specifications. Relationship expert Sera Bozza said it was homeowners' lack of understanding of how to select a tradie that was creating a particularly favourable environment for catfishing behaviours. Many people still relied on gut feeling, handshakes and false recommendations for sourcing tradies, which made it easier for them to be exploited, Ms Bozza said. 'Sometimes tradies can be really charming and the homeowner will get swept up by it all,' she said. 'Often what happens is there is a lump sum quote that's given in the beginning but once they get to the job it becomes itemised. It's all added up to a total and it's a lot higher. '(Catfishing) tradies misrepresent their experience, qualifications and past work to win jobs … they offer quotes that seem too good to be true and often use misrepresented photos to seal the deal.' Ms Bozza added that a lack of knowledge about pricing exacerbated the issue. About two thirds of those polled by hipages said they were in the dark about how much hiring a tradie should cost, leaving them vulnerable to inflated invoices and hidden fees. 'About 2 million Aussies have hired the wrong tradie at some point,' Ms Bozza said, 'Platforms like hipages let tradies show reviews, but there are other ways people find tradies and without these verifications it's easy to go by just a handshake or a feeling. 'Many people don't know what they are looking for. It's essentially guesswork. And that makes it rife for catfishing.' Ms Bozza highlighted some key red flags homeowners should watch out for – many of which were similar to certain types of dating trends. These behaviours were categorised as: > Mr Unreliable: A tradie who promises to call but never does. 'Trust comes from consistency,' Ms Bozza warned. 'If they're hard to reach before the job starts, imagine how they'll handle your timeline.' > The Pick-Me Tradie: Someone who trashes other tradies to win your job. 'If they need to bag out the competition to look good, they're not the better choice,' Ms Bozza said. > The Zero Footprint: An operator with no reviews, license, or verified history. 'If you can't find anything about them online, there's a likely reason,' Ms Bozza said. > Lying About Their Height (and Their Quotes): Quoting one price and invoicing another. > The Catfish Carpenter: Photoshopped pics and work that looks nothing like promised. 'Being catfished by an unqualified tradie can leave you feeling betrayed and duped with dodgy results.' Signs of a good tradie were that they confirmed quotes and actually showed up, Ms Bozza added. They also had legitimate photos and something of an online presence with substantive reviews.
Daily Telegraph
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Telegraph
Locked out: Generation faces housing crisis catastrophe
Australia's housing affordability crisis has reached code red status as runaway construction costs threaten to permanently lock out a generation of potential homeowners. A new analysis reveals a construction sector in turmoil, with renovation expenses surging a staggering 43 per cent since late 2019 and building material prices remaining stubbornly elevated, sitting 35.4 per cent above pre-pandemic levels. The crisis, driven by a perfect storm of crippling labour shortages, supply chain disruptions, and soaring prices for essential materials is prompting urgent calls for government intervention to prevent a full-blown housing catastrophe. Exclusive data by the Housing Industry Association shows essential materials are bleeding budgets dry, with the cost of copper pipes and fittings skyrocketing by 14.4 per cent annually and 63.4 per cent since the end of 2019. The cost of electrical cable and conduit are equally alarming, jumping 9.5 per cent annually and a shocking 69.7 per cent since the end of 2019. Even the humble clay brick, a cornerstone of Australian construction, has surged by 8.3 per cent annually and 48.4 per cent since the end of 2019, while timber doors rose by 7.4 per cent annually. RELATED 17,000 ads: Aussie tradie jobs no one wants Demolition dilemmas: Aus homes under threat Build new for less: Top spots under $850K revealed Only materials like plywood, steel beams, plastic sanitary ware, reinforcing steel, sheet metal and other electrical equipment saw a reduction in cost between 4 per cent and 9 per cent. However, it's a drop in the ocean, considering the cost of skilled labour, which saw a 5.5 per cent increase over the 12 months to March, with those looking to build now paying 35.5 per cent more for a home than they did pre Covid. To put it in numbers, the average national build cost now is $484,315, according to March figures by the Bureau of Statistics, $18,832 more than the previous year and $152,969 more since pre-Covid in 2020, when the average build cost just $331,346. HIA senior economist Tom Devitt said while the numbers looked bleak, the cost of construction material was starting to stabilise. 'Some of the numbers shared do show a few materials are still going up really rapidly…but the average building materials have actually really slowed. They are still very much elevated from five years ago but they do look like they've stabilised. 'Labor costs are also still increasing quite rapidly but also not as much as they did three years ago. Our trade report two or three years ago had a single year where trade prices went up 10 per cent.' Mr Devitt said while the cost of materials would come down with time, the real concern going forward was ongoing labour shortages. 'The demand is still going to be outstripping the supply of trades unless the government follows through on what they've been paying lip service to in terms of fast tracking in-demand construction trades,' he said. '(So far) nothing has really progressed from that because the number of skilled trades that have been arriving, relative to overall overseas arrivals, has been minute.' The hidden cost behind Australia's homebuilding struggles An analysis by NextMinute, a leading project management software for tradies, recently shed light on the occupations with the highest vacancy rates and the most job ad listings across Australia, revealing a stark disparity between supply and demand in the trade sector. Official figures indicate that motor mechanics, electricians, and welders are among the most sought-after trades, with thousands of vacancies across all Australian states. However, SEEK job ad volumes suggest the demand is far greater, with listings for electricians alone exceeding six times the official vacancy count. Similarly, there are 9749 listings for mechanics and 2706 for welders, reflecting widespread recruitment challenges in the industry. Despite attractive salaries, several trades remain under-represented in global job searches, such as airconditioning and refrigeration mechanics, who earn over $2000 per week. The United Kingdom leads overseas demand, with UK-based workers conducting thousands of monthly searches for Australian trade jobs. NextMinute CEO Alex Jenks said the discrepancy highlighted the ongoing recruitment challenges faced by trade businesses. These shortages are slowing down projects, driving up costs, and putting pressure on business owners,' he said. 'Interestingly, the countries showing the most interest don't always align with the trades in greatest need. 'For example, airconditioning and refrigeration mechanics have over 500 official vacancies, but little international search activity, pointing to blind spots in global awareness of Australia's workforce needs.' Australia needs to think modular With Australia forecast to fall 262,000 homes short of its national 1.2 million housing target by 2029, Ray White Group senior economist Nerida Conisbee said a modular approach was needed to address ongoing construction concerns. 'It's taking things like trusses off site and making it more of a manufacturing process, as opposed to building them on site where you need far more skilled labour,' she said. 'Another example would be kitchens and bathrooms which are really time consuming and expensive to build on site. So if you just have to assemble them within a house, that makes it a lot cheaper…everything else can be done offshore. 'Another thing to look at would be the way we design houses. One of the reasons why it's so expensive to build is because Australians really love their houses to be different from their neighbours. 'And so, if we're looking at new areas, if we're starting to build houses that are very similar, then it becomes a lot quicker and cheaper to build houses.'
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tradie crisis exposed by $32 per hour job advert 'with no skills' required
A regional Victorian builder has raised concerns after seeing a job ad for a role with no experience necessary that has a salary higher than what a qualified tradie would earn. The building and construction industry is under immense pressure to build more homes to keep up with soaring demand that's fuelling the housing crisis. But TJ Eccles said the industry isn't doing itself any favours when you can earn a little more than $32 per hour as a labourer. The carpenter told Yahoo Finance a role like that could cause many to ditch the idea of starting an apprenticeship to earn far more money. "Why the hell would you be a carpenter if you can go do that job with no skills?" He said. Tradie boss wages war on promise of $10,000-a-week pay fuelling apprentice dropout crisis Common $358 a day expense the ATO lets you claim on tax without receipts Hallway photo reveals urgent $141,000 property price warning as interest rates dropped "Where's the incentive for kids to pick it up when you could just be a receptionist or something for $34 an hour?" According to MIGAS, a first-year carpenter apprentice would roughly earn between $604.37 to $1,023.02 per week, depending on their age, which is based on a 40-hour workweek. That's between $15.10 to $25.57 per hour. The Gippsland-based tradie told Yahoo Finance that rates will depend on where you work, but it's not uncommon for residential carpenters in his area to be earning as little as $29 per hour after becoming fully qualified. "They go through their apprenticeship and they're expected to buy $10,000 to $20,000 worth of tools," he said."And when they finish their apprenticeship, they're generally expected to have a car suitable to do the job." If you're a labourer or trade assistant, you usually don't have to provide your own gear and are predominantly responsible for more physical aspects of a site like moving materials, digging holes, and removing hazards. Eccles originally had more than half a dozen people in his team, but that's now shrunk to just him and another tradie. Some were lured away by promises of extra money in commercial projects, where you can earn more than $40 per hour. While he said there's technically nothing wrong with a $32 per hour labourer role, it speaks to a wider issue of how wages are affecting the flow of new blood into the industry. This issue isn't just confined to Eccles or Gippsland. Apprenticeships Are Us general manager Phil Cooksey is at the coalface of this problem as he's training the next generation of tradies. He's worried this pay disparity between apprentices and labourers will only make the issues plaguing the building and construction industry worse. "Many young people are either abandoning their apprenticeships or choosing not to start one in the first place,' he said. 'They're being drawn to unskilled labour jobs that offer immediate financial relief, even if those roles are short-term or uninspiring.' Figures from the National Centre for Vocational Education and Research showed every state and territory saw a drop in the number of tradies who were in training last year, with the total being around 2,000. Queensland builder Scott Challen isn't surprised by this huge exodus, especially considering these apprentices on low wages are also dealing with soaring prices related to rent, groceries, utilities and other costs. "We've got to look at junior pay rates in the construction industry and try and get them sorted out, because I can't have a 17-year-old apprentice on $17 an hour and a 17-year-old labourer on $32 an hour," he told Yahoo Finance. "It doesn't make sense to these kids." Fellow carpenter Corey Tomkins said social media is also playing a big role in the apprentice exodus. "If you jump on TikTok or other social media apps, there are so many guys preaching to get out of the trade," he told Yahoo Finance. "They'll say, 'It's s**t, and it's s**t money and sign up to my course, and I'll show you how to make $10,000 a day'.' He said apprentices are already battling low wages in the cost-of-living crisis and believed claims made in these social media videos are very dubious. The government announced a measure in the 2025 budget that would give apprentices $10,000 throughout their training to ensure they would finish and qualify. The money will be given out in $2,000 chunks at six, 12, 24 and 36-month intervals. Apprentices will also get a final $2,000 payment upon completion of the program. Labor is also aiming to introduce 100,000 fee-free TAFE places from 2027 to encourage more people to pick up a trade. Cooksey said this was a "step in the right direction" to address the national skills shortage in trades like mechanics, electricians, and carpenters. 'It's a great initiative to help more young Australians enter the trades. But given the financial pressures young people face today, it's just not enough,' he said. 'For example, a 20-year-old sees their phone bill or fuel costs rising, and suddenly, completing a qualification takes a back seat. "One phone call to a mate, and they're off to a construction site [as a labourer] the next morning — apprenticeship forgotten. They still want to be mechanics or tradies, but paying their gym membership takes priority.' South Australia is taking a unique approach by introducing kids to the idea of getting into a trade as early as possible. Nearly 50 primary schools are taking part in a new program that gives students "a passion for non-university pathways". Kids in Year 4 to Year 6 will be exposed to real-life problems that need to be solved, like how to reduce power blackouts caused by bats landing on power lines, which is designed to give them an insight into what these trade jobs might entail. "Not everyone will go to university, so it's important that students can see opportunities in a range of different pathways, including in trades and apprenticeships, that can be just as rewarding," state education minister Blair Boyer said. "This problem-based learning is an example of how the South Australian public education system is developing new opportunities – in an Australian first."Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data
News.com.au
22-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
South Australian tradies join forces for Good Home charity build
A small army of tradies has joined forces to build a stunning home in Adelaide's northeast, completely pro bono to support South Australian kids in need. Construction is underway on a Japandi-inspired home at Oakden Rise, which will be auctioned off to raise funds for five children's charities as part of the Good Home Project. Tradies from Priceless Electrical and SA Quality Tiling have come on board for the project, which is being spearheaded by The Advertiser Foundation's Kids' Appeal. Tiler Sajjad Haidari, 23 was grateful to help a cause close to his heart. His brother was heartbreakingly diagnosed with cancer as a child with the young tradie wanting to help others like him. 'It's really good to (help) because my brother had cancer,' he said. 'He is good now but it was a really hard time.' Mr Haidari has been a tiler for a little over a year now and said it was a bonus to support charity while doing something he loves. 'It's so good. I love to work here and work on this project,' he said. 'Doing your job and being able to help people at the same time is good. 'It'll be good to see it come together.' Likewise, Daniel Price, was proud he and his team of six sparkies could lend a hand. His business, Priceless Electrical, is doing the electrical works throughout the Oakden village, including the Good Home. 'There was no hesitation,' he said. Mr Price has been running his business for the past 15 years with the 35-year-old grateful for the opportunity to help give back to the community. 'When there's moments where you can give back, you take it,' he said. Looking ahead, he couldn't wait to see the home when it was complete. 'When you see (the build) from the slab and through each stage, it's pretty cool to watch,' he said. 'When it's finished, it's going to look pretty special.' They have also been joined by tradies from Toser Design, Ideal Stone, Caesarstone Australia and Corinthian Doors, who have contributed around $85,000 in cabinetry, stone and door services collectively. Together with Villawood and Weeks Homes, which donated the house and land package, the campaign is the first major initiative of the Kids' Appeal. Set on a 200 sqm block, the three-bedroom home features multiple bathrooms, a large open living area and a rear-loaded double garage. It will be modelled on the Japandi style which fuses Japanese minimalism and Scandinavian design. The style draws inspiration from nature, embracing earthy materials like wood and stone, natural light, neutral tones and uncluttered spaces. While its been around for awhile, Japandi has become more popular in recent years thanks to The Block 2023 winners Steph and Gian Ottavio who renovated an entire house in the style. The Bluegum Way home will also be fitted with premium Fisher & Paykel appliances including an integrated fridge and dishwasher. Located 9km from the Adelaide CBD, Oakland Rise is billed as an exclusive residents' club with resort-style amenities including a community gym, pool and cafe. The first residents have started to move in and hundreds of homes are still under construction. Villawood CEO Alan Miller said the upcoming house auction would help 'change the lives of young people and their families for the better'. 'The Good Home is a really important cause and we're really excited to be driving such a great effort,' he said. 'Our Villawood Foundation just enjoyed great success with a similar charity home auction for The Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, which raised $1.15 million on Good Friday. 'We're really keen to see that kind of success replicated with The Good Home at Oakden Rise.' Weeks Homes chief executive Peter McIndoe said it was great to see the community come together for the project which was shaping up nicely. 'The Good Home is really taking shape now thanks to the work of our team and suppliers,' he said. 'We would like to give a special shout out to (Toser Design, Ideal Stone, Caesarstone Australia and Corinthian Doors) who have all been generous in their support for this wonderful cause. 'We know the generosity of our suppliers, ourselves and also Villawood will help generate significant funds for children's charities in SA.' Launched by Premier Peter Malinauskas last year, the Good Home House & Land Auction is expected to fetch up to $900,000. All funds raised from the auction will support the Childhood Cancer Association, SA Back Packs for Kids, Kick Start for Kids, Sammy D Foundation, and the Women's & Children's Hospital Foundation Vulnerable Babies Program. Construction on the house is well under way and expected to be finished and ready for public viewing in September. During open days, the house will be furnished using furniture donated by Guest Furniture. The house is scheduled to be put to auction on Saturday, November 8.
News.com.au
22-05-2025
- News.com.au
Tradie killed by fallen power line in Randwick, Sydney
A tradie has been killed after he was electrocuted by fallen power lines and went into cardiac arrest on a suburban street.
