Some tradies are charging a lot more.
Tradies across multiple sectors have slammed up their hourly rates, with some professionals hiking prices by more than 10 times the rate of decades-high inflation over the past year.
The incredible increases have seen some tradies increase their charges by more than 50 per cent annually, according to Service Seeking data.
It’s a dramatic surge in fees that’s already making waves in the construction and home improvement industries, with consumers feeling the financial pinch.
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Oliver Pennington, co-founder of ServiceSeeking, said tradies were so overwhelmed with work that simply getting them to supply quotes could be a challenge.
“I don’t think we’ve ever seen such a big increase in costs across so many (trades), just because the supply of skilled professionals doesn’t match the demand,” he said.
Large housing construction projects have pulled tradies away from smaller jobs. Picture: Jonathan Ng
Mr Pennington added that there was a backlog of work that has been piling up since the end of Covid lockdowns in 2022.
“During Covid a lot of stuff got pushed back. Then there was a huge swell of renovations as people came out of lockdown, up until early 2023. That huge swell of demand and delayed projects meant that it put a lot of pressure on the household trades market.”
The most explosive price jump comes from arborists, who raised their average hourly charge by a staggering 56.9 per cent.
Arborists had been charging an average of about $60 per hour over the 2022/23 financial year but that figure soared to just over $93 per hour over 2023/24.
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Experts pointed to rising fuel costs, equipment prices, and the increasing demand for tree management services due to extreme weather events as key drivers of the surge.
Mr Pennington said it took a long time to train new arborists, which made it difficult for companies to keep up with demand without hiking up their rates.
Not far behind, labourers have also imposed a hefty average price hike of 35.7 per cent, raising their hourly rate from $50.67 to $68.75.
The rise is putting pressure on construction budgets, with builders relying heavily on labourers to complete large-scale projects.
Mr Pennington said the huge price increases would have put off some renovators from doing works, but others were steaming ahead unperturbed because they were funding their reno with equity.
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Wait times for tradies have blown out for renovators.
“There are a bunch of people with a lot of money prepared to pay whatever it takes,” he said.
Landscapers were another trade seeing a steep climb, with their hourly rate jumping by 25.5 per cent, from $65.37 to $82.06.
Demolition companies have followed suit, increasing their fees by 20.7 per cent, pushing their hourly rate from $93.89 to $113.33.
Builders, another key group, raised their prices by 20.6 per cent, while tilers and rubbish removalists saw increases of 16.9 per cent and 15.3 per cent, respectively.
Plumbers, long considered one of the more expensive trades, have also upped their charges. Their hourly rate now sits at $124.72, a 13.6 per cent rise from last year’s $109.83.
These hikes come at a time when inflation and cost-of-living pressures are already weighing heavily on Australians.
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