wafc

Cheers for the info, is that just info or the possibility of your OH maybe needing a labourer in the next few months? If so I'd be grateful if you could pm me some contact details.

I haven't done it before but I can put my hand to most things and I'm a hard worker and any employers I've had will vouch for that.

Labouring sounds the best way for me to get in to it then anyway, thanks for the advice.

LouiseD

Are there no brickies in Brissy?

wanderingwombat

http://www.news.com.au/sundaymail/st...7-3102,00.html

BRICKLAYERS are making up to $1200 a day as Queensland's tradesmen and women rapidly overtake professionals in earning power.

Young chippies, brickies, plumbers and electricians are earning big money while their peers who have become lawyers, accountants and other white-collar professionals are struggling to make ends meet.

As university graduates struggle with low wages and HECS debts, tradesmen and women are debt-free and entering the property market.

Queensland Master Builders Association executive director Graham Cuthbert said it was not unusual for bricklayers to make $1200 a day in parts of north Queensland.

"They are making $4.50 a block and that translates to around $1200 a day. There is significant money to be made," he said.

Mr Cuthbert said carpenters, plasterers and bricklayers in Brisbane routinely made $2000 a week on contract work.

"This isn't a passing phase – these conditions are here to stay. These trades are no longer just a job, they're a career," he said.

Most trades take four years to qualify, but the training is practically free for apprentices, who get paid to learn.

A law student can expect to finish college with a HECS debt of $33,000 and an arts student $15,000.

Master Plumbers Association of Queensland executive director Adrian Hart said that in a booming economy plumbers were in demand and making really good wages.

Sunshine Coast plumber Jared May, 22, has been fully qualified for three years after taking up an apprenticeship when he was 15. He now makes about $1500 a week.

"I just bought a house 12 months ago for $330,000 and I own my own ute. I don't really have any financial worries," he said.

Carpenter David Hamill, 21, gets about $900 after tax and other deductions every week: "A lot of my mates are at uni and they are struggling. They don't stop me when I buy a round of drinks, put it that way."

In contrast, accountant Katherine Taylor, 24, who has been working for almost a year since leaving university, is on a salary of $38,000 a year.

She expects her wage to increase as she becomes more experienced.

President of Queensland Young Lawyers Stephen Mackie said: "Anyone who thinks they're going to walk out of university on to the set of Ally McBeal will get a rude shock."

Mr Mackie said that when he left university, "the minimum wage for first-year clerks was about $26,000, increasing to about $28,000 in the second year. To add insult to injury my HECS debt was $25,000".

WW

thebears

Well all I can say mate is some of us "accountants" are on that per hour not per day

ohippy

If that's true - why are so many brickies heading West from the East Coast !! If I was earning $4.50 a brick I wouldn't travel that far to earn only $1.10 a brick. Would be interesting to see how many brickies do get that or are they all sunning themselves in their mansions on the seafront !

LouiseD

I'm beginning to doubt if there are any brickies in Brisbane at all - if there is, can anyone verify this news report.

jad n rich

A cyclone temporarily pushed the rates up in one small area up north, that was translated into brickies earn $6000 a week on a 2 page spread in sundays paper It was never $4.50 a brick but they did claim $4.50 a block our brickie sent crews up there and the most they got was $2.50 a block, thats as a contractor with all overheads.

You can search on jobs in far north qld, there will be loads of them at this time of year always is, high 30's and 96% humidity, plus weeks with tools down due to the wet season and guess why

I guess its like the stories that brickies in perth are earning $1000 a day All good fun but if you want the real rates cresta posted a link to tradies wages in a recent thread.

OZSpur

Absolute bollox
If only it were true
Top money you can hope for here in Brisbane is $35 an hour and expect to have some fuhrer type fella cracking the whip behind you.

LouiseD

Thanks for the info - same as here in Vic then. Isn't it bloody annoying when you read reports like that? My hubby is on $30 per hour, travels two hours a day (own time), works like a dog and gets two short breaks. Rubbish isn't it?

OZSpur

two breaks? the jammy git!!!!!

aston man

for god sake let me at it,,i wont it so bad its killing me,,,let me at them bricks..i just want to be there now,,,pool the first week,boat the second ,third i could retire and spend all my time on the boat...

please ,please,oz gov,,,let me in.....

Neil Jackson

Once you get over there contact a TAFE college, same as our technical colleges. There's a few round Perth. I'm teaching bricklaying in UK and want to do same in Perth; in UK I'd recommend a night school or day release with an employer, so you can keep the money rolling in. It takes a lot of sweat to becoming a bricky. Perhaps you can do a taster course first to see if you like it; perhaps plumbing/plastering/joinery etc is more for you. Best to find out first.

aston man

this might sound awful ,but i would of thought it would be best to learn bricklaying here first,then go out.
its not as easy as it looks,i wouldn't of thought unless you are lucky ,someone out in oz is going to have time to teach you on site.

also unless you have got a few quid ,you will need to have some sort of income..

i am sorry to say but its not going to be easy,what ever you do...

BadgeIsBack

never ceases to amaze me; one family cannot make ends meet on brickie money, others doing fine.

You really have to see for yourself!

Neil Jackson

But where would you rather learn? Miserable UK or Oz? You could do IT work during the week rather then labouring. I know where I'd rather be, and it isn't breaking the ice on an oil drum of water at 7.30AM on a February morning.
The choice is yours.