brindy

Any advice on bricklaying jobs in OZ.
How easy is it to find work. Has the work climate diminshed like in UK. Are there small private builders, or is most of the work on big sites?
Are there certain areas where there is more building work. Was thinking of Melbourne.
Any contacts please wouod be of great help.

betsyboob

we are in QLD and there is no hope for trades at the mo....Hope you are not coming out in the very near future

hoofie2002

Have a good search on here but I recall the recent consensus has been that the work is really drying up.

I'm not familiar with the regulations but you may need a licence etc. to work as a brickie in some states also, never mind the visa aspect.

Choice

Hi Brindy, my hubby is a bricklayer in Melbourne, so all I can tell you about is our experience.

Are you a price work brickie or a day rate brickie and how driven are you to earn a decent living ?

My husband started off working for someone else on daywork just to see exactly how things were done over here. Timber frames etc, he even worked for a few days for nothing for a friend of a friend who was also a bricklayer. This turned into a name of a supervisor working at one on the large building companies. He has now been working as a self employed contractor for the same company, initially partnered up with another pom, and now with 2 apprentices.

You are certainly not restricted to daywork rates if you can "get in" with one of the large builders. We have noticed that the likes of Metricon were even advertising for brickies to build a whole road of houses a few weeks ago in Keysborough (SE Suburbs), so it would seem that there is a demand for brickies. I know they are hardly getting any apprentices any more, so it is a dying breed.

By the way, it is like stepping back in time here. There are hardly any "estates" which are just built by one builder as in the UK. People buy a block and then choose whichever builder they want to build the house on it. Hence as only 1 house site, no forklift or pre-mixed mud. If you were to work for pricework you would need your own scaffold, (up to 40 courses I think), own mixer, etc, etc, and a bl**dy big ute to carry it all round !

It's harder work than in the UK, but with our current drought situation, you don't get rained off very often !!!

It's hard getting started here, no-one is interested in what you did in UK, but just be persistent and not too proud to build anything for anyone. My husband got a lot of one off jobs through friends of friends in the early days.

We live in SE suburbs and my husband is run off his feet. Not sure about commercial work as it all seems to be pre-cast concrete.

P.S you will not stand much chance of getting in with one of the big builders if you are on your own, try to partner up with someone to get a foot in the door. Good luck

Sonn

Hiya

I notice this was posted in November, what is the current situation like? What type of earnings does your OH get on a weekly basis and also what sort of hours does he work? Hope that doesnt sound cheek?

Paula_lou

But if thats the case why on earth are brickies on the new CSL list??? Or is it just Queensland where there is no hope??? lol

BRIGHTONS

hi paula, this is what i keep wondering, it seems there crying out for skilled workers then you read about the lack of work, i just dont get it. we were hoping to go to the east but now going to perth as it seems theres more work there for trades (i hope). i think you had the same agent as us but shes gone now, have you been passed to someone else?

Geelong Gent

There used to be alot of tradie posters from perth - they seem to have all dropped off If you do a search they used to talk about $1000 per day rates of pay for bricklayers - perhaps that was just hype.

Geelong Gent

When are you looking to come over?

britishsparky

trouble with the csl is its slow to react to demand

Lee and Maria

Hi everyone, I am also very interested in the answers to these questions.

I am coming to Melbourne in April on a WHV with an idea of PR if all goes well. Would really like to carry on bricklaying to get a feel for my trade in OZ.

We are planning to do some travelling of course, but this is not necessarily at the beginning of our trip.

I would be very appreciative of any help with finding work and / or contacts. Even a few days work here and there would be a great start.

If anyone can help please let me know.

Thanks,

Lee.

Pollyana

The CSL only became active on Jan 1st.

hannash

will someone work this one out i was reading an ipswich (west bris)news paper last night the property sectio n caught my eye it read land boom shows no sign of abating whateva that means and it said the local council approved 1500 thats one thou five hundred houses just for a place called redbank plains every six month period alone ,,,thats a huge amount of houses and they have been doing so for the past 4-5 years there is also large numbers of au expats returningfrom over seas settling in q/land due to the climate

aston man

i dont mean to be blunt,lots of brickies here in perth are now on 250 a day plus.if your straight off the boat as we all have been,you looking around 250.im sorry but you are never ever going to earn a thousand dollars a day here in perth.over the year working for somebody you will be looking at a 1000 a week.

sorry.

ast.

brindy

Is that Oz dollars or UK pounds???