A new report by Fergus, a job software provider for tradies, finds that Perth is one of the leading markets for tradie businesses in the country, particularly plumbing, building and HVAC professionals, ranking first nationally.
Melbourne comes in second spot, leading in trades such as maintenance (first) and building (second), though plumbing and electrical are less consistent.
Brisbane comes in at third position, with plumbing and repairs both ranking second, but showing weaker performance in electrical and HVAC (sixth).
Adelaide and Sydney tie for fourth position. Adelaide performs well in electrical and HVAC (both third), while Sydney stands out in HVAC (second), but falls behind in electrical.
Within the plumbing sector, plumbers in Perth earn a median of $2162 a week and typically get paid in 20 days on average. Brisbane comes in second place, with high demand of 153.5 jobs per business. Smaller markets such as the ACT has employment growth rates of +48.97 percent. Hobart plumbers handle the most jobs per business (180), while Darwin offers the highest median weekly pay ($2313).
For builders, Perth leads the way with an average of 46 jobs per business, a 38.44 percent win rate, and around $1995 a week in individual earnings. Melbourne follows where the volume of jobs is larger with more with 83 jobs per business, but a lower 30.41 percent win rate means builders need to work harder to lock in jobs. Sydney builders are seeing +15.63 percent revenue growth, and Adelaide is growing quickly too (+21.40 percent employment growth).
For HVAC technicians, Perth ranks first with 119 jobs per business and +16.77 percent employment growth with an average of $2320 weekly individual income. Sydney is in second place, followed by Melbourne and Adelaide.
According to Fergus CEO Mark Bartels, the report reinforces that AI will not threaten certain jobs. “Australia is short 90,000 tradies, and the gap is widening as people retire. ChatGPT isn’t fixing your burst pipe at 2am or crawling through your roof with a torch looking for a leak,” Bartels says.
“The real risk is that we don’t have enough trained professionals coming through. Tradies are the backbone of the real economy, and right now they’re some of the most in-demand, future-resilient careers in the country.
“In the long run, the robots are coming. We’ll work alongside them, using automation to do more, lower costs and improve safety. But we consistently overestimate what happens in the short term and underestimate what happens over the long term.”
Image: Nathan Hurst, Unsplash
Read more: Opinion: The HVAC&R skills gap won’t shift until we do more
